Job 11

11:1 Zophar the Naamathite (see study note on 2:11), the most severe of Job’s three friends, dealt only with the issue of sin.

11:2-3 this torrent of words: Verbosity is characteristic of fools (Prov 10:8, 14) and sinners (Prov 10:19), but Job was innocent. • mock God: Zophar viewed Job’s words about God’s justice as sinfully sarcastic (Job 10:2-7, 13-15).

11:4 My beliefs are pure: Job was not defining doctrine but defending his own integrity.

11:5-6 punishing you . . . less than you deserve: Zophar believed that calamity indicated divine retribution for sins (cp. 34:36).

11:7 No one can discover everything about the Almighty (literally find out the limits of the Almighty), who is beyond the limits of the heavens, underworld, land, and sea (11:8-9).

11:13-14 Zophar laid out three conditions for restoration (11:15): (1) prepare your heart, in an inward act that is not just a ritual; (2) lift up your hands, a symbolic gesture of prayer, appeal (Exod 9:29; Prov 1:24; Isa 1:15), or surrender; (3) leave all iniquity, not by sacrifice and remorse, but by quitting the sin (cp. Heb 11:6; Jas 4:8; 5:16).