51. The Plight of the Wicked (2)

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Hymns: RHC 360 My God, Is Any Hour So Sweet; 363 I Must Tell Jesus; 370 Nearer, My God, to Thee

Job 20:10-29

10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods. 11 His bones are full of the sinof his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust. 12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, thoughhe hide it under his tongue; 13 Thoughhe spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth: 14 Yethis meat in his bowels is turned, it isthe gall of asps within him. 15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly. 16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him. 17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter. 18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow itdown: according to hissubstance shallthe restitution be,and he shall not rejoice therein.19 Because he hath oppressed andhath forsaken the poor; becausehe hath violently taken away a house which he builded not; 20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired. 21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods. 22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.23Whenhe is about to fill his belly, Godshall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain itupon him while he is eating. 24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, andthe bow of steel shall strike him through. 25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors areupon him. 26 All darkness shall behid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle. 27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him. 28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goodsshall flow away in the day of his wrath. 29 This isthe portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.

The Plight of the Wicked (2)

OUTLINE

  • Zophar’s 2ndSpeech – Based on Human Experience (20:1-29)
    • My heart tells me (20:1-3)
    • My experience tells me the end of the wicked man (20:4-5)
      • He will be swiftly judged (20:5a)
      • His joy will swiftly end (20:5b)
      • He shall perish swiftly (20:6-9)
      • His children will experience abject poverty (20:10a)
      • He shall restore goods he has illegally taken (20:10b)
      • He shall repent the sins of youth in old age (20:11)
      • He shall not enjoy his spoils (20:12-15)
      • He shall spew poison? (20:16)
      • He shall not prosper materially speaking (20:17-23)
      • He shall suffer cruel death (20:24-29)

Continue…

INTRODUCTION

Zophar tells us the transitory state of the wicked (v1-11) and the judgment of God upon the wicked (v12-29).[1]This was the preposterous accusation that came upon Job. This will be the last conversation that Job will have with Zophar, full of poison and contempt upon God’s servant. Job will be glad when Zophar would exit from the scene and stop his attacks upon him.

For Job, he had to endure the barrage of harmful words that can sink his already miserable condition into deeper despair. However, we see Job’s resilence as he absorbs these untrue remarks about him. 

The Apostle Paul described in well in 2 Corinthians 2:14-15 Now thanks beunto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place. For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish.

Rogers said well, “Thanks be to God who always causes us to triumphin Christ! And when we are enjoying this victory, we are sending off a sweet aroma, pervasive perfume of His glory.”

He further asked, “Do you know how incense are made? It is made by cutting and breaking herbs, then crushing them into a fine powder. Then water is added to this powder to create a clay to form into sticks or cones. What is the purpose of incense? To burn and create a fragrant aroma.”

Rogers observed well, “When we are praising God in the midst of trials, singing songs of glory in the midst of persecution, claiming His victory when a problem arises, then we are emitting a sweet aroma that is unmistakable to the nostrils of God. This is the sweet smell of victory.”

In Zechariah’s first vision to the returnees to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity, a picture was given of the presence of Christ with His people.

Zechariah 1:7-11 Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh month, which is the month Sebat, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, the son of Iddo the prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom; and behind him were there red horses, speckled, and white. Then said I, O my lord, what are these? And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will shew thee what these be. And the man that stood among the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the LORD hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they answered the angel of the LORD that stood among the myrtle trees, and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth, and, behold, all the earth sitteth still, and is at rest.

The interpreting angel explained to Zechariah that the man riding upon a red horse is the “angel of the LORD” (v 11). This is the pre- incarnate Christ, the second person of the Trinity, before He was manifested in the flesh, the great Head of the Church. The myrtle tree is prized for its fragrant leaves. Its leaves give the richest fragrant odour only when bruised or crushed. This is a picture of the persecuted returnees, a small remnant of nearly 50,000 returning to Jerusalem surrounded by massive, hostile enemies. Even the insignificant group of Samaritans in the north became a really potent force to resist the returnees in their rebuilding project. This vision is a symbolic picture of Christ in the midst of His children in all their afflictions. Notice the myrtle trees that were at the bottom of the valley signifying the lowly state of Israel. Christ standing among the myrtle tree signifies His presence with them in their distresses. 

Remember Jesus said to His disciples these comforting words before His ascension in Matthew 28:20, “Lo, I am with you always.” Dearly beloved, are you in some kind of affliction and feel that you are at a low point in your life with problems so overwhelming? Remember this first vision. Jesus is with you! Fear not. Persevere on! 

