Job 20:24

The words are nechosheth or nechushah, and are often translated 'brass.' Copper, or some alloy, is most likely. It is not what we now call steel, though the first three passages say 'a bow of steel.' 2 Samuel 22:35; Job 20:24; Psalm 18:34; Jeremiah 15:12.

"He will flee from an iron weapon" (v.24). This may remind us of Joseph, who "was laid in irons" (Psalm 105:18). The iron speaks of hard, unyielding circumstances. In Joseph's case they found him submissive. In Job's case they made him want to flee. Like most of us, he wanted to avoid the hardness of trials. One might ask, would Zophar feel submissive if an iron weapon threatened him? or would he want to flee from it? But he was not in Job's position, and could speak quite confidently about others. "A bronze bow will pierce him through" — this evidently means the arrow from the bow. So he is pierced through with terror.

As he flees from the weapon of iron, the deadlier arrow pierces him. It is "as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him... and leaned his hand against the wall, and a serpent bit him" (Amos 5:19). The arrow strikes home with perfect aim, deep into the terrified man, and there is no escape.

Error in religious judgment can be the most cutting of all, and it cuts in proportion to how earnestly it is held. The thought of God is then abused to shut out every bit of human kindness. See how the final scene is painted!... God will give him plenty, but it will be the burning of His wrath, raining it on him with his food. Does he seek to avoid some weapon of iron? The bow of copper pierces him through.

There is an intensity in Zophar that gives his words their own character. He denounces evil fiercely, 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. This seems to be why he ends everything he has to say with this second address. The fiercer the fire, the more quickly it burns out. All that he says is true; his own unpardonable error is that he seeks to apply it to a righteous man.

The serious mistake Zophar made is twofold. Job had pleaded for pity. Not a word of pity comes from Zophar's lips. The whole address is meant to tell Job, "You are that man!" The second mistake is this: he does not consider for a moment what Job has said, which could not come from the lips of an ungodly person, but from one who knows God.