Introduction: Why Tzofar Changed His Approach
In Chapter 20, we hear the second response of Tzofar the Na'amathite, and to understand it, we must first outline his core arguments. In his previous response, Tzofar adopted a philosophical approach: what we perceive with our senses is not necessarily what truly exists. Eyes, ears, and hands deceive us, and we do not perceive things as they essentially are. From this premise, he argued to Iyov: it is very possible that you appear to yourself and to others as a tzaddik, but in truth you are not, for perhaps the demands placed upon you are higher and you are not meeting them. Do not counter with "we see," for sight itself can be deceiving.
We explained at length that today this is obvious to everyone: no one has ever seen radio waves, yet we know they operate. No one has seen radiation, yet we know it exists. No one has seen an atom, let alone subatomic particles, and yet it is entirely clear to us that they exist.
Iyov ridiculed this argument relentlessly. He told him: Your words make no sense and are unacceptable to reason. What does it mean that everyone is mistaken? If everyone sees that a person is wicked, he is wicked, and if everyone sees that a person is righteous, he is righteous. Do not tell me that there are hidden things and that we cannot perceive things as they truly are. Iyov rejected this approach completely.
Tzofar understood that such an argument resonates only with someone engaged in deep philosophical contemplation, and not every mind can grasp this. Therefore, he now turns to answer Iyov according to his own perspective, with a response that he, too, can accept. This is the gist of his words: although you see the wicked person succeeding, prospering, and flourishing, the wicked in ancient times were despised, humiliated, and persecuted, and even now punishments await the wicked. They will die an unnatural death, their wealth will vanish, and their property will be extorted specifically by the very oppressed people they themselves had exploited.
Furthermore, he says to him: Do not be impressed by the serenity of the wicked, and do not say, "Look, see how well off the wealthy man is." Examination and experience prove that this serenity does not endure, and ultimately they pay a heavy price for all their deeds, receiving no good, only suffering. Notice: Tzofar is not speaking here about the World to Come or extrasensory perception, but solely about things perceived by the senses and tangibly felt. For myself, Tzofar says, I understand that we do not see things in their true essence. But since you mock this concept and claim that what the senses perceive is the truth, accept my answer on your own terms: even according to sensory perception, one can see how the wicked man pays the price for all his deeds.
Verses 1-3: "My Thoughts Compel Me to Answer" - Lowering to the Listener's Level
וַיַּעַן צֹפַר הַנַּעֲמָתִי וַיֹּאמַר׃ לָכֵן שְׂעִפַּי יְשִׁיבוּנִי וּבַעֲבוּר חוּשִׁי בִי׃ - Then Tzofar the Na'amathite answered and said: Therefore my thoughts cause me to answer, and because of my senses within me.
In the first response, I said that perception is incomplete, understanding is not absolute, and the senses deceive, yet I see that you mock this. *Se'ipay* ("my thoughts") are my reflections; thoughts are called *se'ipim* because they branch out (*mist'afim*) from the brain and human intellect. And what do my thoughts tell me? *Yeshivuni* - turn back from your previous position that differentiated between sensory perception and intellectual grasp, and give him a different answer. *Uva'avur chushi vi* ("and on account of my senses within me") - I will answer you according to the sensory perception within me, according to what the eye sees and what experience proves, through that which is perceived by the senses.
מוּסַר כְּלִמָּתִי אֶשְׁמָע וְרוּחַ מִבִּינָתִי יַעֲנֵנִי׃ - I hear the reproof of my insult, and the spirit of my understanding answers me.
"The spirit of my understanding answers me" - until now, I answered you according to the knowledge of my spirit and understanding, based on the depths of contemplation. However, I saw that "I hear the reproof of my insult": you rebuke me and humiliate me for my arguments because they are beyond your grasp, and since you do not understand, you mock. And if you have no grasp of this, I have no choice but to answer you according to your level of comprehension.
This is comparable to a person who asks a question, and we provide a philosophical answer, leaving him with the feeling that he received no answer at all. Then we give him a very simplistic answer, and he immediately says: Now I have received an answer, and he is satisfied. In truth, the real answer is the deep, philosophical one that penetrates to the core of the matter. However, since the listener's capacity for understanding is limited, one must answer him according to his level and provide an explanation tailored to his mind. Therefore Tzofar says: I have retracted only because I heard insults and reproof from you, so I will lower the level and answer you as you are capable of understanding.
