Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 20:11

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 20:11. His bones are full of the sin of his youth — Our translators have followed the VULGATE, Ossa ejus implebuntur vitiis adolescentiae ejus; "his bones shall be filled with the sins of his youth." The SYRIAC and ARABIC have, his bones are full of marrow; and the TARGUM is to the same sense. At first view it might appear that Zophar refers to those infirmities in old age, which are the consequences of youthful vices and irregularities. עלומו alumau, which we translate his youth, may be rendered his hidden things; as if he had said, his secret vices bring down his strength to the dust. For this rendering Rosenmuller contends, and several other German critics. Mr. Good contends for the same.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Zophar speaks (20:1-29)

On hearing Job’s bold forecast of punishment on his accusers (see 19:28-29), Zophar can hardly control his temper. Not only does he feel insulted, but he is burning with inward rage (20:1-3). His hasty reply is intended to hurt Job by reminding him that the wicked person’s happiness and success are shortlived (4-7). The wealth he unjustly gained will not save him, and his early death will be a fitting punishment (8-11).
The wicked feed on sin, keeping it in their mouths as long as possible to enjoy its taste before swallowing it. But it will be like poison in their stomachs and will kill them (12-16). Their lives of luxury will end, and the money they gained through oppression will be lost (17-19). Because of their greed, God will punish them with poverty and misery (20-23). The sword of God’s anger will pierce them and the fire of God’s wrath will burn them up (24-26). Zophar triumphantly concludes that heaven and earth will unite to destroy those who fight against God (27-29).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

MORE OF ZOPHAR'S NONSENSE ABOUT THE WICKED

"Though his height mount up to the heavens, And his head reach unto the clouds; Yet he shall perish forever like his own dung: They that have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: Yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. The eye which saw him shall see him no more; Neither shall his place any more behold him. His children shall seek the favor of the poor, And his hands shall give back his wealth. His bones are full of his youth, But it shall lie down with him in the dust."

"Though his height mount up to heaven" It is pride which Zophar mentioned here. "His words against pride are not altogether false; "It is his application of them to Job that was sinful."The New Layman's Bible Commentary, p. 574. It is the wickedness of Zophar's view that the present world is "all there is," and that it is "all there's ever going to be" that marks him as an agent of the devil here.

"His children shall seek the favor of the poor" etc. "This picture of destitution may include the thought of poetic justice: his children will have to beg from the poor who begged in vain from their father."Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries, Vol. 13, p. 196. This view, it would seem to this writer, is a little far-fetched; but a number of scholars have suggested it.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

His bones are full of the sin of his youth - The words “of the sin” in our common translation are supplied by the translators. Gesenius and Noyes suppose that the Hebrew means, “His bones are full of youth;” that is, full of vigor and strength, and the idea according to this would be, that he would be cut off in the fulness of his strength. Dr. Good renders it forcibly,

“His secret lusts shall follow his bones,

Yea, they shall press upon him in the dust.”

The Vulgate renders it, “His bones are full of the sins of his youth.” The Septuagint, “His bones are full of his youth.” The Chaldee Paraphrase, “His bones are full of his strength.” The Hebrew literally is, “His bones are full of his secret things” (עלוּמו ‛âlûmāŷ) - referring, as I suppose, to the “secret, long-cherished” faults of his life; the corrupt propensities and desires of his soul which had been seated in his very nature, and which would adhere to him, leaving a withering influence on his whole system in advancing years. The effect is that which is so often seen, when vices corrupt the very physical frame, and where the results are seen long in future life. The effect would be seen in the diseases which they engendered in his system, and in the certainty with which they would bring him down to the grave. The Syriac renders it, “marrow,” as if the idea were that he would die full of vigor and strength. But the sense is rather that his secret lusts would work his certain ruin.