Matthew Henry observed well, “The instances here given of the miserable condition of the wicked man in this world are expressed with great fulness and fluency of language, and the same thing returned to again and repeated in other words. Let us therefore reduce the particulars to their proper heads, and observe:

What his wickedness is for which he is punished.

11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.

The lusts of the flesh, here called the sins of his youth(v11) for those are the sins which, at that age, people are most tempted to. This was the accusation against Job that he had sinned against God in his youth and therefore he is reaping what he sowed.

12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;

The forbidden pleasures of sense are said to be sweet in his mouth(v12); he indulges himself in all the gratifications of the carnal appetite, and takes an inordinate complacency in them, as yielding the most agreeable delights. That is the satisfaction which he hides under his tongue,and rolls there, as the most dainty delicate thing that can be. Here, Job is accused of having a love for the pleasures of this world.

13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:

He keeps it still within his mouth(v13); let him have that, and he desires no more; he will never part with that for the spiritual and divine pleasures of religion, which he has no relish or nor affection for. His keeping it still in his mouth denotes his obstinately persisting in his sin (he spares itwhen he should kill and mortify it, and forsakes it not,but holds it fast, and goes on frowardly in it), and also his re-acting of his sin by revolving it and remembering it with pleasure, as that adulterous woman (Ezekiel 23:19) who multiplied her whoredoms by calling to remembrance the days of her youth;so does this wicked man here. Or his hiding it and keeping it under his tongue denotes his industrious concealment of his beloved lust. Being a hypocrite, his haunts of sin are secret, that he may save the credit of his profession; but he who knows what is in the heart knows what is under the tongue too, and will discover it shortly.

15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.

The love of the world and the wealth of it. It is in worldly wealth that he places his happiness, and therefore he sets his heart upon it. How greedy he is of it (v15): He has swallowed down richesas eagerly as ever a hungry man swallowed down meat; and is still crying, “Give, give.” It is that which he desired (v20). This was who Job is alleged Zophar. He loves mammoth more than he loved God. This was untrue.

It was, in his eye, the best gift, and that which he coveted earnestly. What pains he takes for it: It is that which he laboured for(v18), not by honest diligence in a lawful calling, but by an unwearied prosecution of all ways and methods, per fas, per nefas–right or wrong,to be rich. We must labour,not to be rich(Proverbs 23:4), but to be charitable, that we may have to give(Ephesians 4:28), not to spend. 

17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

What great things he promises himself from it, intimated in the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter(v17); his being disappointed of them supposes that he had flattered himself with the hopes of them: he expected rivers of sensual delights.

Violence and oppression, and injustice in his poor neighbours (v19). This was the sin of the giants of the old world, and a sin that, as much as any, brings God’s judgments upon nations and families. It is charged upon this wicked man. 

Thathe has forsaken the poor,taken no care of them, shown no kindness to them, nor made any provision for them. At first perhaps, for a pretence, he gave alms like the Pharisees, to gain a reputation; but, when he had served his turn by this practice, he left it off, and forsook the poor, whom before he seemed to be concerned for. Those who do good, but not from a good principle, though they may abound in it, will not abide in it. 

That he has oppressedthem, crushed them, taken all advantages against them to do them a mischief. To enrich himself, he has robbed the spital, and made the poor poorer. 

That he has violently taken away their houses,which he had no right to, as Ahab took Naboth’s vineyard, not by secret fraud, by forgery, perjury, or some trick in law, but avowedly, and by open violence.

What his punishment is for this wickedness.

17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.

He shall be disappointed in his expectations, and shall not find that satisfaction in his worldly wealth which he vainly promised himself (v17): He shall never see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter,with which he hoped to glut himself. The world is not that to those who love it, and court it, and admire it, which they fancy it will be. The enjoyment sinks far below the raised expectation. Job’s present condition is a result of God’s wrath upon him. It is utterly untrue.

He shall be diseased and distempered in his body; and how little comfort a man has in riches if he has not health! Sickness and pain, especially it they be in extremity, embitter all his enjoyments. This wicked man has all the delights of sense wound up to the height of pleasurableness; but what real happiness can he enjoy when his bones are full of the sins of his youth (v11), that is, of the effects of those sins? 

By his drunkenness and gluttony, his uncleanness and wantonness, when he was young, he contracted those diseases which are painful to him long after, and perhaps make his life very miserable, and, as Solomon speaks, consume his flesh and his body,(Proverbs 5:11). Perhaps he was given to fight when he was young, and then made nothing of a cut or a bruise in a fray; but he feels it in his bones long after. But can he get no ease, no relief? No, he is likely to carry his pains and diseases with him to the grave, or rather they are likely to carry him thither, and so the sins of his youth shall lie down with him in the dust;the very putrefying of his body in the grave is to him the effect of sin (v19) , so that his iniquity is upon his bones there, Ezekiel 32:27. The sin of sinners follows them to the other side death. Job was certainly a sober person in the days of his wealth. He awake each morning to worship God in praise and prayer.