Verses 4-5: The Test of Success is the Test of Time
הֲזֹאת יָדַעְתָּ מִנִּי־עַד מִנִּי שִׂים אָדָם עֲלֵי־אָרֶץ׃ - Do you know this from of old, since man was set upon earth?
You want to prove that the wicked succeed, pointing to how they flourish like grass and what great prosperity they enjoy. But success is not determined by a fleeting moment. A person leaping from a roof could also say on the way down, "What lovely weather, what a breeze, what a view!" Wait three or four seconds, and you will see the crash. True success is tested over time, proving whether it endures and is real. Therefore, "Do you know this from of old" - this matter must be examined through history, from the beginning of time: "since man was set upon earth," for as long as humanity has existed in the world.
כִּי רִנְנַת רְשָׁעִים מִקָּרוֹב וְשִׂמְחַת חָנֵף עֲדֵי־רָגַע׃ - That the joy of the wicked is short-lived, and the gladness of the hypocrite lasts but a moment?
When you see the wicked prospering and exulting, it is only "from recent times" - it is only in this recent period that we witness such a phenomenon. In ancient days, however, the wicked did not triumph, and judgments were executed upon them. You cannot, therefore, draw an absolute rule from this that the success of the wicked is permanent. Furthermore, "the gladness of the hypocrite lasts but a moment" - the joy you observe in him endures only briefly, and any moment now you will see his success vanish and his joy cut short.
Verses 6-9: From a High Roof to a Deep Pit
אִם־יַעֲלֶה לַשָּׁמַיִם שִׂיאוֹ וְרֹאשׁוֹ לָעָב יַגִּיעַ׃ כְּגֶלְלוֹ לָנֶצַח יֹאבֵד רֹאָיו יֹאמְרוּ אַיּוֹ׃ - Though his height mount up to the heavens and his head reach the clouds, like his refuse he shall perish forever; those who saw him will say, 'Where is he?'
On the contrary, sometimes a person is raised higher and higher so that the push comes from a great height and the crash is resounding. You point out the dizzying heights the wicked man has reached, but that itself is to his detriment: "Like his rolling down, he shall perish forever" - when someone is rolled off such a height, he is lost forever. Why was he elevated to such heights in the first place? In order to cast him down from there. "Those who saw him will say, 'Where is he?'" - his downfall will be so sudden that someone who saw him just a moment ago will wonder, "Where is he? I was just speaking with him a moment ago, and suddenly he has vanished."
כַּחֲלוֹם יָעוּף וְלֹא יִמְצָאוּהוּ וְיֻדַּד כְּחֶזְיוֹן לָיְלָה׃ - He shall fly away like a dream and not be found; he will be banished like a vision of the night.
"He shall fly away like a dream" - it passes in an instant, and looking back, all his success appears as though it never truly existed. Such is the way of the world: once something is gone, whatever once was turns into a dream. Who remembers the Twin Towers today? Who remembers a prime minister who held office and is now gone? He was there, it ended, it is over. People say, "Ah yes, there was once such a thing," like a distant dream. Who remembers the Disengagement and the deeds committed back then? All that remains are the trials of those partners who had a hand in it, parading through courtrooms today, each for his own misdeeds and circumstances. "And not be found" - he vanishes suddenly, like someone awakening to realize it was merely a dream. "And he will be banished [veyudad]" - from the root of wandering and fleeing, chased away like a vision of the night.
עַיִן שְׁזָפַתּוּ וְלֹא תוֹסִיף וְלֹא־עוֹד תְּשׁוּרֶנּוּ מְקוֹמוֹ׃ - The eye that caught sight of him shall see him no more, neither shall his place behold him any longer.
It is as if we glimpsed him once in a dream, and he is seen no more. Normally, when a person departs from his place, an impression still remains: the place itself. Here, however, "neither shall his place behold him any longer" - even his place will fade away, leaving not a trace of him behind.
Verses 10-11: Sudden Death at the Peak of Strength
בָּנָיו יְרַצּוּ דַלִּים וְיָדָיו תָּשֵׁבְנָה אוֹנוֹ׃ - His children shall crush the poor, and his hands shall restore his might.
