Job 20:24 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Job 20:24

Comments

The picture is of a multitude of contrary afflictions arrayed against the wicked man so that if he succeeds in avoiding one, another worse one takes its place. Let him not think of finding relief, for God is organising events to bring him to despair. If a man goes to war with God, he has an unlimited armoury with which to attack the man, so that the evil man loses all hope of ever succeeding. Zophar intends by these words to exhaust Job’s hope by making him see that in setting himself in opposition to God, he has taken on an impossible task. Zophar is unpleasantly graphic. The hypocrite sees a sword drawn in the hand of the Lord and flees; he sees his soul threatened by the judgments of the Lord and tries to get away, but another weapon reaches him which he cannot evade. It is a scene drawn from the battlefield, from one who is there seeing death and destruction as it occurs. He lives long enough to witness the ghastly sight of an arrow coming out of his own body; it has gone right through him and he knows he cannot live. He even notices the terrible detail that the arrowhead glitters having passed right thru him. He knows what damage this has done inside him. So the wicked man has the terrible knowledge that justice which he has been trying to evade all his life has finally caught up with him. The warnings of conscience were not a false alarm but the most awful truth which every unforgiven sinner must face.

Application

We see how Satan pours an avalanche of depressing thoughts on those who he intends to crush. If one does not suffice, another quickly follows, as Job had experienced. He is expert at cutting off every hope. Hope is the gift of God, but it is not based on anything visible; it is based on the promises of the invisible God. Although there is a right application of Zophar’s words to the genuine hypocrite – though he overstates the matter – in context, the lesson we have to learn from this situation is that Job is being unjustly assaulted by his friends, and therefore there is a parallel to what Satan does to God’s people to discourage them in the Christian walk. We hold on to the fact that God cannot change his mind – ‘For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed’ (Malachi 3:6) – and we know there was a time he dealt with us and there were real changes worked in our hearts, and we have been sure of this in the past. Hope must then look over the top of all earthly trials: ‘Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. ³ For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God’ (Colossians 3:2-3). We put on the helmet of salvation, which does not allow the devil to snatch from us what God has already given us.

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Job 20:24 Commentary and Bible Study