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CHAPTER 20 
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Zophar answers Job, and largely details the
wretchedness of the wicked and the hypocrite;
shows that the rejoicing of such is short and
transitory, 1-9.
That he is punished in his
family and in his person, 10-14.
That he shall be
stripped of his ill-gotten wealth, and shall be
in misery, though in the midst of affluence, 15-23.
He shall at last die a violent death, and his family
and property be finally destroyed, 24-29.
Chapter 20
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Verse 2 . Therefore do my
thoughts
It has already been observed
that Zophar was the most inveterate of all Job's
enemies, for we really must cease to call them
friends. He sets no bounds to his invective, and
outrages every rule of charity. A man of such a bitter
spirit must have been, in general, very unhappy. With
him Job is, by insinuation, every thing that is base,
vile, and hypocritical. Mr. Good translates this
verse thus: "Whither would my tumult transport me? And
how far my agitation within me?" This is all the modesty
that appears in Zophar's discourse. He acknowledges that
he is pressed by the impetuosity of his spirit to reply
to Job's self-vindication. The original is variously
translated, but the sense is as above.
For this I make
haste.
ubaabur chushi bi,
there is sensibility in me, and my
feelings provoke me to reply.
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Verse 3. I have heard the
check of my reproach
Some suppose
that Zophar quotes the words of Job, and that some words
should be supplied to indicate this meaning; e.g., "I
have heard (sayest thou) the check or charge of my
reproach?" Or it may refer to what says of Zophar and
his companions, Job
19:2,3: How long will ye vex may soul-these ten
times have ye reproached me. Zophar therefore
assumes his old ground, and retracts nothing of what he
had said. Like many of his own complexion in the present
day, he was determined to believe that his
judgment was infallible, and that he could not
err.
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Verse 4. Knowest thou not
this of old
This is a maxim as
ancient as the world; it began with the first man: A
wicked man shall triumph but a short time; God will
destroy the proud doer.
Since man was placed upon
earth
Literally, since ADAM
was placed on the earth; that is, since the
fall, wickedness and hypocrisy have existed; but
they have never triumphed long. Thou hast lately
been expressing confidence in reference to a general
judgment; but such is thy character, that thou hast
little reason to anticipate with any joy the decisions
of that day.
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Verse 6. Though his excellency
mount up to the heavens
Probably
referring to the original state of Adam, of whose fall
he appears to have spoken, Job
20:4. He was created in the image of God; but
by his sin against his Maker he fell into wretchedness,
misery, death, and destruction.
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Verse 7. He shall perish for
ever
He is dust, and shall
return to the dust from which he was taken. Zophar here
hints his disbelief in that doctrine, the resurrection
of the body, which Job had so solemnly asserted in the
preceding chapter. Or he might have been like some in
the present day, who believe that the wicked shall be
annihilated, and the bodies of the righteous only be
raised from the dead; but I know of no scripture by
which such a doctrine is confirmed.
Like his own
dung
His reputation shall be
abominable, and his putrid carcass shall resemble his
own excrement. A speech that partakes as much of the
malevolence as of the asperity of Zophar's spirit.
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Verse 8. He shall fly away as
a dream
Instead of rising again from
corruption, as thou hast asserted, 19:26,)
with a new body, his flesh shall rot in the earth, and
his spirit be dissipated like a vapour; and, like a
vision of the night, nothing shall remain but the bare
impression that such a creature had once existed, but
shall appear no more for ever.
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Verse 10. His children shall
seek to please the poor
They shall be
reduced to the lowest degree of poverty and want, so as
to be obliged to become servants to the poor. Cursed
be Ham, a servant of servants shall he be.
There are cases where the poor actually serve the poor;
and this is the lowest or most abject state of poverty.
His hands shall restore
their goods.
He shall be obliged to
restore the goods that he has taken by violence.
Mr. Good translates: His branches shall be
involved in his iniquity; i.e., his children
shall suffer on his account. "His own hands shall render
to himself the evil that he has done to
others."-Calmet. The clause is variously
translated.