Now Tzofar describes how the downfall of the wicked will come about instantly, without stages, from the highest roof down to the deepest pit. He will be at the peak of his power, and his sons will be in the middle of their work: "crush the poor," battering the weak and the destitute. And he himself, "his hands shall restore his might" - busy robbing the rich, which requires strength and vigor, returning to his evil deeds. He is taken, as it were, right in the midst of the act.
עַצְמוֹתָיו מָלְאוּ עֲלוּמָו וְעִמּוֹ עַל־עָפָר תִּשְׁכָּב׃ - His bones were full of his youth, and with him it shall lie down in the dust.
You see him in all his might and vigor, full of youth, a man healthy and strong as a lad. And then, in the middle of it all, "and with him it shall lie down in the dust" - suddenly you see him lying in the earth. In a single moment he descends to the grave, not from lingering illness or troubles that overtook him, but by sudden death. The end of the wicked will be swift and imminent.
Verses 12-16: The Strong Stomach That Turned into Venom
אִם־תַּמְתִּיק בְּפִיו רָעָה יַכְחִידֶנָּה תַּחַת לְשׁוֹנוֹ׃ - Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue.
Here Tzofar compares the downfall of the wicked to a plague known in their day, akin to cholera, where a healthy person with robust digestion suddenly experiences such intestinal failure that he cannot eat a thing. Even the finest food seems to him like poison, like the most bitter and harsh substances, killing him as though venom were infused into his body.
"Though evil tastes sweet in his mouth" - his digestive system was once so healthy and powerful that even if he ate harmful food, it tasted sweet to him. A healthy person can eat even unhealthy things without falling ill or suffering harm. And what suddenly happens? "He hides it under his tongue": that same person, to whom the worst foods once tasted sweet, now eats fine, wholesome, healthy food, and right under his tongue it spoils and is ruined.
יַחְמֹל עָלֶיהָ וְלֹא יַעַזְבֶנָּה וְיִמְנָעֶנָּה בְּתוֹךְ חִכּוֹ׃ - Though he spares it and will not forsake it, and retains it within his palate.
An additional explanation may be offered for "he hides [or eliminates] it under his tongue": even though he eats the worst foods, they taste sweet to him and he is entirely unaffected by them; they cause him no upset stomach or harm, and he destroys that bad food under his tongue as if nothing had happened. According to this, "though he spares it and will not forsake it" - even when it is inside his palate and he tastes that something is off, he spares it and refuses to spit it out, since it is already in his mouth. "And retains it within his palate" - he does not hold it back from his palate, but continues chewing and swallowing; and though it is harsh on the body, he was so healthy that nothing harmed him.
לַחְמוֹ בְּמֵעָיו נֶהְפָּךְ מְרוֹרַת פְּתָנִים בְּקִרְבּוֹ׃ - His food in his bowels is turned; it is the gall of asps within him.
And behold, in a single moment, everything is overturned. Even if he eats bread, which is good and wholesome, his innards have become so weak in an instant that the bread transforms within him into "the gall of asps", like the bitterness of serpents' venom.
חַיִל בָּלַע וַיְקִאֶנּוּ מִבִּטְנוֹ יֹרִשֶׁנּוּ אֵל׃ רֹאשׁ־פְּתָנִים יִינָק תַּהַרְגֵהוּ לְשׁוֹן אֶפְעֶה׃ - He swallowed wealth and vomited it up; God casts it out of his belly. He sucks the poison of asps; the tongue of a viper slays him.
Even a strong, good, and healthy thing that he swallowed, he will vomit up, for his innards have become so frail that he is forced to discharge it, as though the Holy One, blessed be He, through Divine providence dispossesses and expels it from his belly. Then it will seem to him as if "he sucks the poison of asps", as though he had sucked venom from the head of a serpent; "the tongue of a viper slays him", for through the venom of the viper, a type of deadly snake, he dies an unnatural and sudden death. The entire intent here is to portray the immediacy of his downfall: until now, everything was so prosperous that even bad things turned to good within his digestive system, but suddenly he reaches a state where even if he eats the finest foods, it affects him as if he had sucked serpent venom.
Verses 17-18: Success is Not Worth the Toil
אַל־יֵרֶא בִפְלַגּוֹת נַהֲרֵי נַחֲלֵי דְּבַשׁ וְחֶמְאָה׃ מֵשִׁיב יָגָע וְלֹא יִבְלָע כְּחֵיל תְּמוּרָתוֹ וְלֹא יַעֲלֹס׃ - Let him not gaze upon the rivulets, the rivers of brooks of honey and cream. He returns his toil and cannot swallow it; like the wealth of his exchange, he shall not rejoice.