Which shall lie down with him - That is, the results of his secret sins shall lie down with him in the grave. He will never get rid of them. He has so long indulged in his sins; they have so thoroughly pervaded his nature, and he so delights to cherish them, that they will attend him to the tomb. There is truth in this representation. Wicked people often indulge in secret sin so long that it seems to pervade the whole system. Nothing will remove it; and it lives and acts until the body is committed to the dust, and the soul sinks ruined into hell.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 20

So Zophar, the third of the speakers, gives his second discourse. And again, he was the guy that was dealing with traditions earlier, and with wisdom and all, so he said to Job,

Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste ( Job 20:2 ).

In others words, "I want to be quick to answer you on this."

I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer. Don't you know this of old, since man was placed on the earth, That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite is for a moment? ( Job 20:3-5 )

He won't get off, you know, the same tune. "Job you're wicked. Job you're a hypocrite."

Though his excellency mount up to heavens, and the head reach unto the clouds; Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: for they which have seen him shall say, Where is he? He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night. And the eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him. His children shall seek to please the poor, his hands shall restore their goods. His bones are full of the sins of his youth, and he shall lie down with him in the dust. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, and though he hide it under his tongue; Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. He shall suck the poison of asps: and the viper's tongue shall slay him. He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. That which he labored for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall be the restitution, and he shall not rejoice therein. Because ( Job 20:6-19 )

And this is now, here is what Zophar is suggesting that Job's evil was.

Because he has oppressed and has forsaken the poor; because he has violently taken away a house that he did not build ( Job 20:19 ).

"You've repossessed a house, Job. And you've taken away and oppressed the poor people." These are suggestions of Job's wickedness.

Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. In the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him. When he is about to fill his belly, God will cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating. He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through. It is drawn, and comes out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him. All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; and it shall go ill with him that is left of his tent. The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; the earth shall rise up against him. The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath. This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God ( Job 20:20-29 ).

These guys just keep coming on with Job, insisting that he is wicked, that he is a hypocrite. They have the one tune; they can't get off of it. "And all of your problems are because you are so sinful and so wicked."

Now, you say, "But why does the Lord labor this so much?" Because there are people that are still that stupid today. That if you get in trouble, they'll come around and say, "Well, brother, why don't you repent? You know, so you can be prosperous. Why don't you forsake your sin? Because surely if you are good, God is going to prosper you. And if you're evil, you're going to be cut off." But that is not so. Righteous people suffer. Evil people prosper. Righteous people prosper. Evil people suffer. We don't know. We don't know why righteous people oft times suffer. We don't know. It is wrong to assume things about a person because he's suffering. It's wrong to assume that a person doesn't have the faith, and thus he is sick. It is wrong to assume that if you just had enough faith, you would never be sick, because it just isn't so.

And God allows this point to be pressed over and over from several different directions, to show the folly of seeking with our human wisdom and understanding to try to find out the ways and the reasons and the why's of God. We don't know them. The question of the book of Job is: why do godly people suffer? The question is not really answered. But what we are brought to is the assurance and the understanding that God does rule over our lives. And thus, I don't have to understand the why, all I have to understand is the fact that God is in control, and I rest there. God controls the affairs of my life.

Shall we pray.

Father, help us that we will not be guilty of speaking deceitfully for You. Thinking that we understand more than we do, the causes, the reasons, the whys, the particular things that happen to certain people. Help us, Father, that we will be intercessors. And if a brother be overtaken in a fall, may we restore him in a spirit of weakness. If a brother is down, may we seek to lift him up. May we stretch out our hand of love and understanding to those who have fallen. Give us a heart like Yours, Lord, a heart of compassion for the oppressed and for the needy. In Jesus' name. "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

5. Zophar’s second speech ch. 20

This speech must have hurt Job more than any that his friends had presented so far. Zophar was brutal in his attack. He continued the theme of the fate of the wicked that Eliphaz and Bildad had emphasized. However, whereas Eliphaz stressed the distress of the wicked and Bildad their trapped position, Zophar elaborated on the fact that wicked people lose their wealth. He had nothing new to say, but he said it passionately.

