If thou prepare thy heart and stretch out thy hands toward him,
Zophar turns from God's greatness to a condition. Set your heart right, reach out to God, and everything will change. The words sound wise, and in part they are. But they rest on an assumption about Job that the commentators say was false.
Zophar's address moves through a fixed shape, and verse 13 opens its fourth movement. One writer lays out the outline: Job's flood of words rebuked (vv. 1-6), the greatness of God (vv. 7-9), all things open to Him (vv. 10-12), then this:
(4) The call to repent (vv. 13-15). (5) The peaceable results (vv. 16-20).
Everything Zophar has said about God's greatness now bends toward one purpose. He presses Job to repent as a guilty man. The same writer notes what that costs him:
Zophar spoils the dignity of what he had just said. He calls on Job to repent as an evildoer with a store of ill-gotten wealth in his tents. This complete lack of discernment stirs Job to anger. It shows up the shallow nature of the friends' theory.
One commentator weighs the advice apart from the man who gave it:
"If you prepare your heart, and stretch out your hands toward Him." Now that was excellent advice. That was just what Job did need — to wait on God until God gave him the answer as to how all this had come upon him. But Zophar's idea was all wrong.
(Kelly quotes an older translation, which reads both halves of the verse as conditions.)
The two actions in the verse are prayer and turning back. Zophar holds them out as Job's one way out of trouble:
Finally, Zophar urges supplication and repentance as the only door of escape for Job, but a sure opening into a bright and prosperous and secure life, if he would avoid the certain doom of the wicked.
The trouble is the sentence Zophar attaches next, about iniquity in the hand. He treats Job as a man clutching secret sins. But the commentators say Job's real problem lay somewhere else entirely:
"If iniquity is in your hand" — that was not what it was. It was not a question of iniquity, but of God dealing with Job's satisfaction with himself. Job was a truly godly, God-fearing man, but he had a high idea of his own character. That is what no soul should ever allow. It is completely wrong for a person to rest in himself, no matter how blameless he may be, and no matter how truly he waits on God day by day. There is no rest in any creature, least of all in ourselves.
So Zophar offered a real cure for an illness Job did not have. Another writer puts the failure in medical terms:
Zophar thought he was giving Job the remedy for his depressed condition. But his diagnosis was totally wrong, so his remedy was not what Job needed.
One commentator starts with Zophar's view of God. Then he asks what happens to a man who tries to prepare his heart and cannot:
These words have a strong flavour of law. They prove very clearly that Zophar had no right sense of God's character. He did not know God. God is not against us, but for us. He is not someone who demands, but someone who gives freely. Zophar says, "If you prepare your heart." But if not, what then? No doubt a man ought to prepare his heart, and if he were right he would. But then he is not right, and so when he sets about preparing his heart, he finds nothing there but evil. He finds himself completely powerless. What is he to do? Zophar cannot tell.
Another writer names this way of thinking, and turns it on the reader:
He can tell Job that if Job were not a sinner, then all would be most blessed with him. That is all that Zophar, or mere human light, can do. This is human religion. I must try not to be a sinner, and then I shall be happy, and God will not be against me. Still a hopeless effort — don't you find it so? You are a sinner. How then can you stand before a holy Judge? There is the difficulty.
One writer sums up where all three friends failed:
They did not know how to present God to Job; and, as a result, they did not know how to lead Job's conscience into the presence of God. Instead of leading him to self-judgment, they only fed a spirit of self-vindication. They did not bring God into the scene. They said some true things, but they did not have the truth.
- The counsel is good. Preparing the heart and reaching out to God is what Job needed. He had to wait until God answered him.
- The assumption is false. Zophar reads Job as an evildoer hiding stolen goods in his tents. That lack of discernment stirs Job to anger.
- The diagnosis misses. Job's problem was not sin in his hand but satisfaction with himself. Zophar aimed a real remedy at the wrong illness.
- The condition has no answer. "If you prepare your heart" — but what if a man tries and finds nothing there but evil, and himself powerless? Zophar cannot say. He never knew that God is not against us, but for us.
- True things are not the truth. The friends never brought God into the scene. So they fed Job's self-defence instead of leading his conscience into God's presence.
If thou put far away the iniquity which is in thy hand, and let not wrong dwell in thy tents;
Zophar tells Job what to do: clean your hands, clear your home, and your suffering will lift. The advice is sound. But he aims it at a man who has done nothing to deserve it. So what is good advice worth when it rests on a false charge?