And Tzophar further adds: even when the wicked person succeeded and indulged in pleasures, and success smiled upon him, surrounded by rivers of honey and cream - which symbolize great abundance - even this cannot truly be considered success. For if we weigh that pleasure and success against the sorrow and toil he endured to achieve it, considering how much exertion and labor he invested, the adversary's injury does not equal the king's loss. All the pleasure you enjoyed is simply not worth the immense distress you invested to attain it.
This is like the parable told by the Chafetz Chaim: There was once a fool in town who went missing for two days. When the townsfolk met him, they asked, "Yankel, where did you disappear to?" He said to them, "Don't ask! They opened a tobacco factory in the big city (snuff tobacco that people took from small tins), and announced that on opening day, anyone who comes receives a complimentary tin of snuff." They asked him, "And what did you do?" He replied, "I went to the big city!" They said to him, "But the travel fare costs more than that!" He said, "What travel fare? I walked on foot!" Everyone laughed at the foolishness of a man who walked an entire day there and an entire day back just for "a shmeck tabak" - for a single pinch of snuff.
Said the Chafetz Chaim: We laugh at that simpleton, but after one hundred and twenty, a person will arrive in Heaven and be asked, "Why did you descend to this world for seventy years? For a shmeck tabak? For fleeting pleasures and vanity that are here today and in the grave tomorrow? Had you gone to amass a fortune, reached the big city, become wealthy, and returned - that might be understandable. But when I see all the exertion and the entire journey you made, and you returned with merely a tin of snuff, how shameful it is!" A person may say, "We bought a car, we had a villa, we did this and that." They tell him, "For a tin of snuff you walked for seventy years? Is it for this that you were sent down to this world and an entire universe was created?" May it be His will that we do not find ourselves in such a predicament after one hundred and twenty.
And this is what Tzophar is saying: A person exerts himself, labors, toils, and proclaims, "I have achieved it!" Yet he is told, "Look how much you toiled, how hard you exerted yourself, and in the end, all the pleasure and delight you gained are simply not worth it." This is comparable to someone who traveled a great distance specifically for a slice of pizza. Is the pizza worth all the trouble and sweat it took to reach it?
Therefore, "Let him not gaze upon the rivulets, the rivers of brooks of honey and cream": even if you see him acquiring streams of rivers flowing with honey and cream, do not be impressed. "He returns his toil" - he himself will find no satisfaction in them, for he will recall the toil he expended to attain this, and he will see that all those streams of honey and cream are as nothing compared to the labor he invested in them. "He cannot swallow it; like the wealth of his exchange" - from the delicacies he possesses, he will not swallow in proportion to the strength and resources he gave in exchange for them, for he has received no adequate return for what he invested. "He shall not rejoice" [ve-lo ya'alos, related to ya'aloz]: he has nothing to celebrate, for whatever he derives from those delicacies does not correspond to the energy he spent to acquire them. The investment vastly exceeds the return.
This is comparable to a person who says, "I won twenty thousand shekels in the lottery!" They ask him, "How long have you been buying tickets?" He replies, "Twenty years." "And how much do you spend each year?" "A thousand shekels." It turns out that he received precisely what he put in, and in fact lost out, for had he deposited that money in the bank, he would have earned interest. All the more so one who won twenty thousand after investing forty thousand. There is no real return on what you invested. So too here: do not be dazzled by rivers and brooks of honey and cream; consider how much he invested, and see that he received no worthwhile return for the wealth and energy he expended.
Verse 19: Robbery Without Purpose
כִּי־רִצַּץ עָזַב דַּלִּים בַּיִת גָּזַל וְלֹא יִבְנֵהוּ׃ - For he has crushed and abandoned the poor; he has seized a house, but will not build it up.
Furthermore, he enjoys no success even from his acquisitions. This wicked man "abandoned the poor" - he stole their house and left them in poverty and want, in order to have a house that he could rebuild. Yet he will not manage to build it, for in the meantime he will die a sudden death, as explained earlier. Thus, a person was tormented so that something could be gained, yet in the end, the perpetrator never achieved the very purpose for which he did everything he did.
