Zophar to Job: 2. God's wisdom and man's folly.
I. THE PERFECTION OF DIVINE WISDOM.
1. Unsearchable. Zophar's interrogations (verse 7) may signify either that man can never fully understand God, or that man's wisdom can never fully equal God's. Taken either way, they mean that the Divine wisdom, already described as "fold upon fold" (verse 6), transcends the comprehension of a finite mind. Whether the knowledge of God attainable by the speculative reason is a real and immediate knowledge of God as he is, or "nothing more than a tissue of ambitious self-contradictions which only indicate what he is not" (Mansel, 'Limits of Religious Thought,' lect. 4.) may be relegated to philosophers and metapyhsicians to determine. It is certain the Divine Being is unsearchable by man in his essence (Job 36:26; Job 37:23), in his Person (Genesis 32:29; 13:18; John 1:1; John 10:30), in his attributes (Psalms 147:5), e.g. in his wisdom (Isaiah 40:28; Romans 11:33), in his works (Job 5:9; Job 9:10), and in his ways (Nahum 1:3; Romans 11:33). Hence man's wisdom can never equal God's. Man's wisdom at the best can be fully comprehended; God's cannot.
2. Infinite. That which renders the Divine wisdom unsearchable is its infinitude (verses 8, 9). The wisdom displayed by Deity in the creation, decoration, and preservation of the universe does not exhaust the fulness that his Godhead contains. Could the human mind explore the former in every possible direction, there would still remain in each an infinitude beyond, representing the deep things of Eloah, and the perfection of Shaddai. Most impressively does the language convey the thought of man's inferiority to God in respect of wisdom. For if man by his utmost efforts cannot reach unto the perfection of the erect urea—if there be heights in heaven which he cannot scale, and depths in Sheol to which he cannot penetrate, if even the wide-rolling, far-resounding sea baffles him with its mystery—how much less should he hope to reach unto the perfection of the Creator?
3. Irresistible. "If he," i.e. the Almighty, acting under the guidance of his wisdom, "cut off [literally, 'should arrest'] and shut up," or imprison, "and gather together," i.e. a court to try man his prisoner, "then who can hinder him?" (verse 10).. A graphic picture representing
4. Omniscient. God knows vain men, and thoroughly comprehends their wickedness, without requiring to reflect upon either them or it. His knowledge of men is
II. THE CONSUMMATION OF HUMAN FOLLY. In contrast to the transcendent wisdom of Eloah, Zophar depicts men, and in particular Job, as:
1. Morally worthless. "Vain men," literally, "men of nothingness," men devoid of principle, and "hollow men," he styles them. The appellation is by no means incorrect, as descriptive of man's natural condition; man being now, in consequence of sin, emptied of all goodness and spiritual understanding.
2. Naturally witless. Prone to entertain exalted notions of his own wisdom, man is naturally senseless as a wild ass's colt—which also is not wholly astray from the truth, the estate of man from his birth being one of much ignorance, especially with regard to things Divine.
3. Essentially heartless. Zophar designs to say that hollow-hearted man can only be humanized by the salutary discipline of affliction. The change wrought upon him by the fierce discipline of life is as great as it would be for a wild ass's colt to become a man. But this implies that man is by sin dehumanized and without a heart.
4. Absolutely hopeless. Delitzsch reads, "But before an empty head gaineth understanding, a wild ass would become a man;" thus teaching that man's folly is irremediable. This black picture, however, is not in all points according to truth. Sinful man may be born again, may obtain a new heart, may acquire an enlightened understanding, and may eventually be arrayed in stainless moral purity.
Learn:
1. To revere the transcendent majesty of him who is infinite and unsearchable in wisdom.
2. To trust the providential government of him who is "wonderful in counsel and excellent in working."
3. To believe the gracious revelations of him "in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge."
4. To accept the heavenly gifts of him who "hath abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence."
5. To cherish deep humility before him "whose foolishness is wiser than men," and before whom man's highest wisdom is but folly.
6. To be thankful to him whose "manifold wisdom" hath been revealed for the enlightenment and salvation of foolish men..