11:1–6 Job has just delivered a long speech (Job 9–10), and Zophar finds an angle of attack. If the traditional wisdom expressed in Proverbs 10:19, for example, is true (“When words are many, transgression is not lacking”), then Job has already sinned. With two accusing questions, Zophar seeks to silence (and answer—“answered,” Job 11:1; “unanswered,” v. 2; Hb. ʻanah) sinful Job:

    Should a multitude of words go unanswered,

    and a man full of talk be judged right?

    Should your babble silence men,

    and when you mock, shall no one shame you? (vv. 2–3)

Three word-related sins are mentioned. First, Job is long-winded (“a multitude of words,” paralleled with “full of talk”; v. 2). Second, he has tried to “silence” good “men” (i.e., Eliphaz and Bildad) with proud claims (“babble,” Hb. bad, v. 3a; elsewhere translated “boast,” Isa. 16:6; Jer. 48:30). Third, he has ridiculed them with his empty rhetoric (“when you mock”; Job 11:3b). Zophar is intervening now to tame such a tongue, answer Job’s accusations, and make sure he is aware of his sins and shamed for them.

In verses 4–6, Zophar comes across as a prophet as he introduces God (mentioned or “present” in all of the following verses) and God’s point of view on the matter. Job needs to be quiet, and God needs to speak (“oh, that God would speak . . . open his lips . . . he would tell you”; vv. 5–6a).

    For you say, “My doctrine is pure,

    and I am clean in God’s eyes.”

    But oh, that God would speak

    and open his lips to you,

    and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!

    For he is manifold in understanding.

    Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves. (vv. 4–6)

Verses 5–6ab introduce the main theme of verses 7–12, namely, the wisdom of God.83 Verses 4 and 6c seek to expose Job’s folly. As stated in the overview, the claim that “God exacts of you . . . [what] your guilt deserves” (v. 6c) is the perfect summary of Zophar’s systematics. In Job’s case, he is suffering, in part, because his guilt is oozing out his mouth. For example, Zophar offers a quote,

    For you say, “My doctrine is pure,

    and I am clean in God’s eyes.” (v. 4)

There are two problems with these verses. First, retribution theology is wrong. Job does not deserve what has happened to him. And to say that he deserves even more than he has gotten (that God has been lenient in his anger, see v. 6c) is not only incorrect but cruel. Second, Job did claim to be innocent (“I am in the right,” 9:15, 20; “I am blameless,” 9:20, 21; “I am not guilty,” 10:7), and what he was saying about God, himself, and his situation was true (perhaps the sense of Zophar’s paraphrase of Job’s “My doctrine is pure”; 11:4a). However, Job has never claimed to be “clean” (Hb. bar) in the sense of morally pure or sinless; he has only claimed to be “blameless” (Hb. tam), something God himself has said of him (“blameless and upright man”; 1:8; 2:3; cf. 1:1).

11:7–12 While Zophar distorts the words of Job (vv. 1–6), he has the facts straight on the wisdom of God (vv. 7–12). However, what he does not have straight is how such a lesson on God’s wisdom should be applied to Job. He uses it as mirror: he wants Job to see his blemishes, to reflect on God’s wisdom and reflect God’s wisdom. But Job does not need the belittling poem that follows:

    Can you find out the deep things of God?

    Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

    It is higher than heaven—what can you do?

    Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

    Its measure is longer than the earth

    and broader than the sea. (vv. 7–9)

The opening two words—“Can you” (v. 7)—highlight that Job is getting a personal sermon, a theological talking to (talking down to!). Using a series of four rhetorical questions, Zophar zings Job with the “profundity and sublimity of God,” describing “God as someone who is too high, too deep, too long, and too wide to grasp,” as “higher than the highest place imaginable (heaven), deeper than the deepest place (Sheol), longer than the longest place (the earth), and wider than the widest place (the sea).”84 Of course, Job knows that God is inscrutable. He knows that he cannot know the mysteries of God (9:11–12). And he would readily embrace the Pauline doxology of Romans 11:33–36. What he will not embrace is reported “wisdom” on the wisdom of God from fools!

