Job 11:20

_BUT THE EYES OF THE WICKED SHALL FAIL, AND THEY SHALL NOT ESCAPE, AND THEIR HOPE SHALL BE AS THE GIVING UP OF THE GHOST._ But the eyes of the wicked shall fail. A warning to Job, if he would not turn to God. THE WICKED - i:e., obdurate sinners. EYES ... FAIL - i:e., in vain look for relief (Deuteronomy 28:65). Zophar implies Job's only hope of relief is in a change of heart. THEY SHALL NOT ESCAPE - literally, 'every refuge shall vanish from them.' So Psalms 142:4, 'Refuge perished from me,' margin. THEIR HOPE SHALL BE AS THE GIVING UP THE GHOST - their hope shall leave them as the breath does the body. "When a wicked man dieth, his expectation shall perish" ...

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 11:20. _THE EYES OF THE WICKED SHALL FAIL_] They shall be continually looking out for help and deliverance; but their expectation shall be cut off. _AND THEY SHALL NOT ESCAPE_] They shall receive the punishment due to their deserts; for God has his eye continually upon them. מנהם ומנוס אבד _umanos abad minnehem_, literally, "And escape perishes from them." _Flight_ from impending destruction is impossible. _AND THEIR HOPE_ SHALL BE AS _THE GIVING UP OF THE GHOST._] ותקותם מפח נפש _vethikratham mappach naphesh_, "And their hope an exhalation of breath," or _a mere wish of the mind_. They retain their hope to the last; and the _last breath_ they breathe is the final and eternal termination of their hope. They give up their _hope_ and their _ghost_ together; for a vain

BUT THE EYES OF THE WICKED SHALL FAIL - That is, they shall be wearied out by anxiously looking for relief from their miseries. “Noyes.” Their expectation shall be vain, and they shall find no relief. Perhaps Zophar here means to apply this to Job, and to say to him that with his present views and character, his hope of relief would fail. His only hope of relief was in a change - in turning to God - since it was a settled maxim that the wicked would look for relief in vain. This assumption that he was a wicked man, must have been among the most trying things that Job had to endure. Indeed nothing could he more provoking than to have others take it for granted as a matter that did not admit of argument, that he was a hypocrite, and that God was dealing with him as an incorrigible sinner. AND THEY SHALL NOT ESCAPE - Margin, “Flight shall perish from them.” The margin is a literal translati...

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

BUT THE EYES OF THE WICKED SHALL FAIL,.... Either through grief and envy at Job's prosperity, and with looking for his fall into troubles again; or rather through expectation of good things for themselves, and for deliverance out of trouble, but all in vain; see Lamentations 4:17; AND THEY SHALL NOT ESCAPE; afflictions and calamities in this life, nor the righteous judgment, nor wrath to come: or, "refuge shall perish from them" a; there will be none to betake themselves unto for safety; in vain will they seek it from men; refuge will fail them, and no man care for them; and in vain will they fly to rocks and mountains to fall upon them: AND THEIR HOPE [SHALL BE AS] THE GIVING UP OF THE GHOST; it is with them as when a man is just expiring, and it is all over with him, and there is no hope of his reviving; so the hope of wicked men is a dying

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

WICKED. lawless. Hebrew. _rasha'._ App-44. GHOST. breath. Hebrew. _nephesh._ App-13....