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Verse 11. His bones are
full of the sin of his youth
Our translators have followed the VULGATE, Ossa
ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiae ejus;
"his bones shall be filled with the sins of his youth."
The SYRIAC and ARABIC have, his bones are full
of marrow; and the TARGUM is to the same sense.
At first view it might appear that Zophar refers to
those infirmities in old age, which are the consequences
of youthful vices and irregularities. alumau,
which we translate his youth, may be rendered
his hidden things; as if he had said,
his secret vices bring down his strength to the
dust. For this rendering Rosenmuller contends,
and several other German critics. Mr. Good
contends for the same.
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Verse 12. Though wickedness be
sweet in his mouth
This seems to
refer to the secret sins mentioned above.
Hide it under his
tongue
This and the four
following verses contain an allegory; and the reference
is to a man who, instead of taking wholesome food, takes
what is poisonous, and is so delighted with it
because it is sweet, that he rolls it under his tongue,
and will scarcely let it down into his stomach, he is so
delighted with the taste; "he spares it, and forsakes it
not, but keeps it still within his mouth," Job
20:13. "But when he swallows it, it is turned to the
gall of asps within him," Job
20:14, which shall corrode and torture his bowels.
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Verse 15. He shall vomit them
up again
This is also an allusion to
an effect of most ordinary poisons; they occasion
a nausea, and often excruciating vomiting; nature
striving to eject what it knows, if retained, will be
its bane.
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Verse 16. He shall suck the
poison of asps
That delicious morsel,
that secret, easily-besetting sin, so palatable,
and so pleasurable, shall act on the life of his soul,
as the poison of asps would do on the life of his body.
The poison is called the gall of asps, it
being anciently supposed that the poison of
serpents consists in their gall, which is
thought to be copiously exuded when those animals are
enraged; as it has been often seen that their
bite is not poisonous when they are not
angry. Pliny, in speaking of the various
parts of animals, Hist. Nat. lib. xi., c. 37,
states, from this circumstance, that in the gall, the
poison of serpents consists; ne quis miretur id
(fel) venenum esse serpentum. And in lib.
xxviii., c. 9, he ranks the gall of horses among
the poisons: Damnatur (fel) equinum tantum
inter venena. We see, therefore, that the
gall was considered to be the source whence the
poison of serpents was generated, not only in Arabia,
but also in Italy.
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Verse 17. He shall not see the
rivers
Mr. Good has the
following judicious note on this passage: "Honey and
butter are the common results of a rich, well-watered
pasturage, offering a perpetual banquet of grass to
kine, and of nectar to bees; and thus loading the
possessor with the most luscious luxuries of pastoral
life, peculiarly so before the discovery of the means of
obtaining sugar. The expression appears to have
been proverbial; and is certainly used here to denote a
very high degree of temporal prosperity." See also Job
29:6. To the Hebrews such expressions were quite
familiar. See Exodus
3:8;; 13:5;;
33:3;
2 Kings
18:32; ; Deuteronomy
31:20, and elsewhere.
The Greek and Roman writers abound in such images.
Milk and honey were such delicacies with the
ancients, that Pindar compares his song to them
for its smoothness and sweetness:-
(οις ),
PIND. Nem. iii., ver. 133.
"Hail, friend! to thee I tune my song; For thee its
mingled sweets prepare; Mellifluous
accents pour along; Verse, pure as milk, to thee
I bear; On all thy actions falls the dew of praise;
Pierian draughts thy thirst of fame assuage, And
breathing flutes thy songs of triumph raise." J. B. C.
Qui te, Pollio, amat, veniat, quo te quoque gaudet;
Mella fluant illi, ferat et rubus asper
amomum. VIRG. Ecl. iii., ver. 88.
"Who Pollio loves, and who his muse admires; Let
Pollio's fortune crown his full desires Let
myrrh, instead of thorn, his fences fill;
And showers of honey from his oaks
distil!" DRYDEN.
