Job 11:18

_AND THOU SHALT BE SECURE, BECAUSE THERE IS HOPE; YEA, THOU SHALT DIG ABOUT THEE, AND THOU SHALT TAKE THY REST IN SAFETY._ Thou shalt be secure, because there is hope. The experience of thy life will teach thee there is "hope" for man in every trial; in opposition to Job's having said that he was "without hope" (Job 7:6). THOU SHALT DIG - namely, wells, the chief necessary in the East. Better, 'Though now ashamed (Romans 5:5, opposed to the previous "hope"), thou shalt then rest safely' [haapartaa] (Gesenius). Ewald takes it, 'If thou shalt take a survey (of thy goods and flocks, thou shalt miss none: and so) thou shalt take thy rest in safety.'...

13-20 Zophar exhorts Job to repentance, and gives him encouragement, yet mixed with hard thoughts of him. He thought that worldly prosperity was always the lot of the righteous, and that Job was to be deemed a hypocrite unless his prosperity was restored. Then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot; that is, thou mayst come boldly to the throne of grace, and not with the terror and amazement expressed in ch. Job 9:34. If we are looked upon in the face of the Anointed, our faces that were cast down may be lifted up; though polluted, being now washed with the blood of Christ, they may be lifted up without spot. We may draw near in full assurance of faith, when we are sprinkled from an evil conscience, Hebrews 10:22....

Verse Job 11:18. _AND THOU SHALT BE SECURE_] Thou shalt not fear any farther evils to disturb thy prosperity, for thou shalt have a well-grounded _hope_ and confidence that thou shalt no more be visited by adversity. _YEA, THOU SHALT DIG_] I believe this neither refers to _digging_ his grave, nor to _curiously investigating_ surrounding circumstances; but to the custom of _digging for water_ in the places where they pitched their tents. It was a matter of high importance in Asiatic countries to find good wells of wholesome water; and they were frequently causes of contention among neighbouring chiefs, who sometimes stopped them up, and at other times seized them as their own. Through envy of Isaac's prosperity the Philistines stopped up all the wells which Abraham had digged,...

AND THOU SHALT BE SECURE - You will feel confident that your prosperity will be permanent, and you will be free from the distressing anxieties and fears which you now have. THOU SHALT DIG ABOUT THEE - The Chaldee renders this, “thou shalt prepare for thyself a sepulchre, and shalt lie down in safety.” The word used here (חפר _châphar_) has two significations. It means, (1) “to dig” - as, e. g. a well, and under this signification to search out, to explore; and, (2.) to be ashamed, to blush, Isaiah 1:29. According to Gesenius, the latter here is the signification. “Now thou art ashamed, then thou shalt dwell in quiet,” Lexicon. So Noyes renders it. Dr. Good translates it, “yea, t

EXPOSITION JOB 11:1 Zophar, the Naamathite, the third of Job's comforters (Job 2:11), and probably the youngest of them, now at last takes the word, and delivers an angry and violent speech. He begins by accusing Job of having spoken at undue length, and at the same time, boastfully and mockingly (verses 2-4). He then expresses a wish that God would take Job at his word, and really answer him, since he is sure that the result would be to show that Job had been punished much less than he. deserved to be (verses 5, 6). Job's complaints against the justice of God's dealings he meets by an assertion of God's unsearchableness and perfect wisdom, which he contrasts with the folly of man (verse 7-12). Finally, he suggests that a stricken man, being guilty, should humble himself, put away hi

AND THOU SHALL BE SECURE,.... From coming into like darkness, difficulties, and distress again, and from every evil and enemy; nothing shall come nigh to disturb and hurt, nothing to be feared from any quarter, all around: or "shalt be confident" y; have a strong faith and full assurance of it, in the love of God, in the living Redeemer, and in the promises which respect the life that now is, and that which is to come: BECAUSE THERE IS HOPE; of the mercy of God, of salvation by Christ, and of eternal glory and happiness, as well as of a continuance of outward prosperity; faith and hope mutually assist each other; faith is the substance of things hoped for, and hope of better and future things on a good foundation encourages faith and confidence: YEA, THOU SHALT DIG [ABOUT THEE]; to let in stakes for the pitching and fixing of tents to dwell in, and for more commodious pasturage; or for...

The words we are about to read were spoken by one of Job's three friends, or what if I call them his three tormentors? These men did not speak wisely, and their argument was not altogether sound; but, for all that, in the instance before us, Zophar the Naamathite spoke that which was truthful. Although he made a great mistake in turning it against Job, yet what he said was in the main correct, and we may learn from it as we read it. Remember, dear friends, that whenever you read the words of these three men, you must take them with a good many grains of salt. They are not to be accepted as if they were God's Word, because they are not. Those three men were mistaken in many points, yet very much of what they said was weighty and valuable, and is still worthy of our careful consideration. Job 11:1. Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, Should not the multitude of words be answere...

CHAPTER 11 ZOPHAR'S FIRST ADDRESS _ 1. Job's multitude of words rebuked (Job 11:1)_ 2. The greatness and omniscience of God (Job 11:7) 3. That Job repent and receive the Blessings (Job 11:13) Job 11:1. The third friend of Job is in every way the weakest. Speaking last he must have been the youngest of the three. He lacks the dignity of Eliphaz and the gentleness of Bildad, nor does he possess the depths of either. Evidently Job's speech has taxed his patience and irritated him. _ Should not thy mass of words be answered?_ And a man so full of talk, should he be justified? Can thy boastings make men hold th

SPEECH OF ZOPHAR.Job has shown that the assumption, that on account of the Divine righteousness only human sin can be the cause of misfortune, leads to the worst conclusions as to God's nature. What answer can the friends make? (Duhm). Job has charged God with a brutal misuse of His strength and a refined cruelty to His creature: Oh it is excellent to have a giant's strength But it is tyrannous to use it like a giant. Zophar, the youngest and most fiery of the friends, simply sees in Job's questionings about God, a denial of the Divine omniscience. If God treats Job as a sinner, He cannot be in error. Again, therefore, he calls Job to repent. He begins by criticising Job's verbosity: words and nothing else are his defence (Job 11:2 f.). Job declares that his walk is pure (emending my doctrine into my walk, Duhm, Peake). But if God were to accept Job's challenge to meet him, th

BE SECURE. On this verse see translation below. DIG. look about, as in Joshua 2:2. Compare Ch. Job 39:29, i.e. before lying down (Job 11:19)....