Job 20:12

That is just where haste generally lands us. It is easy for those who are not in trouble to speak, and to suspect evil of a man who is in the depths.

Zophar is remarkably graphic, and correct, in describing the plight of the wicked man. This section shows that a man's wickedness comes back on himself. Evil may be sweet in his mouth, so that he is in effect hiding it under his tongue, willing to speak wickedness instead of judging it and forsaking it (vv. 12-13). He keeps it in his mouth and soon swallows it, and his stomach turns sour (v. 14). What he swallows becomes like cobra venom.

So Adam first makes a false excuse to cover his rebellion. Then he dodges God's direct question and refuses to confess his sin. Had he confessed, it would perhaps have brought him at once into the results of grace. His refusal shows that he was still rolling the sin as a sweet morsel under his tongue. So he charges God with being the real cause of it, since it was He who had given the woman to be with him.

He has only himself to blame, and is reaping what he sowed. The poison comes from his own vitals. In a few strokes the speaker draws a dreadful picture of the sinful man. He gorges himself with sinful pleasures, hidden and cherished under his tongue. He is like the venomous serpent preparing the poison that will kill him… How wickedly empty is the talk about God being "too merciful to send men to hell" — men show no mercy to themselves; they have only themselves to blame for their doom. What makes all this sharper is that infinite love has provided a free remedy, and so many reject it.

Every soul whom Satan cheats of Jesus has its price. Some accept gold, others position or power. With some it is cheap pleasure, or lust, or some darling secret sin rolled like a sweet morsel under their tongue. What is he giving you, poor sinner? You are accepting something, be assured. And whatever it may be, you are being fooled a thousand times more truly than the fool who sells a bottomless gold mine for a few brass buttons.

He fiercely denounces evil, leaving no room for doubt that he means Job. He describes the certain doom of the wicked, and the sheer force of his language soon uses up all he has to say… All that he says is true; his own unpardonable error is that he tries to apply it to a righteous man.

But this is not the universal, nor even the ordinary rule. Many evil men go on for years in outward prosperity. They pass, with little apparent change, to their account in another world… God varies His dealings with men, so that in every possible way no one is left with an excuse. Swift judgment, long patience, chastening and prosperity have all been tried, in the hope that men may somehow be led to repentance.