    No doubt you are the people,

    and wisdom will die with you. (Job 12:2)

Zophar concludes this section (11:10–12) with a courtroom scenario of his own (see Job’s legal language in Job 9–10), followed by an insult. In 11:10–11, he describes God’s coming to earth (“he passes through”), tossing Job in jail (“and imprisons”), and holding a trial (“summons the court”; v. 10). Job has no option; he must attend, as must everyone who is summoned (“who can turn him back?”; v. 10b). Once court is in session, Zophar reminds Job, with verse 11, that God is not stupid. He knows the difference between a good man and a wicked one (“he knows worthless men”), between an evil action (“he sees iniquity”; v. 11) and a righteous one.

Zophar follows this scene with a veiled insult. Job is the target of his taunt!

    But a stupid man will get understanding

    when a wild donkey’s colt is born a man! (v. 12)

The point of this clever but cruel proverb is that it is more probable that a wild donkey would give birth to a full-grown man than that idiot Job would apply the wisdom of Zophar’s brilliant sermon.

11:13–20 With verse 12, Zophar is attempting to shame and bully Job to repent. With verses 13–20 he is seeking to woo (vv. 15–19) and warn (v. 20) him to the winning side. With a few conditional clauses (“if,” vv. 13–14; “then,” v. 15), Zophar implores Job to repent of his sin. The call is quite beautiful, and the imagery inspiring:

    If you prepare your heart,

    you will stretch out your hands toward him.

    If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,

    and let not injustice dwell in your tents. (vv. 13–14)

Here repentance involves four actions. Inwardly, Job is to set his mind on God (“prepare your heart”; v. 13a). Outwardly, he is to acknowledge God as God and reach out to him for mercy (“stretch out your hands toward him”; v. 13b; cf. 1 Kings 8:38//2 Chron. 6:29). Personally, he is to stop sinning (“if iniquity is in your hand, put it far away”; Job 11:14a). Publicly, he is to deal justly and lovingly with his household, friends, and neighbors (“let not injustice dwell in your tents”; v. 14b).

Zophar’s counsel is clear and his promises certain. If Job repents, restoration will follow. Such restoration is described in terms that would be to Job’s own liking. He has been asking God not for renewed wealth or health85 but to pull him out of the darkness of despair. As he proved in 1:20–21 and 2:10, Job can live without his possessions or health! What he cannot live without is being in a right relationship with God. That relationship seems severed because God has been silent about Job’s sufferings. So Zophar’s words here are “tempting,” if we can put it that way, because Job longs for what is offered. He wants to be unashamed (“surely . . . you will lift up your face without blemish”), safe, and without fear (11:15). He wants to “forget” his “misery,” like one forgets a wave that has crashed to shore (“you will remember it as waters that have passed away”; v. 16). He wants light, not darkness:

    And your life will be brighter than the noonday;

    its darkness will be like the morning. (v. 17; cf. 10:21–22)

He wants the security and safety that comes from hope, as well as the prestige that comes from being recognized as wise:

    And you will feel secure, because there is hope;

    you will look around and take your rest in security.

    You will lie down, and none will make you afraid;

    many will court your favor. (11:18–19)

Having attempted to woo Job with the promises of restoration that come with repentance, Zophar concludes by warning him of the condemnation to come following a lack of repentance. Moving from the second person directly addressing Job (“you,” used twenty times above), the final verse uses the third person. This general principle is true not just for Job but for everyone:

    But the eyes of the wicked will fail;

    all way of escape will be lost to them,

    and their hope is to breathe their last. (v. 20)

Unlike Eliphaz (5:25–27) and Bildad (8:20–22), but like Job (10:20–22), Zophar ends on a sour note. He is holding out hope for Job, but he wants to make clear that there is no hope for the wicked.