Month: October 2023

Playing God Is No Game

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1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 “Can a man be profitable to God?
    Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
    or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
    and enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your evil abundant?
    There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
    and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink,
    and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The man with power possessed the land,
    and the favored man lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
    and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10 Therefore snares are all around you,
    and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or darkness, so that you cannot see,
    and a flood of water covers you.

12 “Is not God high in the heavens?
    See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 But you say, ‘What does God know?
    Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
    and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
    that wicked men have trod?
16 They were snatched away before their time;
    their foundation was washed away.
17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
    and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
    but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad;
    the innocent one mocks at them,
20 saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
    and what they left the fire has consumed.’

21 “Agree with God, and be at peace;
    thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
    and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
    if you remove injustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in the dust,
    and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold
    and your precious silver.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
    and lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
    and light will shine on your ways.
29 For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;
    but he saves the lowly.
30 He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
    who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.” – Job 22:1-30 ESV

It doesn’t take long for Eliphaz to jump back into the mix, responding to Job with his signature blend of sarcasm and sardonic wit. Openly disgusted with Job’s incessant claims of righteousness and innocence, Eliphaz not only maintains his belief in Job’s guilt but now insinuates that his entire life has been an elaborate cover-up. He accuses Job of trying to pull a fast one on God.

“God is so great—higher than the heavens,
    higher than the farthest stars.
But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing!
    How can he judge through the thick darkness?
For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us.
    He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.’” – Job 22:12-14 NLT

He confidently asserts that Job has spent his entire life pretending to be something other than what he truly was. He had lived the life of a hypocrite, giving off the aura of a godly man while practicing wickedness behind closed doors. This is a serious accusation and one that Eliphaz fails to back up with any evidence. In Eliphaz’s eyes, Job is guilty until proven innocent.

In the opening line of his speech, Eliphaz ridicules the very idea that Job was a righteous man, claiming that even if he was, God would not be beholden to him in any way. According to Eliphaz’s theology, God doesn’t need help from anyone, including the righteous.

“Can a person do anything to help God?
    Can even a wise person be helpful to him?
Is it any advantage to the Almighty if you are righteous?
    Would it be any gain to him if you were perfect?” – Job 22:2-3 NLT

Of course, the obvious answer to his question is, “No.” God does need man’s help. He does not require our input or assistance. Even the righteous provide no real benefit to God Almighty. But while this may be true, it does not accurately reflect God’s view of the righteous and godly.

David paints a much more optimistic view of God’s relationship with the righteous.

…the Lord is in his holy Temple;
    the Lord still rules from heaven.
He watches everyone closely,
    examining every person on earth.
The Lord examines both the righteous and the wicked.
    He hates those who love violence.
He will rain down blazing coals and burning sulfur on the wicked,
    punishing them with scorching winds.
For the righteous Lord loves justice.
    The virtuous will see his face. – Psalm 11:4-7 NLT

For the Lord loves justice,
    and he will never abandon the godly.

He will keep them safe forever,
    but the children of the wicked will die. – Psalm 37:28 NLT

Yet Eliphaz won’t even admit that Job is righteous. In his mind, it made no sense to view Job as godly and guiltless.

“Is it because you’re so pious that he accuses you
    and brings judgment against you?
No, it’s because of your wickedness!
    There’s no limit to your sins.” – Job 22:4-5 NLT

That was the only logical conclusion Eliphaz could come to, and nothing would sway him from that view. No amount of denial on Job’s part would convince Eliphaz to reconsider his position or back down from his relentless attacks. He would not be satisfied until Job confessed or God completed His punishment by taking Job’s life.

His entire argument is based on conjecture. He offers no concrete evidence of Job’s guilt but doesn’t seem to think any is necessary. He just assumes that Job’s suffering is evidence enough.

“For example, you must have lent money to your friend
    and demanded clothing as security.
    Yes, you stripped him to the bone.
You must have refused water for the thirsty
    and food for the hungry.” – Job 22:6-7 NLT

Eliphaz’s entire prosecution strategy is based on an if-then premise. If Job was suffering, then he must have done something to make God angry. His hypothesis that Job was guilty was built on a shaky foundation of conditional statements. The circumstances surrounding Job’s life were proof that he had sinned against God. It didn’t seem to matter to Eliphaz that he had no proof of Job’s suppositional guilt.

“You must have sent widows away empty-handed
    and crushed the hopes of orphans.
That is why you are surrounded by traps
    and tremble from sudden fears.
That is why you cannot see in the darkness,
    and waves of water cover you.” – Job 22:9-11 NLT

It was all so black and white to Eliphaz. His conclusion was the only one that made any sense to him. And the longer Job defended himself, the more Eliphaz wished for his downfall. He was becoming increasingly more volatile in his attacks and anxious to see himself proven to be right. He even infers that Job’s inevitable destruction will bring him great joy.

“The righteous will be happy to see the wicked destroyed,
    and the innocent will laugh in contempt.” – Job 22:19 NLT

But then he softens his stance, in an attempt to portray himself as a loving and compassionate friend. He pleads with Job to confess and repent. It’s not too late. If Job will only drop his charade of righteous indignation and admit that he is all Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have claimed him to be, he can experience forgiveness and healing. In other words, Eliphaz tells Job to simply shut up, give up, and own up to his sins.

“Submit to God, and you will have peace;
    then things will go well for you.
Listen to his instructions,
    and store them in your heart.
If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored—
    so clean up your life.” – Job 22:21-23 NLT

Hidden in the somewhat empathetic-sounding rhetoric of this statement is Eliphaz’s belief that he is speaking on behalf of God. He is the one whom God is using to “instruct” the wayward and stubbornly sinful Job. If Job will only listen to what Eliphaz and his friends have to say, he will be restored to a right relationship with God. They are the key to Job’s restoration.

But there is one more thing that Job will have to do. He will have to clean up his act and give up all his wicked ways. According to Eliphaz, Job was a gluttonous materialist whose love of money had led him to commit all kinds of unjust and ungodly crimes. If he would only repent of his love affair with money and materialism, Job could see an end to his suffering and pain. At least, that was how Eliphaz saw it.

This led Eliphaz to make Job an attractive and difficult-to-resist offer. If Job would only admit his guilt, he could be on the pathway to righteousness and restoration.

“Then you will take delight in the Almighty
    and look up to God.
You will pray to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will fulfill your vows to him.
You will succeed in whatever you choose to do,
    and light will shine on the road ahead of you.” – Job 22:26-28 NLT

Once again, there is an element of truth in what Eliphaz has to say. His words align with those of the apostle John.

…if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. – 1 John 1:9 NLT

The Proverbs of Solomon also support Eliphaz’s conclusion.

People who conceal their sins will not prosper, but if they confess and turn from them, they will receive mercy. – Proverbs 28:13 NLT

But the problem was that Eliphaz was assuming guilt when he had no right or authority to do so. He and his two companions were playing God. Ever since their arrival in Uz, they had done nothing but condemn their friend for having sinned against God, with nothing to prove their assertion except circumstantial and unsubstantiated evidence of wrongdoing. Yet, they were right, God does forgive sinners. He can and will restore the repentant. But they had no proof that Job was a sinner in need of repentance. They had assumed the worst and pronounced Job as guilty based on nothing more than their opinions and observations. And in time, God will rebuke them for their insensitivity and insufferable arrogance.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Danger of Making God In Your Own Image

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17 “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out?
    That their calamity comes upon them?
    That God distributes pains in his anger?
18 That they are like straw before the wind,
    and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19 You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’
    Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction,
    and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what do they care for their houses after them,
    when the number of their months is cut off?
22 Will any teach God knowledge,
    seeing that he judges those who are on high?
23 One dies in his full vigor,
    being wholly at ease and secure,
24 his pails full of milk
    and the marrow of his bones moist.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul,
    never having tasted of prosperity.
26 They lie down alike in the dust,
    and the worms cover them.

27 “Behold, I know your thoughts
    and your schemes to wrong me.
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince?
    Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads,
    and do you not accept their testimony
30 that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity,
    that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
31 Who declares his way to his face,
    and who repays him for what he has done?
32 When he is carried to the grave,
    watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him;
    all mankind follows after him,
    and those who go before him are innumerable.
34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings?
    There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.” – Job 21:17-34 ESV

Job continues to confront the overly simplistic and theologically stilted reasonings of his three friends. He argues that their assessment of his situation was based on faulty conclusions that fail to line up with reality. If God is punishing Job for his wickedness, why doesn’t that kind of judgment seem to happen more often? Why don’t more wicked people endure the same kind of debilitating losses that Job did? His argument is that the facts don’t support their conclusion.

