Zophar the Naamathite’s First Speech and Job’s Answer

READING THE BOOK OF JOB

PART V

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Job 11:1-14:22

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Zophar the Naamathite’s first speech overflows with irony.  He asks:

Is wordiness in man a proof of right?

–Job 11:2b, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

That line reminds of Polonius, in Hamlet, saying that brevity is the wit of wisdom.  The line is ironic in the mouth of a motormouth.

Then Zophar babbles, just as he accuses Job of having done.  Zophar babbles pious platitudes and continues to blame a victim.  Much of what Zophar says could come from Psalms or Proverbs.  Consider one example, O reader:

Can you claim to grasp the mystery of God,

to understand the perfection of Shaddai?

–Job 11:7, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Yet Zophar refuses to grapple with suffering that contradicts his orthodoxy.  He vainly imagines to have grasped some of the mystery of God.

In contrast, Job admits an uncomfortable reality:

And yet, the tents of brigands are left in peace,

and these who challenge God live in safety,

and make a god of their two fists!

–Job 12:6, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

Job is an honest monotheist; he knows that there no other deities to blame for anything.  Job understands that God us ultimately responsible, for nobody else can be ultimately responsible.  This theological honesty exceeds the grasp of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

I wish someone would teach you to be quiet

–the only wisdom that becomes you!

–Job 13:5, The Jerusalem Bible (1966)

“You” is plural.  (I even checked five French translations.)  Job is correct; the alleged friends are not helping him.

A friend is one who behaves like a friend.  A friend does not make the already miserable life of someone more miserable.  No, a friend acts in that person’s best interest.

In the context of the story, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar may think that they are being good friends.  They may imagine that they are staging a spiritual intervention, much as one confronts a drug addict for the addict’s own good.

This point may condemn some of us.  We may be oblivious to when we are being insensitive jerks yet imagine that we are being good friends.  There is much wisdom in not speaking when one should be quiet.

KENNETH RANDOLPH TAYLOR

NOVEMBER 26, 2022 COMMON ERA

THE FEAST OF SAINT SIRICIUS, BISHOP OF ROME

THE FEAST OF H. BAXTER LIEBLER, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND MISSIONARY TO THE NAVAJO NATION

THE FEAST OF SAINT JOHN BERCHMANS, ROMAN CATHOLIC SEMINARIAN

THE FEAST OF SOJOURNER TRUTH, U.S. ABOLITIONIST, MYSTIC, AND FEMINIST

THE FEAST OF THEODORE P. FERRIS, EPISCOPAL PRIEST AND AUTHOR

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