Job 11:5 Commentary and Bible Study

If only God would arise and rebuke Job, then he would be forced to back down. This is an admission that the three comforters are having a hard time convincing him. They are sure they are right, but they need God’s help and they can see from the robustness of Job’s response that he is not going to accept what they say. In their view God would soon manage to silence his self-righteous defence. Elihu later criticises them for exactly this line of argument, ‘I attended unto you, and, behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words: ¹³ Lest ye should say, We have found out wisdom: God thrusteth him down, not man (Job 32:12-13), and calls this a failure on their part. Job did need to be corrected, but not in the way they were attempting it.‘And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is!’ The secrets of wisdom are ‘double’. This does not mean, as some modern versions render it, ‘wisdom has two sides.’ What Zophar means is that there is what may be known to man, and there is what may not be known to man, which God alone knows. This is exactly the position of liberals. By their superior insight, they claim to have some measure of access to this secret knowledge, not revealed to the common man. This is implied by Zophar’s fervent wish that God would show him these secrets – which he, Zophar, knows would do Job good. He adds that Job, instead of complaining at his hardships, should realise how lenient God is towards him, and that he deserves far more than he receives. Such was the miserable comfort that they gave.