Job 20:24

_HE SHALL FLEE FROM THE IRON WEAPON, AND THE BOW OF STEEL SHALL STRIKE HIM THROUGH._ Steel - rather, 'brass' х_ NªCHUWSHAAH_ (H5154)]. Whilst the wicked flees from one danger, he falls into a greater one from an opposite quarter (Umbreit)....

23-29 Zophar, having described the vexations which attend wicked practices, shows their ruin from God's wrath. There is no fence against this, but in Christ, who is the only Covert from the storm and tempest, Isaiah 32:2. Zophar concludes, "This is the portion of a wicked man from God;" it is allotted him. Never was any doctrine better explained, or worse applied, than this by Zophar, who intended to prove Job a hypocrite. Let us receive the good explanation, and make a better application, for warning to ourselves, to stand in awe and sin not. One view of Jesus, directed by the Holy Spirit, and by him suitably impressed upon our souls, will quell a thousand carnal reasonings about the suffering of the faithful....

Verse Job 20:24. _HE SHALL FLEE FROM THE IRON WEAPON_] Or, "Though he should flee from the iron armour, the brazen bow should strike him through." _So that yf he fle the yron weapens, he shal be shott_ _with the stele bow_. - _Coverdale_. That is, he shall most certainly perish: all kinds of deaths await him....

HE SHALL FLEE FROM THE IRON WEAPON - The sword, or the spear. That is, he shall be exposed to attacks, and shall flee in cowardice and alarm. Bands of robbers shall come suddenly upon him, and he shall have no safety except in flight. Pref. Lee explains this as meaning, “While he flees from the iron weapon, the brass bow shall pierre him through.” Probably the expression is proverbial, like that in Latin, _Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdin._ THE BOW OF STEEL SHALL STRIKE HIM THROUGH - That is, the “arrow” from the bow of steel shall strike him down. Bows and arrows were commonly used in hunting and in war. To a considerable extent they are still employed in Persia, though the use has been somewhat superseded by the gun. “Bows” were made of various materials. The first were, undoubtedly, of wood. They were inlaid with horn, or ivory, or were made in part of metal. Sometimes, it...

EXPOSITION JOB 20:1 Zophar's second speech is even more harsh than his first (Job 11:1.). He adds coarseness and rudeness to his former vehement hostility (Job 20:7, Job 20:15). His whole discourse is a covert denunciation of Job as a wicked man and a hypocrite (verses 5, 12, 19, 29), deservedly punished by God for a life of crime. He ends by prophesying Job's violent death, the destruction of his house, and the rising up of heaven and earth in witness against him (verses 24-28). JOB 20:1,...

HE SHALL FLEE FROM THE IRON WEAPON,.... The sword, for fear of being thrust through with it; the flaming sword of justice God sometimes threatens to take, and whet, and make use of against ungodly men; the sword of God, as Bar Tzemach observes, is hereby figuratively expressed; fleeing from it, or an attempt to flee from it, shows guilt in the conscience, danger, and a sense of it, and a fear of falling into it, and yet there is no escaping the hand of God, or fleeing from his presence: [AND] THE BOW OF STEEL SHALL STRIKE HIM THROUGH; that is, an arrow out of a bow, made of steel or brass, of which bows were formerly made, and reckoned the strongest and most forcible, see Psalms 18:34; signifying, that if he should escape the dint of a weapon, a sword or spear used near at hand, yet, as he fled, he would be reached by one that strikes at a distance, an arrow shot from a b

CHAPTER 20 THE SECOND ADDRESS OF ZOPHAR _ 1. Zophar's swift reply (Job 20:1)_ 2. Another description of the life and fate of the wicked (Job 20:4) Job 20:1. Zophar, the twitterer, begins his reply to Job with impatient haste. Job's words, probably those found in chapter 19:2-3, and the last two verses, have made him angry. He boils over with indignation. He is ready now to confirm the testimony already given and wound the suffering servant of God still more. Job 20:4. He follows the same path and there is again nothing new in his argument. The description of the wicked is great; no fault can be found with what he says about those who

JOB 20. SECOND SPEECH OF ZOPHAR. Zophar helps the return to the wider problem by appearing once more with a strong doctrine as to the shortness of the prosperity of the wicked. His theme is, Sin brings its own reward. JOB 20:1. Zophar replies to Job's exasperating words (Job 19:1). In Job 20:2 b _mg._ is probably to be followed. In Job 20:3 b Duhm, on the basis of LXX, reads, and with wind void of understanding thou answerest me. JOB 20:4. The portion of the wicked. How short is his joy, how utter his destruction! In...

His insatiable greed shall be satisfied at last. God shall fill him full of his judgments....

E. POWERLESSNESS OF PROSPERITYNO ULTIMATE SECURITYZOPHAR'S WARNING (Job 20:1-29) TEXT 20:1-29 THEN ANSWERED ZOPHAR THE NAAMATHITE, AND SAID, _2_ Therefore do my thoughts give answer to me, Even by reason of my haste that is in me. 3 I have heard the reproof which putteth me to shame; And the spirit of my understanding answereth me. 4 Knowest thou _not_ this of old time, Since man was placed upon earth, 5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, And the joy of the godless but for a moment? 6 Though his height mount up to the heavens, And his head reach unto the clouds; 7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: They that have seen him shall say, Where is he? 8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night....