What is the meaning of Job 20:4? Do you not know Zophar opens with a challenge, assuming his listeners already grasp a timeless truth. • A rhetorical question appeals to shared, obvious knowledge (Isaiah 40:21: “Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been declared to you from the beginning?”). • He calls Job to remember what Scripture elsewhere confirms—God’s moral order is woven into creation itself (Romans 1:19-20). • The phrase also carries a gentle rebuke: Job’s complaint seems to ignore what generations have observed about the fate of the wicked (Job 20:5, the very next verse). from antiquity Zophar roots his claim in the most ancient record. • “From antiquity” reaches back before nations or written law, echoing Psalm 90:1-2 where Moses says the Lord is God “from everlasting to everlasting.” • By pointing to eras long past, Zophar stresses that the principle he will cite is time-tested, not a new philosophy (Ecclesiastes 1:9-10). • The unchanging nature of this truth highlights God’s consistency: the same God who judged Cain (Genesis 4) still governs human affairs. since man was placed on the earth The statement ties the moral principle to creation itself. • It recalls Genesis 2:7, when the Lord “formed man from the dust,” anchoring Zophar’s argument in a literal, historical beginning. • Humanity has always possessed a basic awareness that evil is short-lived and righteousness ultimately prevails (see Proverbs 10:27). • By invoking the moment man appeared on earth, Zophar underscores that Job should not be surprised; this insight predates every culture and covenant. summary Job 20:4 is Zophar’s reminder that a universal, ancient observation—validated from the very dawn of humanity—teaches the fleeting nature of wicked triumph. He assumes Job knows this enduring truth because God hard-wired it into history and the conscience of mankind from the moment Adam first drew breath. |
    |