Job 20:1-29
20:1-3 Zophar felt provoked to answer Job, more than he actually felt like he had helpful advice. He wanted to argue and to condemn. He did not listen and therefore his argument was off-base and unproductive. It did not pertain to the situation at hand.
20:4-11 The people around Job continued to rant and their rants had a few nuggets of truth (the wicked do perish) but none that pertained to Job's situation (because he was not a wicked man). It would be beneficial for a corrupt person to hear this but not for a righteous person to hear it.
20:12-19 Zophar outlined the fruitless and dissatisfying life of an evil person. They never find peace or contentment. They lose what they acquire. They are defeated and depressed. Many of the people around Job thought that those truths had manifested in Job's life. They thought that Job was a wicked man; but they had no evidence to support that. Job had lived a righteous life and if anything, they took self-righteous enjoyment out of supposing that they were better men than he was.
We have the full, Godly perspective of Job's life and know that Job was an astronomically more righteous man. Job was an example of the power and longevity of faith combined with righteousness.
20:20-29 These men thought they were so uniquely clever but each man's speech was redundant and irrelevant. Their relationship with God was weak. They did not seek His counsel before they responded to Job.
A productive child of God learns to consult God on all life matters, minor and major, before any speech or decision. It is crucial that we seek God's counsel before we intervene in another person's life. Job's friends were leading him astray! They did not understand his situation but pretended they did and therefore harmed the situation.
