Job 20:8-21:34 - The Myth that Poverty Proves Sin (Session 25)

In this verse-by-verse Bible study of Job 20:8–29 and Job 21:1–34, Reasoning Through the Bible continues through the book of Job by examining Zophar’s harsh accusations and Job’s powerful response. Zophar argues that Job’s poverty and suffering must prove wickedness, but Job pushes back and says what many believers have wondered for centuries: why do the wicked sometimes prosper?

This session explains why wealth and poverty do not prove whether a person is righteous or evil, why prosperity preaching and class-based theology both fail, and how Job rejects Zophar’s simplistic system. The discussion also touches on how Christians should care for the poor, why some wicked people appear to live safely and successfully, and why final justice is still certain even when it does not come immediately. 

The episode also addresses hard questions about hell, God’s patience, and the danger of offering empty comfort to the suffering. Job’s friends have stopped helping and have become accusers. Job 20–21 reminds listeners that truth must be joined to compassion and that God’s long-suffering should not be confused with indifference to evil. 

Topics in this episode include:

•  Job 20 explained 
•  Job 21 explained 
•  why the wicked prosper 
•  wealth and poverty in the Bible 
•  prosperity gospel errors 
•  helping the poor as Christians 
•  final judgment and hell 
•  why empty comfort fails 
•  how to speak to the suffering 

Reasoning Through the Bible is a verse-by-verse Bible teaching ministry committed to careful exposition, biblical context, and faithful application.

Transcript

Evil Described Without Romance

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Evil is never beautiful. Today, on Reasoning Through the Bible, is we find a section of the Word of God where evil is described in a very graphic way that's very poetic. A secular world might find it to be beautiful evil, whereas we would see that as an oxymoron. And if you've not seen passages like this in the Word of God, then we trust you to stay with us as we go through the book of Job, chapter 20. Here we have one of Job's friends that is accusing Job of evil. And if you remember, as the story has gone on, Job's friends have gotten increasingly graphic, increasingly blunt in their accusations against Job. And today we're going

Zophar’s Graphic Accusations In Job 20

SPEAKER_00 1:05

to see more of that. Before we just jump in, my name's Glenn. I'm here with Steve. If you're following us on our podcast, then we trust that you'll look at our website. There's much more to our ministry. We have lesson plans for teachers. We have free materials. We have many topical studies. And if you just go to reasoningthible.com, you can find out more about us and the rest of our ministry. And we trust that you'll be able to pray for us as we move into many other ventures here. If you have your Bible, open it to Job chapter 20. And Steve, can you read from verse 8 down to 18? We have Zophar, Job's friend, being very blunt in his accusations against Job.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him. Like a vision of the night, he is chased away. The eye which saw him sees him no longer, and his place no longer beholds him. His sons favor the poor, and his hands give back his wealth. His bones are full of his youthful strength, but it lies down with him in the dust. Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth, and he hides it under his tongue, though he desires it and will not let it go, but holds it in his mouth, yet his food in his stomach is changed to the venom of cobras within him. He swallows riches, but will vomit them up. God will expel them from his belly. He sucks the poison of cobras, the viper's tongue kills him. He does not look at the streams, the rivers flowing with honey and curds. He returns the product of his labor and cannot swallow it as to the riches of his trading. He cannot even enjoy them.

SPEAKER_00 2:53

So we see there again, Zophar is making very direct accusations against Job as if he were a very evil person. Zophar says that all wicked people will keep diminishing until they disappear. In verse 10, it says, Wicked people will always be poor, and their children will always be poor. So, Steve, what had Job lost at the beginning of the book?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

He lost his family members, his sons and his daughters. He lost all of his livestock, which was all of his riches and everything else. And then he has this personal affliction on himself that he's lost his health.

SPEAKER_00 3:31

So Zophar here is saying that because

Wealth And Poverty Do Not Prove Righteousness

SPEAKER_00 3:35

Job is poor, he must be evil. The implication there is that you wouldn't be so poor if you weren't doing evil things. Can we look at a person's wealth or a person's poverty and determine whether they're evil or righteous?

