Job 11:15

Job has just poured out his anguish in Job 10, asking his Creator why he is being made to suffer. Zophar answers in Job 11, the first of his speeches and the bluntest reply Job has yet received. He accuses Job of empty talk and says that God is exacting from him less than his iniquity deserves (Job 11:5–6). He then praises the depth of God’s wisdom, which no man can search out, in verses 7 to 12. With verse 13 he turns toward hope. He asks Job to turn to God and to put away sin, lays before him a picture of a restored life, and ends with a warning about the end of the wicked.

Behind his words lies a belief he shares with Eliphaz and Bildad: God repays righteousness with prosperity and sin with suffering, and he does it plainly in this life. On that view Job’s losses, his children, his wealth and his health, can only mean secret sin, and the cure can only be repentance. The “If” of verse 13 carries that whole assumption.

“Prepare” translates kûwn, a verb whose root sense is to stand upright, and so to set up, make firm, direct or make ready. A prepared heart is set firmly in one direction, toward God. The heart, lêb, is the whole inner person: the feelings, the will and the mind. Proverbs speaks of wisdom entering the heart (Proverbs 2:10), and Moses speaks of God circumcising the hearts of his people so that they love him (Deuteronomy 30:6). To prepare the heart is to turn the whole self toward the LORD, and that is the turning Scripture asks for everywhere. Israel is to love the LORD “with all thine heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5), and Samuel told Israel to put away their strange gods “and prepare your hearts unto the LORD, and serve him only” (1 Samuel 7:3).

Those who seek God this way find him. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13), and Moses gave Israel the same promise (Deuteronomy 4:29). Jesus said, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find” (Matthew 7:7–8). The psalm asks who may ascend into the hill of the LORD and answers, “He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart” (Psalm 24:3–4).

The second half of the verse gives the outward sign. “Stretch out” is pâras, to break apart, disperse or spread, and here it means spreading the hands open. The word for hands, kaph, is the hollow of the hand, the palm. Open palms raised toward heaven were the common posture of prayer in Israel and among the nations, a sign of humble dependence and earnest request. David prayed, “Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice” (Psalm 141:2), and he lifted up his hands toward God’s holy oracle when he cried to him (Psalm 28:2). Solomon rose from his knees before the altar “with his hands spread up to heaven” (1 Kings 8:54).

Verse 14 asks Job to clear away whatever stands between him and God. “Iniquity” is ʼâven, from a root that perhaps means to exert oneself in vain, and it covers the trouble and emptiness that wrongdoing brings as well as the wrongdoing itself. The English word hand comes back here over a different Hebrew word, yâd, the open hand that stands for power and for what a person does. Iniquity “in thine hand” is wrong that a man is holding on to and doing. So Zophar sets two hands side by side: the palm spread out toward God, and the hand that may be gripping something it must let go.

“Put it far away” is râchaq, to be far or to put far. The sin is to be removed to a distance and left there. Proverbs joins confessing and forsaking: “whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy” (Proverbs 28:13). Isaiah calls, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes” (Isaiah 1:16), and Paul urges believers to cleanse themselves “from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit” (2 Corinthians 7:1).

The second line carries the call into Job’s home. “Wickedness” is ʻevel, moral evil, perverseness or injustice, and “dwell” is shâkan, to settle and lodge. Wickedness is pictured as a lodger who must be given no room. “Tabernacles” is ʼôhel, a tent, which Strong’s explains as a dwelling that stands out clear from a distance. A man’s tent stood for his whole household, his family, servants and possessions, and the head of the house was answerable for what lived under his roof. Joshua spoke for his household in the same way: “as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD” (Joshua 24:15).

“For then” turns from what Job must do to what God will give. To lift up (nâsâʼ) the face (pânîym) was to stand with honour and confidence, the opposite of hiding the face or hanging the head in shame. Pânîym is plural in form but always used as a singular, and from the face itself it comes to mean front, surface and presence. A man who can lift his face before God and before others is at peace with both.

“Without spot” translates mʼûwm, a blemish, physical or moral. The law uses it of the animals offered to God, which had to be perfect, with no blemish in them (Leviticus 22:21). Said of a person, it means being clean of guilt.