Job's three visitors each argue from a different base. This verse is the clearest window into Zophar's. One writer sorts them by the ground each man stands on:
In short, Eliphaz went by personal experience. He said, "As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same" (Job 4:8). Bildad is the voice of tradition and the authority of the past. He said, "Inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out" (Job 8:8). Zophar displayed law and religiousness. He said, "If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away … then you will lift up your face without blemish" (Job 11:14-15).
The instruction is not wrong. What is wrong is the picture of Job it takes for granted — a man with sin gripped in his fist, refusing to let go.
Zophar's closing words of counsel (verses 13-20) also have truth in them. One translation renders verse 14, "If you put far away the iniquity which is in your hand." That is, he again assumes, as the others do, that Job is an evil man after all, holding tight to his sins. Here he was wrong. His counsel to put away evil and turn to God was good, and his description of the happy result was correct enough.
If iniquity in the hand was never Job's problem, what was God dealing with? One writer names it:
"If iniquity is in your hand" — that was not what it was. It was not a question of iniquity, but of God dealing with Job's satisfaction with himself. Job was a truly devout, God-fearing man; but he had a high idea of his own character. That is what no soul should ever allow. It is completely wrong for a person to rest in himself. That holds no matter how blameless he may be, and no matter how truly he waits on God day by day. There is no rest in any creature, least of all in ourselves.
Zophar widens the charge from Job's hand to his tents. Now it is not a general call to repent. It is a claim about how Job got his wealth, and that is what breaks his patience.
But Zophar spoils the dignity of what he has just said. He calls on Job to repent as an evildoer with a store of ill-gotten wealth in his tents. This complete lack of discrimination stirs Job to anger. It exposes how shallow the friends' theory is.
The verse hangs on an "if". Zophar builds his whole speech that way: do this, and then that will follow. The "if" shows what he thinks God is like. It also collapses as soon as a man tries to meet it.
These words have a strong flavour of legality. They prove very clearly that Zophar had no right sense of God's character. He did not know God. No one with a true knowledge of God could speak of Him as opening His lips against a poor afflicted sinner. Nor could such a person say He demands anything from a needy, helpless creature. God is not against us, but for us, blessed be His Name for ever! He is not a stern collector of debts, but a generous giver. Then Zophar says, "If you prepare your heart." But if not, what then? A man ought to prepare his heart, but he is not right. So when he sets about preparing his heart, he finds nothing there but evil. He finds himself completely powerless. What is he to do? Zophar cannot tell.
The same writer draws the line that separates accurate statements from help:
They only darkened counsel with words without knowledge. Not one of the three friends understood Job. What is more, they did not know God's character or His purpose in dealing with His dear servant. … Instead of leading him to self-judgment, they only fed a spirit of self-defence. They did not bring God into the scene. They said some true things; but they did not have the truth.
- True things. Zophar's call to put evil away and turn to God is good advice. The fault is not in the words but in who he aims them at.
- True things, wrong man. He assumes Job is holding tight to his sins and storing wealth he gained wrongly. The assumption is false, and it pushes Job into self-defence instead of self-judgment.
- True things, wrong God. Zophar builds everything on "if you do this, then". That presents God as a stern collector of debts, not a generous giver. It leaves a helpless man with no answer.
- True things, wrong problem. God was not dealing with iniquity in Job's hand. He was dealing with Job's satisfaction with himself. No one, however blameless, may rest in himself.
- True things are not the truth. Statements can be accurate and still darken counsel. The test is whether they bring God into the scene.
Surely then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot, and thou shalt be stedfast and shalt not fear
Zophar ends his speech with a promise: get rid of the sin, and the shame and the fear go with it. Everything rests on that "if" — has Zophar judged Job rightly, and can any sufferer meet such a condition?
Each of Job's three friends argues from a different base. This verse is the mark of the third:
Eliphaz went on personal experience. He said, "As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same" (Job 4:8). Bildad is the voice of tradition and the authority of the past. He said, "Inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out" (Job 8:8). Zophar showed law and religiousness. He said, "If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away … then you will lift up your face without blemish" (Job 11:14-15).
