Eliphaz Speaks: Job's Wickedness Is Great 22 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.” Eliphaz still doesn't take the cues that it's time to stop and starts another round of debate. He asks Job in a rhetorical format what he thinks he'll gain by this. Does God have to answer to him? Does He need us on His side? Does our righteousness, even when we think we are blameless, impress Him? Eliphaz at least implies and sometimes directly says that the answer to these questions is "No."
He then goes on to continue to make his accusations against Job and how evil he must be. Since we have seen no evidence of any of this in Job's life, I can only assume this is transference where they assume Job is just like them and that they know the sins they have committed and assume Job is guilty of the same sins. Eliphaz's accusation now though is that Job did not use his wealth to care for the hungry, thirsty, naked, poor and needy nor specifically for the sojourner or widow. It seems interesting that these men understand that this is part of what God wants all men to do because there is no Law given to God's people yet and these are some of the things that He tells the Israelites to do that will set them apart from the other nations, but it seems at this point that these men understood enough about God and His will to get this right (though we know that they didn't get everything right about God). Eliphaz argues that just because God is "far off" and we can't see Him doesn't mean that He doesn't see us and have all knowledge about us and everything going on with us--yet, this is not what Job was arguing. Job understood that but asked of God allowed it to happen without intervention or if God was causing it to happen and what it would take for God to stop it. At no time do I recall Job thinking that God didn't see or hear, but rather he wondered if God cared enough to intervene. We then see that atheism is old--it is even called the "old way" by Eliphaz as there were men who thought they were "post-modern" at the time and no longer needed God and thought they could command Him to depart so that they could be their own gods. Eliphaz argues that these men met early deaths and that somehow their rebellion and their early deaths are connected, even though it appeared that they still received material blessings while they were alive. Eliphaz says this should satisfy the righteous and the innocent as they see the enemies of God cut off and getting the fiery judgment they deserve. Is it possible that these men understood the reality of hell for those that were enemies of God? Either way, I think that Even though Eliphaz is right that God is vindicated in such judgment and that it will bring glory and honor to Him when He finally judges His enemies, is God really the kind of God that desires to bring a quick end to His enemies without them repenting? There is no talk of mercy, forgiveness or repentance in Eliphaz's knowledge of God's plan, therefore, Eliphaz does not understand the gospel in the way that Job does. I think this will be important when we hear from God later--with everything that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar knew about God's attributes, nature and deeds (and there were some things they got wrong), they seemed to miss the most important thing that Job got right, even though Job seemed to get some other things wrong, but in the end God seemed to be more concerned about the gospel than anything else that was said and would give judgment that Job spoke correctly about Him and the other friends did not, because God ultimately desires repentance and wants to forgive men and blot out their sins and transgressions through the coming Redeemer and to provide a Mediator between God and Man--our Great High Priest, Christ Jesus, the Lord. "Agree with God" is probably a good translation of the word "Confess" and that's probably what Eliphaz is accusing Job of. He is saying that Job must have unconfessed sin in his life and he needs to come into agreement with God about that sin--this is the closes that we seem to see any of Job's friends get to calling for repentance, but it still comes short because it is instructions of "just do what is right from this point forward and hope that God see it and you earn favor with Him from here on out." That's a gospel of works. It's not wrong for Eliphaz to ask Job to make sure that He loves God more than than his gold, but that was never Job's problem. It's not wrong to tell Job that God wants him to be willing to put aside all of his treasure and to use it to take care of the poor and needy, but we don't see that being Job's problem. It is good for Eliphaz to tell Job to delight in the Lord, but I think God was already Job's portion forever--he was just depressed at the moment and had a temporary crisis whereby he couldn't square what was going on in his life with what He thought he knew about God. Eliphaz tried to tell Job that if he just confesses and does what is right, God will hear his prayers (and the assumption is that there is sin in Job's life right now and the reason Job is suffering is that God is not hearing his prayers). Eliphaz again returns to money to say that Job's sincerity will be measured by the vows he pays, and while God does sometimes ask for a price of gold or silver to be paid in certain cases, God always has a blood sacrifice made for atonement--so far Eliphaz has made no mention of that. Eliphaz then says that God will then restore Job's wisdom (as if Job has lost it) and then Eliphaz seems to make some statements about God giving grace to the humble--even those who are not innocent. I do find that interesting. He also seems to imply again that Job's hands aren't really clean and asks if his righteousness (cleanness) is enough to save himself or anyone else? This will be where Eliphaz will end his arguments. He believes this is his summation of the entire matter. We'll see Job respond and each of the others take another turn (with Job responding to each of them too) as we wrap up the regular debate before we get to the "bonus round" of what Elihu has to say, since no one has let him talk or asked him if he had anything to say to this point (we're about 10 chapters away from this and he'll speak for about 5 chapters--about the same opportunity to speak that everyone else was given to this point). Then comes the moment we've all been waiting for--God Himself will speak (this is most of chapters 38-42).