“Stedfast” is yâtsaq. The verb properly means to pour out, by implication to melt or cast metal, and by extension to stiffen or grow hard. In its sense of firmness it is used of things that harden or hold together, and of hearts that are hard to frighten, which fits the words that follow: “and shalt not fear.” That fear is yârêʼ, the ordinary verb to fear or be afraid, which can also mean to revere. Proverbs says, “the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1), and Isaiah, “the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever” (Isaiah 32:17). The man who delights in God’s law flourishes like a tree planted by the rivers of water (Psalm 1). God says to his people, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee” (Isaiah 41:10), and David asks, “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1). Paul uses the English word stedfast when he urges believers to be “stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58), a firmness that rests on God’s faithfulness.

“Misery” is ʻâmâl, toil and wearing effort, and from there the worry and grief that wear down body and mind. It is a fitting word for what Job has carried. Zophar promises that Job will forget it, using shâkach, the plain verb to forget, and then that he will remember it, zâkar, “as waters that pass away”. The two belong together. Job will still know that his trouble happened, but it will have lost its sting and its hold on him, like water (mayim) that has already gone by. ʻÂbar means to cross over or pass by, and flowing water that has passed is gone for good. In a land where the rains filled dry stream beds for a short while and then left them empty, everyone knew the sight of water that comes, runs past and leaves no trace.

God speaks of such a forgetting through Isaiah: “Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing” (Isaiah 43:18–19). A psalm says that “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning” (Psalm 30:5). The full answer to the longing in this verse is the new creation, where “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes... for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4–5). Job’s own misery did pass, by God’s grace and in God’s time.

“Age” is cheled, life as a fleeting span of time, here the rest of Job’s days. The word under “be clearer” is qûwm, to rise, so the Hebrew pictures his remaining life rising brighter than noon. “Noonday” is tsôhar, a word for light that can also mean a window, and in its dual form, “double light”, it means noon, the brightest hour of the day. “Shine forth” stands over ʻûwph, a verb that elsewhere means to fly, to brandish or to faint, and Strong’s links its sense of fainting with dimness. The KJV gives the line the sense of shining, and the next words make the meaning plain: “thou shalt be as the morning.” Morning, bôqer, is the dawn, the break of day.

Zophar is answering the darkness of Job’s own words in Job 3, where Job cursed the day of his birth. Throughout Scripture light and dawn picture joy, favour and God’s presence, and darkness pictures affliction and despair. God promises those who turn to him, “Then shall thy light break forth as the morning” (Isaiah 58:8), and Jeremiah, in the depths of grief, confessed that the LORD’s compassions “are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22–23).

Verse 18 rests the whole promise on hope. “Secure” is bâṭach, which Strong’s defines as to hie for refuge, to hurry to a place of shelter, and so to trust and be confident. “Hope” is tiqvâh, literally a cord, something a person is tied to, and figuratively expectation. The words “there is” stand for yêsh, a word for what exists, so Zophar says plainly that hope is real and present. Job will be secure because he has something to hold to.

“Thou shalt dig about thee” uses châphar, to dig, and also to pry into, explore and search out. The words “about thee” are the KJV’s, and the Hebrew says simply “thou shalt dig”. It may mean digging for water, which a settled life in a dry land needed, digging the foundation of a secure dwelling, or searching out what is needed. Each picture is of a man whose work prospers under God’s favour. Then “take thy rest” is shâkab, to lie down, and “in safety” is beṭach, safety, which covers both the fact of being secure and the feeling of trust, and is often used to mean “safely”. David said, “I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety” (Psalm 4:8), and Proverbs promises the wise, “When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid” (Proverbs 3:24). Paul prays that “the God of hope” will fill believers “with all joy and peace in believing” (Romans 15:13). Hope placed in God is a confident expectation that rests on who he is and on what he has promised.

“Lie down” in verse 19 is râbats, a different word from the one in verse 18. It means to crouch, lie down or stretch out, as a resting animal lies with its legs folded under it. “None shall make thee afraid” uses chârad, to shudder with terror. Job had said of his nights, “When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day” (Job 7:4). Zophar holds out to him nights of untroubled sleep. Isaiah promises God’s people “a peaceable habitation, and... sure dwellings, and... quiet resting places” (Isaiah 32:18).

