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Job Chapter
Twenty
Job 20
Chapter Contents
Zophar speaks of the short joy of the wicked. (1-9) The
ruin of the wicked. (10-22) The portion of the wicked. (23-29)
Commentary on Job 20:1-9
(Read Job 20:1-9)
Zophar's discourse is upon the certain misery of the
wicked. The triumph of the wicked and the joy of the hypocrite are fleeting.
The pleasures and gains of sin bring disease and pain; they end in remorse,
anguish, and ruin. Dissembled piety is double iniquity, and the ruin that
attends it will be accordingly.
Commentary on Job 20:10-22
(Read Job 20:10-22)
The miserable condition of the wicked man in this world
is fully set forth. The lusts of the flesh are here called the sins of his
youth. His hiding it and keeping it under his tongue, denotes concealment of
his beloved lust, and delight therein. But He who knows what is in the heart,
knows what is under the tongue, and will discover it. The love of the world,
and of the wealth of it, also is wickedness, and man sets his heart upon these.
Also violence and injustice, these sins bring God's judgments upon nations and
families. Observe the punishment of the wicked man for these things. Sin is
turned into gall, than which nothing is more bitter; it will prove to him
poison; so will all unlawful gains be. In his fulness he shall be in straits,
through the anxieties of his own mind. To be led by the sanctifying grace of
God to restore what was unjustly gotten, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy. But
to be forced to restore by the horrors of a despairing conscience, as Judas
was, has no benefit and comfort attending it.
Commentary on Job 20:23-29
(Read Job 20:23-29)
Zophar, having described the vexations which attend wicked
practices, shows their ruin from God's wrath. There is no fence against this,
but in Christ, who is the only Covert from the storm and tempest, Isaiah 32:2. Zophar concludes, "This is the
portion of a wicked man from God;" it is allotted him. Never was any
doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who intended
to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explanation, and make a
better application, for warning to ourselves, to stand in awe and sin not. One
view of Jesus, directed by the Holy Spirit, and by him suitably impressed upon
our souls, will quell a thousand carnal reasonings about the suffering of the
faithful.
── Matthew Henry《Concise Commentary on Job》
Job 20
Verse 2
[2] Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for
this I make haste.
Therefore — For this thy severe sentence.
Make haste — I speak sooner than I intended.
And possibly interrupted Job, when he was proceeding in his discourse.
Verse 3
[3] I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of
my understanding causeth me to answer.
The check — Thy opprobrious reproofs of us.
Understanding — I speak, not from passion, but
certain knowledge.
Verse 4
[4] Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon
earth,
This — Which I am now about to say.
Since — Since the world was made.
Verse 6
[6] Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his
head reach unto the clouds;
Though — Though he be advanced to great dignity and authority.
Verse 11
[11] His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall
lie down with him in the dust.
Bones — His whole body, even the strongest parts of it.
The sin — Of the punishment of it.
Verse 12
[12] Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide
it under his tongue;
Mouth — To his taste; though it greatly please him for the
present.
Hide — As an epicure doth a sweet morsel, which he keeps and
rolls about his mouth, that he may longer enjoy the pleasure of it.
Verse 14
[14] Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of
asps within him.
Turned — From sweet to bitter.
Gall of asps — Exceeding bitter and pernicious.
Gall is most bitter; the gall of serpents is full of poison; and the poison of
asps is most dangerous and within a few hours kills without remedy.
Verse 15
[15] He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them
up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
Vomit — Be forced to restore them.
God, … — If no man's hand can reach him, God shall find him
out.
Verse 17
[17] He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of
honey and butter.
See — Not enjoy that abundant satisfaction and comfort,
which good men through God's blessings enjoy.
Verse 18
[18] That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall
not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and
he shall not rejoice therein.
Swallow — So as to hold it. He shall not possess it long, nor to
any considerable purpose. Yea, he shall be forced to part with his estate to
make compensations for his wrongs. So that he shall not enjoy what he had
gotten, because it shall be taken from him.
Verse 20
[20] Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he
shall not save of that which he desired.