"Zophar is deeply disturbed by Job’s accusations that the friends are increasing his torment and that God is the source of his present affliction. But unfortunately he does not know how to comfort Job. Neither does he know how to address the issues Job has raised. After a brief rebuke of Job he delivers a long discourse on a single topic-the certain evil fate of every evildoer. He is indirectly rejecting Job’s assertion that God will appear as his Redeemer to vindicate him. He counters Job’s statement of confidence by saying that the heavens and the earth will stand as witnesses against the evildoer, even against Job. In his view Job’s hope is false, and it is deluding him." [Note: Hartley, p. 299.]

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

The brief prosperity of the wicked 20:4-11

Zophar reminded Job that everyone knew the wicked only prosper for a short time (cf. Job 15:29). Job 20:5 is his thesis statement. The description of the wicked that Zophar proceeded to draw fit Job very well, and it must have wounded him deeply. The life of the wicked is brief (Job 20:4-11), their pleasure is temporary (Job 20:12-19), and their death is painful (Job 20:20-29). [Note: Wiersbe, pp. 42-44.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

His bones are full [of the sins] of his youth,.... Man is born in sin, and is a transgressor from the womb; and the youthful age is addicted to many sins, as pride, passion, lust, luxury, intemperance, and uncleanness; and these are sometimes brought to mind, and men are convinced of them, and corrected for them, when more advanced in years; and if not stopped in them, and reformed from them, they are continued in an old age; and the effects of them are seen in bodily diseases, which a debauched life brings upon them, not only to the rottenness and consumption of their flesh, but to the putrefaction of their bones; though this may be understood of the whole body, the bones, the principal and stronger parts, being put for the whole, and denote that general decay and waste which gluttony, drunkenness, and uncleanness, bring into, see Proverbs 5:11; Some interpret this of "secret" sins p, as the word is thought to signify, which, if not cleansed from and pardoned, will be found and charged on them, and be brought into judgment, and they punished for them, Psalms 90:8;

which shall lie down with him in the dust: to be in the dust is to be in the state of the dead, to lie in the grave, where men lie down and sleep as on a bed; and this is common to good and bad men, all sleep in the dust of the earth, but with this difference, the sins of wicked men lie down with them; as they live in sin, they die in their sins; not that their sins die with them, and are no more, but they continue on them, and with them, and will rise with them, and will follow them to judgment, and remain with them after, and the guilt and remorse of which will be always on their consciences, and is that worm that never dies: of such it is said, that they "are gone down to hell with their weapons of war"; with the same enmity against God, against Christ, and his people, and all that is good, they had in their lifetime: and "they have laid their swords under their heads"; in the grave, and shall rise with the same revengeful spirit they ever had against the saints, see

Revelation 20:8; "but their iniquities shall be upon their bones"; both them, and the punishment of them, Ezekiel 32:27. The Jewish commentator last mentioned interprets the whole verse of Balaam, who died at the age of thirty three, and whose prosperity died with him, he leaving nothing to his children; and so he interprets the following verses of the curse he was forced to hide, which he would gladly have pronounced, and of the riches he received from Balak falling into the hands of the Israelites.

p עלומיו "ejus occultis", Montanus, Vatablus, Schmidt.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.   11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.   12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;   13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:   14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.   15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.   16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper's tongue shall slay him.   17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.   18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.   19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away a house which he builded not;   20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.   21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.   22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.

      The instances here given of the miserable condition of the wicked man in this world are expressed with great fulness and fluency of language, and the same thing returned to again and repeated in other words. Let us therefore reduce the particulars to their proper heads, and observe,

      I. What his wickedness is for which he is punished.

      1. The lusts of the flesh, here called the sins of his youth (Job 20:11; Job 20:11); for those are the sins which, at that age, people are most tempted to. The forbidden pleasures of sense are said to be sweet in his mouth (Job 20:12; Job 20:12); he indulges himself in all the gratifications of the carnal appetite, and takes an inordinate complacency in them, as yielding the most agreeable delights. That is the satisfaction which he hides under his tongue, and rolls there, as the most dainty delicate thing that can be. He keeps it still within his mouth (Job 20:13; Job 20:13); let him have that, and he desires no more; he will never part with that for the spiritual and divine pleasures of religion, which he has no relish or nor affection for. His keeping it still in his mouth denotes his obstinately persisting in his sin (he spares it when he should kill and mortify it, and forsakes it not, but holds it fast, and goes on frowardly in it), and also his re-acting of his sin by revolving it and remembering it with pleasure, as that adulterous woman (Ezekiel 23:19) who multiplied her whoredoms by calling to remembrance the days of her youth; so does this wicked man here. Or his hiding it and keeping it under his tongue denotes his industrious concealment of his beloved lust. Being a hypocrite, his haunts of sin are secret, that he may save the credit of his profession; but he who knows what is in the heart knows what is under the tongue too, and will discover it shortly.

