Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
The verse belongs to Zophar's second speech setting forth the portion of the wicked. It falls within the debate between Job and his three friends about Job's afflictions, which is arranged in three rounds of speeches. It is part of the colloquies between Job and his friends on the cause and purpose of human suffering. That the book is inspired means it truthfully records that the words were spoken, not that everything spoken in it is true, and what the friends said was generally true but misapplied in Job's case. Job 20 contains the words of Job's misguided friends, whose statements about God and Job are unreliable when they contradict inspired teaching and must be tested by the rest of Scripture.
The verse pictures a sinner sparing a cherished evil and refusing to forsake it but keeping and savoring it in the mouth because it tastes sweet, like tasty food held and rolled around in the mouth. It exposes the humiliating tendency of human nature to depart from God by loving sin effortlessly and holding it fast without awareness instead of forsaking it. Chewing tobacco exemplifies this sin, kept in the mouth and enjoyed as a sinful habit. The tobacco chewer grinds the weed between the teeth and holds it in the mouth while judgment, reason, and common sense testify the course is wrong. The poison blunts, sears, and silences conscience so that it takes no notice of the wrong and loses power to speak, and the user continues with the stronger poison in the mouth even while rightly condemning liquor as sin in another.
It also describes a person who keeps and savors sins like sweet bites rolled under the tongue while groaning a contrite confession of those same sins in prayer. Such confession pretends to be what he is not, tells God a pious falsehood, and imposes on fellow people a character that cannot deceive God. It illustrates how sweets and confections can seem delightful in the mouth yet become harmful after being swallowed, upsetting digestion and fostering unnatural cravings and intemperance, especially when they contain alcohol.
The verse belongs to Zophar's second speech setting forth the portion of the wicked. It falls within the debate between Job and his three friends about Job's afflictions, which is arranged in three rounds of speeches. It is part of the colloquies between Job and his friends on the cause and purpose of human suffering. That the book is inspired means it truthfully records that the words were spoken, not that everything spoken in it is true, and what the friends said was generally true but misapplied in Job's case. Job 20 contains the words of Job's misguided friends, whose statements about God and Job are unreliable when they contradict inspired teaching and must be tested by the rest of Scripture.
The verse pictures a sinner sparing a cherished evil and refusing to forsake it but keeping and savoring it in the mouth because it tastes sweet, like tasty food held and rolled around in the mouth. It exposes the humiliating tendency of human nature to depart from God by loving sin effortlessly and holding it fast without awareness instead of forsaking it. Chewing tobacco exemplifies this sin, kept in the mouth and enjoyed as a sinful habit. The tobacco chewer grinds the weed between the teeth and holds it in the mouth while judgment, reason, and common sense testify the course is wrong. The poison blunts, sears, and silences conscience so that it takes no notice of the wrong and loses power to speak, and the user continues with the stronger poison in the mouth even while rightly condemning liquor as sin in another.
It also describes a person who keeps and savors sins like sweet bites rolled under the tongue while groaning a contrite confession of those same sins in prayer. Such confession pretends to be what he is not, tells God a pious falsehood, and imposes on fellow people a character that cannot deceive God. It illustrates how sweets and confections can seem delightful in the mouth yet become harmful after being swallowed, upsetting digestion and fostering unnatural cravings and intemperance, especially when they contain alcohol.