The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
The verse comes in Zophar's second speech, whose subject is the portion and final doom of the wicked. It stands near the close of the long discussion between Job and his three friends. There it forms part of their condemnation of Job for seeming self-righteousness, a condemnation he judged unjust and found no use for.
It records what Job's friends spoke out of their own wisdom and observation. Its place in an inspired book guarantees that they truly said it, not that everything they said is true in every case. As the declaration of misguided friends, it is not to be taken as reliable concerning Job or God where it conflicts with inspired Scripture, but is to be compared with the rest of the Bible.
What was said was in general true, yet it was misapplied to Job. The verse expresses the general truth that evil is at last punished and good at last rewarded, so that wrongdoing will be laid bare by heaven and withstood by earth. The coming of affliction, adversity, or suffering upon a man does not prove him under God's displeasure nor give cause for discouragement, for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and what glorifies God works for the highest good of those who trust Him.
The verse comes in Zophar's second speech, whose subject is the portion and final doom of the wicked. It stands near the close of the long discussion between Job and his three friends. There it forms part of their condemnation of Job for seeming self-righteousness, a condemnation he judged unjust and found no use for.
It records what Job's friends spoke out of their own wisdom and observation. Its place in an inspired book guarantees that they truly said it, not that everything they said is true in every case. As the declaration of misguided friends, it is not to be taken as reliable concerning Job or God where it conflicts with inspired Scripture, but is to be compared with the rest of the Bible.
What was said was in general true, yet it was misapplied to Job. The verse expresses the general truth that evil is at last punished and good at last rewarded, so that wrongdoing will be laid bare by heaven and withstood by earth. The coming of affliction, adversity, or suffering upon a man does not prove him under God's displeasure nor give cause for discouragement, for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and what glorifies God works for the highest good of those who trust Him.