Job 20:26 Commentary and Bible Study

Those treasures which he made his pride and joy, and were the mainstay of his existence, will be swept into the darkness where he too must be assigned. They will lose any power to give him consolation or comfort and he will experience the complete loss of all goods. He will see that what he made his source of strength and happiness was vanity and worthless. In choosing these things and rejecting the Lord he rejected the only thing of true value. When a man sees his strongest defence fail, he knows he is doomed. A flame will burn to consume him, but not one that is lit by human hands. This is a flame of God’s judgment and its consuming power is hidden for God secretly fans it to a terrible heat that nothing can resist. It is a fire that will not be quenched for all eternity. The last phrase perhaps means that those who remain after he has gone and are dependent on him will have nothing left. The sense of this verse is that nothing can hide the guilt of the wicked. He thought that he had successfully concealed his sin from all eyes that would condemn him. He imagined that there was no one who had discovered it and who could bring a word against him. But on the day that God judges him, it will be shouted from the housetops and the very heavens will open their mouths and the earth will testify against him. These silent witnesses will come to life and speak. What he did in secret was watched by untold eyes and they will now all give evidence to his crimes. There is much bitterness in Zophar’s attack, which seems to be a response to the light Job has received. That is too much for the liberal to bear. All gain from wickedness is only temporary and will be taken away again, says Zophar. A superficial assessment of the wicked man might conclude that he has done well for himself, but God waits for an appropriate time to pull him down from his pedestal. All the gloating that covers his face will be wiped away when he is unable to retain what he had. What he carried in the door of his house will be carried out again. He flattered himself in the day of his increase that it was his own skill or cunning that made him rich, but when it is removed he sees more clearly that he was allowed to become rich so that these riches should be stripped away again. The day of his wrath has come and the removal of all he had is one aspect of that wrath.These are the last recorded words of Zophar. They are words without hope. Zophar has stopped giving any encouragement to Job and has concluded that he is so hardened in his attitude that he is incapable of listening. Only the severest of messages is worth delivering and Zophar gives this uninhibited condemnation of Job that writes him off as a worthless hypocrite and all his past appearance of righteousness as a pretence.