SPEAKER_01 3:52

No, we can't do that. And I don't think that we're supposed to be doing that, is going around and determining who is evil and who's not. I think that we need to look and present the gospel to the people, to the ones who need it and to the ones who are already believers, converse with them in a way that we build each other up and love on each other.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

There's really no way to look at a person's wealth or poverty and determine whether they're righteous or evil. A wicked person can be wealthy or poor, a righteous person can be wealthy or poor. There's really no connection between the amount of money you have or not and whether you're a righteous person or not. There are some false teachers within Christianity that are what we call prosperity preachers that hold that if you're in a right relationship with God and have enough faith, then you're going to be wealthy. There's other Christians that think that just because you're rich, you're automatically evil, that the Bible is a wealth redistribution program. Both of those are false teachers. This is what Zophar falls into the trap of thinking that there's a connection between righteousness, evil, and wealth and poverty. And there really is none. The second part of verse 11, he tells Job that the wicked end up laying down in the dust. Well, Steve, where is Job sitting at the moment?

SPEAKER_01 5:16

He's sitting out in the ash heap. He's been throwing dust on himself in order to give some relief from his sores and boils on himself. So he's already there.

SPEAKER_00 5:26

So he was out there in this ash heap, and Zophar comes along and says, Well, the wicked people are the ones that end up in the dust. It's very direct and very insulting. Zophar describes the evil man as liking the taste of wickedness. He says, quote, evil taste sweet in his mouth. And in verse 14, his food in his stomach is changed to the venom of cobras. It's generally true that wickedness is going to destroy people, that wickedness ends up with people being miserable, but it's not true that Job has done evil things to cause his suffering. Zophar does not know this, and he is inventing it out of thin air based on his preconceived theological ideas that just happen to be incorrect. Notice here this very vivid language. The venom of cobras is within him. Job is a book for anyone that loves rich, colorful language.

SPEAKER_01 6:40

You know, Glenn, we keep repeating several times that Job is innocent. Because we're recording this, I think maybe it falls on us that we think that we're saying it too often. But why is it that we keep repeating over and over again that Job is innocent? Shouldn't we just say it one time and that be enough?

SPEAKER_00 6:59

Well, the word of God repeats it. So that's what we need to do. And of course, this is not just about

Why Scripture Repeats Job’s Innocence

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Job. It applies to all of our lives. And because of that, these problems happen in our lives today. Whenever suffering happens, we either have a voice in our head that starts blaming us and second-guessing, well, maybe it was me that caused this and God is somehow against me, or we have unfeeling friends like Job does, that says equally insensitive things. So these things are here to help us. And the reason why it keeps repeating it is because God divinely knows that we need to hear it over and over again, because the problems keep coming over and over again, and because most of us are just so dense that if we don't hear it over and over again, it doesn't sink in. I'm going to continue now, starting in verse 19, Zophar

Accusing Job Of Oppressing The Poor

SPEAKER_00 7:55

is not done. He continues with this very blunt, very insulting language. Again, this is Zophar making an analogy of a stereotypical evil person, but he's it's very clear he's talking about Job. For he has oppressed and neglected the poor. He has seized a house which he has not built. Because he knew no quiet within him, he does not retain anything he desires. Nothing remains for him to devour. Therefore, his prosperity does not endure. In the fullness of his excess he will be cramped, and the hand of everyone who suffers will come against him. When he fills his belly, God will send his fierce anger on him and rain it on him while he is eating. He may flee from the iron weapon, but the bronze bow will pierce him. It is drawn and comes out of his back, even the flashing point from his gallbladder. Terrors come upon him. Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures, an unfanned fire will devour him, it will consume the survivor in his tent. The heavens will reveal his guilt, and the earth will rise up against him, the increase of his house will disappear, his possessions will flow away on the day of his anger. This is a wicked person's portion from God, the inheritance decreed to him by God. So, in this section, what is Zophar accusing Job of doing? Especially like, for example, in verse 19, what does Zophar say that Job is doing?

SPEAKER_01 9:30

He's now moving away from being personal with Job, that there's something that Job has done personally against God to deserve this infliction that Job has, to now saying that Job had mistreated other people. He says there in verse 19, for he has oppressed and neglected the poor. He seized a house which he's not built, which is kind of in a way saying that Job has gone out and defaulted on poor people and kicked them out of their houses and things like that. And he goes on to say other things that Job has done to other people. And that's not a picture that we see of Job in the opening chapters. We see that he has all this wealth, but yet he treats all of his family and his servants and everyone else. And he's upstanding and upright with God. So that's not the picture that we see with Job, but Zophar now just continues to sink further and further into the insults that he gives to Job.

