It is higher than heaven — what can you do? Deeper than Sheol — what can you know?
Zophar answers a suffering man by piling up distances no one can cross. His words about God are grand, but was he right to aim them at Job — and can anyone find God out?
Three men, three methods, one failure
Job's three friends each leaned on a different tool of human wisdom. Zophar is the third.
George DavisonEliphaz used his eyes; Bildad used his ears; and Zophar used his brains. Not one of them found the solution to this problem by human wisdom, however they came by that wisdom.
True words, aimed at the wrong man
What Zophar says about God's unreachable depth is sound. The trouble is where he points it.
Leslie M. GrantIt was true, of course, that Job could not search out the depths of God's wisdom, or "find out the limits of the Almighty." Did Zophar think God has any limits? He is infinite, not limited in any way. Zophar aimed his words at Job alone, but they fitted Zophar just as well! He thought himself so wise that he did not need to learn, as Job did. God's thoughts are higher than the heaven, deeper than Sheol (v.8). No one can know them unless God reveals them.
Measures that take no measurement
Verses 8 and 9 pile up four distances. Not one of them can take God's measure. (Some older translations say "hell" where the ESV says "Sheol".)
William KellyNext, Zophar speaks in grand terms about the absolute and infinite perfection of God. The heights of heaven, the depths of hell, the length of the earth, the breadth of the sea — none of them can measure His wisdom. What a disaster it would be for man to stand before Him, if He were to open a case against him, as Job had so rashly challenged Him to do.
The same four dimensions, met again in Ephesians
These four measurements appear once more in Scripture, in Ephesians 3. One writer reads them in the light of Christ, and notices that Paul lists them backwards.
George DavisonThis is the only place besides Ephesians 3 where these four dimensions appear in Scripture, so far as I know. The knowledge of God really is as high as heaven, yet we have the ability to rise to these heavenly things, as we have seen. "Deeper than hell" would carry us in thought to the cross. There the Son of God went down into death, so that He might overthrow every force opposed to the will of God... Note another interesting point here. Zophar speaks of the height, the depth, the length and the breadth. The apostle Paul, writing under Divine inspiration, speaks of the breadth, the length, the depth and the height. It is the other way round, because the two of them were working from opposite ends.
Why climbing never works
The gap Zophar names is not one a cleverer man could close.
A. J. PollockThe distance between a man and an ant is very great, but in the end it is a limited distance... Can an ant understand what is going on in a man's mind?... But the distance between God and man is infinitely greater than that between man and ant. God is the Creator. Man is the creature. The distance between them is infinite. No arithmetic is of any use here.
Not found by searching — but given
So Zophar's question still gets a flat no — as long as man is the one searching.
H. J. VineThe searches of science cannot find Him, any more than human reasoning can. Man's boastful attempts all fail alike. But — blessed be His Holy Name — in His grace He has fully revealed Himself in the One to whom all Scripture points: the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ.
That changes the whole feel of the immeasurable. What overwhelms the believer is no longer a blank.
Samuel RidoutGo up to heaven, and we find Wisdom. Go down into Sheol, and it is still there. The earth for length and the sea for breadth cannot take the measure of this attribute of God... In the New Testament we are overwhelmed — not by a dark and unsearchable mystery, or by an avenger who will not be appeased, but by "the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge."
Summary
- Unsearchable. No creature's reach is long enough. The distance between Creator and creature is infinite, and no arithmetic closes it.
- Unapplied. What Zophar said about God was true, but he aimed it only at Job. It fitted him just as well.
- Unaided. Eyes, ears and brains all failed here. God's thoughts stay unknown unless God reveals them.
- Unveiled. The four measurements return in Ephesians 3, in reverse order. Zophar and Paul work from opposite ends.
- Unmeasured love. The last word is not a closed door. It is the love of Christ — beyond knowledge, yet known.