“Like a fluttering sparrow…, an undeserved curse does not come to rest” (Prov 26:2, BSB).
In this first round of talks, do Job’s friends save the best till last? Hardly. Zophar’s comments are thankfully the shortest, but they are also the toughest to swallow. He feels no obligation to fortify his statements with the supernatural (as Eliphaz does), nor with the traditional (as Bildad does). He’ll give it straight. There’s always one person in the crowd who thinks everyone else is too diplomatic, or not courageous enough, to tell it like it is. Their motto: the truth hurts—and I’ll make sure it does! He asks rhetorically, “Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated? Should your empty talk make men hold their peace? And when you mock, should no one rebuke you?” (vv 2-3). There you go, Job. The anguished outpouring of your soul comes down to this double charge by Zophar: “full of talk” and “empty talk.” Words aplenty; meanings empty. But it gets worse. Job, says Zophar, you’re all wrong in describing your moral state. In fact, “God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves” (v 6). If He let you in on His thoughts about you, “they would double your prudence,” meaning you’d be twice as careful about what you say. “Can you search out the deep things of God?” he asks (v 7), but really means, “No, you can’t.” On the other hand, Zophar is convinced he knows! He knows what Job is thinking, knows what Job should have said, and knows Job’s true moral state. More than that, he knows what God thinks about Job and how much judgment Job should have received from Him! May the Lord spare us from such critics, like sparrows (the meaning of Zophar) whose words are cheep, cheep, cheep, with no song to sing or cheerful plumage to brighten our darkest days.