Thursday, November 16, 2017

Thursday - Job 20 - More Foolishness


P
erhaps we are all weary of reading the useless counsel of Job's three friends, but since they weren't through talking and since God saw fit to have their continual barrage against Job recorded for us, we'll keep studying it. Not surprisingly, the explanation that Zophar was attempting was a reworking of what had already been stated several times. The familiar song went something like this: the bad guy always loses; the good guy always wins. When we get to the next chapter tomorrow (Job 21), we will find Job contradicting virtually everything that Zophar postulates in this chapter. Obviously, the world looked very different through Job's eyes than did the same world through Zophar’s rose tinted spectacles.

Without belaboring the proverbial point that has been made by Job's friends repeatedly, let's cover the chapter. Zophar used powerful and persuasive phrases. They sound convincing enough.  "The triumphing of the wicked is short'' (Job 20:5).  "He shall perish forever like his own dung" (Job 20:7). "He has swallowed dawn riches, and he shall vomit them up again" (Job 20:15). And so on, and so forth... Impressive imagery! Hardly applicable or beneficial in Job's situation!  Yet, Zophar was certain that he was right on target; expounding a universal principle that (he thought) had no exceptions: "This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God" (Job 20:29).  Job will beg to differ...

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