Job 20:8 | KingComments | STEP | If we try to forget for a moment who Zophar is addressing, he speaks in flowery language, full of appealing examples. He is an expert in describing evil and its results. But the application to Job is too clear to really forget to whom he is speaking. Job will perish, and in the most shameful way: just like his refuse ( ). Refuse will be wiped away and never seen again. There is no desire to get it back either. This is how it will be with Job. A dead body treated with contempt is thrown into the field as dung ( ; ; ). The wicked perish in the same way as a dream and a vision ( ). A dream and a vision are temporary and fleeting apparitions. They are there for a moment and then disappear again. They cannot be held or recalled. When they are over, they are irrevocably gone, wiped away like a mist that dissolves because it is chased away by the wind. No one will see him again ( ), for he is like a dream and a vision that are gone. The place where he lived no longer sees him either. He will never come back. His place is empty, as if he has never been there. His children become beggars ( ). He leaves nothing for them, for he must return the wealth he has unfairly taken away from others. He himself may still be so full of youthful vigor, but premature death will put an end to it ( ). In the power of his life he will be powerless in the dust and perish to the dust from which he was made ( ). And, according to Zophar, untimely death is proof that God always punishes the wicked.

‏ Job 20:8

He Will Soon Be Cut Off

If we try to forget for a moment who Zophar is addressing, he speaks in flowery language, full of appealing examples. He is an expert in describing evil and its results. But the application to Job is too clear to really forget to whom he is speaking. Job will perish, and in the most shameful way: just like his refuse (Job 20:7). Refuse will be wiped away and never seen again. There is no desire to get it back either. This is how it will be with Job. A dead body treated with contempt is thrown into the field as dung (2Kgs 9:37; Psa 83:9-10; Jer 8:2 ; Jer 9:22 ; Jer 16:4 ; Jer 25:33).

The wicked perish in the same way as a dream and a vision (Job 20:8). A dream and a vision are temporary and fleeting apparitions. They are there for a moment and then disappear again. They cannot be held or recalled. When they are over, they are irrevocably gone, wiped away like a mist that dissolves because it is chased away by the wind.

No one will see him again (Job 20:9), for he is like a dream and a vision that are gone. The place where he lived no longer sees him either. He will never come back. His place is empty, as if he has never been there. His children become beggars (Job 20:10). He leaves nothing for them, for he must return the wealth he has unfairly taken away from others.

He himself may still be so full of youthful vigor, but premature death will put an end to it (Job 20:11). In the power of his life he will be powerless in the dust and perish to the dust from which he was made (Gen 3:19). And, according to Zophar, untimely death is proof that God always punishes the wicked.