In this chapter Zophar the Naamathite, Job’s third friend, attacks him, and the with great acrimony and severity, and with much indecency; he charges him not only with loquacity, and vain babbling, but with lying, and with scoffing at God, and good men, Job 11:1–3; which he attempts to support by…

Then answered Zophar the Naamathite The third of Job’s friends, that came to visit him, (See Gill on Job 2:11); and who perhaps might be the youngest, since his turn was to speak last; and he appears to have less modesty and prudence, and more fire and heat in him; than his other friends; though he…

Should not the multitude of words be answered? &c.] Zophar insinuates, that Job was a mere babbler, a talkative man, that had words, but no matter; said a great deal, but there was nothing in what he said; that his words were but wind, yea, in effect that he was a fool, who is commonly full of…

Should thy lies make men hold their peace? &c.] By which he means, either lies in common, untruths wilfully told, which are sins of a scandalous nature, which good men will not dare to commit knowingly; and to give a man, especially such a man, the lie, is very indecent; and to charge a man falsely…

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, Job 6:30) ; my doctrine is pure; free from error, unadulterated, unmixed, not blended with Heathenish principles and human doctrines; but tending to…

But O that God would speak To Job, and stop his mouth, so full of words; convict him of his lies, reprove him for his mocks and scoffs, and make him ashamed of them; refute his false doctrine and oppose it, and show him his folly and vanity in imagining it to be pure, and in conceit thinking…

And that he would show thee the secrets of wisdom Either of sound doctrine, in opposition to his own doctrine he had such a vain opinion of; and then he would see, as he thought, that it was not so pure as he imagined it to be: the Gospel, and the doctrines of it, are the wisdom of God, the produce…

Canst thou by searching find out God? &c.] God is not to be found out by human search; that there is a God may be found out by inquiring into the book of nature, by considering the creatures that are made, who all proclaim some first cause or maker of them, who is God; but then it cannot be found…

It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? &c.] Or, “is higher than the heavens” [[8]]; either the wisdom of God and the secrets of it; the perfection of his wisdom, by which he has made the heavens; or evangelical wisdom, hid in his heart, and which the highest of creatures, the angels, come at…

The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. ] Length is generally ascribed to the earth, and width to the sea; the ends of the earth are used for a great distance, and the sea is called the great and wide sea; see [[9]] ; but God and his perfections, particularly his…

If he cut off The horns, power, dominion, and authority of the wicked; or the spirits of princes, or kingdoms and states, whole nations, as he did the seven nations of Canaan; or families, as Job’s, his servants, and his children; or particular persons, by diseases, or by judgments, by famine,…

For he knoweth vain men Or, “men of vanity” [[14]], as all men are; men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree a lie, and they are both lighter than vanity, ; and the Lord knows them, and knows them to be so; he knows all men, and all that is in them; he knows the vanity of their minds,…

For vain man would be wise Or “hollow” [[16]], empty man; empty of all that is good, though full of all unrighteousness; without God, the knowledge, love, and fear of him; without Christ, the knowledge of him, faith in him, and love to him; destitute of the Spirit, and of his grace, having no good…

If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hands towards him. ] In this and the following verses Zophar proceeds to give some advice to Job; which, if taken, would issue in his future happiness, but otherwise it would be ill with him; he advises him to pray to God with an heart prepared for…

If iniquity be in thine hand For, as the heart must be prepared for the stretching out of the hand in prayer to God, so it is not any hand that is to be stretched out or lifted up unto God; not hands full of blood, or defiled with sin, but holy hands; see ; it is not said, if iniquity be in thine…

For then shall thou lift up thy face without spot Either before men, being in all good conscience, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord, blameless, exercising a conscience void of offence towards God and men; and so be able to say as Samuel did, “whose ass have I taken?” &c.

Because thou shall forget thy misery Former afflictions and distresses; having an abundance of prosperity and happiness, and long continued; and so, in process of time, the miseries and distresses before endured are forgotten; thus it was with Joseph in his advanced state, and therefore he called…

And thine age shall be clearer than the noonday That is, the remainder of his days; the latter part of his life, which was yet to come, should be no more attended with the darkness of adversity; but the light of prosperity should shine upon him, and exceed the light of the sun at noonday: the…

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” [[23]]; have a strong faith and full assurance of it, in…

Also thou shall lie down, and none shall make thee afraid, &c.] Either lie down on his bed, as before, or by his flocks, and where they lie down, and none should disturb him or them; not thieves and robbers, such as the Chaldeans and Sabeans had been to him, nor lions, bears, and wolves; yea, many…

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 ; and they shall not escape; afflictions…