“…the light of the wicked never seems to be extinguished.
    Do they ever have trouble?
    Does God distribute sorrows to them in anger?
Are they driven before the wind like straw?
    Are they carried away by the storm like chaff?
    Not at all!” – Job 21:17-18 NLT

Job could provide case study after case study to disprove his friends’ faulty thesis. The entire basis of their prosecution of him was based on a house of cards. It failed to stand up under cross-examination because it simply wasn’t true.

And, perceiving the counter-argument his friends will submit, Job immediately debunks the idea that God sometimes allows the wicked to prosper but pours out his judgment on their heirs.

“‘Well,’ you say, ‘at least God will punish their children!’
    But I say he should punish the ones who sin,
    so that they understand his judgment.
Let them see their destruction with their own eyes.
    Let them drink deeply of the anger of the Almighty.
For they will not care what happens to their family
    after they are dead.” – Job 21:19-21 NLT

Job knew his friends well and could easily guess the strategy they would use in their counterargument. They couldn’t refute the evidence that Job raised, so they would be forced to make slight alterations to their position, in a stubborn attempt to save face and to keep from admitting they were wrong.

One of the concepts Job keeps returning to is the sovereignty of God. He believes that God is in control of all things and nothing escapes His divine will or authority. For Job, the day-to-day events that make up human life are the purview of God Almighty. He alone can determine the fate of humanity and manage the occurrence and outcome of every event. From our limited perspective, it all appears so haphazard and random.

“One person dies in prosperity,
    completely comfortable and secure,
the picture of good health,
    vigorous and fit.
Another person dies in bitter poverty,
    never having tasted the good life.
But both are buried in the same dust,
    both eaten by the same maggots.” – Job 21:23-26 NLT

Yet, Job would argue that God is behind it all, and we have no right to judge Him or to accuse Him of the mismanagement of our affairs. Without realizing it, Job was expressing the opinion of God as recorded by the prophet Isaiah.

“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’” – Isaiah 45:9 NLT

“Do you question what I do for my children?
    Do you give me orders about the work of my hands?
I am the one who made the earth
    and created people to live on it.
With my hands I stretched out the heavens.
    All the stars are at my command.” – Job 21:11-12 NLT

The apostle Paul borrowed from the writings of Isaiah to drive home the concept of God’s sovereignty to the believers living in Rome.

Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?” When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into? In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction. – Romans 9:20-22 NLT

As finite human beings, it is impossible for us to fully grasp the ways of God. Because we can’t see the bigger picture, we view everything from our myopic perspective and end up drawing faulty conclusions that fail to take into account the power and providence of God. Job’s friends were making false assumptions based on a flawed understanding of God’s sovereignty. Without knowing it, they had diminished God’s glory by placing Him in a simplistic box of their own making. In their arrogance and eagerness to explain the inexplicable, they had recreated the Creator in their own image. In their effort to explain Job’s circumstances, they had unwittingly extinguished God’s glory.

The following quote from J.C. Ryle, the great 19th-century author and pastor, provides a timely warning against remaking God in our own image.

“Beware of manufacturing a God of your own: a God who is all mercy, but not just; a God who is all love, but not holy; a God who as a heaven for every body, but a hell for none; a God who can allow good and bad to be side by side in time, but will make no distinction between good and broad in eternity. Such a God is an idol of your own, as truly an idol as any snake or crocodile in an Egyptian temple. The hands of your own fancy and sentimentality have made him. He is not the God of the Bible, and beside the God of the Bible there is no God at all.” – Rev. J.C. Ryle. “For Those Who Are Not Christ’s”

Job somehow knew that his friends were misinterpreting the facts and drawing inaccurate conclusions because they misunderstood the ways of God. He wasn’t claiming to have all the answers or boasting about his superior understanding of God. He just knew better than to question how God works. He might not like how things turn out in this life but he was willing to accept the fact that God was in control. And from what he could tell, things weren’t always black and white or cut and dried.

“Evil people are spared in times of calamity
    and are allowed to escape disaster.
No one criticizes them openly
    or pays them back for what they have done.” – Job 21:30-31 NLT

So, what right did his friends have to bombard him with their “empty clichés” (Job 21:34 NLT) and pious-sounding platitudes about God’s judgment? They had no idea what they were talking about. Job had witnessed the funerals of countless individuals whose lives were marked by wickedness, but their memorials were still well-attended and filled with statements of praise and condolences. So, he was not willing to accept his friends’ over-simplistic explanation of his suffering because it oversimplified the glory and goodness of God.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Life Doesn’t Always Make Sense

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1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “Keep listening to my words,
    and let this be your comfort.
3 Bear with me, and I will speak,
    and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint against man?
    Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be appalled,
    and lay your hand over your mouth.
6 When I remember, I am dismayed,
    and shuddering seizes my flesh.
7 Why do the wicked live,
    reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their offspring are established in their presence,
    and their descendants before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear,
    and no rod of God is upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without fail;
    their cow calves and does not miscarry.
11 They send out their little boys like a flock,
    and their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre
    and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity,
    and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14 They say to God, ‘Depart from us!
    We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?
    And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
16 Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand?
    The counsel of the wicked is far from me.” – Job 21:1-16 ESV

Job’s friends have a theology of consequences. Their arguments are based on their belief that Job’s circumstances are the obvious result of his sinful behavior. He is suffering the consequences of pursuing wickedness. They take a look at the recent events of his life and conclude that God must be punishing him.

All of their speeches are based on this assumption and, the truth is, we can easily find ourselves doing the same thing. When we see someone suffering, we can easily jump to the conclusion that they’ve done something wrong and are being punished by God in some way. Many of us have the same you-reap-what-you-sow mentality as Eliphaz, Zophar, and Bildad. It creeps into our thinking and influences our views on life. For instance, if something negative happens in our day, we can quickly find ourselves asking the question, “What did I do wrong?”

We can easily assume that we are suffering the consequences of some past action or thought. God must be punishing us for something we’ve done. And, if we’re not careful, we can just as easily view the sufferings or trials of others in the same simplistic way.

But Job points out a very logical argument against this sin-has-consequences theology. He asks his accusers to take a look at the world around them and explain why it is that most wicked people don’t ever suffer the way he has. In fact, they seem to thrive.

“Why do the wicked prosper,
    growing old and powerful?
They live to see their children grow up and settle down,
    and they enjoy their grandchildren.
Their homes are safe from every fear,
    and God does not punish them.” – Job 21:7-9 NLT

Great question, Job.

Life is not as black and white as it sometimes appears. Not everything fits into a neat and clean cause-and-effect paradigm.

Job points out that they tend to grow old and rich, and their kids grow up to enjoy the wealth they leave behind. From all appearances, there doesn’t seem to be any punishment from God on their lives. These very same people openly dismiss God and deny any need for his help or his forgiveness. They mockingly portray God as useless and totally unnecessary because they view their success or failure as completely up to them alone. Job argues that these wicked individuals don’t suffer, despite their dishonoring treatment of the Almighty.

“Go away. We want no part of you and your ways. Who is the Almighty, and why should we obey him? What good will it do us to pray?” – Job 21:14-15 NLT

Job points out that these people show no fear or respect for God, but they don’t seem to suffer for it. The truth is that they actually prosper, and “they think their prosperity is of their own doing” (Job 21:16 NLT). 

And Job is not alone in his outlook on the wicked. The prophet Jeremiah also voiced his confusion over the seeming success of those who dishonor God.

Lord, you always give me justice
    when I bring a case before you.
So let me bring you this complaint:
Why are the wicked so prosperous?
    Why are evil people so happy?
You have planted them,
    and they have taken root and prospered.
Your name is on their lips,
    but you are far from their hearts. – Jeremiah 12:1-2 NLT

The prophet Malachi had to address the growing consternation of the people of God who were questioning whether it was worth it to remain faithful. From their perspective, it seemed that the wicked were better off.

“You have said, ‘What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins? From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.’” – Malachi 3:14-15 NLT

An honest and objective look at the world would seem to indicate that the wicked don’t always suffer for their actions. Good doesn’t always win out over evil. The righteous don’t always come out on top. After all, Jesus Christ Himself died at the hands of wicked and unrighteous men. Most, if not all, of the disciples suffered martyrdom. History tends to validate Job’s conclusion.

This beleaguered man understood that life was not always easily explainable. We don’t know why some suffer and others do not. We can’t explain why a massive earthquake strikes one nation and not another. Sure, science can provide geological explanations, but no one can fully comprehend the moral implications of such devastating natural disasters.

We don’t know why one person suffers from cancer while another doesn’t. We don’t know why one couple loses their child in a car accident while another couple is allowed to watch their child grow up and live a long life. The fact is, there are things we do not know. There are mysteries to life that we can’t explain.

That is where faith comes in. That is where trust in a holy, mighty, all-knowing God comes in. Rather than turning to our conclusions, we must turn to Him. Even God Himself reminds us, “My thoughts are completely different from yours,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9 NLT).