OVID, describing the golden age, employs the
same image:-
Flumina jam lactis, jam flumina
nectaris ibant; Flavaque de viridi
stillabant ilice mella. Metam. lib. i., ver.
3.
"Floods were with milk, and
floods with nectar, fill'd; And
honey from the sweating oak distill'd."
DRYDEN.
HORACE employs a similar image in nearly the same
words:-
Mella cava manant ex ilice, montibus
altis; Levis crepante lympha desilit pede.
Epod. xvi., ver. 46.
"From hollow oaks, where honey'd
streams distil, And bounds with noisy foot the
pebbled rill." FRANCIS.
employs the same metaphor, Job
29:6:-
When I washed my steps with butter, And the
rock poured out to me rivers of oil.
Isaiah, also, Isaiah
7:22, uses the same when describing the produce of a
heifer and two ewes:-
From the plenty of milk that they shall
produce, He shall eat butter: butter and
honey shall he eat, Whosoever is left in the
midst of the land.
And Joel, Joel
3:18:-
And it shall come to pass in that day, The mountains
shall drop down new wine, And the hills shall
flow with milk; And all the rivers of
Judah shall flow with waters.
These expressions denote fertility and
abundance; and are often employed to point out
the excellence of the promised land, which is
frequently denominated a land flowing with milk and
honey: and even the superior blessings of the
Gospel are thus characterized, Isaiah
51:1.
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Verse 18. That which he
laboureth for shall he restore
I prefer here the reading of the Arabic,
which is also supported by the Syriac, and is
much nearer to the Hebrew text than the common
version. He shall return to labour, but he shall not
eat; he shall toil, and not be permitted to enjoy
the fruit of his labour. The whole of this verse Mr.
Good thus translates:-
"To labour shall he return, but he shall not eat. A
dearth his recompense: yea, nothing shall
he taste."
It may be inquired how Mr. Good arrives at
this meaning. It is by considering the word
yaalos, which we translate he shall
rejoice, as the Arabic [Arabic] alasa, "he
ate, drank, tasted;" and the word kehil, which we
make a compound word, keeheyl, "according to
substance," to be the pure Arabic word [Arabic]
kahala, "it was fruitless," applied to a year of
dearth: hence kahlan, "a barren year."
Conceiving these two to be pure Arabic words, for
which he seems to have sufficient authority, he renders
temuratho, his recompense, as in Job
15:31, and not restitution, as here.
The general meaning is, He shall labour and toil, but
shall not reap, for God shall send on his land blasting
and mildew. Houbigant translates the verse thus:
Reddet labore partum; neque id absumet;
copiosae fuerunt mercaturae ejus, sed illis non
fruetur. "He shall restore what he gained by
labour, nor shall he consume it; his merchandises were
abundant, but he shall not enjoy them." O, how doctors
disagree! Old Coverdale gives a good sense, which
is no unfrequent thing with this venerable translator:-
But laboure shal he, and yet have nothinge to
eate; great travayle shal he make for riches, but
he shal not enjoye them.
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Verse 19. He hath
oppressed and hath forsaken the
poor
Literally, He hath broken in
pieces the forsaken of the poor; ki ritstsats
azab dallim. The poor have fled from famine, and
left their children behind them; and this hard-hearted
wretch, meaning Job all the while, has suffered them to
perish, when he might have saved them alive.
He hath violently taken away
a house which he builded not
Or
rather, He hath thrown down a house, and hath not
rebuilt it. By neglecting or destroying the forsaken
orphans of the poor, mentioned above, he has destroyed a
house, (a family,) while he might, by helping the
wretched, have preserved the family from becoming
extinct.
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Verse 20. Surely he shall not
feel quietness in his belly
I have
already remarked that the word beten, which we
translate belly, often means in the sacred
Scriptures the whole of the human trunk; the regions of
the thorax and abdomen, with their
contents; the heart, lungs, liver, thoughts,
purposes, and inclinations of the mind, of
which those viscera were supposed to be the
functionaries. The meaning seems to be, "He shall never
be satisfied; he shall have an endless desire after
secular good, and shall never be able to obtain what he
covets."
