Job 11:4

_FOR THOU HAST SAID, MY DOCTRINE IS PURE, AND I AM CLEAN IN THINE EYES._ Thou hast said, My doctrine is pure - purposely used of Job's speeches, which sounded like lessons of doctrine. "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew" (Deuteronomy 32:2; Proverbs 4:2). AND I AM CLEAN IN THINE EYES - addressed to God. Job had maintained his sincerity against his friends' suspicions, not faultlessness....

1-6 Zophar attacked Job with great vehemence. He represented him as a man that loved to hear himself speak, though he could say nothing to the purpose, and as a man that maintained falsehoods. He desired God would show Job that less punishment was exacted than he deserved. We are ready, with much assurance, to call God to act in our quarrels, and to think that if he would but speak, he would take our part. We ought to leave all disputes to the judgment of God, which we are sure is according to truth; but those are not always right who are most forward to appeal to the Divine judgment....

Verse Job 11:4. _MY DOCTRINE_ is _pure_] לקחי _likchi_, "my assumptions." What I assume or take as right, and just, and true, are so; the precepts which I have formed, and the practice which I have founded on them, are all correct and perfect. Job had not exactly said, _My doctrine_ and _way of life are pure_, and _I am clean_ _in thine eyes_; but he had vindicated himself from their charges of _secret sins_ and _hypocrisy_, and appealed to God for his general uprightness and sincerity: but Zophar here begs the question, in order that he may have something to say, and room to give vent to his invective....

MY DOCTRINE IS PURE - The Septuagint instead of the word “doctrine” here reads “deeds,” ἔργοις _ergois_; the Syriac, “thou sayest I have acted justly.” But the word used here (לקח _leqach_) means properly “fair speech” or “taking arguments,” that by which one is “taken” or captivated, from לקח _lâqach_, “to take.” Then it means doctrine, or instruction, Proverbs 1:5; Proverbs 9:9. Here it means the views which Job had expressed. Dr. Good supposes that it means “conduct,” a word which would suit the connection, but the Hebrew is not used in this sense. AND I AM CLEAN IN THINE EYES - In the eyes of God, or in hi

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

FOR THOU HAST SAID,.... What follows is produced to support the charge, especially of lying, which seems to be founded on what he had said in Job 6:10; MY DOCTRINE [IS] PURE; free from error, unadulterated, unmixed, not blended with Heathenish principles and human doctrines; but tending to purity of heart and life, as every word of God, and doctrine that comes from him, is pure, yea, very pure, like silver purified seven times; and such was Job's doctrine which he "received" from God, "took" y up and professed, taught and delivered to others, so far as was agreeable to the will of God, and the revelation he had then made: and it appears that Job had very clear and sublime notions of God, of his being and perfections, of his works of nature, providence, and grace; of Christ his living Redeemer, of redemption and justification by him, and of the resurrection of the dead; and had pur

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

_For thou hast said_ Better, AND SAYEST, explaining what his mockery consists in. _My doctrine is pure_ Job had not used precisely such words. Zophar gives what he understands as the gist of his contention. _and I am clean in thine eyes_ Perhaps rather, I WAS CLEAN, when plunged into my afflictions. The words are those of Job addressed to God, which Zophar recalls, cf. ch. Job 9:21; Job 10:7. It is probable that this clause explains what Zophar means by the preceding clause, "my doctrine is pure." Job's "doctrine," which Zophar considers an example of "mockery," is not his general principles, but this particular point, that God afflicts a man whom He _knows_to be righteous. Zophar quite justly discovers here a novel doctrine to which he certainly had not been accustomed. But connected w