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Job Replies: The Wicked Do Prosper 21 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. 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 once again tries to bring his audience back into focus and say they are arguing against straw men--points that were easy for them to argue against, but were never the points that he made, and that they needed to listen more closely to his words. It's pretty easy to beat up a scarecrow, which is where the "straw man argument" fallacy gets its name. Instead of actually addressing your opponent's point or points, you make it out as if they argued something weaker or maybe something completely other than what they actually said and then argue against that.
Job then reminds them that his words were never addressed to man (his friends) and that he is only taking issue with God and His justice, and that in his current estate, he thinks he has every right to demand an immediate answer. His mind then must go to the place of asking about other perceived injustices like the wicked prospering and how long will God allow that to occur? Embedded in this question is still the issue of how long God will allow His children who have been declared righteous to suffer--we get a better answer to this in the book of Psalms. (Here's a listing of times the phrase "How long...?" appears in just the book of Psalms: in the English Standard Version of the Bible). Job then makes the argument that the wicked do seem to prosper, and I can only imagine given the times that he probably was living in that he was a Shemite looking at the sin of the children of Ham, more specifically, probably looking at the sin of the Canaanites that lived around him. They were not God-fearing people and made idols for themselves that would allow them to continue in their sin and bring that sin into their worship of their false gods and even encouraged them to become more sinful. The sin of the Canaanites was well-known at that time and we know that God told His people that He would use Egypt to keep them in slavery to keep them from falling victim to the corruption of the Canaanites (we just studied this in the book of Exodus). So Job's question is what good it does man to worship the one true God of heaven if He also blesses the wicked and ungodly and seems to pour out His wrath on His followers? It's a valid question if your focus is "What's in it for me?"The answer to this question honestly if our focus is on the temporal may be, "Nothing." Jesus will tell His disciples that they need to count the cost of being His disciples and understand that they will have to give up much to follow Him and they will be hated and will have much trouble and tribulation, and people may even try to kill them for being the people He has called them to be. But He promises that our reward is not in the kingdom of this world nor in the here and now (though we do receive good gifts from the Father in the here and now), but rather that every man will receive his rewards in the judgment that is to come. Job then asks why it is that God seems to not punish the wicked and why people assume that God punishes their children for the sins of the fathers? Is that just? Shouldn't a man be punished for his own sins and shouldn't his children be punished for their sins and not the sins of their fathers? What kind of justice is that? It seems to Job that God could learn a thing or two about justice in the here and now (we know this is not true) as he thinks that even the earthly judges are at least sometimes more just than our heavenly judge. Job finds it unjust that the wicked seem to have a "good" life while the righteous suffer and both come to the same end of death where they both seem to have equal outcomes, but do they? Is the eternal outcome of the wicked and the righteous the same? What Job is missing is that God does not want anyone to die in their sins, but that's exactly what would happen if He gave everyone the full measure of the wrath that they deserved for their sin, because sin against an infinitely good and holy God deserves an infinitely severe punishment. God also wants His justice to be executed without question as to a person's innocence or guilt. On the day that the books are opened to judge both the living and the dead, everyone will agree on the righteous judgment of God that each person being condemned stands guilty as charged. In that day, we will receive ultimate justice and receive our rewards, either for the righteousness that comes through Christ or the unrighteousness that comes through Adam. Job says he already knows his friends will say, "Show me such a man," acting as if they don't believe this hypothetical situation actually exists. But Job argues all they need to do is get up and travel a bit to the nearby areas of the world or listen to the testimony of those who travel to the other parts of the world (this again makes me