You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will court your favor.
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.
Where the verse sits
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.
Good advice, wrong patient
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.
Reading the past backwards
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.
Words truer than the speaker knew
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.
The danger of confident verdicts
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.
Summary
- 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.