“Many shall make suit unto thee” joins rab, many, with châlâh. That verb commonly means to be weak or sick, and it can also mean to entreat someone’s favour. Here it is joined with pânîym, face, so the many will seek Job’s face, his favour. One dictionary explains the phrase as literally softening, or weakening, the face of the one entreated, and Strong’s as stroking it in flattery. In a community where people of wisdom and standing were sought out for counsel and help, this meant a full return to honour. Job, who mourned that his brethren had been put far from him and his acquaintance were estranged (Job 19:13–19), would be a man people came to again. Proverbs puts the worth of such standing plainly: “A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches” (Proverbs 22:1).

Zophar ends with the other road. The eyes (ʻayin) of the wicked (râshâʻ, the guilty, the actively bad) “shall fail”, and the verb is kâlâh, to end, cease, be finished, perish or be consumed. Eyes can fail in sight, and they stand here for the power to see a way to safety. Under “they shall not escape” stand two words, mânôwç, a retreat or a way to flee, and ʼâbad, to wander away, be lost or perish, so the way of flight itself is gone. “Their hope” is tiqvâh again, the same word that made Job secure in verse 18. The hope of the man who turns to God holds him fast, while the hope of the wicked is “as the giving up of the ghost”, mappâch, a breathing out of life, and nephesh, a living, breathing creature. Their hope ends as a last breath ends.

Proverbs says the same: “The hope of the righteous shall be gladness: but the expectation of the wicked shall perish” (Proverbs 10:28), and “When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish” (Proverbs 11:7). The first psalm closes, “the way of the ungodly shall perish” (Psalm 1:6), and Paul writes, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). God is just, and evil will meet its end, a truth that runs through the Psalms and Proverbs.

Zophar meant the verse as a warning to Job. Having promised him light if he repents, he sets beside it the end of the wicked, so that Job will see what awaits him if he refuses. What he says about the wicked is true. His error, once again, lay in counting Job among them.

Zophar offered peace on condition of a cleanness that no one can reach in his own strength. The gospel gives what he described through Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29). The iniquity in our hand is more than we can put far away alone, and Christ offered himself to God to purge our conscience (Hebrews 9:14). Joined to him, believers are dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:1–14), and the body of a believer is a temple of the Holy Ghost where wickedness has no place to dwell (1 Corinthians 6:19–20). Christ, who knew no sin, was made sin for us, so that we might be made the righteousness of God in him (2 Corinthians 5:21). He humbled himself and became obedient unto death on the cross (Philippians 2:8), and he is the way to the Father (John 14:6). Through him we come boldly to the throne of grace with lifted faces (Hebrews 4:16).

Each promise of verses 15 to 19 has its fullness in him. Believers are rooted and grounded in love (Ephesians 3:17) and hold their hope “as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast” (Hebrews 6:19). “Perfect love casteth out fear” (1 John 4:18), and God has given us a spirit “of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Timothy 1:7). Anyone in Christ is a new creature, and old things are passed away (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus calls all who labour and are heavy laden to come to him for rest (Matthew 11:28–30), and under the new covenant God says, “their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 8:12).

The light of verse 17 shines in him, the light of the world (John 8:12). Believers become children of light (Ephesians 5:8), are changed into his image from glory to glory (2 Corinthians 3:18), and wait for the day when we shall see face to face (1 Corinthians 13:12). His peace is his own gift (John 14:27), a peace that passes understanding and keeps our hearts and minds (Philippians 4:7). There is now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1), so we lie down free of the deepest fear. The honour of verse 19 is given to every believer, who is a child of God and a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17), and a rest remains for the people of God (Hebrews 4:9–11).

Verse 20 has its answer here too. Where the hope of the wicked dies with their breath, God has begotten us again “unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”, to an inheritance that is incorruptible and fades not away (1 Peter 1:3–4). That hope makes us unashamed, because God’s love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost (Romans 5:5), and its whole content is “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).

These verses hold true things spoken in the wrong place. God does receive the heart that is set toward him and the hands spread out to him in prayer. He does call his people to put sin far from their hands and their homes, and he gives a clean face, a steady heart, rest and real hope to those who come to him. In Christ every one of those gifts is ours, on the strength of his work, and the only condition left is to come.

The same verses show how far human wisdom falls short of God’s. Zophar knew sound teaching and still misjudged a suffering friend, and God called it speaking wrongly of him. Job’s misery did pass and his life did grow bright again, by the hand of the God who had never stopped watching over him. The God who answered Job is the God who keeps his promises to us, whether our trouble comes from our own sin or from a trial we cannot explain.