When it comes to the egocentric ramblings of self-made men who claim that their prosperity is their own doing, Job simply states, “I will have nothing to do with that kind of thinking” (Job 21:16 NLT). He refuses to take credit for his success but he also refuses to take ownership for his seeming failure. Just because things have not turned out the way he had envisioned, that doesn’t mean he is wicked and reaping the righteous judgment of God. Job refused to draw that pessimistic conclusion.

What he needed and greatly desired was for his friends to comfort and console him in his time of need. He didn’t need correction or caustic comments concerning his guilt. He could have used the heart-warming words of

Don’t worry about the wicked
    or envy those who do wrong.
For like grass, they soon fade away.
    Like spring flowers, they soon wither.

Trust in the Lord and do good.
    Then you will live safely in the land and prosper.
Take delight in the Lord,
    and he will give you your heart’s desires. – Psalm 37:1-4 NLT

These words were written by a man who had experienced his fair share of suffering and sorrow. He had spent years running for his life, attempting to escape the bounty that King Saul had placed on his head. He had been anointed by the prophet of God to become the next king of Israel and yet he was forced to live like a fugitive and was treated like a convicted felon. Yet, he was able to pen the following words.

Be still in the presence of the Lord,
    and wait patiently for him to act.
Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
    or fret about their wicked schemes. – Psalm 37:7 NLT

Life can be difficult to understand because things don’t always turn out the way we expect. Even the psalmist, Asaph, expressed his confusion and frustration with the incongruities of living in a fallen and sin-damaged world.

Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those whose hearts are pure.
But as for me, I almost lost my footing.
    My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone.
For I envied the proud
    when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness.
They seem to live such painless lives;
    their bodies are so healthy and strong.
They don’t have troubles like other people;
    they’re not plagued with problems like everyone else. – Psalm 73:1-5 NLT

But Asaph came to his senses and recognized the futility of his faulty thinking.

Then I realized that my heart was bitter,
    and I was all torn up inside.
I was so foolish and ignorant—
    I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you.
Yet I still belong to you;
    you hold my right hand.
You guide me with your counsel,
    leading me to a glorious destiny.
Whom have I in heaven but you?
    I desire you more than anything on earth.
My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak,
    but God remains the strength of my heart;
    he is mine forever. – Psalm 73:21-26 NLT

Job was not there yet. He had not reached the same conclusion as Asaph, but that time would come. He would eventually understand and appreciate the ways of God. But in the moment of his distress what he really needed was friends who would stand beside him and not gloat over him. He could have used a few encouraging words from a David or an Asaph. But he was stuck with Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

The question we must ask ourselves is what kind of friends are we? Do we reach conclusions about the suffering of others based on conjecture and solely on our examination of the consequences? Are we too quick to question the wickedness of others or to doubt the goodness of God? May the following prayer reflect the desire of our hearts as we live our lives in this fallen and sometimes confusing world.

Father, forgive me for reaching conclusions about You that are based solely on conjecture and poor conclusions based on consequences and nothing more. You are inexplicable and Your ways are always unquestionably right and good. Help me to look for You in any and all circumstances of life. Help me to see the good You are bringing about in my life and the lives of others – in spite of what I may see. Your ways are not my ways. Your plans are beyond my knowledge and understanding, but they are always right and true. Thank You for that reminder and assurance. Amen.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Applying Divine Doctrine Without Divine Authorization

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20 “Because he knew no contentment in his belly,
    he will not let anything in which he delights escape him.
21 There was nothing left after he had eaten;
    therefore his prosperity will not endure.
22 In the fullness of his sufficiency he will be in distress;
    the hand of everyone in misery will come against him.
23 To fill his belly to the full,
    God will send his burning anger against him
    and rain it upon him into his body.
24 He will flee from an iron weapon;
    a bronze arrow will strike him through.
25 It is drawn forth and comes out of his body;
    the glittering point comes out of his gallbladder;
    terrors come upon him.
26 Utter darkness is laid up for his treasures;
    a fire not fanned will devour him;
    what is left in his tent will be consumed.
27 The heavens will reveal his iniquity,
    and the earth will rise up against him.
28 The possessions of his house will be carried away,
    dragged off in the day of God’s wrath.
29 This is the wicked man’s portion from God,
    the heritage decreed for him by God.” – Job 20:20-29 ESV

The longer Zophar talks, the darker his rhetoric becomes. He is on a roll and believes he has Job on the ropes. According to Zophar, not only is Job wicked and ungodly, but he is greedy and a glutton whose voracious appetite for evil will destroy him. It is somewhat shocking to remember that this man was supposed to be Job’s friend and had shown up in Uz with the intent of providing comfort and support. But when Job refused to accept the dark and condemning assessment of his situation from his three “comforters,” they turned on him. His defiant resistance to their calls for confession and repentance was met with resentment and incredulity. Zophar and his companions couldn’t believe their ears. How could this miserable wretch of a man dare to contradict their words of wisdom?

In his frustration with Job, Zophar resorts to blame and belittlement. He compares Job to a self-indulgent glutton who can’t control his appetite and ends up eating himself out of house and home.

“Nothing is left after they finish gorging themselves.
    Therefore, their prosperity will not endure.” – Job 20:21 NLT

To Zophar, Job is nothing more than a money-hungry, thrill-seeking, materialistic, and hedonistic fool who has reaped the results of his out-of-control lifestyle. His assessment of Job sounds similar to Paul’s description of the “enemies of the cross” who had infiltrated the church in Philippi.

They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth. – Philippians 3:19 NLT

But the problem with Zophar’s less-than-flattering assessment of Job is that it directly contradicts what God had to say about His faithful servant.

“Have you noticed my servant Job? He is the finest man in all the earth. He is blameless—a man of complete integrity. He fears God and stays away from evil.” – Job 1:8 NLT

It seems obvious that Zophar had not sought or received insight from God on Job’s situation. He was simply making judgments based on external circumstances and his personal opinion. He is right in stressing God’s hatred for sin and the inevitable judgment that awaits those who refuse to repent. But his quick-to-judge mentality had placed him in a precarious position, where he found himself falsely accusing the Lord’s anointed and spouting accusations and opinions that were anything but godly.

But in his over-confident zeal, Zophar charged full steam ahead, barraging his poor victim with further insults disguised as insights. He even resorts to praying for Job’s eventual destruction by God.

“May God give them a bellyful of trouble.
    May God rain down his anger upon them.” – Job 20:23 NLT

Of course, he’s kind enough not to address Job by name but his intentions are clear, and the not-so-subtle message didn’t escape Job. It would have been difficult to miss what Zophar was inferring by his graphic depiction of an arrow piercing human flesh and dripping with blood.

“When they try to escape an iron weapon,
    a bronze-tipped arrow will pierce them.
The arrow is pulled from their back,
    and the arrowhead glistens with blood.” – Job 20:24-25 NLT

According to Zophar, the archer is God and the victim is Job. God, the righteous warrior, has rained down his anger on the wicked and well-deserving Job. There was nowhere Job could run from God’s wrath. He could continue to deny his guilt but God would eventually expose him for what he really was: a guilty and unrepentant sinner.

But again, Zophar is attempting to apply truth based on false assumptions. While much of what he says is accurate, he has mistakenly misapplied the doctrine concerning God’s judgment. There is nothing wrong with his portrayal of God as a vengeful judge who metes out wrath on the wicked. The Scriptures fully support Zophar’s understanding of divine judgment upon those who perpetrate evil.

For the wicked will be destroyed,
    but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.

Soon the wicked will disappear.
    Though you look for them, they will be gone. – Psalm 37:9-10 NLT

The wicked plot against the godly;
    they snarl at them in defiance.
But the Lord just laughs,
    for he sees their day of judgment coming. – Psalm 37:12-13 NLT

Though the wicked sprout like weeds
    and evildoers flourish,
    they will be destroyed forever. – Psalm 92:7 NLT

The problem was how Zophar had assumed the worst when it came to Job’s predicament. He wrongly assessed Job’s fall as evidence of wickedness and proof of God’s displeasure. From what he could gather, Job had screwed up and God had rained down His righteous anger in just retribution.

But he was wrong.

Zophar didn’t have all the facts, so he ended up making wrong assumptions and drawing faulty conclusions. He spoke with self-assumed certainty and an over-confident assurance in his own assessment of the facts.

But he was wrong; categorically and catastrophically wrong.

Yet, he got one thing right. He boldly claimed, “The heavens will reveal their guilt, and the earth will testify against them” (Job 20:27 NLT). That one statement drips with truth and reflects the reality that only God knows the hearts of men and only He is authorized to stand in judgment as to their guilt or innocence.

The one thing Zophar, Bildad, and Eliphaz got consistently right was their call to repentance. All men are required to come to God, confessing their sins and repenting of their open rebellion against His righteous rule and reign. But where these three men got off the rails was in their assumption of Job’s wickedness and their assertion that all of Job’s pain and suffering was the handiwork of God.