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Verse 21. There shall none of
his meat be left
Coverdale
translates thus: He devoured so gredily, that he left
nothinge behynde, therefore his goodes shal not
prospere. He shall be stripped of every thing.
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Verse 22. In the fullness of
his sufficiency he shall be in
straits
This is a fine saying, and
few of the menders of Job's text have been able to
improve the version. It is literally true of every
great, rich, wicked man; he has no God, and anxieties
and perplexities torment him, notwithstanding he has his
portion in this life.
Every hand of the wicked
shall come upon him.
All kinds of
misery shall be his portion. Coverdale
translates: Though he had plenteousnesse of
every thinge, yet was he poore; and, therefore,
he is but a wretch on every syde.
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Verse 23. When he is about to
fill his belly
Here seems a plain
allusion to the lustings of the children of Israel in
the desert. God showered down quails upon
them, and showered down his wrath while the flesh was in
their mouth. The allusion is too plain to be mistaken;
and this gives some countenance to the bishop of
Killala's version of the 20th verse, Job
20:20:-
"Because he acknowledged not the quail in his
stomach, In the midst of his delight he shall not
escape."
That which we translate quietness, means a
quail, also the history of the Hebrews' lustings,
Exodus
16:2-11, and ; Numbers
11:31-35, sufficiently proves. Let the reader mark
all the expressions here, Job
20:20-23, and compare them with ; Numbers
11:31-35, and he will probably be of opinion that
Zophar has that history immediately in view, which
speaks of the Hebrews' murmurings for bread and flesh,
and the miraculous showers of manna and
quails, and the judgments that fell on them for
their murmurings. Let us compare a few passages:-
Ver. 20. He shall not feel
quietness
selav, the quail.
"He shall not save of that which he desired."
Ver. 21: There shall none of
his meat be left.
Exodus
16:19: "Let no man leave of it till the morning."
Ver. 22. In the fulness of
his sufficiency, he shall be in
straits.
Exodus
16:20: "But some of them left of it until the
morning, and it bred worms and stank."
Ver. 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.
Numbers
11:33: "And while the flesh was yet between their
teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was
kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the
people with a very great plague." Psalms
78:26-30: "He rained flesh upon them as dust, and
feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea: so they did
eat and were filled-but, while the meat was in their
mouth, the wrath of God came upon them,"
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Verse 24. He shall flee from
the iron weapon
Or, "Though he should
flee from the iron armour, the brazen bow should strike
him through." So that yf he fle the yron weapens, he
shal be shott with the stele
bow.-Coverdale. That is, he shall most
certainly perish: all kinds of deaths await him.
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Verse 25. It is drawn, and
cometh out
This refers to
archery: The arrow is drawn out of the
sheaf or quiver, and discharged from the bow against its
mark, and pierces the vitals, and passes through the
body. So Coverdale.-The arowe shal be taken
forth, and go out at his backe.
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Verse 26. A fire not blown
shall consume him
As Zophar is here
showing that the wicked cannot escape from the Divine
judgments; so he points out the different instruments
which God employs for their destruction. The wrath of
God-any secret or supernatural curse. The iron
weapon-the spear or such like. The bow, and
its swift-flying arrow. Darkness-deep
horror and perplexity. A fire not blown-a
supernatural fire; lightning: such as fell on
Korah, and his company, to whose destruction there is
probably here an allusion: hence the words, It shall
go ill with him who is left in his
tabernacle. "And the Lord spake unto Moses and
Aaron, Separate yourselves from among this congregation,
that I may consume them in a moment. Get ye up from
about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Depart from the tents of these wicked men.
There came out a fire from the Lord and consumed the two
hundred and fifty men that offered incense;" Numbers
16:20,
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Verse 27. The heaven shall
reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up
against him.
Another allusion, if I
mistake not, to the destruction of Korah and his
company. The heaven revealed their iniquity; God
declared out of heaven his judgment of their rebellion.
