Job 20 · a question people ask
Is Zophar right that "the triumphing of the wicked is short" (20:5)?
Other Scripture says something like it. A psalm says, "I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found" (Psalm 37:35-36). A proverb says, "Fraudulent food is sweet to a man, but afterwards his mouth is filled with gravel" (Proverbs 20:17). Psalm 73 holds both sides. The psalmist says, "For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked" (Psalm 73:3), and "Behold, these are the wicked. Being always at ease, they increase in riches" (Psalm 73:12), and then, "until I entered God’s sanctuary, and considered their latter end" (Psalm 73:17). Of the wicked he goes on, "How they are suddenly destroyed!" (Psalm 73:19), and "As a dream when one wakes up" (Psalm 73:20), where dream is the word of Zophar's "He will fly away as a dream" (20:8) (tap dream). And in his next speech (21:1) Job says, "Why do the wicked live, become old, yes, and grow mighty in power?" (21:7), and "They spend their days in prosperity. In an instant they go down to Sheol" (21:13). What the book says of the friends' words is 42:7, and it doesn't say which words it means. These notes set the verses side by side and don't decide between Zophar and Job.
The verses
“that the triumphing of the wicked is short, the joy of the godless but for a moment?”
“He will fly away as a dream, and will not be found. Yes, he will be chased away like a vision of the night.”
“I have seen the wicked in great power, spreading himself like a green tree in its native soil. But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.”
“For I was envious of the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”