“Was Zophar correct in his assessment of the wicked person’s fate? He was correct in saying that God judges sin, but he was wrong in claiming that God’s judgment always takes place during our earthly lifetime. He was also inaccurate in saying that Job was the type of person he described.” – Dr. Thomas L. Constable, Notes on Job

Zophar was right when he stated, “This is the reward that God gives the wicked. It is the inheritance decreed by God” (Job 20:29 NLT), but he was wrong in applying it to Job. The doctrines of God are righteous, just, and true, but they must be wielded carefully and judiciously. They should never be used as hammers to beat down the defenseless or to win a war of words with an opponent.

Paul told his young protégé, Timothy, “Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth. Avoid worthless, foolish talk that only leads to more godless behavior” (2 Timothy 2:15-16 NLT). Knowing doctrine is not enough; you also have to know when and how to apply it. Paul also told Timothy that an overseer or leader in the church “must be able to teach” (1 Timothy 3:2 NLT). That phrase carries the idea that a godly leader must be equipped “to teach God’s Word with skill.”

Verses quoted out of context, doctrines used as weapons, and godly truths misappropriated and misapplied are all to be avoided like the plague. Zophar was a veritable fountain of doctrine but he had used it to deluge Job and leave him drowning in despair. If only Zophar had understood that God’s Word, rightly divided, was fully capable of exposing and excising sin. It alone can reveal the condition of the heart and bring about either conviction or comfort. As the author of Hebrews so eloquently put it, “…the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires” (Hebrews 4:12 NLT).

But before you dare to speak on behalf of God, it pays to have heard from God. These men had chosen to address Job’s circumstances as self-appointed spokesmen for God. but they had failed to seek the will of God. Their arrogant appropriation of divine doctrine without divine authorization placed them in dangerous company. Without knowing it, they had become false prophets guilty of propagating false messages from God, and this is not something God takes lightly.

“I have not sent these prophets,
    yet they run around claiming to speak for me.
I have given them no message,
    yet they go on prophesying.
If they had stood before me and listened to me,
    they would have spoken my words,
and they would have turned my people
    from their evil ways and deeds.” – Jeremiah 23:21-22 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

The Worthless Wisdom of this World

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1 Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said:

2 “Therefore my thoughts answer me,
    because of my haste within me.
3 I hear censure that insults me,
    and out of my understanding a spirit answers me.
4 Do you not know this from of old,
    since man was placed on earth,
5 that the exulting of the wicked is short,
    and the joy of the godless but for a moment?
6 Though his height mount up to the heavens,
    and his head reach to the clouds,
7 he will perish forever like his own dung;
    those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’
8 He will fly away like a dream and not be found;
    he will be chased away like a vision of the night.
9 The eye that saw him will see him no more,
    nor will his place any more behold him.
10 His children will seek the favor of the poor,
    and his hands will give back his wealth.
11 His bones are full of his youthful vigor,
    but it will lie down with him in the dust.

12 “Though evil is sweet in his mouth,
    though he hides it under his tongue,
13 though he is loath to let it go
    and holds it in his mouth,
14 yet his food is turned in his stomach;
    it is the venom of cobras within him.
15 He swallows down riches and vomits them up again;
    God casts them out of his belly.
16 He will suck the poison of cobras;
    the tongue of a viper will kill him.
17 He will not look upon the rivers,
    the streams flowing with honey and curds.
18 He will give back the fruit of his toil
    and will not swallow it down;
from the profit of his trading
    he will get no enjoyment.
19 For he has crushed and abandoned the poor;
    he has seized a house that he did not build.” – Job 20:1-19 ESV

Tag! You’re it.

Now, it’s Zophar’s turn to torment Job, and he takes up the challenge with a vengeance. Like his companions, Zophar has had his fill of Job’s declarations of innocence and accusations of abuse. He is deeply offended by Job’s assertions that their counsel was harmful in any way.

“I must reply
    because I am greatly disturbed.
I’ve had to endure your insults,
    but now my spirit prompts me to reply.” – Job 20:2-3 NLT

It’s amazing to witness how adept these men are at turning all the attention to themselves as they play the victim card and accuse Job of harming them. Somehow, they manage to make it all about themselves, portraying Job as the evil aggressor and themselves as his hapless and defenseless prey.

Zophar displays no compassion or empathy and is unwilling to allow his suffering friend to vent his frustration or express his confusion over his predicament. At no point do any of these men say, “I understand.” They have come to be heard, not to listen. They are determined to offer their opinions but have no desire to provide a listening ear or a word of consolation and comfort.

Rather than wrapping his arms around Job and loving him through his sorrow, Zophar chooses to beat down his brother with charges of wickedness and godlessness. But he isn’t brave enough to say, “Job, you are a wicked and evil man.” Instead, he veils his accusations in cleverly worded lessons about the well-deserved fate of such people. From the beginning of time, the wicked and godless have always gotten their just desserts. Oh, for a time they may enjoy a semblance of success and “the sweet taste of wickedness” (Job 20:12 NLT), but their joy is always temporary and their fate is permanent and inescapable.

“…the triumph of the wicked has been short lived
    and the joy of the godless has been only temporary…” – Job 20:5 NLT

“…they will vanish forever,
    thrown away like their own dung.” – Job 20:7 NLT

“They will fade like a dream and not be found.
    They will vanish like a vision in the night.” – Job 20:8 NLT

In this grand-sounding soliloquy, Zophar never mentions Job by name but it is painfully clear who his words are meant for. He infers that Job was a prideful man who enjoyed a lifestyle of wealth and comfort. He had all the trappings of success but they were ill-gotten gain, acquired by illegal or illegitimate means. Zophar has concluded that Job’s former life of luxury and leisure was the result of “stolen riches” (Job 20:10), not the blessings of God. He rationalized that Job’s fall from grace was nothing more than payback for a life of crime, graft, and corruption. If Job’s heirs were going to live out their lives in abject poverty, it was his own fault.

“Their children will beg from the poor,
    for they must give back their stolen riches.” – Job 20:10 NLT

This callous statement is all the more hurtful because Zophar is fully aware that Job has no children. All ten of them had been killed when the roof of the house they were in collapsed and crushed them to death. So, Job had no inheritance or inheritors. He had nothing to leave and no one to leave it to. But that sad fact didn’t stop Zophar from continuing his relentless attack.

Zophar seems to take great pleasure in reminding Job of all that he has lost. He can’t stop alluding to Job’s former wealth and riches, and it’s impossible to know whether these attacks are driven by long-pent-up feelings of jealousy. But it is quite possible that Zophar had always been bothered by Job’s success. It’s as if he almost relishes the prospect of Job never rising from the ashes and regaining his former status as a wealthy and well-respected member of the community.

To justify his contempt for Job, Zophar must paint him in the least flattering light. So, he attributes Job’s success to corruption.

“Their wealth will bring them no joy.
For they oppressed the poor and left them destitute.
    They foreclosed on their homes.” – Job 20:18-19 NLT

This conclusion gives Zophar the freedom to treat his former friend with disdain. One almost gets the impression that Zophar has developed a strong hatred for Job that is the culmination of years of jealousy and envy. While Job was in his prime and enjoying what appeared to be the blessings of God, Zophar could only sit back and watch as his friend basked in all the affluence and accolades. Now, the tables were turned. Zophar was on top and getting to watch his former friend’s fall from grace.

For Zophar, Job’s demise was proof of his depravity and wickedness. There was no other explanation. For Job to have lost all that he had, he must have gained it all through a life of wickedness.

“They enjoyed the sweet taste of wickedness,
    letting it melt under their tongue.
They savored it,
    holding it long in their mouths.
But suddenly the food in their bellies turns sour,
    a poisonous venom in their stomach.” – Job 20:12-14 NLT

Zophar’s logic is simple but sensible. Job had gained his wealth through wickedness or God would not have taken it from him.

“They will vomit the wealth they swallowed.
    God won’t let them keep it down.” – Job 20:15 NLT

While everyone had believed that Job’s wealth was the byproduct of his blameless life, Zophar was challenging that conclusion. He was proffering a different opinion that portrayed Job as a villain and not a victim. He proposed that the collapse of Job’s world was nothing more than the judgment of God for a life of undeserved prosperity gained through wickedness. That is why Zophar shows no sympathy to Job. He has determined his former friend to be a godless sinner whose fate is well-deserved and proof of God’s justice. Sadly, Zophar justifies his enjoyment of Job’s fall by demonizing him. This might explain why Zophar goes out of his way to portray Job as a corrupt profiteer who used his facade of righteousness for personal gain.

