The Fate of the Wicked Apart from Grace

Job 20:1-29 

1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 "Therefore my anxious thoughts make me answer,
Because of the turmoil within me.

3 I have heard the rebuke that reproaches me,
And the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.

4 "Do you not know this of old,
Since man was placed on earth,

5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short,
And the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment?

6 Though his haughtiness mounts up to the heavens,
And his head reaches to the clouds,
7 Yet he will perish forever like his own refuse;
Those who have seen him will say, 'Where is he?'

8 He will fly away like a dream, and not be found;
Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.

9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,
Nor will his place behold him anymore.

10 His children will seek the favor of the poor,
And his hands will restore his wealth.

11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
But it will lie down with him in the dust.

12 "Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
And he hides it under his tongue,

13 Though he spares it and does not forsake it,
But still keeps it in his mouth,

14 Yet his food in his stomach turns sour;
It becomes cobra venom within him.

15 He swallows down riches
And vomits them up again;
God casts them out of his belly.

16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
The viper's tongue will slay him.

17 He will not see the streams,
The rivers flowing with honey and cream.

18 He will restore that for which he labored,
And will not swallow it down;
From the proceeds of business
He will get no enjoyment.

19 For he has oppressed and forsaken the poor,
He has violently seized a house which he did not build.

20 "Because he knows no quietness in his heart,
He will not save anything he desires.

21 Nothing is left for him to eat;
Therefore his well-being will not last.

22 In his self-sufficiency he will be in distress;
Every hand of misery will come against him.

23 When he is about to fill his stomach,
God will cast on him the fury of His wrath,
And will rain it on him while he is eating.

24 He will flee from the iron weapon;
A bronze bow will pierce him through.

25 It is drawn, and comes out of the body;
Yes, the glittering point comes out of his gall.
Terrors come upon him;

26 Total darkness is reserved for his treasures.
An unfanned fire will consume him;
It shall go ill with him who is left in his tent.

27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
And the earth will rise up against him.

28 The increase of his house will depart,
And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath.

29 This is the portion from God for a wicked man,
The heritage appointed to him by God."

Job’s friend Zophar now begins to lecture him about the fate of the wicked man, with the obvious intent on accusing Job of being a sinner who deserves what he has received in suffering.  Zophar was angry at Job’s rebuke of him and his two companions, and was moved to say something - but it was not God who moved him, but his own pride in retaliation.  He spoke of the short-lived triumph of the wicked and the hypocrite, and how the proud one is cast away to be of no consequence afterwards, again an attempt to prove Job wrong and warn him of the results if he continues.  He points out how the evil and proud will gain riches, only to have God empty Him of them, seemingly just as Job lost all his wealth in this trial which Zophar saw as a punishment.  Many other woes for the wicked are enumerated by Job’s friend as if to point the wagging finger at him and warn him to repent or suffer the same consequences as these he named.  Zophar ends up saying that his iniquity will be revealed and vengeance will follow such a wicked man, earning the wages of his sin.  In a sense, this is right, for the wages of sin is death, yet the accusations against one whom God has already called upright fall short of condemning Job.  What Zophar and his friends cannot see it is this fact and the real reason for Job’s suffering as an attack of the Adversary.  We who are in Christ do well to remember that we all are sinners (Romans 3:23), saved by grace and found in Christ’s righteousness alone, not our own.  Evil does earn the things mentioned here, but grace provides an atoning and reconciling acceptance of the sinner as if righteous because we are in Him who is righteous.  This is the fate of the wicked apart from saving grace.  May we hold back condemning others and leave the judgment to God’s word which falls on us all and remains on those who refuse to believe Christ and His work for our reconciliation (John 3:18-19, Romans 5:10), bearing witness to them instead of salvation in the gospel of Jesus Christ.