Job  

Chapter  20  

"Zophar's second address to Job."  

Job  20:1   "Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,"

Now this "sparrow" called Zophar is going to speak to Job.  He was a very pleasant person to be around when the going is nice and smooth, but when tough times come, this sparrow turns into a hawk.  Let's see what he has to say to Job. 

Job  20:2   "Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste."

Zophar says that because of my inward emotions, I am going to tell you what I think. 

Job  20:3   "I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding  causeth me to answer."

Zophar will now give answer to Job's responses; "I have heard your excuses, and now I have to tell you what is on my mind."  This type of response is common today. 

Job  20:4   "Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,"

This entire chapter was said in scorn of Job.  What is happening to you Job is common knowledge since Adam [man] has been place on the earth. 

Job  20:5   "That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?"

Zophar is saying that ever since Adam sinned in the garden, man has had a very short life span because he is wicked.  Here again, who caused Adam to sin in the Garden of Eden, of course it was Satan, and Satan is completely left out of this conversation.  The reason for this was that the blame for what had happened is placed on God. The sin from the Garden of Eden was Satan seducing Eve, and a son was born to Eve by Satan, his name was Cain.  Cain was the first murderer, as well as the father of the Kenites.  Cain was just like his father Satan, full of lies and deception, and Cain's children are just like Cain.  Verification to this is found in Strong's Hebrew Dictionary #7014 and 7017;   

Job  20:6   "Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;"

Job  20:7   "Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, `Where is he?' "

Zophar is speaking of any wicked person that thinks their head is way up in the clouds and their mind is extended to the throne of God. Because of his wickedness Job is going to perish just as his dung.  Of course human waste goes back into the elements that it is made of quickly.  Zophar is talking directly to Job's face and telling him these things.  Job is the type of God's elect in the end times, and these are the type of things that are going to be spoken of you, when you try to buck their traditions. 

Job  20:8   "He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night."

Every thought of you will be chased away, just as a dream in the night.  When you wake up, the dream is gone and even the remembrance of it has vanished. 

Job  20:9   "The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him."

"He is gone forever". 

Job  20:10   "His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods."

This is a very poor translation.  What it is saying is that the poor shall oppress his children, and his goods shall be returned to them when he is gone.  Now ask yourself, did Job deserve such a statement, when God Himself stated how pleased he was with Job.  Zophar finds himself rattling on in babble and confusion over what he is saying. 

Job  20:11   "His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust."

He is saying that Job is going to take his sins there with him, when they lay his bones in the grave.  Job was an old man, and the only sins that are spoken of in reference to Job, are the sins of his youth.  They must have thought Job's problems stemmed all the way back to his childhood times.  That is what the so-called scholars are telling us today, that the things that caused a person to do the crimes committed today, were caused from their childhood.  They knew Job in his time of maturity, and they could find no other sins in his life, so they are doing a lot of assuming of Job's early life.   

Job  20:12   "Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;"

Job's childhood sins are sweet and pleasing to his mind, causing him to sin greater. 

Job  20:13   "though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:"

This is saying Job won't even swallow his sins, for they taste so good in his mouth. 

Job  20:14   "Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him."

Yet that which he has eaten will turn to something else when it gets to his stomach, that food is going to be like snakes poison when it gets in him.  Though he is talking about asps, this so-called friend still hasn't tied Satan to what was happening to Job. 

Job  20:15   "He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again:  God shall cast them out of his belly."

Zophar is telling Job that you may have gained much by being crooked, but you are not going to keep it.  Here Job sits, sick, depressed, his family gone, as his great wealth, and this busybody knucklehead is telling him that all that he had was ill-gotten gains.   

Job  20:16   "He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him."

Again it is ironic, but he is saying that if you deal with Satan, than Satan will give you what is coming to you. If you play with a snake, that snake in time will win.  If you think you can play mind games with Satan, you are going to be the looser. 

Job  20:17   "He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter."

What this is saying here is that you are not going to enjoy all the honey and butter in your life that has flows like a brook. 

Job  20:18   "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."

All of the wealth that you had that belong to others is going to be returned to them.  Others shall be rejoicing over your wealth.  Again, Job was not guilty of taking any ill-gotten gains, as this Zophar was suggesting.  Job is being falsely accused, and the Father is letting you know that Satan is the one that is responsible for what has happened to Job.    

Job  20:19   "Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;"

Job  20:20   "Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired."

In other words, his thirst for riches gave him no rest while he was gaining his wealth.  This is saying that Job could not escape his desires, and just payment is coming down hard of Job; remember Job did not deserve any of these words.  Job was one of the richest and most generous men in the community and the entire region.  He shared with all the people, and was very good to his children.  Not only did he offer alms for himself, but he offered alms for his children just in case they may have sinned.   

Job  20:21   "There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods."

Zophar is telling Job that there is not going to be any meat left of Job's wealth, nothing to look for, or to offer to anyone.  This idiot didn't have to tell Job that his wealth wouldn't last, for Satan took all his wealth from him, and even his family.  This character has great advice after the fact, but all of it is bad advice.     

Job  20:22   "In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him."

In other words, in the end the wicked ones will come back and try to get it all.  Stop and take a look at what the Jewish Kenites do to the widows and orphans today when the man of the household dies.  Like a pack of scorpions after their prey they leave nothing.    

Job  20:23   "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."

Zophar is saying that God is going to smite you down in your own prosperity.  Can you see how far off Zophar was in his thinking?  He still thinks that it is God that is doing this to Job.  He is saying that in all of Job's prosperity, God came along and took all his wealth from him because of his wickedness.

Job  20:24   "He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through."

This word "steel" is copper or brass that covers the arrow head point.  The person in running away from a good archer makes his back as an easy target. 

Job  20:25   "It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him."

It is the natural instinct of any man that has been struck by an arrow, to grab the arrow and try to pull it out of himself.  When the arrow is pulled out, it leaves a hole so that the gall or inners of the man come flowing out.  This is another way that Zophar is telling Job that he is not going to get away with anything.

Job  20:26   "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."

"A fire not blown", is a fire that is not built by human hands.  Naturally we should be drawn to Hebrews 12:29; "For God is a consuming fire".  This is saying that when Job dies, there will be no light for him, for darkness will be his just reward.  

Job  20:27   "The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him."

Your reward will be your own guilt.  This is about the worst insult that you could give anyone, and it was given by one of Job's so-called friends.  This man is telling Job flat out that Job is guilty of serious sins. 

Job  20:28    "The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of His wrath."

Zophar is reminding Job what has happen after Job lost his home and his wealth.  It sounds like what many hirelings are teaching today.  The Satan that brought all this trouble down on Job and his household, is the same Satan, with his children the Kenites, that are working against God's people today.  There are several times when God gave Israel into the hand of Babylon and other oppressors, and they became the servants of God to do a specific purpose. 

God is going to use Satan, the Nebuchadnezzar of the end times, to test His people to see if they are worthy or not.  Every time God has used someone in this way He has made it very plain beforehand. 

Job  20:29   "This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God."

Zophar is telling Job that this penalty is your heritage appointed to you by God because of your wickedness.  If you have friends like this, you need no more enemies, for these three men are very wicked in their accusing of Job.