Job 11 | TNotes | STEP | 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.

11:1 ^a Zophar the Naamathite (see study note on 2:11), the most severe of Job’s three friends, dealt only with the issue of sin.
Summary for Job 11:2-3: 11:2-3 ^b this torrent of words: Verbosity is characteristic of fools (Prov 10:8 ^c, 14 ^d) and sinners (Prov 10:19 ^e), but Job was innocent.

• mock God: Zophar viewed Job’s words about God’s justice as sinfully sarcastic (Job 10:2-7 ^f, 13-15 ^g).
11:4 ^h My beliefs are pure: Job was not defining doctrine but defending his own integrity.
Summary for Job 11:5-6: 11:5-6 ⁱ punishing you ... less than you deserve: Zophar believed that calamity indicated divine retribution for sins (cp. 34:36 ^j).
11:7 ^k 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 ^l).
Summary for Job 11:13-14: 11:13-14 ^m Zophar laid out three conditions for restoration (11:15 ⁿ): (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 ^o; Prov 1:24 ^p; Isa 1:15 ^q), or surrender; (3) leave all iniquity, not by sacrifice and remorse, but by quitting the sin (cp. Heb 11:6 ^r; Jas 4:8 ^s; 5:16 ^t).