Like all men, Zophar is attempting to explain the complexities of life through the means of flawed and finite human reason. There is so much he doesn’t understand. There are so many things he cannot see from his limited earthly perspective. Zophar can’t peer into the heart of his friend. He has no way of determining Job’s righteousness or deciding Job’s warranting of God’s judgment. Zophar, because he is human, has no capacity for discerning the will or the ways of God. He has deemed himself to be a spokesman for God but he does not know the heart of God. And eventually, God will expose the flawed logic of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” – Job 42:7 NLT

These men had taken it upon themselves to speak on behalf of God. But nowhere in the Book of Job do we see them consulting God and attempting to discern His will concerning Job. There are no prayers directed to God. There are no requests for wisdom or insight. These men seem to believe that they reached the right conclusion without the help of God. Yet, the apostle James would have encouraged them to pray more and talk less.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. – James 1:5 NLT

Life is complicated, and understanding the complexities of the human experience is impossible without insight from the One who rules and reigns over all. Zophar had no business acting as Job’s judge. He had no right to stand in judgment over his friend and flippantly determine his fault and fate without seeking insight from God first. He and his two friends were claiming to speak for God but had not heard from God.

They had set themselves up as arbiters of truth and dispensers of divine justice. But they were more like the false teachers that Jude describes in his short but impactful letter.

They are like shameless shepherds who care only for themselves. They are like clouds blowing over the land without giving any rain. They are like trees in autumn that are doubly dead, for they bear no fruit and have been pulled up by the roots. They are like wild waves of the sea, churning up the foam of their shameful deeds. They are like wandering stars, doomed forever to blackest darkness. – Jude 1:12-13 NLT

In the end, Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad were providing wisdom that was ungodly, counsel that was unhelpful, and conclusions that were unreliable and inaccurate. All because they failed to consult God. Had Paul been around to consult them, they may have taken a decidedly different tact.

Stop deceiving yourselves. If you think you are wise by this world’s standards, you need to become a fool to be truly wise.  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God. As the Scriptures say,

“He traps the wise
    in the snare of their own cleverness.”

And again,

“The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise;
    he knows they are worthless.” – 1 Corinthians 3:18-20 NLT

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

My Redeemer Lives

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1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “How long will you torment me
    and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
    are you not ashamed to wrong me?
4 And even if it be true that I have erred,
    my error remains with myself.
5 If indeed you magnify yourselves against me
    and make my disgrace an argument against me,
6 know then that God has put me in the wrong
    and closed his net about me.
7 Behold, I cry out, ‘Violence!’ but I am not answered;
    I call for help, but there is no justice.
8 He has walled up my way, so that I cannot pass,
    and he has set darkness upon my paths.
9 He has stripped from me my glory
    and taken the crown from my head.
10 He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone,
    and my hope has he pulled up like a tree.
11 He has kindled his wrath against me
    and counts me as his adversary.
12 His troops come on together;
    they have cast up their siege ramp against me
    and encamp around my tent.

13 “He has put my brothers far from me,
    and those who knew me are wholly estranged from me.
14 My relatives have failed me,
    my close friends have forgotten me.
15 The guests in my house and my maidservants count me as a stranger;
    I have become a foreigner in their eyes.
16 I call to my servant, but he gives me no answer;
    I must plead with him with my mouth for mercy.
17 My breath is strange to my wife,
    and I am a stench to the children of my own mother.
18 Even young children despise me;
    when I rise they talk against me.
19 All my intimate friends abhor me,
    and those whom I loved have turned against me.
20 My bones stick to my skin and to my flesh,
    and I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
21 Have mercy on me, have mercy on me, O you my friends,
    for the hand of God has touched me!
22 Why do you, like God, pursue me?
    Why are you not satisfied with my flesh?

23 “Oh that my words were written!
    Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
24 Oh that with an iron pen and lead
    they were engraved in the rock forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
    yet in my flesh I shall see God,
27 whom I shall see for myself,
    and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
    My heart faints within me!
28 If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’
    and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’
29 be afraid of the sword,
    for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
    that you may know there is a judgment.” – Job 19:1-29 ESV

Job’s response to Bildad echoes his earlier speeches and continues to reflect his unwillingness to concede defeat or confess his innocence. He is worn out and begs his friends to show him some mercy to balance out their relentless attacks.

“How long will you torture me?
    How long will you try to crush me with your words?
You have already insulted me ten times.
    You should be ashamed of treating me so badly.” – Job 19:2-3 NLT

Their better-than-thou approach to counseling has left Job feeling beaten down rather than lifted up. Their constant displays of moral superiority and self-righteous certainty have done more damage than good.

“Even if I have sinned,
    that is my concern, not yours.
You think you’re better than I am,
    using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.” – Job 19:4-5 NLT

And Job reminds them once again that his real adversary is God. He is the one behind all his pain and misery.

“God has blocked my way so I cannot move.
    He has plunged my path into darkness.
He has stripped me of my honor
    and removed the crown from my head.
He has demolished me on every side, and I am finished.” – Job 19:8-10 NLT

In the midst of all his pain, abandoned by family and friends, Job begs Bildad, Zophar, and Eliphaz to show him a bit of compassion.

“Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy,
    for the hand of God has struck me.
Must you also persecute me, like God does?
    Haven’t you chewed me up enough?” – Job 19:21-22 NLT

Then suddenly, as if a light switch was turned on in a darkened room, Job makes this incredibly optimistic statement.

“But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,
    and he will stand upon the earth at last.
And after my body has decayed,
    yet in my body I will see God!” – Job 19:25-26 NLT

Job is suffering inexplicably and unexpectedly. He is being relentlessly attacked and accused by his friends for his apparent wickedness. Yet, he is somehow able to cry out, “I know that my Redeemer lives!”

What is he saying? At the least, he is expressing belief in a God who will one day vindicate him and prove him to be innocent. He holds out hope that his sufferings are not the result of sin and are not some form of divine punishment for wrongs done. Job knows that he will be redeemed in the end. He may die, but he will stand before the Lord with a new body and be innocent of any wrongdoing.

The word Job uses for “Redeemer” is  גָּאַל (ga’al, “to redeem, protect, vindicate”). Listen to what the Net Bible study notes have to say about this rich word:

“The word is well-known in the OT because of its identification as the kinsman-redeemer (see the Book of Ruth). This is the near kinsman who will pay off one’s debts, defend the family, avenge a killing, marry the widow of the deceased. The word ‘redeemer’ evokes the wrong connotation for people familiar with the NT alone; a translation of ‘Vindicator’ would capture the idea more. The concept might include the description of the mediator already introduced in Job 16:19, but surely here Job is thinking of God as his vindicator. The interesting point to be stressed here is that Job has said clearly that he sees no vindication in this life, that he is going to die. But he knows he will be vindicated, and even though he will die, his vindicator lives. The dilemma remains though: his distress lay in God’s hiding his face from him, and his vindication lay only in beholding God in peace.”

In the face of the unrelenting onslaught of his friends’ accusations, Job is anxious for someone to vindicate him (to clear, as from an accusation, imputation, suspicion, or the like: to vindicate someone’s honor). He longs to have someone stand up for him and he knows that the only one who can and will do so is God Himself.

His friends seem unwilling to show him mercy, so Job is left with God alone as his future source of hope and restoration. He has resigned himself with his pending death but he believes that he will stand before God one day with a new body and a clean record.

“I will see him for myself.
    Yes, I will see him with my own eyes.
    I am overwhelmed at the thought!” – Job 19:27 NLT

Job was able to face death because he placed his hope in the reality of eternity. In his desperate situation, his only recourse was to trust in a God who would one day redeem him and restore him. As bad as his life was, Job could face it only because of his belief in God and his hope in an eternal destiny.

So what about us? How do we face the trials and tests of life? Where do we focus our attention? Yes, Job was fully aware of his suffering. He was not living some Pollyanna dream where he refused to face reality. He was in pain. He was hurting. But he kept going back to the only thing he could trust – God.

There was a lot he didn’t understand about God and his own circumstances, but he did know that God was just, righteous, and merciful. He also held on to his fragile belief that there was more to life than the here and now. He had to keep believing that there was a future life ahead of him and it was there that his vindication would be complete. His honor would be restored. Even his body would be renewed. It was that belief that kept Job going in the face of extreme difficulty. And we have the same hope.

We have a Redeemer who will one day vindicate us. He will welcome us into His presence as righteous and completely sinless. We will have restored bodies and hearts that are free from sin. And in the last part of Job’s statement, I think we get a glimpse of the future reality of Christ’s triumphant return to earth as the conquering Messiah. “But as for me, I know that my Redeemer lives, and that he will stand upon the earth at last” (Job 19:25 NLT).

There is a day coming when Jesus Christ will return to earth, not to suffer and die, but to rule, restore, and reign. That is our hope. That is our future. That is why we can cry out along with Job, “I know my Redeemer lives!”