He shall be disquieted and troubled in his mind: Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly (v20). He has not that ease in his own mind that people think he has, but is in continual agitation. The ill-gotten wealth which he has swallowed down makes him sick, and, like undigested meat, is always upbraiding him. Let none expect to enjoy that comfortably which they have gotten unjustly. 

The unquietness of his mind arises, From his conscience looking back, and filling him with the fear of the wrath of God against him for his wickedness. Even that wickedness which was sweet in the commission, and was rolled under the tongue as a delicate morsel, becomes bitter in the reflection, and, when it is reviewed, fills him with horror and vexation. In his bowels it is turned (v14) like John’s book, in his mouth as sweet as honey,but, when he had eaten it, his belly was bitter,(Revelation 10:10). Such a thing is sin; it is turned into the gall of asps,than which nothing is more bitter, the poison of asps(v16), than which nothing more fatal, and so it will be to him; what he sucked so sweetly, and with so much pleasure, will prove to him the poison of asps; so will all unlawful gains be. The fawning tongue will prove the viper’s tongue. All the charming graces that are thought to be in sin will, when conscience is awakened, turn into so many raging furies. 

From his cares, looking forward (v22). In the fulness of his sufficiency,when he thinks himself most happy, and most sure of the continuance of his happiness, he shall be in straits,that is, he shall think himself so, through the anxieties and perplexities of his own mind, as that rich man who, when his ground brought forth plentifully, cried out, What shall I do?Luke 12:17.

4. He shall be dispossessed of his estate; that shall sink and dwindle away to nothing, so that he shall not rejoice therein (v18). He shall not only never rejoice truly, but not long rejoice at all. 

What he has unjustly swallowed he shall be compelled to disgorge (v15): He swallowed down riches,and then thought himself sure of them, and that they were as much his own as the meat he had eaten; but he was deceived: he shall vomit them up again;his own conscience perhaps may make him so uneasy in the keeping of what he has gotten that, for the quiet of his own mind, he shall make restitution, and that not with the pleasure of a virtue, but the pain of a vomit, and with the utmost reluctancy. Or, if he do not himself refund what he has violently taken away, God will, by his providence, force him to it, and bring it about, one way or other, that ill-gotten goods shall return to the right owners: God shall cast them out of his belly,while yet the love of the sin is not cast out of his heart. 

So loud shall the clamours of the poor, whom he has impoverished, be against him, that he shall be forced to send his children to them to soothe them and beg their pardon (Job 10:10): His children shall seek to please the poor,while his own hands shall restore them their goods with shame (v18): That which he laboured for,by all the arts of oppression, shall he restore,and shall not so swallow it down as to digest it; it shall not stay with him, but according to his shame shall the restitution be;having gotten a great deal unjustly, he shall restore a great deal, so that when every one has his own he will have but little left for himself. To be made to restore what was unjustly gotten, by the sanctifying grace of God, as Zaccheus was, is a great mercy; he voluntarily and cheerfully restored four-fold, and yet had a great deal left to give to the poor,Luke 19:8. But to be forced to restore, as Judas was, merely by the horrors of a despairing conscience, has none of that benefit and comfort attending it, for he threw down the pieces of silver and went and hanged himself.(2.) He shall be stripped of all he has and become a beggar. He that spoiled others shall himself be spoiled (Isaiah 33:1); for every hand of the wicked shall be upon him.The innocent, whom he has wronged, sit down by their loss, saying, as David, Wickedness proceedeth from the wicked, but my hand shall not be upon him,1 Samuel 24:13. But though they have forgiven him, though they will make no reprisals, divine justice will, and often makes the wicked to avenge the quarrel of the righteous, and squeezes and crushes one bad man by the hand of another upon him. Thus, when he is plucked on all sides, he shall not save of that which he desired(v20), not only he shall not save it all, but he shall save nothing of it. There shall none of his meat(which he coveted so much, and fed upon with so much pleasure be left (v21). 

All his neighbours and relations shall look upon him to be in such bad circumstances that, when he is dead, no man shall look for his goods, none of his kindred shall expect to be a penny the better for him, nor be willing to take out letters of administration for what he leaves behind him. In all this Zophar reflects upon Job, who had lost all and was reduced to the last extremity. [Matthew Henry]

CONCLUSION

Thank God for granting Job the strength to endure and overcome. All praise and glory to God. Amen.

[1]Hannah’s Bible Outlines.