5. Zophar's first speech ch. 11

Zophar took great offense at what Job had said. He responded viciously with an aggressiveness that outdid both Eliphaz and Bildad. Zophar was a dogmatist.

"He . . . attempted heavy handed shock treatment to get through to Job."⁶⁶

"The Naamathite is the least engaging of Job's three friends. There is not a breath of compassion in his speech. . . . His censorious chiding shows how little he has sensed Job's hurt. Job's bewilderment and his outbursts are natural; in them we find his humanity, and our own. Zophar detaches the words from the man, and hears them only as babbleand mockery (verse 2). This is quite unfair. Zophar's wisdom is a bloodless retreat into theory. It is very proper, theologically familiar and unobjectionable. But it is flat beer compared with Job's seismic sincerity."⁶⁷

 Zophar's rebuke of Job 11:1-6

Four things about Job bothered Zophar: his loquacity (v. 2), his boasting (v. 3), his self-righteousness (v. 4), and his ignorance (v. 5). Verses 5 and 6 are full of sarcasm. Zophar believed Job deserved much worse punishment than God was giving him (v. 6b).

 Zophar's praise of God's wisdom 11:7-12

Eliphaz and Bildad had spoken mainly of God's justice. Zophar extolled His wisdom. He rightly explained that God's wisdom is unfathomable, but he inadvertently claimed to fathom it by saying Job deserved more punishment than he was getting. Verse 12 may have been a proverb common in Job's day. It means that it is harder for a fool (empty head) to learn wisdom than for a wild donkey, notorious for its stupidity, to give birth to a man. In Zophar's view Job was extremely foolish because he failed to see the truth of what Eliphaz and Bildad had said.

 Zophar's appeal to Job 11:13-20

Three steps would bring Job back to where he should be, said Zophar: repentance (v. 13), prayer (v. 13), and reformation (v. 14). He also painted the fruits of conversion for Job. These benefits were a clear conscience, faithfulness, and confidence (v. 15); forgetfulness of his troubles (v. 16); joy (v. 17); hope and rest (v. 18); and peace, popularity, and leadership (v. 19). Like Bildad, Zophar ended his first speech with a fire-breathing warning (v. 20; cf. 8:22).

Whereas Eliphaz's authority was personal experience, and Bildad's was tradition, Zophar's seems to have been intuition (cf. 20:1-5). It appears that Zophar held to what he believed about divine retribution simply because it seemed right to him. He offered no other reason for adopting this view than that it was self-evident, to him at least. His speech was more emotional than any given so far.