Verses 20-21: The Insatiable Gluttony
כִּי לֹא־יָדַע שָׁלֵו בְּבִטְנוֹ בַּחֲמוּדוֹ לֹא יְמַלֵּט׃ - Because he knew no quiet in his belly, he shall not escape with what he craves.
He will not even enjoy the food he eats. "He knew no quiet in his belly" - because he is such an enormous glutton, he never knows how to quiet his belly, constantly craving more and more. "He shall not escape with what he craves" - he constantly covets more food, and as it were, his stomach does not expel it; out of sheer gluttony, the food remains perpetually in his belly, as if he refuses to let it go, begrudging the loss of what he invested and consumed.
אֵין־שָׂרִיד לְאׇכְלוֹ עַל־כֵּן לֹא־יָחִיל טוּבוֹ׃ - There is no remnant left of his food; therefore his prosperity will not endure.
Because of his gluttony, he leaves nothing behind of his food. It is well known according to Mussar, derech eretz, and the refining of character traits (shevirat hamiddot) that when a person eats, he should not finish everything, but leave something over in order to break the craving for food. But with him, "there is no remnant left of his food" - when he finishes eating, one could take the plate and place it straight into the dish rack, completely clean; not because he did not eat, but because he wiped it thoroughly and left no remnant. This is a poetic expression, explains the Malbim, demonstrating his gluttony and miserliness: he devours everything he has, wishing that the food would never leave him so that his belly would never suffer lack. "Therefore his prosperity will not endure" - the food he eats will grant him no strength and bestow upon him no vitality (chayil) or goodness, because he exercises no moderation in his eating, and "the belly of the wicked shall suffer want" (Mishlei 13:25).
Verses 22-23: The Hand of the Oppressed and the Hand of Hashem
בִּמְלֹאות שִׂפְקוֹ יֵצֶר לוֹ כׇּל־יַד עָמֵל תְּבֹאֶנּוּ׃ - In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress; every hand of the oppressed laborer will come upon him.
And even if he never lacks food, and always has his fill and eats to satiety, even so, "he will be in distress" - from another direction, sorrow and trouble will beset him. Why? "Every hand of the laborer will come upon him" - the laborers are the oppressed, the impoverished and crushed victims whom he mistreated. They will come to fight him and lay their hands upon him to rip what he swallowed out of his mouth. They will strike him and forcefully reclaim what he extorted from them, and he will constantly suffer afflictions on their account.
יְהִי לְמַלֵּא בִטְנוֹ יְשַׁלַּח־בּוֹ חֲרוֹן אַפּוֹ וְיַמְטֵר עָלֵימוֹ בִּלְחוּמוֹ׃ - When he is about to fill his belly, He will unleash the fury of His wrath upon him, and rain it down upon them as his food.
And even if the hand of the oppressed cannot reach him and fails to subdue him, and he manages to fill his belly without lack, even then he will not succeed. For if the hand of the oppressed cannot reach him, the hand of Hashem can, and Hashem will wage war against him, for Hashem executes justice for the oppressed. "He will unleash the fury of His wrath upon him" - He will cast His burning fury and anger upon him, "and rain it down upon them as his food" - these are the angels of destruction (lechumei reshef) designated to strike those wicked men, and they are the ones who will strike him.
Verses 24-25: The Arrow That Comes from Within
יִבְרַח מִנֵּשֶׁק בַּרְזֶל תַּחְלְפֵהוּ קֶשֶׁת נְחוּשָׁה׃ - He flees from an iron weapon; a bronze bow pierces him.
And even if he attempts to flee from an iron weapon and escape the hands of the oppressed laborers coming to battle him with swords and axes, it will not avail him - "a bronze bow pierces him." The Holy One, blessed be He, will fight him, and the bow symbolizes shooting from afar, as Hashem shoots arrows at him like an archer. A bronze bow is a bow made of bronze or copper, which was considered the strongest bow of all.
שָׁלַף וַיֵּצֵא מִגֵּוָה וּבָרָק מִמְּרֹרָתוֹ יַהֲלֹךְ עָלָיו אֵמִים׃ - He draws it out and it emerges from his body, and the glittering blade from his gall; terrors march upon him.
When one person shoots an arrow at another, he shoots it from the outside in. But this arrow is an arrow from Heaven, from Hashem, may He be blessed. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not shoot from the outside; rather, as it were, He draws the arrow out from inside the person's own body. This is the meaning of "he draws it out and it emerges from his body" - Hashem draws and pulls the arrow out of his corpse. What is the arrow in the deeper metaphor? The disease and internal torment of the wicked, which destroys him from within. There is no need for anything from the outside; his internal organs are wrecked from deep inside, and in this manner his body is crushed from the inside out.
