And thou shalt have confidence, because there shall be hope; and having searched about [thee], thou shalt take rest in safety.
Zophar ends his speech by holding out a bright picture to Job: put your sin away, and life will come back — confidence, safety, quiet sleep. But was that promise true? And did it fit Job's case at all?
The security of verse 18 is not a free gift. It comes at the end of a list of conditions, and one writer tests those conditions against Job's real case.
Leslie M. GrantZophar thinks he has proved Job's guilt. He also thinks he has shown Job something of the greatness of God. So he urges Job to change his ways. He does not say what Job is guilty of, but he is sure Job must be guilty of something. "If you prepare your heart … if iniquity is in your hand, put it far away … Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear" … Zophar thought he was giving Job the remedy for his depressed state. But his diagnosis was completely wrong, so his remedy was not what Job needed.
Zophar also reasons backwards. Job once had this very life, and he has it no longer. Zophar draws his conclusion from that change.
Leslie M. GrantHe would be secure and take rest in safety, he would lie down without fear, and many would seek his favour (vv.18-19). Before Job's deep trial, many had indeed sought Job's favour. Zophar thought that since this was no longer true, the only reason could be Job's falling into sin.
The picture is warm and generous. It is useless because it fits a man who does not exist — the guilty Job of Zophar's imagination.
Samuel RidoutThe 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.
The flaw is not in the words about hope and safety. It lies in the thinking behind them: blessing as payment owed for good behaviour.
The Bible TreasuryZophar replies, trying to convict him. He presses on Job that God "exacts of you less than your guilt deserves." If there were no iniquity, there would be present mercies. "You will lift up your face without blemish … and take your rest in security." Zophar makes man's acts the measure of God's dealings. He does not see that man is evil in himself, and therefore far from God, with no claim to any blessing.
Zophar's advice is still the most common religious advice in the world. It fails at the one point that matters.
C. StanleyHe can say that if Job were not a sinner, then it would be most blessed for 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. It is still a wasted effort. You find that, don't you? You are a sinner. How then can you stand before a holy Judge? There is the difficulty.
Zophar points Job to the wrong place. He tells Job to find steadiness in a clean record, but God was working on something else.
William Kelly"If iniquity is in your hand" — that was not the issue. It was not a question of iniquity at all. God was 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 ought ever to allow. It is altogether wrong for a person to rest in himself, no matter how spotless he may be, no matter how he may truly wait upon God day by day. There is no rest in any creature, least of all in ourselves.
Job could not reach the confidence his friends held out to him. One writer sets their offer beside the hope we have now.
William KellyHis friends might hold out fresh, bright hopes if he would repent, turning night into day … But as for his own hope, the grave was his house, and his bed was spread in darkness … What a blessed contrast to such gloomy words from a believer is the strong encouragement we have! We have fled for refuge to take hold of the hope set before us. It is an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, and it enters the inner place behind the curtain.
- The offer. Zophar promises hope, safety and quiet sleep. But it all waits at the end of a list of conditions, and he never names one sin Job committed.
- The false diagnosis. Zophar read Job's lost prosperity backwards as proof of hidden guilt. The diagnosis was wrong, so the remedy was not what Job needed.
- The false measure. Zophar makes man's acts the measure of God's dealings. He never sees that man in himself has no claim to any blessing.
- The false cure. "Try not to be a sinner, and then God will not be against me" is human religion. It collapses because you are a sinner.
- The real rest. No creature can give rest, least of all ourselves. The hope that holds is already set before us — an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast.
Yea, thou shalt lie down, and none shall make thee afraid; and many shall seek thy favour.
Zophar has told Job to put away his sin, and here he paints the reward: quiet sleep and neighbours seeking his favour. The picture is lovely, but Zophar holds it out to a man whose suffering had nothing to do with hidden sin, so the promise rests on a charge that was never true.
This verse belongs to the closing part of Zophar's speech, where he describes the happy life he says repentance would bring. Set beside Job's real condition, that picture wounds more than it comforts:
Samuel RidoutThe conclusion is like singing songs to someone who is heavy of heart. Zophar paints a beautiful outcome — as imaginary as the sins he charged Job with. Job would then forget his present troubles, which would slip past him like water flowing away. His darkness would turn to light. He would have security and prosperity, and those who had slandered him before would bow to him. Little did Zophar and his friend dream that they would have to come to this. The closing verse is a warning which Zophar no doubt applies to Job.
The strange thing about Zophar's closing lines is that nothing in them is false in itself. Turning to God and putting away evil really does lead to rest. The error lies in the assumption buried in verse 14 — that Job was gripping his sin and refusing to let go:
F. B. HoleZophar'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." So he again assumes, like the others, that Job is after all an evil man, holding tight to his sins. Here he was wrong. Yet his counsel to put away evil and turn to God was good, and his description of the happy result was correct enough.
So a right remedy can still be useless. Another writer notes that Zophar never names a single sin. Yet he builds his whole cure on the certainty that one exists:
Leslie M. GrantHe 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 completely wrong. So his remedy was not what Job needed.
Why did Zophar reach for this particular image of many seeking Job's favour? Because it described the man Job used to be. Zophar looked at the crowds that once courted Job, saw them gone, and drew a straight line from the loss to sin:
Leslie M. GrantHe would be secure and take rest in safety, he would lie down without fear, and many would court his favour (vv.18-19). Before Job's deep trial, many indeed had sought Job's favour. Since this was not true now, Zophar thought the only reason could be Job's falling into sin.
The promise, in other words, is an accusation turned inside out.
There is an irony in this verse that only the end of the book uncovers. The very thing Zophar predicted did happen — and he was among the ones it happened to:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHe paints everything in the rosiest colours, as if he knew what God would do for Job. The time did come when Job received richer blessings than those Zophar outlined. And what Zophar said — that many would court Job's favour, or entreat him — did come true. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had to humble themselves before this servant of God.
Behind Zophar's sunny forecast lies a settled verdict about another man's heart. One commentator shows what such judging costs the judge, and what it reveals about him:
William KellyHe had not learned that we should not judge, or we will be judged. Our judgments really judge ourselves. If they are solid and gracious, they prove that we dwell in God, as dwelling in love and walking according to light. If they are harsh, they show in the same measure how far thoughts and feelings that rise no higher than self are ruling us.
- Position. The verse sits at the close of Zophar's speech — the reward he says waits for Job if he repents.
- Diagnosis. The counsel to turn to God and put away evil was sound. But the charge of hidden sin was false, so the remedy missed the man.
- Reasoning. Once many sought Job's favour; now none did. Zophar read that loss backwards and called it proof of sin.
- Reversal. The promise came true — but it was the three friends who had to humble themselves before Job.
- Warning. A hard verdict on another's heart judges the one who makes it. It shows whether love or self is at work in him.