He will set all things right. He will vindicate and avenge His own. And we will be revealed to be what we have always claimed to be: God’s children.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Bildad the Insufferable Bully

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1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 “How long will you hunt for words?
    Consider, and then we will speak.
3 Why are we counted as cattle?
    Why are we stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in your anger,
    shall the earth be forsaken for you,
    or the rock be removed out of its place?

5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out,
    and the flame of his fire does not shine.
6 The light is dark in his tent,
    and his lamp above him is put out.
7 His strong steps are shortened,
    and his own schemes throw him down.
8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet,
    and he walks on its mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare lays hold of him.
10 A rope is hidden for him in the ground,
    a trap for him in the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side,
    and chase him at his heels.
12 His strength is famished,
    and calamity is ready for his stumbling.
13 It consumes the parts of his skin;
    the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.
14 He is torn from the tent in which he trusted
    and is brought to the king of terrors.
15 In his tent dwells that which is none of his;
    sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
16 His roots dry up beneath,
    and his branches wither above.
17 His memory perishes from the earth,
    and he has no name in the street.
18 He is thrust from light into darkness,
    and driven out of the world.
19 He has no posterity or progeny among his people,
    and no survivor where he used to live.
20 They of the west are appalled at his day,
    and horror seizes them of the east.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
    such is the place of him who knows not God.” – Job 18:1-21 ESV

In Bildad’s second speech to Job, one can sense his growing frustration and disdain for his “patient.” He is put out by Job’s persistent claims of innocence and more than a bit offended that his ungrateful friend refuses to recognize the wisdom of his words. So, Bildad resorts to name-calling and sarcasm. He turns into the neighborhood bully who picks on the one kid who can’t effectively defend himself.

First, he attacks Job’s verbosity, accusing him of being a pompous blowhard who seems to think that he can talk his way out of his dilemma.

“How long before you stop talking?
    Speak sense if you want us to answer!
Do you think we are mere animals?
    Do you think we are stupid?” – Job 18:2-3 NLT

Bildad finds Job’s little monologues to be nothing more than “a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” He isn’t buying what Job is selling and is, frankly, fed up with having to listen to Job’s incessant claims of victimhood. In a highly unsympathetic tone, Bildad tells Job that his displays of self-righteous anger are a total waste of time.

“You may tear out your hair in anger,
    but will that destroy the earth?
    Will it make the rocks tremble?” – Job 18:4 NLT

Throwing a fit and putting on a show of mock mourning isn’t going to change anything. Job is wasting his time and his breath because Bildad and his companions remain stubbornly convinced that Job is guilty as charged. In fact, Bildad pulls no punches, clearly labeling Job as a wicked man who is getting exactly what he deserves.

“Surely the light of the wicked will be snuffed out.
    The sparks of their fire will not glow.
The light in their tent will grow dark.
    The lamp hanging above them will be quenched.
The confident stride of the wicked will be shortened.
    Their own schemes will be their downfall.” – Job 18:5-7 NLT

Throughout this relatively short speech, Bildad repeatedly associates Job with the wicked. There is nothing subtle about his insinuation and his words must have cut deep into Job’s psyche. How could a man whom Job considered to be a close friend end up being so brutally cruel and heartless? Bildad provides Job with no hope but, instead, he presents his friend with a bleak picture of further suffering that will end in Job’s demise. Unwilling to declare Job’s wickedness to his face, Bildad takes the more tactful but no less hurtful course. He simply infers Job’s guilt by referring to “the wicked,” and he makes it clear that “those people” always end up getting what they deserve.

“All memory of their existence will fade from the earth;
    no one will remember their names.” – Job 18:17 NLT

Job had lost everything but his mind. He could still understand what Bildad was saying and it must have cut like a knife. Bildad’s words were as subtle as a brick to the forehead. He practically describes Job’s personal plight word for word, in a less-than-compassionate attempt to prove just how wicked Job is.

“Terrors surround the wicked
    and trouble them at every step.
Hunger depletes their strength,
    and calamity waits for them to stumble.
Disease eats their skin;
    death devours their limbs.
They are torn from the security of their homes
    and are brought down to the king of terrors.
The homes of the wicked will burn down;
    burning sulfur rains on their houses.” – Job 18:11-15 NLT

Virtually every one of these things had happened to Job and Bildad was using them as evidence of the fate awaiting “the wicked.” In Bildad’s estimation, Job was living proof that the wicked always get what they deserve. Job’s litany of losses gave ample testimony to his life of unrighteousness; they were the just judgments of a holy God on an unholy man.

And in an almost demonic display of insensitivity, Bildad claims that any lingering hope that Job may have of leaving a legacy is nothing more than wishful thinking.

“They [the wicked] will be thrust from light into darkness,
    driven from the world.
They will have neither children nor grandchildren,
    nor any survivor in the place where they lived.” – Job 18:18-19 NLT

If anyone is wicked, it’s Bildad. He displays an inordinate amount of disdain for his friend, using his words to wound rather than to heal. He shows no desire to lift up his brother with words of encouragement. His speech is destructive rather than instructive. His callous conclusions are meant to defend himself rather than Job, and the longer he talks, the more damage he does.

Bildad finally runs out of things to say, but he makes sure to end his speech with a knock-out punch. He tells Job that, one day, long after Job is gone, people will come by the ruins of his former home and say, “This was the home of a wicked person, the place of one who rejected God” (Job 18:21 NLT).

According to Bildad, Job will leave a legacy, but it will not be the one he had hoped for. There will be no memories of Job’s blamelessness. There will be no heirs to carry on his good name. All that will be left to memorialize Job will be the remnants of his destroyed life. These are the words that Bildad leaves ringing in the ears of his suffering friend. And with friends like this, who needs enemies?

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

A One-Dimensional View of God

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1 “My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
    the graveyard is ready for me.
2 Surely there are mockers about me,
    and my eye dwells on their provocation.

3 “Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up security for me?
4 Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
    therefore you will not let them triumph.
5 He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
    the eyes of his children will fail.

6 “He has made me a byword of the peoples,
    and I am one before whom men spit.
7 My eye has grown dim from vexation,
    and all my members are like a shadow.
8 The upright are appalled at this,
    and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
9 Yet the righteous holds to his way,
    and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
10 But you, come on again, all of you,
    and I shall not find a wise man among you.
11 My days are past; my plans are broken off,
    the desires of my heart.
12 They make night into day:
    ‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’
13 If I hope for Sheol as my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
14 if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
15 where then is my hope?
    Who will see my hope?
16 Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
    Shall we descend together into the dust?” – Job 17:1-16 ESV

In this section of Job’s speech, he inadvertently shifts from talking to God directly to addressing Him in the third person. It is as if he is addressing two different audiences at once. One moment, he seems to be speaking directly to God:

“You must defend my innocence, O God,
    since no one else will stand up for me.” – Job 17:3 NLT

In the next breath, he addresses an unseen audience to whom he vents his frustration about Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.

“God has made a mockery of me among the people;
    they spit in my face.” – Job 17:6 NLT

Then he suddenly directs his attention back to his three accusers.

“As for all of you, come back with a better argument,
    though I still won’t find a wise man among you.” – Job 17:10 NLT

It’s almost as if Job sees himself on trial in a courtroom. He is standing before God, who serves as the judge, his three friends make up the prosecution, and his neighbors act as a jury of his peers. Job finds himself on the witness stand, responding to the accusations of his guilt, and attempting to sway the judge and jury of his innocence.

In his hopeless and impoverished state, Job pleads with God to put up the money for his bond.

“Lay down a pledge for me with you;
    who is there who will put up security for me?” – Job 17:3 ESV

In the legal system of that day, each litigant was required to post a bond that would help cover the expense of the trial. At the end of the trial, the losing party would forfeit whatever collateral they had pledged. But Job was destitute and had lost all his worldly possessions, so he had no cash or collateral on hand. Job’s unusual request for a pledge from “the judge” was his way of letting God know that he felt like he was on trial. There was no literal courtroom with a jury and a judge sitting on a dais. But from Job’s perspective, his entire life had turned into a courtroom drama with himself as the defendant and God acting as his judge.

What complicated matters for Job was that the judge was also the cause of all his troubles. Since Job believed in the sovereignty of God, he could reach no other conclusion than that the Almighty was the moving force behind all that had happened in his life. At no time does Job blame Satan or anyone else for his problems. He inherently knows that God is the ruler over all the universe and nothing happens without His consent or causation.

So, in this “trial” of his life, Job finds himself in a rather awkward position, having to defend himself against his “assailant” who also serves as his judge. And, in a way, Job must also rely on God to act as his defense attorney because he has no one else to whom he can turn or trust. This rather unconventional trial causes Job to make statements that seem contradictory and confusing.

While he expresses anger with the unwarranted attacks of his friends, Job holds God responsible.

“You have closed their minds to understanding,
    but do not let them triumph.
They betray their friends for their own advantage…” – Job 17:5 NLT

Yet, he wants the judge to punish his friends for their actions.

