Job 11:3

Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Job 11:3. Should thy lies — That is, thy false opinions and assertions, both concerning thyself and thy own innocence, and concerning the counsels and ways of God, make men hold their peace? — As if thy arguments were unanswerable. And when thou mockest — Both God and us, and our friendly and faithful counsels; shall no man make thee ashamed? — By discovering thy errors and follies.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-6 Zophar attacked Job with great vehemence. He represented him as a man that loved to hear himself speak, though he could say nothing to the purpose, and as a man that maintained falsehoods. He desired God would show Job that less punishment was exacted than he deserved. We are ready, with much assurance, to call God to act in our quarrels, and to think that if he would but speak, he would take our part. We ought to leave all disputes to the judgment of God, which we are sure is according to truth; but those are not always right who are most forward to appeal to the Divine judgment.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Should thy lies - Margin, "devices." Rosenmuller renders this, "should men bear thy boastings with silence?" Dr. Good, "before thee would man-kind keep silence?" Vulgate, "tibi soli tacebunt homines?" "Shall men be silent before thee alone? The Septuagint tenders the whole passage, "he who speaketh much should also hear in turn; else the fine speaker (εὔλαλος eulalos) thinketh himself just. - Blessed be the short-lived offspring of woman. Be not profuse of words, for there is no one that judges against thee, and do not say that I am pure in works and blameless before him?" How this was made out of the Hebrew, or what is its exact sense, I am unable to say. There can be no doubt, I think, that our present translation is altogether too harsh, and that Zophar by no means designs to charge Job with uttering lies. The Hebrew word commonly used for lies, is wholly different from that which is used here. The word here (בד bad) denotes properly "separation;" then a part; and in various combinations as a preposition, "alone separate." "besides." Then the noun means empty talk, vain boasting; and then it may denote lies or falsehood. The leading idea is that of separation or of remoteness from anything, as from prudence, wisdom, propriety, or truth. It is a general term, like our word "bad," which I presume has been derived from this Hebrew word (בד bad), or from the Arabic "bad." In the plural (בדים badı̂ym) it is rendered "liars" in Isaiah 44:25; Jeremiah 50:36; "lies" in Job 11:3; Isaiah 16:6; Jeremiah 48:30; and "parts" in Job 41:12. It is also often rendered "staves," Exodus 27:6; Exodus 25:14-15, Exodus 25:28, et sap, at. That it may mean "lies" here I admit, but it may also mean talk that is aside from propriety, and may refer here to a kind of discourse that was destitute of propriety, empty, vain talk.

And when thou mockest - That-is, "shalt thou be permitted to use the language of reproach and of complaint, and no one attempt to make thee sensible of its impropriety?" The complaints and arguments of Job he represented as in fact mocking God.

Shall no man make thee ashamed? - Shall no one show thee the impropriety of it, and bring thy mind to a sense of shame for what it has done? This was what Zophar now proposed to do.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. lies—rather, "vain boasting" (Isa 16:6; Jer 48:30). The "men" is emphatic; men of sense; in antithesis to "vain boasting."

mockest—upbraidest God by complaints, "shall no man make thee ashamed?"

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Thy lies, i.e. thy false opinions and assertions, both concerning thyself and thy own innocency, and concerning the counsels and ways of God, make men hold their peace; as if thy arguments were unanswerable.

When thou mockest, both God, Job 10:3, and us, and our friendly and faithful counsels, Job 6:14,15,25,26,

shall no man make thee ashamed, by discovering thy errors and follies?

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Should thy lies make men hold their peace?.... By which he means, either lies in common, untruths wilfully told, which are sins of a scandalous nature, which good men will not dare to commit knowingly; and to give a man, especially such a man, the lie, is very indecent; and to charge a man falsely with it is very injurious: or else doctrinal ones, errors in judgment, falsehoods concerning God and things divine; which not only are not of the truth, for no lie is of the truth, but are against it; and indeed where the case is notorious in either sense, men should not be silent, or be as men deaf and dumb, as the word (u) signifies, as if they did not hear the lies told them, or were unconcerned about them, or connived at them: David would not suffer a liar to be near him, nor dwell in his house, Psalm 101:7; a common liar ought to be reproved and rejected; and doctrinal liars and lies should be opposed and resisted; truth should be contended for, and nothing be done against it, but everything for it: it is criminal to be silent at either sort of lies; nor should the bold and blustering manner in which they are told frighten men from a detection of them, which perhaps is what may be hinted at here (w); some render the words (x), "should thine iniquity frighten men?" they are not so strong and nervous as to appear unanswerable, and deter men from undertaking a reply unto them:

and, when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed? here Job is represented as a mocker of God, which is inferred from Job 10:3; and at his friends, and the arguments they used, and the advice they gave, which is concluded from his words in Job 6:25; and as one hardened, who was not, and could not be made ashamed of what he had said against either, by anything that had been offered for his reproof and conviction: to make a mock of God, or a jest of divine things, or scoff at good men, is very bad; indeed it is the character of the worst of men; and such should be made ashamed, if possible, by exposing their sin and folly; and if not here, they will be covered with shame hereafter, when they shall appear before God, the Judge of all, who will not be mocked, and shall see the saints at the right hand of Christ, whom they have jeered and scoffed at: but this was not Job's true character; he was no mocker of God nor of good men; in this he was wronged and injured, and had nothing of this sort to be made ashamed of.

(u) So Ben Melech. (w) "jactantias tuas", Cocceius. (x) "Tuane argumenta mortales consternabunt?" Codurcus.

Geneva Study Bible

Should thy lies make men hold their peace? and when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Should thy lies] Or, Shall thy boastings, or, as Reuss, “ton verbiage.” The reference is probably to Job’s assertions of his own innocence, or perhaps the general scope of his speech. The word “men” is as we should say “people”—shall thy boastings put people to silence?

and when thou mockest] Or, so that thou mockest, none putting thee to shame. Job’s “mockery” or irreligious, sceptical talk is summed up in Job 11:4. This mockery is called “scorning,” ch. Job 34:6.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - Should thy lies make men hold their peace? or, thy boastings (see the Revised Version; and comp. Isaiah 16:5; Jeremiah 48:30). Zophar probably refers to such passages as Job 9:20, 35; Job 10:7, 15, where Job might seem to have justified himself altogether. And when thou mockest, shall no man make thee ashamed I It is not quite easy to see what in Job's speeches up to this point could be regarded as "mocking." But perhaps Zophar would have thus characterized the following passages: Job 6:13, 14, 25-27; Job 7:12; Job 9:22-24. Job 11:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

1 Then began Zophar the Naamathite, and said:

2 Shall the torrent of words remain unanswered,

And shall the prater be in the right?

3 Shall thy vain talking silence the people,

So that thou mockest without any one putting thee to shame,

4 And sayest: my doctrine is pure,

And I am guiltless in Thine eyes?

5 But oh that Eloah would speak,

And open His lips against thee,

6 And make known to thee the secrets of wisdom,

That she is twofold in her nature -

Know then that Eloah forgetteth much of thy guilt.

When Job has concluded his long speech, Zophar, the third and most impetuous of the friends, begins. His name, if it is to be explained according to the Arabic Esauitish name el-assfar,

(Note: Vid., Abulfeda's Historia anteislamica ed. Fleischer, p. 168.)

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