Belly — He shall have no peace in his mind.
Desired — Any part of his desirable things, but shall forfeit
and lose them all.
Verse 21
[21] There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no
man look for his goods.
Therefore — It being publickly known that he
was totally ruined, none of his kindred shall trouble themselves about any
relicks of his estate.
Verse 22
[22] In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in
straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
In, … — In the height of prosperity he shall be distressed.
Hand, … — So his wickedness shall be punished by those as wicked
as himself.
Verse 23
[23] When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the
fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
Rain — This phrase denotes both the author of his plagues,
God, and the nature and quality of them, that they shall come upon him like
rain; with great vehemency, so that he cannot prevent or avoid it.
Eating — As it fell upon thy sons.
Verse 24
[24] He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel
shall strike him through.
Flee — From the sword or spear; and so shall think him self
out of danger.
Verse 25
[25] It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the
glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
It — The arrow, which had entered into his body, and now
was drawn out of it either by himself or some other person; having in general
said, that it came out of his body, he determines also the part of the body,
the gall; which shews that the wound was both deep and deadly.
Terrors — The terrors of death; because he perceived his wound
was incurable.
Verse 26
[26] All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire
not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his
tabernacle.
Darkness — All sorts of miseries.
Hid — Or, laid up; by God for him. It is reserved and
treasured up for him, and shall infallibly overtake him.
Secret — In those places where he confidently hopes to hide
himself from all evil: even there God shall find him out.
Not blown — By man, but kindled by God
himself. He thinks by his might and violence to secure himself from men, but
God will find him out.
With him — With his family, who shall inherit his curse as well
as his estate.
Verse 27
[27] The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth
shall rise up against him.
Heaven — God shall be a swift witness against him by
extraordinary judgments; still he reflects upon Job's case, and the fire from
heaven.
Earth — All creatures upon earth shall conspire to destroy
him. If the God of heaven and earth be his enemy, neither heaven nor earth will
shew him any kindness, but all the host of both are, and will he at war with
him.
Verse 28
[28] The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods
shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
Increase of his house — His estate.
Depart — Shall be lost.
Flow — Like waters, swiftly and strongly, and so as to return
no more.
His — Of God's wrath.
Verse 29
[29] This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the
heritage appointed unto him by God.
Heritage — Heb. the heritage; so called, to denote the stability
and assurance of it, that it is as firm as an inheritance to the right heir;
and in opposition to that inheritance which he had gotten by fraud and
violence.
── John Wesley《Explanatory Notes on Job》
20 Chapter 20
Verses 1-29
Verse 4-5
That the triumphing of the wicked is short.
The triumph of the wicked
The words of the text are indisputably true, though misapplied. In
the world there is, alas! very often a triumphing of the wicked. Sometimes We
see it on a grand scale, as in the cases of Pharaoh, or of Nero. Sometimes we
see it on a small scale. There is great mystery in this apparent triumph of
evil. Many a suffering saint has been perplexed by this feature of the Divine
government (Psalms 23:1-6).
I. Some thoughts
as to why the wicked should be allowed to triumph for a season.
1. God is a God of patience and long-suffering. He does not cut short
the day of grace, even of the most ungodly, but gives them space for
repentance. And even if this is of no avail, yet it is a display of His own
attributes, and leaves the impenitent more completely without excuse.
2. This triumph may be permitted for a time, as a chastisement to His
people, or to His world. God uses the wicked as unconscious instruments in
executing His will, and especially in inflicting chastisement on His
backsliding people.
II. There is
another, and how different a triumph, the triumph of the Christian. His triumph
is not over the weak and suffering, but over the strong--the world, the flesh,
the devil. (George Wagner.)
The triumphing of the wicked short
I. The triumph
mentioned. The term used by Zophar is of very general meaning. It signifies the
joy which is displayed by the conqueror on account of the successes which have
attended him. It is to be understood as referring to the boast which ungodly
men often make of their achievements. The term applies to the general conduct
of all those who set God’s laws at defiance, and by their life show who take
pleasure in the ways of sin. The enjoyment of transgression is the triumph of
ungodliness.
