Zophar ( ''Ṣōp̄ar'', "chirping"; "rising early"; also ''Tzofar'') the Naamathite is one of the three friends of

Job Work, labor (labour in Commonwealth English), occupation or job is the intentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations. In the context of economics, work can be seen as the huma ...

who visit him during his illness in the ''

Book of Job The Book of Job (), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible and the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. The language of the Book of Job, combining post-Babylonia ...

'' (),

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

. "Naamathite" (na'-a-ma-thit) is a

Gentile ''Gentile'' () is a word that today usually means someone who is not Jewish. Other groups that claim Israelite heritage, notably Mormons, have historically used the term ''gentile'' to describe outsiders. More rarely, the term is used as a synony ...

name, suggesting he was from a city called Naamah, perhaps in

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. Geographically, the ...

. Zophar's comments can be found in and . He suggests that Job's suffering could be

divine punishment Divine retribution is supernatural punishment of a person, a group of people, or everyone by a deity in response to some action. Many cultures have a story about how a deity imposed punishment on previous inhabitants of their land, causing th ...

, and goes into great detail about the consequences of living a life of sin.

Speeches

Zophar only speaks twice to Job, unlike friends

Bildad Bildad (; ), the Shuhite, was one of Job's three friends who visited the patriarch in the Hebrew Bible's Book of Job. He was a descendant of Shuah, son of Abraham and Keturah (Genesis 25:1–2), whose family lived in the deserts of Arabia ...

and

Eliphaz file:Facial Chronicle - b.01, p.243 - Jacob kills Esau.jpg, Isaac kills Esau Eliphaz ( "My Elohim is gold", Standard Hebrew Elifaz, Tiberian Hebrew ʾĔlîp̄az / ʾĔlîp̄āz) was the first-born son of Esau and his wife Adah (biblical figure) ...

who each give three speeches. Zophar is the most impetuous and dogmatic of Job's three visitors: He is the first to accuse Job directly of wickedness; claiming that Job's punishment is indeed too good for him
Job 11:6
, and he rebukes Job's impious presumption in trying to find out the unsearchable secrets of God (). Despite his dogmatic speech, Zophar promises Job peace and restoration, on condition of penitence and putting away iniquity (), redoubling the promises of Job's other visitors. Zophar's second speech is a lecture on the fate of the wicked, ending with a summary appraisal, in the same style as his friend Bildad, : This is the portion of the wicked, the heritage appointed him by God.,
cf. ,
and

References

Attribution

Book of Job people {{Judaism-stub

Speeches

See also

References

Attribution