Job
Job 11
1Then Zophar, the Naamathite, answered,
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4 commentators · 44 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
It is sad to see what intemperate passions even wise and good men are sometimes betrayed into by the heat of disputation, of which Zophar here is an instance. Eliphaz began with a very modest preface, Job 4:2. Bildad was a little more rough upon Job, Job 8:2…
Zophar here speaks very good things concerning God and his greatness and glory, concerning man and his vanity and folly: these two compared together, and duly considered, will have a powerful influence upon our submission to all the dispensations of the…
Zophar, as the other two, here encourages Job to hope for better times if he would but come to a better temper. I. He gives him good counsel (Job 11:13, Job 11:14), as Eliphaz did (Job 5:8), and Bildad, Job 8:5. He would have him repent and return to God…
John Gill20
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
Then answered Zophar the Naamathite,.... The third of Job's friends, that came to visit him; see Gill on Job 2:11; and who perhaps might be the youngest, since his turn was to speak last; and he appears to have less modesty and prudence, and more fire and…
Should not the multitude of words be answered?.... Zophar insinuates, that Job was a mere babbler, a talkative man, that had words, but no matter; said a great deal, but there was nothing in what he said; that his words were but wind, yea, in effect that he…
Should thy lies make men hold their peace?.... By which he means, either lies in common, untruths wilfully told, which are sins of a scandalous nature, which good men will not dare to commit knowingly; and to give a man, especially such a man, the lie, is…
Keil & Delitzsch5
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
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…
7 Canst thou find out the nature of Eloah, And penetrate to the foundation of the existence of the Almighty? 8 It is as the heights of heaven-what wilt thou do? Deeper than Hades-what canst thou know? 9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth, And…
10 When He passes by and arrests And calls to judgment, who will oppose Him? 11 For He knoweth the men devoid of principle, And seeth wickedness without observing it. 12 But before an empty head gaineth understanding, A wild ass would become a man. In יחלף…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown16
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
lies--rather, "vain boasting" (Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30). The "men" is emphatic; men of sense; in antithesis to "vain boasting." mockest--upbraidest God by complaints, "shall no man make thee ashamed?"
doctrine--purposely used of Job's speeches, which sounded like lessons of doctrine (Deu 32:2; Pro 4:2). thine--addressed to God. Job had maintained his sincerity against his friends suspicions, not faultlessness.
to that which is!--Rather, "they are double to [man's] wisdom" [MICHAELIS]. So the Hebrew is rendered (Pro 2:7). God's ways, which you arraign, if you were shown their secret wisdom, would be seen vastly to exceed that of men, including yours (Co1 1:25)…
World English Bible — Public domain