II. The shortness
of the triumphs of man.
1. In regard to the object itself. It is a conquest which
circumstances put into their hands. But see how unstable is war.
2. The expression is also true as it regards the term of human life.
The period allotted to man, even the longest period, is only a small portion of
time. Death will soon overtake the ungodly, and put a final termination to all
his plans and purposes; he will hurry the soul before the Judge of quick and
dead, to give account of the deeds done in the body. Then will appear the value
of the one thing needful. This subject teaches the people of God not to
despond, not to judge or conclude that the wicked are happy, because they seem
to prosper and triumph. It teaches the believer the obligations under which he
lies to God for grace--grace which has enlightened his mind--grace which has
led him to Christ, to believe in Him, and find mercy and peace--grace which has
guided his steps, and enabled him to bear patiently all the ills of life, in
the hope of a triumph forever. (F. Rogers Blackley.)
And the joy of the
hypocrite but for a moment.
Against hypocrisy
Prejudice or passion will miserably warp the judgment. It will
hide from us what we know not, and cause us to pervert what we do know. This is
exemplified in the friends of Job. Job had hinted to them the evil and danger
of their conduct (Job 19:28-29). And Zophar, irritated at
the caution, replies with great severity. His words, however, though
misapplied, suggest to us two very important truths respecting sinners.
I. Their
prosperity is transient. Of sinners, some make no profession of religion, and
others a false profession. Each of these characters may enjoy, for a while,
great prosperity the profane are often exalted to places of dignity and power.
They prosper in all their labours for wealth and preferment. They “triumph,” as
though no evil should ever happen unto them (Psalms 73:3-12). Hypocrites also
frequently are held in estimation (Revelation 3:1). They are objects of envy
to many an humble and contrite soul. They will boast of experiences which might
well be coveted. And even attain considerable heights of joy (Matthew 13:20). But their prosperity will
be of short duration. The hypocrite shall have a period put to his
dissimulation. He shall soon appear in his proper character (Deuteronomy 32:35). In comparison of
eternity, the duration of his joy will be “but a moment.”
II. their ruin will
be tremendous. The ungodly will in due time be visited for their offences. They
will then “perish.”
1. To their own eternal shame.
2. To the astonishment of all that knew them. The question “Where is
he?” refers primarily to the utter extinction of the ungodly. Address--“Know
you not this?” Know you not that this has been so from the beginning of the
world? Does not the Word of God assert that” it shall be ill with the wicked”?
(Isaiah 3:11; Psalms 9:17.) Does not the
most authentic history in the world prove it to have been so? (Sketches of
Sermons.)
Verse 8
He shall fly away as a dream.
The dream of life
Job, in the text, speaks of life as a “dream,” a mere passing
phantom of the brain.
I. A dream implies
a dormancy in certain faculties of our nature. The flitting visions of the
brain at night always imply the slumbering state of certain powers of the soul.
The will has but little to do with the creations of the dream world. In what
sense is the soul asleep? What are the faculties that lie dormant within us?
There are those that consciously connect the spirit with the spiritual
universe--God and moral responsibilities. But spiritual sleep is unnatural and
injurious.
II. A dream fills
the mind with illusive visions. The mind sees things in the dreams of the night
that never will and that never can have any actual existence. Like dreams, our
life here is full of fictions and fancies.
1. Man’s notions as to what his life here will be are illusions.
2. Man’s notions as to what constitutes the dignities and blessedness
of life are illusions. Compare the world’s ideas of dignity with the dictates
of common sense, the teaching of philosophy, to say nothing of the higher light
of revelation. All notions of dignity and happiness are illusive which have
not--
III. A dream is of
very short duration. The night dreams of men are very brief, compared with the
regular thoughts of their waking hours. Like a dream, life too is brief. This
life dream will soon be over. (Homilist.)
Verse 11
His bones are full Of the sin of his youth.
The sins of youth
I. The state or
condition of a wicked man. “His bones are full of the sin of his youth.”