"And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the
congregation;" Numbers
16:20, the earth rose up against them. "The
ground clave asunder that was under them, and the earth
opened her mouth and swallowed them up; and they went
down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon
them;" Numbers
16:31-33.
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Verse
28. The increase of his house shall
depart, and his goods shall
flow away in the day of his wrath.
A
farther allusion to the punishment of the rebellious
company of Korah, who not only perished
themselves, but their houses also, and
their goods. Numbers
16:32.
These examples were all in point, on the ground
assumed by Zophar; and such well-attested facts would
not be passed over by him, had he known the record of
them; and that he did know it, alludes to it, and quotes
the very circumstances, is more than probable.
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Verse 29. This is the
portion
As God has dealt with the
murmuring Israelites, and with the rebellious
sons of Korah, so will he deal with those who
murmur against the dispensations of his
providence, and rebel against his
authority. Instead of an earthly portion,
and an ecclesiastical heritage, such as Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram sought; they shall have fire
from God to scorch them, and the
earth to swallow them up.
Dr. Stock, bishop of Killala, who has noticed
the allusion to the quails, and for which he has
been most unmeritedly ridiculed, gives us the following
note on the passage:-
"Here I apprehend is a fresh example of the known
usage of Hebrew poets, in adorning their compositions by
allusions to facts in the history of their own people.
It has escaped all the interpreters; and it is the more
important, because it fixes the date of this poem, so
far as to prove its having been composed
subsequently to the transgression of Israel, at
Kibroth Hattaavah, recorded in Numbers
11:33,34. Because the wicked acknowledges not the
quail, that is, the meat with which God has
filled his stomach; but, like the ungrateful Israelites,
crammed, and blasphemed his feeder, as
Milton finely expresses it, he shall experience
the same punishment with them, and be cut off in the
midst of his enjoyment, as Moses tells us the people
were who lusted."
If I mistake not, I have added considerable strength
to the prelate's reasoning, by showing that there is a
reference also to the history of the manna, and
to that which details the rebellion of
Korah and his company; and if so, (and they may
dispute who please,) it is a proof that the Book of Job
is not so old as, much less older than,
the Pentateuch, as some have endeavoured to
prove, but with no evidence of success, at least to my
mind: a point which never has been, and I am certain
never can be, proved; which has multitudes of
presumptions against it, and not one clear incontestable
fact for it. Mr. Good has done more in this case
than any of his predecessors, and yet Mr. Good
has failed; no wonder then that others,
unmerciful criticisers of the bishop of Killala, have
failed also, who had not a tenth part of Mr.
Good's learning, nor one-hundredth part of his
critical acumen.
It is, however, strange that men cannot suffer others
to differ from them on a subject of confessed difficulty
and comparatively little importance, without raising up
the cry of heresy against them, and treating them
with superciliousness and contempt! These should know,
if they are clergymen, whether dignified
or not, that such conduct ill becomes the
sacerdotal character; and that ante barbam
docet senes cannot be always spoken to the
teacher's advantage.
As a good story is not the worse for being twice
told, the following lines from a clergyman, who, for
his humility and piety, was as much an honour to
his vocation as he was to human nature, may not
be amiss, in point of advice to all Warburtonian
spirits:-
"Be calm in arguing, for fierceness
makes Error a fault, and truth
discourtesy. Why should I feel another man's
mistakes More than his sickness or his
poverty? In love I should: but anger is not love
Nor wisdom neither; therefore, gently move.
Calmness is great advantage: he that lets Another
chafe, may warm him at his fire, Mark all his
wanderings, and enjoy his frets; As cunning fencers
suffer heat to tire. Truth dwells not in the clouds: the
bow that's there Doth often aim at, never hit, the
sphere." HERBERT.
Dr. Stock's work on the Book of Job will stand
honourably on the same shelf with the best on this
difficult subject.
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Copyright Statement
The Adam Clarke Commentary is a derivative
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Bibliography
Information
Clarke, Adam.
"Commentary on Job 20". "The Adam Clarke Commentary".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=job&chapter=020>.
1832.
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