“… so let their children faint with hunger.” – Job 17:5 b NLT

Job couldn’t help but hold God accountable. After all, he believed His all-powerful God to be in control of all things at all times. So, he reasoned that his difficulties could have no explanation other than God. And his undeserved and inexplicable troubles were having a negative impact on those around him.

“God has made a mockery of me among the people;
    they spit in my face.
My eyes are swollen with weeping,
    and I am but a shadow of my former self.
The virtuous are horrified when they see me.
    The innocent rise up against the ungodly.” – Job 17:6-8 NLT

Those who once looked up to Job as an icon of integrity and virtue now cross to the other side of the street when they see him. They avoid him like the plague. Those who once revered Job for his righteousness are now horrified by his apparent wickedness and join the mob that assails him as ungodly. He has become a social pariah and an outcast in his own community. He has no family, home, or friends. He is alone and desperate for someone to come to his aid and defense, so he calls on his God.

“My days are over.
    My hopes have disappeared.
    My heart’s desires are broken.” – Job 17:11 NLT

These are the cries of a broken man. He is not using hyperbole or overexaggerated rhetoric to intensify his suffering. He is not shedding crocodile tears or putting on a performance to gain the sympathy of the judge and jury. Job is at the end of his emotional tether, crying out for someone to step in and deliver him from the never-ending nightmare that has become his life.

What frustrates Job is how his friends use their words to twist reality. Their clever speeches paint a false picture of what is really going on.

“These men say that night is day;
    they claim that the darkness is light.” – Job 17:12 NLT

Their statements contradict the truth. In a sense, Job accuses them of lying in order to state their case against him. Their words, cleverly spoken, are nothing but fabrications and half-truths that portray Job as a wicked man who fully deserves all that is happening. But Job knows that they are wrong. Yet, the only hope he has left is death. The only way he sees this nightmare ending is with the termination of his life.

“If I hope for Sheol as my house,
    if I make my bed in darkness,
if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
    and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
where then is my hope?” – Job 17:13-15 ESV

But in his heart, he knows that death will not bring deliverance. The loss of his life will not restore his reputation, bring back his dead children, or renew the joy he once had. With no clear idea of what lay beyond the grave, Job could not imagine death as the preferred solution to his problem. That is what led him to take his case to God.

He is pleading with God to come up with another plan. He asks the judge to pronounce a verdict that will vindicate him and restore him – in this life. Job doesn’t want to die, but if the future holds more suffering, he sees it as his only way out. However, he believed that God had the power and authority to step in and change the course of his life. If God had caused it all, He could also bring it to an end.

But Job had a one-dimensional view of God. He had somehow reached the conclusion that a good God gives nothing but good gifts to his good children. If Job was convinced of his own righteousness, then he believed himself to be deserving of God’s goodness. In a sense, he had turned God into a cosmic slot machine, a kind of divine genie in the sky who doles out good things to His good children. But this seems to contradict what Job stated back in chapter two.

“Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?”  Job 2:10 ESV

Yet, time has a way of altering our perspective. The longer Job had to dwell on and in his misery, the more uncertain he became about his earlier statement. He had been willing to accept the evil as long as it was immediately followed up by a proportionate amount of good. But when more trouble came his way and the floodgates of God’s goodness didn’t open up as expected, Job began to have second thoughts. He began to question the goodness of God. Things hadn’t turned out as he anticipated and his one-dimensional view of God was leaving him conflicted and confused. Where were his rewards? When was God going to show up and pour out all His blessings again? But Job had much to learn about God and his own unworthiness.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Our Almighty Advocate

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1 Then Job answered and said:

2 “I have heard many such things;
    miserable comforters are you all.
3 Shall windy words have an end?
    Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 I also could speak as you do,
    if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you
    and shake my head at you.
5 I could strengthen you with my mouth,
    and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

6 “If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
    and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
7 Surely now God has worn me out;
    he has made desolate all my company.
8 And he has shriveled me up,
    which is a witness against me,
and my leanness has risen up against me;
    it testifies to my face.
9 He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
    he has gnashed his teeth at me;
    my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
10 Men have gaped at me with their mouth;
    they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
    they mass themselves together against me.
11 God gives me up to the ungodly
    and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
12 I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
    he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
13     his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;
    he pours out my gall on the ground.
14 He breaks me with breach upon breach;
    he runs upon me like a warrior.
15 I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
    and have laid my strength in the dust.
16 My face is red with weeping,
    and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
17 although there is no violence in my hands,
    and my prayer is pure.

18 “O earth, cover not my blood,
    and let my cry find no resting place.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
    and he who testifies for me is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
    my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would argue the case of a man with God,
    as a son of man does with his neighbor.
22 For when a few years have come
    I shall go the way from which I shall not return.” – Job 16:1-22 ESV

There was a lot that Job didn’t know in the middle of all that was going on in his life. He didn’t know why he was suffering. He didn’t know why his friends were attacking him and accusing him of sins he had not committed. He didn’t know why all of his children had to die. He didn’t know what was going to happen to him. But he DID know one thing for sure: The answers to all of his questions and the solution to all of his problems were in heaven. He knew that he needed to direct his cries to God and not men. While men can and should provide comfort and support, they can’t solve life’s problems. Only God can do that.

This realization led Job to castigate his friends for their wordy and worthless diatribes.

“What miserable comforters you are!
Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?
    What makes you keep on talking?” – Job 16:2-3 NLT

He was fed up with having to listen to their pompous pontifications and pious-sounding platitudes. Their words were unhelpful and uninspiring. In fact, Job states that if their roles were reversed, he could just as easily play the role of adversary rather than advocate.

“I could say the same things if you were in my place.
    I could spout off criticism and shake my head at you.” – Job 16:4 NLT

But he wouldn’t.

“…if it were me, I would encourage you.
    I would try to take away your grief.” – Job 16:5 NLT

Job has no desire for revenge. He simply asks that his friends back off and stop their incessant efforts to tear him down. He needs comfort, not criticism. He longs for encouragement, not more incrimination. But their verbal assault continues, no matter what he does. If he defends himself against their accusations, it only adds fuel to the fire. They view his cries of innocence as proof of guilt. And if he chooses to say nothing, they still come to the same conclusion. His silence condemns him.

So, Job calls on God to be his witness. He may not understand why he is suffering, but he knows he is innocent and, in the end, only God can testify to that fact. Job can’t prove he is blameless but God can, and Job is counting on it. In fact, he pleads that God would act as his mediator as well as his judge. He asks God to perform both roles because there is no one else he can count on.

“Even now my witness is in heaven.
    My advocate is there on high.
My friends scorn me,
    but I pour out my tears to God.” – Job 16:19-20 NLT

His friends think he is guilty. They would be lousy witnesses, let alone good mediators. So Job is left with God as his sole source of comfort and support. Which is right where Job needed to be.

His anger with God is visible and visceral. His world has been rocked and his belief in God’s sovereignty left him with no other logical conclusion than that God was behind it all.

“O God, you have ground me down
    and devastated my family.
As if to prove I have sinned, you’ve reduced me to skin and bones.
    My gaunt flesh testifies against me.” – Job 16:7-8 NLT

“I was living quietly until he shattered me.
    He took me by the neck and broke me in pieces.” – Job 16:12 NLT

“Again and again he smashes against me,
    charging at me like a warrior.” – Job 16:14 NLT

Job graphically describes his abject physical state. His health has diminished, leaving him emaciated and gaunt. His emotional well-being has suffered greatly, leaving him in a constant state of mourning.

“My eyes are red with weeping;
    dark shadows circle my eyes.” – Job 16:16 NLT

But despite all his pain and suffering, and his belief that God was behind it all, he still sees God as his only source of help and hope.

“Even now my witness is in heaven.
    My advocate is there on high.” – Job 16:19 NLT

Job was blaming God for all his difficulties, but he was also counting on God for deliverance. And the second half of that equation is essential. God wants us to lean on Him and nothing else. He wants us to rely on Him and no one else. He can handle our criticism and our casting of blame. But, when all is said and done, He wants us to turn to Him for help.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart;
    do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do,
    and he will show you which path to take. – Proverbs 3:5-6 NLT

Amid all his problems, Job was still reaching out to God. He hadn’t given up or made the fateful decision to run away from God. And that is exactly what God would desire His children to do. As the old hymn so eloquently states:

In seasons of distress and grief,
My soul has often found relief,
And oft escaped the tempter’s snare,
By thy return, sweet hour of prayer!

Job was calling out to God. It’s interesting to note that, in spite of Job’s uncertainty, he describes a relationship with God that each of us as believers enjoy. Because of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection, He is able to stand before God the Father as the One who perfectly fulfilled all the requirements of the Law. Jesus lived a sinless life, so He was able to act as the sinless sacrifice in our place and pay the penalty that sin required. He died in our place, and the result is that we have eternal life. Now Jesus sits at the right hand of the Father acting as our advocate and mediator.