1. The sin. “Youthful pranks.” By youthful sins we may understand
either kinds of sin, or the time of sin. Corrupt nature, though it cleave to
all conditions of life, does not put forth itself alike in all. There are lusts
that youth is more especially subject unto. Such as vanity both of spirit and
conversation. Flexibility to evil. Easily wrought upon, and drawn away and
enticed to that which is evil. Unteachableness. Wax to temptation and flint to
admonition. Impetuousness; intemperance; uncleanness.
2. The punishment of sin. “His bones are full of them.” The Spirit of
God would hereby signify to us the sad and miserable condition of an obdurate
and impenitent sinner that has lived for a long time in a course of sin. The
word “bones” may be taken either in a corporal or in a spiritual sense. There
are many in old age who feel the sins of their youth in their body, their
“bones.” There are diseases which attend on vicious courses, and hasten bodily
destruction. Some kinds of sin God punishes even in this present life. But by
“bones” we may understand the spirit, and more particularly the conscience.
There is the remembrance of sin in the soul. Sin will stick in the conscience
for a long while after the commission of it. God charges the guilt of the sins
of youth upon men’s souls when the things themselves are past and gone. He rubs
up their memories and brings their sins to remembrance. He convinces the
judgment as to the nature of the sins themselves. He afflicts them also for
them. This is all as true of secret as of open sins. The reasons why God
proceeds against sins of youth are these:
3. The sins of youth are a foundation of more sin. Various
improvements of the subject. To those who are young, that from hence they would
be so much the more careful and watchful of themselves. We should all study to
consecrate and devote our best time to God and to His service. Those who have
the care of youth should have a more watchful eye upon them. The aged may well
pray with the Psalmist, “Remember not the sins of my youth.” Take up a general
lamentation of the great exorbitancies and irregularities of youth, especially
in these days. Notice the extent or amplification of the condition in these
words, “Which shall lie down with him in the dust.” This denotes the
continuance of a wicked man’s sin. It begins with him betimes, for it is the sin
of his youth, and it lasts with him a long while; for it follows him even into
another world. Two ways in which sin is said to “lie down in the dust.” First,
in regard to the stain of it, and then with regard to the guilt of it. There
are two things in Christ which are great arguments for closing with Him. There
is holiness answerable to pollution, and there is pardon answerable to guilt. (T.
Horton, D.D.)
Youth the root of age
It should be borne in mind that in old age it is too late to mend,
that then you must inhabit what you have built. Old age has the foundation of
its joy or its sorrow laid in youth. You are building at twenty. Are you
building for seventy? Nay, every stone laid in the foundation takes hold of
every stone in the wall up to the very eaves of the building; and every deed,
right or wrong, that transpires in youth, reaches forward, and has a relation
to all the after-part of man’s life. (H.W. Beecher.)
Sins and their punishments
There are seven sorts of special sins.
1. Such as appertain to and most commonly show themselves in this or
that age of man’s life.
2. There are sins more proper to some countries and places.
3. To the season or times wherein we live.
4. There are special sins of men’s special callings, dealings, and
tradings in the world
5. Of their conditions, whether poor or rich, great or small.
6. There are special sins following the constitution of the body,
whether sanguine, choleric, phlegmatic, or melancholy.
7. There are special sins hanging about our relations. The bones of
some are full of the sins of their relations and constitutions; the bones of
others are full of the sins of their conditions and callings; the bones of not
a few are full of the sins of the place, time or age wherein they live. The
bones of many are full of that special age of their lives, their youth. The
sins of their youth age are visible in their old age, and the sins of their
first age prove the sorrows of their last. Till sin be repented of and
pardoned, the punishment of it remains. The punishment of sin reacheth as far
as sin reacheth. All the sins of youth remain in and upon the oldest of
impenitent persons. It is the greatest misery to persevere in sin. (Joseph
Caryl.)
