Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Job 11:1 - 11:1
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
1 Then began Zophar the Naamathite, and said:
2 Shall the torrent of words remain unanswered,
And shall the prater be in the right?
3 Shall thy vain talking silence the people,
So that thou mockest without any one putting thee to shame,
4 And sayest: my doctrine is pure,
And I am guiltless in Thine eyes?
5 But oh that Eloah would speak,
And open His lips against thee,
6 And make known to thee the secrets of wisdom,
That she is twofold in her nature -
Know then that Eloah forgetteth much of thy guilt.
When Job has concluded his long speech, Zophar, the third and most impetuous of the friends, begins. His name, if it is to be explained according to the Arabic Esauitish name el-assfar,
(Note: Vid., Abulfeda's Historia anteislamica ed. Fleischer, p. 168.)
signifies the yellow one (flavedo), and the name of the place whence he comes, pleasantness (amaenitas). The very beginning of his speech is impassioned. He calls Job's speech דְבָרִים רֹב, a multitude of words (besides here, Pro 10:19; Ecc 5:2), and asks whether he is to remain unanswered; יֵעָנֶה לֹא, responsum non feret, from נַֽעֲנָה, not the sense of being humbled, but: to be answered (of the suppliant: to be heard = to receive an answer). He calls Job שְׂפָתַיִם אִישׁ, a prater (distinct from דברים איש, a ready speaker, Exo 4:10), who is not in the right, whom one must not allow to have the last word. The questions, Job 11:2, are followed by another which is not denoted by the sign of a question, but is only known by the accent: Shall not thy בַּדִּים, meaningless speeches (from בדד = בטא, βαττολογεῖν), put men (מְתִים, like other archaisms, e.g., תֵּבֵל, always without the article) to silence, so that thou darest mock without any one making thee ashamed, i.e., leading thee on ad absurdum? Thou darest mock God (Hirzel); better Rosenmüller: nos et Deum. The mockery here meant is that which Zophar has heard in Job's long speech; mockery at his opponents, in the belief that he is right because they remain silent. The futt. consec., Job 11:3., describe the conduct of Job which results from this absence of contradiction. Zophar, in v. 4, does not take up Job's own words, but means, that one had better have nothing more to do with Job, as he would some day say and think so and so, he would consider his doctrine blameless, and himself in relation to God pure. לֶקַח occurs only here in this book; it is a word peculiar to the book of Proverbs (also only Deu 32:2; Isa 29:24), and properly signifies the act of appropriating, then that which is presented for appropriation, i.e., for learning: the doctrine (similar to שׁמועה, the hearing, ἀκοή, and then the discourse); we see from the words “my doctrine is pure,” which Zophar puts into the mouth of Job, that the controversy becomes more and more a controversy respecting known principles.
Job 11:5
With ואולם, verum enim vero, Zophar introduces his wish that God himself would instruct Job; this would most thoroughly refute his utterances. יתן מי is followed by the infin., then by futt., vid., Ges. §136, 1; כִּפְלַיִם (only here and Isa 40:2) denotes not only that which is twice as great, but generally that which far surpasses something else. The subject of the clause beginning with כִּי is הִיא understood, i.e., divine wisdom: that she is the double with respect to (לְ( ot, as e.g., 1Ki 10:23) reality (תֹושׁיה, as Job 5:12; Job 6:13, essentia, substantia), i.e., in comparison with Job's specious wisdom and philosophism. Instead of saying: then thou wouldst perceive, Zophar, realizing in his mind that which he has just wished, says imperiously וְדַע (an imper. consec., or, as Ewald, §345, b, calls it, imper. futuri, similar to Gen 20:7; 2Sa 21:3): thou must then perceive that God has dealt far more leniently with thee than thou hast deserved. The causative הִשָּׁה (in Old Testament only this passage, and Job 39:17) denotes here oblivioni dare, and the מן of מֵעֲוֹנֶךָ is partitive.