SPEAKER_00 10:27

He accuses him of oppressing and neglecting the poor, basically stealing houses from the poor that were not his. And then in verse 21, he says Job is poor because he stole so much from people that he ran out of things to steal. Therefore, that's why he's poor. What started out as a debate with Job or a suggestion that, okay, Job, here might be some things you might consider. And there may be some things in your life you might want to change. Well, now it has degenerated into a name-calling exercise. It's very insulting. The two sides have dug in and they're emotional. This is no longer rational. These are just wild accusations. Zovar has no evidence that Job did any of these things. It's getting worse and worse because there's so much emotion involved. So, Steve,

Practical Help For The Poor

SPEAKER_00 11:20

because he brought up the poor and taking things from the poor, the Bible does speak quite a bit about what Christians should do for the poor. So, what are we to do as Christians in our churches and as individuals for the poor?

SPEAKER_01 11:35

I believe that we are to help and support the poor that are in our communities, but I also believe that we need to have some way to vet the people that come in to validate that they're actually in need of assistance from our churches and our community. There are some people that are out there that really aren't poor and in need of help. That's just the way that they make their living. So I think that we need to have some way in order to assist us. But I think that's a great way for us to give money for assistance to the poor in our community is through the churches that we go to. And if your church doesn't participate in it, I know that there's probably another church in the area that can do that. That way you have somebody that, as I mentioned, is actually giving it to the people that need it. And as people come up to you, you can direct them to that as ministry assistance for them to go and get that help where they can get it need. I know there's one here in the town where I am. They have food for people that are in need of it. They give out vouchers for gasoline and other things like that. And their ministry is there to not only support them physically with needs of food and such, but also to support them spiritually. So it's a great thing that we have in our community here that's supported by several different churches.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Christians should indeed have a heart for the poor. And as a rule, we have over the years, but all of us as individuals should have a heart for the needy, for those less fortunate. And the New Testament gives us guidance and commands on how we should do that in our churches. But we should always remember the poor. I remember in Galatians chapter two, Paul describes a meeting he had with the other apostles to iron out a theological debate. And these were, you know, very important theological and doctrinal matters. But at the end of it, they agreed on those and they sent Paul away telling him, remember the poor. So even when we end up talking about theological issues, which are quite important, but so is remembering the poor, we should always have a heart for the poor. And Christians have done that over the centuries. Many hospitals and food programs, like you mentioned, Steve, are all founded by Christians. In this section, Zophar is describing the total destruction of the wicked. Verses 27, 28, and 29, he tells Job that God is destroying him because of his wickedness. Zophar, of course, has no evidence for any of this, but he's convinced himself that it's true. So he's

Truth Spoken Without Love

SPEAKER_00 14:15

getting increasingly graphic with his language and increasingly pointed in his accusations and increasingly insulting towards Job. We can no longer really describe, in my opinion, describe Zophar as a friend. He is viewing himself as a debater who is trying to verbally bludgeon his opponent and win an argument rather than win a soul. Christians should indeed deal in truth, but here Zophar has gone beyond truth to opinion and beyond opinion to just arguing and trying to verbally bludgeon his opponents. He has no semblance of seeking truth here or asking questions. He's just making accusations. We as Christians should indeed speak the truth, but we speak the truth in love so that the other person realizes that we're loving them. We should also be civil and loving in how we speak to people. We should not view people who disagree with us as people who we should win an argument over, but rather

Job 21 Opens With A Demand To Listen

SPEAKER_00 15:20

we're trying to win their souls. That brings us to the next chapter, chapter 21, which is Job's response to Zophar. At the first, he's going to tell Zophar that his complaint is with God, not his friends. So, Steve, can you read the first six verses of Job chapter 21?

SPEAKER_01 15:37

Then Job responded, Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your way of consolation. Bear with me that I may speak. Then, after I have spoken, you may mock me. Whereas for me, is my complaint to a mortal? Or why should I not be impatient? Look at me and be astonished, and put your hand over your mouth. Even when I remember, I am disturbed, and horror takes hold of my flesh.

SPEAKER_00 16:06

Here, Job is telling his friends that they need to wait until Job finishes speaking before they speak. He's telling them, You're not listening. And he's a little bit of sarcasm here. He's saying, You should at least wait till I stop talking before you start to disagree with me. Job recognizes that the friends are repeating themselves without paying attention to anything that Job says. Then in verse five, what we just read, Job tells them that if they were really looking at his condition, they would be astonished at what they've been saying. Verse six, even when Job thinks of his condition, he's shocked. So if he shocks himself, then the friends should be astonished at his condition instead of criticizing him.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