The sin of youth
We commonly say, it is not the last blow of the axe that fells the
oak; perhaps the last may be a weaker blow than any of the former, but the
other blows made way for the felling of it, and at length a little blow comes
and completes it. So our former sins may be the things that make way for our
ruin, and then at length some lesser sins may accomplish it. (J. Burroughs.)
The enduring effects of early transgression
The season of youth should be passed religiously, if old age is to
be honourable, and if death is to be conquered. The sins of our younger days
pursue us through life, and even “lie down with us in the dust.”
1. How difficult and almost impossible it is, in reference to the
present scene of being, to make up by after diligence for time lost in youth.
It is appointed by God that one stage of life should be strictly preparatory to
another. It is also appointed that neglect of the several duties of any one
stage shall leave consequences not to be repaired by any attention, however
intense, to those of a following. If there have been neglected boyhood, so that
the mind’s powers have not been disciplined, nor its chambers stored with
information, the consequences will propagate themselves to the extreme line of
life. Just because there has been negligence in youth, the man must be wanting
to the end of his days in acquirements of whose worth he is perpetually
reminded, and which, comparatively speaking, are not to be gained except at one
period of his life. The same truth is exemplified in reference to bodily
health. The man who has injured his constitution by the excesses of youth,
cannot repair the mischief by after acts of self-denial. The seeds of disease
which have been sown whilst passions were fresh and ungoverned, are not to be
eradicated by the severest moral regimen which may afterwards be prescribed and
followed. The possession of the iniquities of youth which we wish most to
exhibit is that which affects men when stirred with anxiety for the soul, and
desirous to seek and obtain the pardon of sin. Take the case of a man who
spends the best years of his life in the neglect of God, and the things of
another world. It is not necessary that we suppose him one of the openly
profligate. If awakened to a sense of sin, such a man is very likely to defer
resolute action till death overtakes him. On the most favourable supposition
the mind finds it most difficult to forsake sin and change his conduct. The
carelessness of today inevitably adds to the carelessness of tomorrow.
Beginning with attachment to this world, men bind themselves with a cord to
which every hour will weave a new thread. And however genuine and effectual the
repentance and faith of a late period of life, it is unavoidable that the
remembrance of misspent years will embitter those which are consecrated to God.
By lengthening the period of irreligion, and therefore diminishing that of
obedience to God, we almost place ourselves amongst the last of the competitors
for the kingdom of heaven. If we devote but a fraction of our days to the
striving for the reward promised to Christ’s servants, there is an almost
certainty that only the lowest of those rewards will come within our reach. The
iniquities of youth will hang like lead on the wings of his soul, restraining
its ascendings, and forbidding its reaching those loftier points in immortality
which might have been attained by a longer striving. (Henry Melvill, B.D.)
The sin of youth in the bones of age
Expositors differ in their exposition of a text in which so
material a word as “the sin” is supplied by our translators. “His bones are
full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the
dust”--the italicised words not occurring in the original. The Vulgate version
is in favour of ours, “His bones are full of the sins of his youth”; while the
Septuagint has it, “His bones are full of his youth”; in accordance with which
rendering, Gesenius and others take the passage to mean, full of vigour, so
that the man is cut off in his physical prime. Dr. Good’s reading is, “His
secret sins shall follow his bones, yea, they shall press upon him in the dust.”
Others take the literal Hebrew, “His bones are full of secret things,” to refer
to the hidden, long-cherished faults of his life--the corrupt habits secretly
indulged, which would “adhere to him, leaving a withering influence on his
whole system in advancing years.” “His secret lusts would work his certain
ruin,” the effect being that which, as a popular commentator says, is so often
seen, when vices corrupt the very physical frame, and where the results are
seen far on in future life. In this sense be the text accepted here. Graphic,
after the manner of the man, is Dr. South’s picture of the old age that comes
to wail upon what he calls a “great and worshipful sinner,” who for many years
together has had the reputation of eating well and doing ill. “It comes (as it
ought to do to a person of such quality) attended with a long train and retinue
of rheums, coughs, catarrhs, and dropsies, together with many painful girds and
achings, which are at least called the gout. How does such a one go about, or
is carried rather, with his body bending inward, his head shaking, and his eyes
always watering (instead of weeping) for the sins of his ill-spent youth: In a
word, old age seizes upon such a person like fire upon a rotten house; it was
rotten before, and must have fallen of itself, so that it is no more but one
ruin preventing another.” Virtue, we are admonished, is a friend and a help to
nature; but it is vice and luxury that destroy it, and the diseases of
intemperance are the natural product of the sins of intemperance. “Chastity
makes no work for a chirurgeon, nor ever ends in rottenness of bones.” Whereas,
sin is the fruitful parent of distempers, and ill lives occasion good
physicians. (Francis Jacox.)
