yet his food is turned in his stomach; it is the venom of cobras within him.
Zophar's second speech paints the wicked man as a diner. He rolls a delicious morsel around his mouth, then finds it has turned to poison inside him. The picture is vivid, and true as far as it goes. The question is whether it fits the suffering man in front of him.
Who Is Speaking, and In What Spirit
Zophar answers Job in heat. One writer weighs what the speech is actually worth.
William KellyThe triumphant tone of Job provoked the hasty and self-confident spirit of Zophar... So he was burning to speak and answer back, and he mistook that unstoppable urge for having something solid to say. Yet, as applied to the case in hand, they were no more than his own "thoughts," true to his usual egotism.
The Picture of the Sweet Morsel
The verse sits in a sequence: taste, then swallowing, then sickness. One writer traces the stages in order.
Leslie M. GrantEvil may be sweet in his mouth, and in effect he hides 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.
The Poison Comes From Inside
The poison does not come from outside the man. It comes from him.
Samuel RidoutHe 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 who, gorging himself with sinful pleasures, hidden and cherished under his tongue, is like the venomous serpent preparing the deadly poison that will bring death to him.
The same writer draws out what this settles about God's justice.
Samuel RidoutGod is not arbitrary in the punishment of the wicked. The talk about God being "too merciful to send men to hell" is wickedly empty — men show no mercy to themselves; they have only themselves to blame for their doom. And all of this is underlined by the fact that infinite love has provided a free remedy, which so many reject.
A Truth Every Reader Can Test
Part of Zophar's picture holds true on its own. The pleasure of sin does not outlast the sinner.
Hamilton SmithThe pleasures of sin must be short, because life cannot be long, and they both end together. In fact, many times the pleasure of sin dies before the man dies: sinners live to bury their joy in this world. The worm breeds in their conscience before it breeds in their flesh by death.
Where Zophar's Argument Breaks Down
The flaw is not in the picture but in the sweep of it. Zophar makes one pattern the only pattern, and one writer points out that life does not work that way.
Samuel RidoutBut this is not the universal rule, nor even the ordinary one. Many evil men go on for years in outward prosperity. They pass to their account in another world with little apparent change... God varies His dealings with men, so that in every possible way they are left without excuse. He has tried swift judgment, long patience, chastening and prosperity — anything that may lead men to repentance.
Aimed at a Man It Did Not Fit
Every line of this description was aimed at Job. Kelly rejects it, and then names how far God's goodness actually reaches.
William KellyAll this was pointed at poor Job, but not a particle of it was real. It was nothing but evil surmises... Zophar recognised that God delights in doing good. Yes, He does — and not only to the righteous, but to the unthankful and evil. Out of His own goodness He causes His sun to shine on the evil as well as on the good, and He sends His rain on the just as well as on the unjust.
Summary
- Sweet: Sin is pleasant at first. The man hides the morsel under his tongue instead of judging it and giving it up.
- Swallowed: No one can hold the taste in his mouth for ever. He swallows it, and his stomach turns.
- Poison: The venom comes from his own vitals. He is like the snake brewing the poison that will kill him, so the blame is his own.
- Partial: Zophar's rule is not the universal rule. God varies His dealings: swift judgment for some, long patience for others. A sinner who prospers proves nothing against God.
- Misapplied: Every word was aimed at Job, and not a particle of it was true of him. A right statement fired at the wrong man becomes nothing but evil surmise.