For there is only one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and people. He is the man Christ Jesus. – 1 Timothy 2:5 NLT

We have exactly what Job was asking and longing for – an advocate and representative who stands before God, speaks on our behalf, and defends our righteousness. Because of what Jesus has done, when God looks at us He no longer sees our sins; He sees us covered with the blood of His Son. Therefore, we are righteous in His eyes. And even when we do sin, Jesus acts as our advocate, reminding God the Father that the price for that sin has already been paid. This is the great news that the apostle John shared with the believers in his day.

My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. – 1 John 2:1 NASB

Job inherently knew that God was the one to turn to in a time of need. He knew that God could be trusted to judge impartially and fairly. He understood that God was the only one who would be a reliable witness on his behalf. Yes, Job was struggling with doubt and despair. He was questioning everything. But he knew that, in the end, he could count on God.

How much more so should we? We have Jesus Christ as our advocate. He is our faithful representative, standing before God the Father and acting on our behalf, pleading our case before the throne of God. That is where we need to turn. That is who we need to trust.

For Christ has entered into heaven itself to appear now before God as our Advocate. – Hebrews 9:24 NLT

We can come right into God’s throne room with confidence because we are well represented by Jesus our advocate. He has earned the right to represent us before God because He served as our sin substitute. And because of what Jesus has done, we are able to stand before God as sinless and holy.

When things take a turn for the worse in my life, I do not have to stand before God in fear, wondering if He is punishing me for some sin I have committed. My sins have all been paid for. The punishment for all my transgressions – past, present, and future – has already been meted out and His judgment has already been satisfied. We need to keep reminding ourselves that we can turn to God and trust Him to act favorably or propitiously on our behalf. He loves us because we are His children.

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick to Listen and Slow to Speak

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17 “I will show you; hear me,
    and what I have seen I will declare
18 (what wise men have told,
    without hiding it from their fathers,
19 to whom alone the land was given,
    and no stranger passed among them).
20 The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
    through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
21 Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
    in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
    and he is marked for the sword.
23 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
    He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
24 distress and anguish terrify him;
    they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
25 Because he has stretched out his hand against God
    and defies the Almighty,
26 running stubbornly against him
    with a thickly bossed shield;
27 because he has covered his face with his fat
    and gathered fat upon his waist
28 and has lived in desolate cities,
    in houses that none should inhabit,
    which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
29 he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
    nor will his possessions spread over the earth;
30 he will not depart from darkness;
    the flame will dry up his shoots,
    and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
31 Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
    for emptiness will be his payment.
32 It will be paid in full before his time,
    and his branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
    and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
34 For the company of the godless is barren,
    and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
    and their womb prepares deceit.” – Job 15:17-35 ESV

Eliphaz has a way with words but it would be difficult to describe him as an encourager. He has a gift for crafting well-worded sentences that paint vivid images in the mind, yet do little to lift up the spirits of the one to whom they’re directed. This guy is a veritable factory of one-liners and memorable word pictures. His vocabulary is impressive, as is his ability to string together powerfully worded indictments that masquerade as well-intended counsel to his afflicted friend.

His gift of persuasion is hard to argue with and one can almost find themselves nodding their head in agreement as he waxes eloquent about Job’s guilt and his need for repentance. After all, he seems to know what he’s talking about and even claims to have plenty of hard-earned personal experience that lends him credibility and authority in the matter.

“If you will listen, I will show you.
    I will answer you from my own experience.
And it is confirmed by the reports of wise men
    who have heard the same thing from their fathers—
from those to whom the land was given
    long before any foreigners arrived.” – Job 15:17-19 NLT

He claims to be backed by the wisdom of the ages, so his advice should be heeded and his words should go unchallenged. For Job to try and refute Eliphaz’s counsel would be to reject generations of proven insight into the human experience. He would be standing opposed to centuries worth of collective knowledge and stubbornly rejecting the tried-and-true insights of the sages.

How is Job supposed to withstand that kind of withering assault on his innocence? If he continues to hold his ground and stubbornly cling to his blamelessness, he will only add fuel to the fire and validate Eliphaz’s claims. After all, Eliphaz has carefully constructed his prosecution of Job, using any claims of innocence as proof of guilt. In his estimation, only the wicked would dare to lash out at God. A truly innocent man would show honor and respect by confessing his guilt and placing himself in the hands of the Almighty. And Eliphaz strengthens his case by comparing Job’s actions with those of the wicked and godless.

“The wicked writhe in pain throughout their lives.
    Years of trouble are stored up for the ruthless.
The sound of terror rings in their ears,
    and even on good days they fear the attack of the destroyer.” – Job 15:20-21 NLT

Eliphaz is anything but subtle. He claims that Job is only getting what he deserves for a life of hidden wickedness. Job may have fooled his family and friends but he couldn’t pull the wool over God’s eyes. Now, he was getting his just desserts. At least, that’s how Eliphaz saw it.

He compares Job to a king who knows he is facing defeat at the hands of a more powerful foe but stubbornly clings to his false hope of victory. These kinds of fools “shake their fists at God, defying the Almighty. Holding their strong shields, they defiantly charge against him” (Job 15:25-26 NLT).

Don’t miss what Eliphaz is doing. He is setting Job up by turning every attempt at self-justification into proof of guilt. If Job even dares to question his circumstances, he is “shaking his fist at God” and “defying the Almighty.” This assertion virtually eliminates all options for Job. He’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t. His persistent pleas of innocence will only confirm his guilt but so will a vow of silence. Eliphaz has painted Job into a corner and left him with no way out.

Sensing that he has Job on the ropes, Eliphaz increases the intensity of his attacks, painting his hapless friend as being overweight from a life of over-indulgence. He is fat and bloated from decades of excess and extreme wickedness.

“These wicked people are heavy and prosperous;
    their waists bulge with fat.” – Job 15:27 NLT

Subtlety is not Eliphaz’s strong suit. He wields words like a sledgehammer, obliterating any semblance of hope that may remain in Job’s already fractured heart. Eliphaz has gotten personal by attacking Job’s physical appearance along with his integrity. Once again, Eliphaz is attempting to portray Job as a hypocrite and a fraud. He is not what he appears to be. Eliphaz has deduced that the pity-producing cries of his suffering friend are nothing but a cleverly orchestrated facade designed to distract and deceive. The more vociferously Job demands his guiltlessness, the more condemned he stands.

It’s quite clear that Eliphaz has no doubts regarding Job’s guilt. In his mind, Job is wicked and godless, and his losses are all the proof he needs to elicit a guilty verdict from the Judge of the universe. He believes he has God on his side and one can almost see the smirk on his face as he confidently asserts that the riches of the wicked “will not last, and their wealth will not endure” (Job 15:29 NLT). Job has seen his wealth evaporate before his eyes. He has nothing left. And, for Eliphaz, this is further proof of his friend’s culpability. With Job’s finances in shambles, he has no resources on which to rely, and Eliphaz knows it. In fact, he coldly states that Job’s poverty has left him with nothing to look forward to than a life of emptiness. It will be Job’s only reward. 

This man is relentless and compassionless. He has become so determined to prove himself right that he has become blind to the wrongs he has inflicted on his helpless and hopeless friend. Eliphaz has lost all capacity to see Job’s pain and provide solace. His words have become pain-inducing, not peace-producing.

The apostle James points out the danger of an unbridled tongue.

If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. – James 1:26-27 NLT

Job was not a widow or an orphan but he was a man in great distress, and Eliphaz and his friends, in their self-righteousness, were using their tongues to burden him with a heavy weight of unnecessary pain and suffering. James went on to describe the damaging influence of an unbridled tongue.

…the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself. – James 3:6 NLT

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were all adept at wielding their tongues but the byproduct of their efforts was anything but uplifting. Job had not been comforted or cared for. Their religious speech had not produced righteousness. And James would have called them out for using the same tongue with which they praised God to curse one who had been made in the image of God (James 3:9). In doing so, these men had put themselves in the place of God. Each of them viewed himself as Job’s judge, jury, and executioner.

I believe James would have counseled Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar to back off and reconsider how they were using their tongues. He would have asked them to examine their motives. He would have questioned the health of their own hearts and encouraged them to do a bit of personal soul-searching to see if their wisdom was really from God or not.

If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind. – James 3:13-16 NLT

Each of us could stand to learn from the not-so-flattering examples of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. We would do well to consider our own tendency to give out unsolicited advice and, in doing so, to do immeasurable damage to those who desperately need a word of encouragement in their time of need. Each of us would be wise to consider the words of James.

You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. – James 1:19-20 NLT

May we not forget the words Jesus spoke to the self-righteous and quick-to-judge Pharisees: “…let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” (John 8:7 NLT)

English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001

New Living Translation (NLT) Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.