      2. The love of the world and the wealth of it. It is in worldly wealth that he places his happiness, and therefore he sets his heart upon it. See here, (1.) How greedy he is of it (Job 20:15; Job 20:15): He has swallowed down riches as eagerly as ever a hungry man swallowed down meat; and is still crying, "Give, give." It is that which he desired (Job 20:20; Job 20:20); it was, in his eye, the best gift, and that which he coveted earnestly. (2.) What pains he takes for it: It is that which he laboured for (Job 20:18; Job 20:18), not by honest diligence in a lawful calling, but by an unwearied prosecution of all ways and methods, per fas, per nefas--right or wrong, to be rich. We must labour, not to be rich (Proverbs 23:4), but to be charitable, that we may have to give (Ephesians 4:28), not to spend. (3.) What great things he promises himself from it, intimated in the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter (Job 20:17; Job 20:17); his being disappointed of them supposes that he had flattered himself with the hopes of them: he expected rivers of sensual delights.

      3. Violence and oppression, and injustice in his poor neighbours, Job 20:19; Job 20:19. This was the sin of the giants of the old world, and a sin that, as much as any, brings God's judgments upon nations and families. It is charged upon this wicked man, (1.) That he has forsaken the poor, taken no care of them, shown no kindness to them, nor made any provision for them. At first perhaps, for a pretence, he gave alms like the Pharisees, to gain a reputation; but, when he had served his turn by this practice, he left it off, and forsook the poor, whom before he seemed to be concerned for. Those who do good, but not from a good principle, though they may abound in it, will not abide in it. (2.) That he has oppressed them, crushed them, taken all advantages against them to do them a mischief. To enrich himself, he has robbed the spital, and made the poor poorer. (3.) That he has violently taken away their houses, which he had no right to, as Ahab took Naboth's vineyard, not by secret fraud, by forgery, perjury, or some trick in law, but avowedly, and by open violence.

      II. What his punishment is for this wickedness.

      1. He shall be disappointed in his expectations, and shall not find that satisfaction in his worldly wealth which he vainly promised himself (Job 20:17; Job 20:17): He shall never see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter, with which he hoped to glut himself. The world is not that to those who love it, and court it, and admire it, which they fancy it will be. The enjoyment sinks far below the raised expectation.

      2. He shall be diseased and distempered in his body; and how little comfort a man has in riches if he has not health! Sickness and pain, especially it they be in extremity, embitter all his enjoyments. This wicked man has all the delights of sense wound up to the height of pleasurableness; but what real happiness can he enjoy when his bones are full of the sins of his youth (Job 20:11; Job 20:11), that is, of the effects of those sins? By his drunkenness and gluttony, his uncleanness and wantonness, when he was young, he contracted those diseases which are painful to him long after, and perhaps make his life very miserable, and, as Solomon speaks, consume his flesh and his body, Proverbs 5:11. Perhaps he was given to fight when he was young, and then made nothing of a cut or a bruise in a fray; but he feels it in his bones long after. But can he get no ease, no relief? No, he is likely to carry his pains and diseases with him to the grave, or rather they are likely to carry him thither, and so the sins of his youth shall lie down with him in the dust; the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to him the effect of sin (Job 24:19; Job 24:19), so that his iniquity is upon his bones there, Ezekiel 32:27. The sin of sinners follows them to the other side death.