And if we look at verse four, he says, Is my complaint to a mortal? We've been talking about this over several sessions, Glenn, that Job has been laying all of his conditions that he's in at the feet of God. So he's been talking to God and pleading to him, asking him why this has been happening to him. And he hasn't really been directing it to his friends. But yet his friends keep coming back to him and saying, again, that there's something that you've done wrong. We mentioned at the very last part of chapter 19, when Job says to his friends, he says, You need to think about what you're saying because you're going to be held accountable in front of God what you're saying. I think that that is something that has set Zophar off on this tirade coming back at Job in the way that he has and denigrating him in such a horrible way. And Job is telling him in this opening part of his rebuttal, my complaint has been against God. It hasn't been against you. You need to listen to what I'm saying and keep your mouth shut until I'm done. And then you can reply and make fun of me or mock me. So it's kind of curious that Zophar's rage that he is pouring out on Job really came into play whenever Job says you're going to be accountable in front of God to the things that you're accusing other people of doing, mainly me. I just find that a little bit curious as far as the trigger point that sets Zophar off on this.

SPEAKER_00 18:21

Any of us are capable of getting into an emotional disagreement with people and letting the emotions take over of where are instead of our clear thinking. We ought to hear Job's

Why The Wicked Sometimes Prosper

SPEAKER_00 18:35

response back to us saying, You should at least wait until I've stopped talking before you disagree with me and tell me why I'm wrong. All of us should learn to listen more than we actually speak. Moving on through this section, Job next describes how sinners can sometimes have worldly pleasures. Remember, his friend's accusation was that all wickedness ends in destruction and pain, and all righteousness ends in wealth and health. Here, Job is going to say, well, no, that's not always true. Sometimes sinners can have worldly pleasures. I'm reading in verse 7. Why do the wicked still live, grow old, and also become very powerful? Their descendants endure with them in their sight and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, and the rod of God is not on them. His ox mates without fail, his cow calves, and does not miscarry. They send out their boys like the flock, and their children dance. They sing with the tambourine and harp and rejoice at the sound of the flute. They spend all their days in prosperity, and suddenly they go down to Sheol. Yet they say to God, Go away from us. We do not even desire the knowledge of your ways. Who is the Almighty that we should serve Him? And what would we gain if we plead with Him? Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand. The advice of the wicked is far from me. How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, or does their disaster fall on them? Does God apportion destruction in his anger? Are they as straw before the wind, and like chaff, which the storm carries away? You say, God saves up a person's wrongdoing for his sons. Let God repay him so that he may know it. Let his own eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. For what does he care about his household after him when the number of his months is at an end? Can anyone teach God knowledge in that he judges those on high? So in that, Job had been listing a series of things that the wicked were successful in doing. He says the wicked can live until they're old and powerful. The wicked can have a lot of successful descendants. They have nice houses with low crime rates, they make lots of money. The wicked can be happy sometimes, and their children dance and sing. So, Steve, is it true that some evil people are happy, wealthy, and successful?

SPEAKER_01 21:13

Yeah, we see that quite often in that people that don't worship God or don't want to have anything to do with him are quite successful. And that's one of the things we see in our life that God will bless even people that aren't worshipers of Him in such a way that they should reach out to God and be thankful for what they have and the abilities that have been given to them in order to have the wealth that they have. But sometimes we see that their wealth has consumed them and they don't want to have anything to do with God. They think that they can sustain themselves and support themselves, and that they actually have been the ones that have built up this wealth themselves, and they don't want to give God any credit for it at all.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

So if we have so Some wicked people prospering today, will there ever be justice in the end?

SPEAKER_01 22:04

Yes, Glenn, I think there is going to be justice in the end. We're told when Jesus returns that he is going to judge the nations and he is going to set up his kingdom. So we're going to see that type of a judgment. And then at the very end of that 1,000-year reign of his here on earth, there's going to be a final judgment, which is called the Great White Throne Judgment, which is going to be a judgment for all of the people that didn't want to have anything to do with God throughout all the ages.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

God

Justice, Hell, And Rejecting God

SPEAKER_00 22:35

is long-suffering and patient, but there will come a day when he administers justice. He is also good and he is just, and this is his world. He will right every wrong, reward every good deed, and punish all wickedness. In this section, verse 14 and 15, it says they're talking about again these evil people, saying, Yet they say to God, Go away from us. We do not even desire the knowledge of your ways. Who is the Almighty that we should serve Him? And what should we gain if we plead with Him? He's saying there that the same thing is what we see today with skeptics asking the question: How can a good God send people to hell? Why should I go learn the ways of God when I don't agree with who is this God? He's not here in front of me, he's not making me do anything. So the answer is that a good God will not force people to go to heaven when they hate God, they hate godly things and hate godly people. What kind of a God would take someone that hates everything godly and force them to go to church with godly people for all eternity? People who hate God would be miserable in heaven and do not want to go there. So God allows them to go to a place where there's no godly influence whatsoever, and that place is called hell. So that's the answer to Job's friends here in Job 21, 14 and 15. They say to God, go away from us. Well, he will. He'll go away and let you go away as well, away from all of his good influence and living in his good world to a place that is totally self-centered, which is called hell. In verse 22, Steve, Job asked the question, can anyone teach God knowledge? So can we teach anything to God?

