As you read through this chapters of Job, look for the
treasures of wisdom that this oldest book in the world offers. Especially check out: 3:25 FEAR; 5:2 Roots of mental disease; 5:25-27 Wes’
“word from the LORD when diagnosed with prostate cancer”; 7:4 PAIN; 12:12-13, 14:5, 15:20 AGE (God
determines!); 12:21….bringing low the pride of the learned; 12:24 OUR
AMERICA?
It is unfortunate that the 3 friends laId hold of Job’s lament
in 1:21 and not his statement of faith in 2:10.
After hearing him curse his birthday, they felt it necessary to rebuke
him and come to God’s defense.
Job’s comments regarding the cursing of his birth triggered
discussion from his friends:
The three friends were all old. 32:6. Older than Job 15:10 but we assume that
ELIPHAZ was the oldest. He is named first,
spoke first and the Lord seems to have accepted him as the older member of the
trio 42:7. He was associated with Teman,
a place known for its wisdom. Eliphaz
based his speeches on two things: his
own observations of life (I have seen 4:8, 5:3, 27 and a frightening personal
experience he had one night. He put
great faith in tradition 15:18-19 and the God he worshiped was an inflexible
Lawgiver. 4:7 Who ever perished being innocent? He had a rigid theology that left little or
no room for the grace of God.
A wise counselor and comforter must listen with the heart and
respond to feelings as well as to words.
You do not heal a broken heart with logic; you heal a broken heat with
love. Speak the truth, but be sure to
speak the truth in love Eph. 4:15. The
right words spoken at the right time, and with the right motive, can make a
tremendous difference in the lives of others.
Your words can nourish those who are weak and encourage those who are
defeated. BUT your words can also hurt
those who are broken and only add to their burdens, so be careful what you say
and how you say it.
Eliphaz – as with the other two – had the basic premise of Do
what is right and things will go well for you; do what is wrong and God will
send judgment.
He left out the deep truth:
man is made in the image of God and God Who made him is a God of grace
and mercy as well as a God of justice.
If we argue from observation as Eliphaz did, our observations
are severely limited. We can’t see the
human heart as God can and determine who is righteous in His sight. As he closes his speech, he is suggesting
that Job make a bargain with God…confess your sins and God will restore all
that you have lost. That is Satan’s
philosophy…and Job would not do that.
JOB appealed to all three…for more understanding and sympathy
(chapter 6). The he appealed to God that
He would consider his plight and lighten his sufferings. His friends did not feel the heaviness of his
suffering, did not understand the bitterness of his suffering 6:4-7. They were adding to his grief. What he needed was words of encouragement to
feed his spirit and give him strength.
Like a starving animal he was hungry for love and understanding.
Job wanted the LORD to take his life because hopelessness had
led to a feeling of uselessness. He did
not attempt suicide…he wanted God to take his life. His strength was gone and he felt useless
6:12-13.
Physically the 3 men were sitting with Job on the ash heap,
but emotionally, they were like the priest and the Levite who passed by on the
other side in the Good Samaritan event.
It does little good for us to quote Scripture and pray for someone
unless we first build a bridge between our hearts. The three men were so intent on defending
themselves that they forgot to comfort their friend!
Chapter 7…Job appealed to the LORD…closed with a request for
forgiveness in v. 20 – 21 It was not a confession of sin, for Job still
maintained his integrity, but it was an opportunity for God to deal with areas
in Job’s life that he knew nothing about.
Then Job was silent.
BILDAD must have been the 2nd oldest of the three
since he is named 2nd and spoke after Eliphaz. Bildad was a LEGALIST. 8:20 Behold God will not cast away a perfect
man, neither will He help the evildoers.
He quoted ancient proverbs and had great respect for tradition. He was sure that Job’s children died because
they also were sinners. V. 4 He seemed
to have no feeling for his hurting friend.
Can you imagine a counselor speaking to a suffering individual
the way that Bildad spoke to Job???
8:2 He preached a sermon on God’
justice. His theology was correct – God
is just – his application of that theology was wrong. He was looking at only one aspect of God’s
nature – His holiness and justice – and had forgotten His love, mercy and
goodness.
