Bible Commentary - Job 20

In this chapter, Zophar says basically the same thing as what he said last time, except this time he is angrier.

In verses 2-3, Zophar makes it clear that he is speaking out of emotion (the “inward agitation”) because he feels personally insulted.  This really sets the tone for Zophar’s response as a whole, because Zophar deeply desires to put Job into his place, to make Job understand that in the day of God’s wrath, everything is taken away.  In other words, this chapter is identical in purpose and meaning to every other speech by any of the three friends up to this point.

It really seems like Job and the three friends are talking past each other; they are all saying what is essentially the same thing at each other over and over, to no discernible effect other than to make everyone get more and more upset.  I mean even the “I am upset, do you think I’m an idiot or a wild animal” stuff is nearly indistinguishable between when Job says it and when Job’s friends say it.

Zophar’s speech can be broken down into two core points: the first point is that the prosperity of the wicked is temporary, and the second point is that the wicked will be forced to give up their ill-gotten wealth.  Neither of these points are new or particularly interesting, so I’m not going to give it much more analysis.  It all fits under the larger theological framework that God punishes the wicked and blesses the righteous, which I have previously discussed at length.

As with every other friend’s speech, the underlying subtext here is that Job’s wealth was “expelled” by his recent disaster, and this must necessarily be a product of God’s judgment on Job’s manifest wickedness.  As with every other friend, Zophar is establishing a cause-effect relationship between wickedness and personal tragedy, and by inverting the relationship he is using Job’s suffering as evidence of his wickedness.

Since none of these points are unique to this chapter, I think I’ll leave off here.  In the next chapter, Job responds once again to Zophar.