Homilist Job 11:1-6 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,… I. QUESTIONABLE REPROOF. Reproof is often an urgent duty. It is the hardest act of friendship, for whilst there are but few men who do not at times merit reprehension, there are fewer still who will graciously receive, or even patiently endure a reproving word, and "Considering," as John Foster has it, "how many difficulties a friend has to surmount before he can bring, himself to reprove me, I ought to be much obliged to him for his chiding words." The reproof which Zophar, in the first four verses, addressed to Job suggests two remarks. 1. The charges he brings against Job, if true, justly deserve reproof. What does he charge him with? (1) Loquacity. "Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should not a man full of talk be justified?" As the tree with the most luxuriant leafage is generally least fruitful, so the man "full of talk" is, as a rule, most empty. It is ever true that in the "multitude of words there wanteth not sin," and "every man should be swift to hear and slow" to speak. He charges him(2) With falsehood. "Should thy lies make men hold their peace?" For "lies," in the margin we have "devices." Zophar means to say that much of what Job said was not according to truth, not fact, but the ungrounded inventions or fancies of his own mind. He charges him(3) With irreverence. "And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?"(4) With hypocrisy. "But thou hast said, My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in mine eyes." 2. The charges, if true, could not justify the spirit and style of the reproof. Considering the high character and the trying circumstances of Job, and the professions of Zophar as his friend, there is a heartlessness and an insolence in his reproof most reprehensible and revolting. There is no real religion in rudeness; there is no Divine inspiration in insolence. Reproof, to be of any worth, should not merely be deserved, but should be given in a right spirit, a spirit of meekness, tenderness, and love. "Reprehension is not an act of butchery, but an act of surgery," says Seeker. There are those who confound bluntness with honesty, insolence with straightforwardness. The true reprover is of a different metal, and his words fall, not like the rushing hailstorm, but like the gentle dew. II. NECESSARY TEACHING. These words suggest that kind of teaching which is essential to the well-being of every man. 1. It is intercourse with the mind of God. "Oh that God would speak, and open His lips against thee." The great need of the soul is direct communication with God. All teachers are utterly worthless unless they bring God in contact with the soul of the student. If this globe is to be warmed into life the sun must do it. 2. It is instruction in the wisdom of God. "And that He would show thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is!" God's wisdom is profound; it has its "secrets." God's wisdom is "double," it is many folded; fold within fold, without end. 3. It is faith in the forbearing love of God. "Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth." (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, |
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