Little did Bildad realize that his words 8:4 – 7 would come true and Job’s latter end would be
greater than his beginning. Being a
traditionalist he looked for wisdom in the past. We can learn from the past, but it must be a
rudder to guide us and not an anchor to hold us back. “Tradition is the living faith of the dear;
traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”
He used nature in his wisdom poem. Then he moved from plants to spiders v.
14-15 and on to the garden…root system
was fading away and he concluded that sin was the cause.
In Job 9 and 10, Job asks 3 questions How can I be righteous
before God? How can I meet God in
Court? What was I born? Job is righteous, but he has to prove
it. How can a mortal man prove himself
righteous before God? Can he take God to
court? But if God doesn’t step in and
testify on Job’s behalf, what is the purpose of all this suffering? Why was Job even born?
Job could not understand what God was doing, and it was
important that he not understand. Had
Job known that God was using him as a weapon to defeat Satan, he would have
simply sat back and waited trustfully for the battle to end. But as Job surveyed himself and his
situation, he asked the same question the disciples asked when they saw Mary
anoint the Lord…”Why this waste?”
Nothing that is given to Christ in faith and love is every wasted. JOB HAD NOTHING TO GIVE TO THE LORD but his
suffering by faith; BUT THAT IS JUST WHAT God wanted in order to silence the
devil!!!
Job asked Why was I born?
In the light of his losses and his personal suffering, it all seemed
such a waste, but God knew what He was doing then, and He knows what He is
doing NOW.
ZOPHAR – the youngest and most dogmatic. He speaks like a schoolmaster addressing a
group of ignorant freshmen. Unfeeling
approach, merciless and tells Job that God was giving him far less than he
deserved for his sins! 11:6. He only spoke to Job twice…either he felt he
was unable to answer Job’s arguments or that it was a waste of time.
“It is not why I suffer that I wish to know, but only whether
I suffer for your sake.”
Zophar spoke with animosity…exposes his anger. He makes 3 accusations against Job: guilty of sin 11:1-4, ignorant of God v. 5:12
and stubborn in his refusal to repent v. 13-20.
Job responds to all three: affirms God’s greatness Ch.12, his own
innocence Ch. 13, and he has no hope, so why should he repent? Ch. 14
All 3 men said some good and true things, as well as some
foolish things, but they were of no help to Job because their viewpoint was too
narrow. Their theology was not vital and
vibrant but dead and rigid. They made
the God they were attempting to defend small enough to be understood and
explained.
“There’s nothing you can’t prove if your outlook is only
sufficiently limited.” (Dorothy Sayers)
6:21 Job gives a hint of why his friends spoke to him as they
did. “Now you too have proved to be of
no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid.” THE 3 MEN WERE AFRAID THAT THE SAME CALAMITIES
WOULD COME TO THEM. They said and were
attempting to establish that God rewards the righteous and punished the
wicked…So – as long as we are righteous, nothing evil could happen to us!
God used Job to undermind the theology of his friends and
robbed them of their peace and confidence and this made them angry. Job was challenging them to go deeper into
the heart and mind of God. But they
preferred the superficial and safe to the profound and mysterious.
These 3 men have many disciples in today’s world. Whenever you meet a person who feels
compelled to explain everything, who have a pat answer for every question and a
fixed formula for solving every problem, you are back at the same station with
Job’s friends.
THE FRIENDS DID NOT SEE THE SIN! THEY SAW WHAT THEY THOUGHT WERE CONSEQUENCES
OF SIN. BEFORE YOU GO TO CORRECT A
FRIEND (which we should do according to the Word when we see that they are in
trouble because of sin) DISCERN THE SIN FIRST!!!!!
When people experience intense grief and pain, it is easy for
them to feel that the future is hopeless and that God has forsaken them. The American psychiatrist Menninger called
HOPE “THE MAJOR WEAPON AGAINST THE SUICIDE IMPULSE.” An individual who believes in Jesus Christ
shares in a “living hope” that grows more wonderful every day. Dear hopes fade away because they have no
roots, but our living hope gets better because it is rooted in the living
Christ and His Living Word. The assurance
of resurrection and life in glory with Christ is a strong motivation for us to
keep going even when the going is tough.
When one declares something hopeless, it is like slamming the door in
the LORD’s face. Job had not yet slammed
the door, but he was getting close to doing it and his friends were not helping
him at all.
“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in
believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15:13
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