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Bible Notes - Tabernacle Commentaries
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Job 11:3
Comments
Zophar sees himself as the champion of orthodoxy, but it is liberal orthodoxy. He feels the energy of Job’s defence, for it has the tendency to make those who find fault with him to fall silent, and Zophar is determined in his turn to silence Job. He is not going to be intimidated. But he does not try to do it by answering Job’s specific points. Instead he dismisses his words, as lies and mockery, as if this was so obvious that no one would bother to refute such nonsense. However the hard work of finding answers to such difficult problems as Job faces is not something he will rise to. The situation is altogether simpler than that: let Job repent for all his outbursts are the product of hypocrisy. Job should be ashamed for daring to utter such things, and Zophar is stepping into the breach to defend God.
Application
He is a bitter arrogant man without grace, not changed in character. Are we being hasty in characterising him so? It is possible to mistakenly form a judgment of a man by an outburst not typical of him, but still we have many of his words in the book. Some think that God was pleased with the comforters, but Zophar’s character indicates he was never changed. He had never had an encounter with the Lord; character warts are still there. A deep and profound change takes place in us when we are converted, and an understanding of evangelical theology becomes a part of us which is constantly found in our speech.
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