Verses 12-14
Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth.
The woe of the wicked
I. The disposition
of a wicked man in regard to sin.
1. His complacency in it. “It is sweet to his mouth.” A metaphor
taken from natural food, which is pleasing and delightful to the taste, which
is seated in the mouth or palate. So is sin to the carnal heart. It is very
sweet and refreshing to it. Especially in the first embracing or entertaining
of it. The ground hereof is this. It is suitable and connatural to him. We may
judge of the delight which a wicked person has in sin, by the measure of a
gracious person’s delight in goodness. Satan enlarges and advances things to
them, and makes them seem greater than they are.
2. His concealment of it. “He hides it under his tongue.” This wicked
persons do, either by speaking for sin, or by speaking against it. They speak
for it by denying it, or diminishing it, or defending it.
3. His indulgence or favourableness towards it. He spares it, and
does not forsake it. He spares it, as to matter of search and inquiry; as to
matter of resistance and opposition; as to matter of expulsion, and ejection,
and mortification. He does not forsake it. He never forsakes his sin, till his
sin forsake him, and he can keep it no longer. A man cannot be said to forsake
any sin in particular, who does not forsake the way of sin in general.
II. The effect of
sin to a wicked man. “Yet his meat,” etc. In the general, “His meat within his
bowels is turned.” In the particular, “It is as the gall of asps within him.”
This figure represents the bitterness and the perniciousness of sin. Use and
improvement.
1. Beware of being taken with any sinful way or course whatsoever,
from the seeming sweetness that is in it.
2. Do not please thyself in the covering and concealing of sin.
3. Or in self-security and presumption.
4. Use Christian prudence to see the plague afar off, to hide
yourselves from it. (T. Horton, D.D.)
Verse 19
Because he hath oppressed, and hath forsaken the poor.
Social wickedness
What is it that excites all this Divine antagonism and judgment?
Was the object of it a theological heretic? Was the man pronounced wicked
because he had imbibed certain wrong notions? Was this a case of heterodoxy of
creed being punished by the outpouring of the vials of Divine wrath? Look at
the words again. His philanthropy was wrong. The man was wicked
socially--wicked in relation to his fellow men. All wickedness is not of a
theological nature and quality, rising upward into the region of metaphysical
conceptions and definitions of the Godhead, which only the learned can present
or comprehend; there is a lateral wickedness, a wickedness as between man and man,
rich and poor, poor and rich young and old; a household wickedness, a market
place iniquity. There we stand on solid rock. If you have been led away with
the thought that wickedness is a theological conception, and a species of
theological nightmare, you have only to read the Bible, in its complete sense,
in order to see that judgment is pronounced upon what may be called lateral
wickedness--the wickedness that operates among ourselves, that wrongs mankind,
that keeps a false weight, and a short measure, that practises cunning and
deceit upon the simple and innocent, that fleeces the unsuspecting,--a social
wickedness that stands out that it may be seen in all its black hideousness,
and valued as one of the instruments of the devil. There is no escape from the
judgment of the Bible. If it pronounced judgment upon false opinions only, then
men might profess to be astounded by terms they cannot comprehend: but the
Bible goes into the family, the market place, the counting house, the field
where the labourer toils, and insists upon judging the actions of men, and upon
sending away the richest man from all his bank of gold, if he have oppressed
and forsaken the poor. (Joseph Parker, D.D.)
──《The Biblical Illustrator》