The promise hangs on a sin hidden in Job's hand. That was not Job's problem:
"If iniquity is in your hand" — that was not what it was. It was not a question of iniquity, but of God dealing with Job's satisfaction with himself. Job was a truly devout, God-fearing man; but he had a high idea of his own character. That is what no soul should ever allow. It is completely wrong for a person to rest in himself, no matter how blameless he may be, no matter how truly he may wait on God day by day. There is no rest in any creature, least of all in ourselves. It was One who was coming. And now there is One who has come. Zophar goes on to the end of the chapter in very proper language. But his thought was all wrong, because he assumed there was some great wickedness unseen and unknown. Why then did he assume it, if it was not seen and known?
The advice itself is not worthless. The fault lies in the man Zophar aimed it at:
Zophar's closing words of counsel (verses 13-20) also have truth in them. In verse 14 he again assumes, like the others, that Job is after all an evil man, holding tight to his sins. Here he was wrong, though his counsel to put away evil and turn to God was good, and his description of the happy result of doing so was correct enough.
A promise built on conditions shows what its speaker thinks God is like:
These words have a strong flavour of legality. They prove very clearly that Zophar had no right sense of the divine character. He did not know God. No one who truly knows God could speak of Him as opening His lips against a poor afflicted sinner. No one who knows Him could think of Him as demanding anything from a needy, helpless creature. God is not against us, but for us, blessed for ever be His Name! He is not a stern collector of debts, but a generous giver.
A face without blemish is what a guilty person needs and cannot produce. Zophar stops short at that point:
But he is not able to show Job how he can be a sinner and yet be justified. He can say that if Job were not a sinner, then all would be most blessed with him; and that is all that Zophar, or mere human light, can do. This is human religion. I must try not to be a sinner, and then I shall be happy, and God will not be against me. Still a hopeless effort — you find it so, don't you? You are a sinner. How then can you stand before a holy Judge? There is the difficulty.
Job did receive the honour Zophar held out, but by God's road, not Zophar's:
He paints everything in the rosiest colours, as if he knew what God would do for Job. The time did come when Job got richer blessings than those Zophar outlined. And Zophar's word that many would seek Job's favour came true when Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had to humble themselves before this servant of God.
- Standpoint — Zophar speaks for law and religion. Clean hands first, then a face lifted without blemish.
- Misread — The "if" assumed hidden sin in Job's hand. The real issue was Job's satisfaction with himself, and no one can rest in himself.
- Sound advice, wrong address — Put away evil, turn to God, and the happy outcome follows. The error was aiming that word at a man who was not holding on to sin.
- Missing God — A God who demands and speaks against the sufferer is not the God who is for us. He is a generous giver, not a stern collector.
- Missing gospel — Zophar can say a righteous man would be blessed. He cannot say how a sinner is justified. In the end God gave Job richer blessing than Zophar promised, and his accusers had to bow.
For thou shalt forget misery; as waters that are passed away shalt thou remember it;
These words are a promise, not a fact: Zophar, the third of Job's friends, tells Job what life could look like if he admits hidden sin and turns from it. But is the promise true, and was Zophar the man to make it?
The bright words come at the end of a call to repent, and the call rests on guilt that Zophar never names.
He too believes that Job is a wicked man who has hidden iniquity, and that this must explain his affliction. So he turns preacher and calls on him to repent. Set your heart right, he tells Job; stretch out your hands towards Him. Put iniquity away, do not let iniquity stay in your tents! He talks as if he is very sure, more so than Eliphaz and Bildad, that Job is guilty of much sin. Then he draws a charming picture of the blessed results if Job confesses and repents. He would forget his misery "as waters that have passed away."
The picture is of floodwater that has already run past. One commentator ties the beauty of that picture to the emptiness of the charge behind it.
The ending is like singing songs to someone with a heavy heart. Zophar paints a beautiful outcome — one as imaginary as the sins he charged Job with. Job would then forget his present troubles, which would slip past him like flowing water. His darkness would turn to light. He would have safety and prosperity, and the men who had slandered him would bow before him.
Zophar offers a cure. The trouble is what he thinks he is curing.
He does not say what Job has been guilty of, but is sure he must be guilty of something… Zophar thought he was giving Job the remedy for his depressed condition, but his diagnosis was totally wrong and his remedy was therefore not what Job needed.
Zophar has no doubt what God's verdict on Job will be. That kind of certainty turns back on the person who holds it.
Zophar had not a doubt what the sentence would be. He had not learned that we should not judge, or we will be judged, and that our judgments really judge us. A sound and gracious judgment proves that we dwell in God, because we dwell in love and walk in the light. A harsh judgment shows, just as clearly, how far we are ruled by thoughts and feelings that come from nothing higher than self.