"And the glittering blade from his gall" - the lightning flash that the Holy One, blessed be He, sends upon him will also not come from the outside, but from his gall, from within his gallbladder, from inside out. This can also refer to the flash of "black bile" (melancholy or severe depression), for the verse speaks of gall (marah), and melancholy means sinking into dark despair. This black bile casts dread and terror upon him, as it says, "terrors march upon him." People immersed in deep depression and melancholy, may Hashem spare us, see terrifying visions, imagine they are being pursued, and live in constant fear. Where does this come from? This is the flash that "comes out of his gall" - from within the melancholy emerges, as it were, an internal lightning flash that strikes him and casts dread upon him.
Verses 26-28: Uncovering the Hidden
כׇּל־חֹשֶׁךְ טָמוּן לִצְפּוּנָיו תְּאׇכְלֵהוּ אֵשׁ לֹא־נֻפָּח יֵרַע שָׂרִיד בְּאׇהֳלוֹ׃ - Total darkness is stored up for his hidden treasures; an unfanned fire will consume him; evil shall befall any remnant in his tent.
Even though darkness reigns over his hidden places and secrets, where he conceals his evil deeds and acts in the dark so that no one may see, and where there is neither light nor fire, nonetheless the Holy One, blessed be He, will bring fire there: a fire to consume everything he owns, and light to uncover his hidden secrets so that his wicked deeds are exposed to all. Corresponding to the fire, the verse says, "an unfanned fire will consume him" - a fire that was not blown with a bellows - and it will crush him and any survivor in his tent. Even whatever remains in his house, which he did not need to hide away, will likewise be consumed by the fire.
יְגַלּוּ שָׁמַיִם עֲוֺנוֹ וְאֶרֶץ מִתְקוֹמָמָה לוֹ׃ - The heavens will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against him.
In contrast to how he concealed his deeds and performed them in darkness, Heaven will reveal his iniquity, and the earth will rise up against his sins and wicked deeds, stepping forward to punish him as well, so that his deeds are exposed for all to see.
יִגֶל יְבוּל בֵּיתוֹ נִגָּרוֹת בְּיוֹם אַפּוֹ׃ - The yield of his house will go into exile, swept away like rushing waters on the day of His wrath.
Through the earth rising up to punish him, his iniquity will be revealed. The produce and yield of his house flowing away on the day of His wrath - that is, the wealth and fortune sinking into ruin - they themselves will reveal his iniquity and proclaim: See why he received such afflictions, why he suffers so greatly, on account of the wicked deeds he committed.
Verse 29: The Portion of a Wicked Man
זֶה חֵלֶק־אָדָם רָשָׁע מֵאֱלֹהִים וְנַחֲלַת אִמְרוֹ מֵאֵל׃ - This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage decreed for him by God.
The destruction that will come upon all his happiness, upon his money, upon his family, and upon all that he has, will come about in a miraculous way and not in a natural way, and this itself will proclaim that he is wicked. "This is the portion of a wicked man from God" - this is the portion due to him according to his wickedness, measure for measure from Hashem. "And the heritage decreed for him by God" - this is the inheritance due to him from God. That is to say, the very nature of the suffering will testify that he suffers and is afflicted for his evil deeds, proving that there was wrongdoing in him.
In summary: In this response, Tzofar the Naamathite descends from the philosophical approach he had maintained, and answers Iyov according to Iyov's own approach, based solely on sensory perception. He argues that the success of the wicked is not measured by a single moment but over the course of history, and that his exaltation is itself the preparation for his plummet downward. His downfall will be sudden and swift, at the height of his power; his robust health will turn to venom; his abundance of honey and butter is not worth the toil he invested in it; the houses he plundered will not be built; his ravenous appetite will give him no peace; the hand of the oppressed and the hand of Hashem will overtake him; the arrow will strike from within; and his dark secrets will be brought to light. And throughout all this echoes the Chafetz Chaim's parable of the fool who walked a full day there and a full day back for a box of snuff - a warning that after a hundred and twenty years, we should not stand and ask: Was it for this that you came down to the world, and was it for this that an entire world was created?