      3. He shall be disquieted and troubled in his mind: Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly,Job 20:20; Job 20:20. He has not that ease in his own mind that people think he has, but is in continual agitation. The ill-gotten wealth which he has swallowed down makes him sick, and, like undigested meat, is always upbraiding him. Let none expect to enjoy that comfortably which they have gotten unjustly. The unquietness of his mind arises, (1.) From his conscience looking back, and filling him with the fear of the wrath of God against him for his wickedness. Even that wickedness which was sweet in the commission, and was rolled under the tongue as a delicate morsel, becomes bitter in the reflection, and, when it is reviewed, fills him with horror and vexation. In his bowels it is turned (Job 20:14; Job 20:14) like John's book, in his mouth as sweet as honey, but, when he had eaten it, his belly was bitter,Revelation 10:10. Such a thing is sin; it is turned into the gall of asps, than which nothing is more bitter, the poison of asps (Job 20:16; Job 20:16), than which nothing more fatal, and so it will be to him; what he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, will prove to him the poison of asps; so will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue will prove the viper's tongue. All the charming graces that are thought to be in sin will, when conscience is awakened, turn into so many raging furies. (2.) From his cares, looking forward, Job 20:22; Job 20:22. In the fulness of his sufficiency, when he thinks himself most happy, and most sure of the continuance of his happiness, he shall be in straits, that is, he shall think himself so, through the anxieties and perplexities of his own mind, as that rich man who, when his ground brought forth plentifully, cried out, What shall I do?Luke 12:17.

      4. He shall be dispossessed of his estate; that shall sink and dwindle away to nothing, so that he shall not rejoice therein,Job 20:18; Job 20:18. He shall not only never rejoice truly, but not long rejoice at all. (1.) What he has unjustly swallowed he shall be compelled to disgorge (Job 20:15; Job 20:15): He swallowed down riches, and then thought himself sure of them, and that they were as much his own as the meat he had eaten; but he was deceived: he shall vomit them up again; his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but the pain of a vomit, and with the utmost reluctancy. Or, if he do not himself refund what he has violently taken away, God will, by his providence, force him to it, and bring it about, one way or other, that ill-gotten goods shall return to the right owners: God shall cast them out of his belly, while yet the love of the sin is not cast out of his heart. So loud shall the clamours of the poor, whom he has impoverished, be against him, that he shall be forced to send his children to them to soothe them and beg their pardon (Job 20:10; Job 20:10): His children shall seek to please the poor, while his own hands shall restore them their goods with shame (Job 20:18; Job 20:18): That which he laboured for, by all the arts of oppression, shall he restore, and shall not so swallow it down as to digest it; it shall not stay with him, but according to his shame shall the restitution be; having gotten a great deal unjustly, he shall restore a great deal, so that when every one has his own he will have but little left for himself. To be made to restore what was unjustly gotten, by the sanctifying grace of God, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy; he voluntarily and cheerfully restored four-fold, and yet had a great deal left to give to the poor,Luke 19:8. But to be forced to restore, as Judas was, merely by the horrors of a despairing conscience, has none of that benefit and comfort attending it, for he threw down the pieces of silver and went and hanged himself. (2.) He shall be stripped of all he has and become a beggar. He that spoiled others shall himself be spoiled (Isaiah 33:1); for every hand of the wicked shall be upon him. The innocent, whom he has wronged, sit down by their loss, saying, as David, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but my hand shall not be upon him,1 Samuel 24:13. But though they have forgiven him, though they will make no reprisals, divine justice will, and often makes the wicked to avenge the quarrel of the righteous, and squeezes and crushes one bad man by the hand of another upon him. Thus, when he is plucked on all sides, he shall not save of that which he desired (Job 20:20; Job 20:20), not only he shall not save it all, but he shall save nothing of it. There shall none of his meat (which he coveted so much, and fed upon with so much pleasure) be left,Job 20:21; Job 20:21. All his neighbours and relations shall look upon him to be in such bad circumstances that, when he is dead, no man shall look for his goods, none of his kindred shall expect to be a penny the better for him, nor be willing to take out letters of administration for what he leaves behind him. In all this Zophar reflects upon Job, who had lost all and was reduced to the last extremity.