What Zophar described did eventually happen, but not because his theory was right.
He paints everything in the rosiest colours, as if he knew what God would do for Job. The time did come when Job got richer blessings than the ones Zophar described. And what Zophar said — "many shall make suit to you" in the older wording, that is, many would beg for Job's favour — did come true when Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had to humble themselves before this Servant of God.
The restoration Job received came in an order Zophar's formula could not produce.
God blessed Job richly. He restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before. He did this when Job had prayed for his friends — and not till then… Yet God did not let that tide of blessing roll in on Job again until he had been deeply changed in spirit and character. At last Job was brought near to God. He then acted as a priest in a way that reflected the goodness and kindness of God, and everything outward changed.
- Diagnosis. Zophar assumes a hidden sin he cannot name, so his cure targets an illness Job does not have.
- Prescription. Put sin away, he says, and the misery drains off like floodwater that has passed. It is a lovely promise built on a false charge.
- Judgment. He is sure of God's verdict on another man. A harsh judgment measures the one who makes it.
- Reversal. His words about many seeking Job's favour did come true — when the three friends had to humble themselves before Job.
- Order. The blessing returned only after God had changed Job and Job had prayed for his friends. It was never payment for a formula.
And life shall arise brighter than noonday; though thou be enshrouded in darkness, thou shalt be as the morning,
Zophar ends his first speech with a picture of the future. Put away your sin, he tells Job, and your darkest days will shine like midday. That raises two questions. Is the promise true? And is Zophar offering it to the right man, for the right reason?
This verse sits in the closing part of Zophar's speech, where he paints the reward. One writer thinks little of that picture:
The conclusion is like singing songs to someone with a heavy heart. Zophar paints a beautiful outcome — as imaginary as the sins he charged Job with. He would then forget his present troubles, which would slip by him like passing waters. His darkness would be turned to light. He would have security and prosperity, and those who had slandered him would bow before him.
The picture is of a life rising, not just a life improving. An older translation brings that out more strongly. Where the ESV has the darkness becoming like the morning, it reads:
And the future shall rise brighter than noonday; you shall soar — you shall be as the morning.
Zophar never names a single sin. He assumes one is there, then prescribes a cure. This verse is the result he promises:
Zophar thought he was giving Job the remedy for his depressed condition. But his diagnosis was completely wrong, so his remedy was not what Job needed.
Zophar's counsel has real truth in it. The trouble is the charge hidden underneath it:
Zophar's final words of counsel (verses 13-20) also have truth in them. Verse 14 in the New Translation begins, "If you put far away the iniquity which is in your hand." That is, he again assumes, like the others, that Job is after all an evil man, holding tight to his sins. Here he was wrong. His counsel to put away evil and turn to God was still good, and his description of the happy result of doing so was correct enough.
Reduce this verse to a formula and you get a bargain: behave, and life turns bright. One writer names that bargain for what it is, and shows where it collapses:
He can tell that if Job were not a sinner, then things would be most blessed with him; and that is all that Zophar, or mere human light, can do. This is human religion. I must try not to be a sinner, and then I shall be happy, and God will not be against me. It is still a useless effort, isn't it? You are a sinner. How then can you stand before a holy Judge? There is the difficulty.
Zophar aimed his counsel at hidden sin. One writer says Job's real trouble lay somewhere else:
"If iniquity be in your hand" — that was not what it was. It was not a question of iniquity, but of God dealing with Job's satisfaction with himself. Job was a truly godly, God-fearing man; but he had a high idea of his own character. That is what no soul should ever allow.
The book does end with Job's darkness turning to light. But the order of events undoes Zophar's formula:
God blessed Job abundantly, turning his captivity and giving him twice as much as he had before. He did this when Job had prayed for his friends — and not till then… Yet God held back that tide of blessing. It came only after Job had been changed deep down, in spirit and character.
- Position. This verse is the payoff of Zophar's speech. It is the reward he promises if Job repents of sins Zophar cannot name.
- Picture. This is not mild relief. It is sunrise: trouble remembered like water already gone, life rising brighter than noonday.
- Prescription. The remedy sounds right, and the outcome is real. But the diagnosis behind it is wrong, so the counsel misses the man.
- Problem. Turn the verse into a rule and you get human religion: stop sinning and be happy. It leaves the real question untouched. How can a sinner stand before a holy Judge?
- Proof. Job's morning did come. But it came only after a deep change in him, and after he had prayed for the friends who accused him — God's route, not Zophar's.