Job11chapter 11

Job 11:1

“Zophar the Naamathite - Of this man and his friends, see Job 2:11. He is the most inveterate of Job’s accusers, and generally speaks without feeling or pity. In sour godliness he excelled all the rest. This chapter and the twentieth comprehends all that he said. He was too crooked to speak much in measured verse.”

Job 11:1

“Then answered - How hard is it, to preserve calmness, in the heat of disputation! Eliphaz began modestly: Bildad was a little rougher: But Zophar falls upon Job without mercy.”

Job 11:2

“Should not the multitude of words be answered? - Some translate, “To multiply words profiteth nothing.” And should a man full of talk be justified - איש שפתים ish sephathayim, “a man of lips,” a proper appellation for a great talker: he is “a man of lips,” i.e., his lips are the only active parts of his system.”

Job 11:2

“Zophar assails Job for his empty words, and indirectly, the two friends, for their weak reply. Taciturnity is highly prized among Orientals (Pr 10:8, 19).”

Job 11:3

“Should thy lies - Margin, “devices.” Rosenmuller renders this, “should men bear thy boastings with silence?” Dr. Good, “before thee would man-kind keep silence?” Vulgate, “tibi soli tacebunt homines?” “Shall men be silent before thee alone? The Septuagint tenders the whole passage, “he who speaketh much should also hear in turn; else the fine speaker (εὔλαλος eulalos) thinketh himself just. - Blessed be the short-lived offspring of woman.”

Job 11:3

“Lies - Both concerning thy own innocency, and concerning the counsels and ways of God. Mockest - Our friendly and faithful counsels, chap. vi, 14, 15, 25, 26.”

Job 11:4

“For Thou hast said, My speech is pure, and I am clean in Thine eyes. Whoso remembers the words of blessed Job, knows how falsely this charge is fastened upon his voice.”

Job 11:4

“My doctrine is pure - לקחי likchi, “my assumptions.” What I assume or take as right, and just, and true, are so; the precepts which I have formed, and the practice which I have founded on them, are all correct and perfect.”

Job 11:4

“Clean - I am innocent before God; I have not sinned either by my former actions, or by my present expressions. But Zophar perverts Job's words, for he did not deny that he was a sinner, but only that he was an hypocrite.”

Job 11:5

“But oh that God would speak with thee, and open His lips unto thee! For man by himself speaks to himself when in all that he thinks he is not withdrawn by the Spirit of the Divine Being from the sense of carnal wisdom; when the flesh puts forth a sense, and inviting the mind as it were to the understanding of it, sends it forth abroad. And hence 'Truth' saith to Peter, who was still full of earthly notions, For thou savourest not the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.”

Job 11:5

“Speak - Plead with thee according to thy desire: he would soon put thee to silence. We are commonly ready with great assurance to interest God in our quarrels. But they are not always in the right, who are most forward, to appeal to his judgment, and prejudge it against their antagonists.”

Job 11:6

“The secrets of wisdom - All the depths of his own counsels; the heights, lengths, and breadths, of holiness. That they are double to that which is, תושיה tushiyah, which we translate that which is, is a word frequent in Job and in the Book of Proverbs, and is one of the evidences brought in favor of Solomon as the author of this book.”

Job 11:7

“His judgments are a great deep. Paul attributes such immeasurable dimensions to the divine love as Zophar here attributes to the divine wisdom, and yet recommends it to our acquaintance. 18, 19 , That you may know the breadth, and length, and depth, and height, of the love of Christ.”

Job 11:8

“He is higher than heaven, what canst thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst thou know? His measure is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea. In that God is set forth as 'higher than heaven,' 'deeper than hell,' 'longer than the earth,' and 'broader than the sea,' this must be understood in a spiritual sense, inasmuch as it is impious to conceive any thing concerning Him after the proportions of body. Now He is 'higher than heaven,' in that He transcends all things by the Incomprehensibility of His spiritual Nature.”

Job 11:8

“It is as high as heaven - High as the heavens, what canst thou work? Deep below sheol, (the invisible world), what canst thou know? Long beyond the earth, and broad beyond the sea, is its measure. These are instances in the immensity of created things, and all out of the reach of human power and knowledge; and if these things are so, how incomprehensible must he be, who designed, created, preserves, and governs the whole! We find the same thought in Milton: - “These are thy glorious works, Parent of good! Almighty! Thine this universal frame: How wondrous fair!”

Job 11:8

“It--the "wisdom" of God (Job 11:6). The abruptness of the Hebrew is forcible: "The heights of heaven! What canst thou do" (as to attaining to them with thy gaze, Ps 139:8)? know--namely, of His perfections.”

Job 11:9

“The measure thereof is longer than the earth - The measure of the knowledge of God. The extent of the earth would be one of the longest measures known to the ancients. Yet it is now impossible to ascertain what ideas were attached, in the time of Job, to the extent of the earth - and it is not necessary to know this in order to understand this expression. It is morally certain that the prevailing ideas were very limited, and that a small part of the earth was then known.”

Job 11:10

“If he cut off - As he is unlimited and almighty, he cannot be controlled. He will do whatsoever he pleases; and he is pleased with nothing but what is right. Who then will dare to find fault? Perhaps Zophar may refer to Job’s former state, his losses and afflictions. If he cut off, as he has done, thy children; if he shut up, as he has done, thyself by this sore disease; or gather together hostile bands to invade thy territories and carry away thy property; who can hinder him?”

Job 11:11

“For He knoweth the vanity of men; when He seeth wickedness also, doth He not consider it? As if he were subjoining in explaining the things premised, saying, 'Because He sees that by suffering them evil habits gain growth, by judging He brings to nought His gifts.' Now the right order is observed in the account, in that vanity is first described to be known, and afterwards iniquity to be considered. For all iniquity is vanity, but not all vanity, iniquity. For we do vain things as often as we give heed to what is transitory.”

Job 11:11

“For he knoweth vain men - He is intimately acquainted with the heart; he knows human beings altogether. The word “vain” here (שׁוא shâv'), means properly vanity, emptiness, falsehood, a lie, iniquity. “Men of vanity,” here may mean people whose opinions are valueless, or it may mean people of deceit, falsehood, hypocrisy. Most probably it means the latter, and the indirect reference may be to such men as Job. The sense is, that God is intimately acquainted with such men. They cannot deceive him, and their wickedness will be found out.”

Job 11:12

“For vain man would be wise - The original is difficult and uncertain, ואיש נבוב ילבב veish nabub yillabeb, “And shall the hollow man assume courage,” or “pride himself?” Or, as Mr. Good rather paraphrases it, Will he then accept the hollow-hearted person? The Chaldee gives two renderings: An eloquent man shall become wiser in his heart, and the colt of the wild ass is born as the son of man. Or, The wise man shall ponder it; and the refractory youth, who at last becomes prudent, shall make a great man.”

Job 11:12

“He is a foolish creature, has become like the beasts that perish ( Ps. xlix. 22 ), an idiot, born like an ass, the most stupid animal, an ass's colt, not yet brought to any service. If ever he come to be good for any thing, it is owing to the grace of Christ, who once, in the day of his triumph, served himself by an ass's colt.”