SPEAKER_01 24:21

No, we can't teach him anything. And I think this goes to that he's saying, God knows everything. He knows all the things that both the righteous and the wicked are doing. By wicked, we're talking about people that don't want to have anything to do with God. That even goes into the other part of people that actually rebel directly against God and actually do wicked things. But it's the gamut for people that want to have anything to do with God at all to the people that are actually doing evil things against fellow mankind. So, no, we can't teach God any knowledge. He knows everything, he knows everything is going on. So, no, we're not going to be able to inform him as to what's going on. Job basically is saying that God knows these people. And even earlier in the verses, he said their prosperity isn't even in their hands. Meaning, as I mentioned before, God has blessed

Death Levels Everyone And Empty Comfort Hurts

SPEAKER_01 25:15

them with certain things in their life in order to have this prosperity, yet they don't want to have anything to do with them, and they're not even acknowledging that God has given them the abilities to be able to create the wealth and the prosperity that they have.

SPEAKER_00 25:30

Towards the end of this chapter, Job explains that all people will end up with the same fate on earth. Starting in verse 23, he says this one dies in his full strength, being wholly, undisturbed, and at ease, his sides are filled with fat, and the marrow of his bones is wet, while another dies with a bitter soul, never even tasting anything good. Together they lie down in the dust, and maggots cover them. Behold, I know your thoughts, and the plots you devise against me. For you say, Where is the house of the nobleman, and where is the tent, the dwelling places of the wicked? Have you not asked travelers, and do you not examine their evidence? For the wicked person is spared a day of disaster, they are led away from a day of fury. Who confronts him with his actions and who repays him for what he has done? When he is carried to the grave, people will watch over his tomb, the clods of the valley will gently cover him. Moreover, all mankind will follow after him, while countless others go before him. So how dare you give me empty comfort? For your answers remain nothing but falsehood. So he's getting a little bit angry there at the end. In verse 26, Steve, what happens to all kinds of people? What is the point that Job's trying to make here in this last section?

SPEAKER_01 26:53

All of us are going to die, and all of us are going to go back to dust. The worms are going to eat us and we're going to be consumed bodily. So we're all the same. And sometimes how we say in East Texas, we each put on our pants one leg at a time, we're all the same, and we're all going to die. There is no such thing as rich people, prosperous people, poor people, or any type of socioeconomic division for people regarding death. We're all going to physically die at some point.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

And we know that, yet we ignore God all along the way. That's the true tragedy. Verse 29, he says, Have you not asked travelers? What he's saying there is, it's like this all over the world, all over the places where you've met anyone, it's the same. All places, the righteous sometimes suffer, and evil people sometimes prosper. Verse 33, all mankind will go to the grave, just like wicked people. And Job at the end is showing his frustration. He gets quite angry. Your answers remain nothing but falsehood. We have here, Steve, that Job is getting quite angry. You can feel the emotions here. We have this back and forth, and it's again turned into more of an emotional argument rather than learning from each other or anybody showing compassion for suffering. And too often, I must confess, that's the case in our churches today.

SPEAKER_01 28:22

And I think, Glenn, that Job summed it up there in verse 34 when he says, How dare you give me empty comfort is something that they initially came to give him comfort and listen to him. And now it's turned into something where they're just giving him personal attacks and just being downright ugly to him. They're no longer comforting him. So I think that's something that we can take away is that we should never let a situation get to this point if we're trying to comfort somebody that's suffering. We need to be aware of

Website, Feedback, And Closing Blessing

SPEAKER_01 28:55

it. And if it's something that we take offense to, then we just need to walk away. We need to remember what it is that we're doing. We're trying to comfort the other person, and you don't do that with personal insults.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

We'll stop here for today because of time, but I trust that as we said at the beginning, go to our website. We'd love to hear from you. Tell us feedback on these lessons. We're always interested in getting responses and letters on how we're coming across. So please visit our website, reasoningthruTheBible.com, and let us know about yourself and what you get out of these lessons. We'll end for today. Come back next time when we continue to reason through the book of Job. Thank you so much for watching and listening.

SPEAKER_01 29:38

May God bless you.