Rejection of Discipline

20:1–3  Zophar, in his second (and final!) speech, makes little attempt to respond to the words Job has just spoken. After an initial angry reaction to what he perceives as Job’s attempts to “discipline” (NIV rebuke, at the beginning of v. 3) an already established group of sages, he launches into a traditional wisdom discourse on the fate of the wicked. His obvious assumption is that Job is firmly entrenched in this category and has little, if any, chance of avoiding a similar fate. Thus his speech is less a cautionary warning encouraging Job to repent than it is a dismissive consignment of Job to his deserved punishment.

The troubled thoughts by which he claims to be greatly disturbed initially compel Zophar to answer Job. The cause of his disturbance is not so much…