think that he's talking about the Canaanites that seemed to live nearby to him since he probably lived on the east side of the Jordan River and the area on the west side of the Jordan River was full of wickedness and corruption--think of Sodom and Gomorrah as this is probably what's on his mind). Job said that this is so evident that the only answer they could use to argue against this would be lies and they need not say anything more. Do you think that will stop them from arguing? Do you think that they will finally realize that Job's argument is with God and not really with man and that they have no cause to be a part of this debate? Do you think God will finally answer Job and speak for Himself and justify Himself to avail Himself of the charges that Job brings before Him? How will God respond to Job's accusations? Who ultimately wins the challenge between God and Satan (that's an answer we should all already know the answer to)? Keep coming back to find out as we are actually at about the halfway point of the book right now, but the time of arguments for Job and his three friends is just about over. Zophar Speaks: The Wicked Will Suffer 20 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. 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.” We see Zophar again dip back into mysticism a bit when he says that he hears "a spirit" answer him to tell him what to say, but which spirit? Was this the Spirit of God (the Holy Spirit)? We are told as the Church to "test the spirits" in 1 John 4 because every spirit which glorifies Jesus as both Christ as Lord is of God, but every spirit which does not glorify Jesus Christ, the Lord is not of God. Do not confuse "glorify" with giving verbal ascent to, because the demons knew when they were in the presence of their Creator and reacted out of fear and referred to Jesus with the proper title, but this is not what I mean. The function of the Holy Spirit is to make Christ the center and focal point of everything in the same way that the Son's role while here on earth was not to glorify Himself, but to glorify the Father. With that said, do we see an argument here from Zophar that truly glorifies God by speaking correctly of His invisible attributes or do we see an answer full of the wisdom of the world that comes from the evil one and is opposed to the things of God and his nature? It may even sound "good," but what is the end of this logic, to draw Zophar and other men into redemption and God's gospel, or a system of self-righteousness and trying to please God through our works and be "good enough" to earn God's favor? Job has argued the former throughout the book where his friends have argued the later throughout the book. Let's see where Zophar goes this time and where this "spirit" leads him.
Zophar argues that God always punishes those who celebrate wickedness and He does so swiftly, but was that the case? Did God immediately bring about the full curse on Adam and Eve the moment they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? If so, the entire human race would have died there without redemption and there would have been two human souls along with many demons in hell, and it would appear as if God was neither good enough nor powerful enough to do anything about sin. In a sense Satan would get to claim victory that the image-bearers of God and the creation God made were not so good after all, but God patiently waited hundreds of years before man did what was evil, always, all the time, and every thought and intention of his heart was evil before He decided to send the Flood--but even in this, God still saved Noah and his family. God then had every right to destroy Canaan for his sin after the Flood and knowing the wickedness that would come from his lineage and corrupt the nations, but God graciously confused the languages of the world to make it harder for this corruption to spread and waited hundreds of more years for the sin of Canaan to come to its fullness before judging them during the Exodus (though we saw the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as examples before then). Remember though, these men are living around the time of Abraham, so they have not yet seen this--but they should understand that the Lord is slow to anger. While He does not let the wicked go unpunished, He certainly is not waiting to zap you every time you mess up. Zophar argues that the life of the one who rebels against God will be short and full of pain and that all the blessings that were perceived to come to the righteous (children, land, good health, etc) would be taken away from such a man--again, he's claiming he knows this is what's happening to Job. The wicked man does not get to enjoy his riches and God gives such a man a sour outlook on life and anxiety and stress to make those things that should appear to be blessings to have a sour taste as bad food that someone vomits up when they get food poisoning. Zophar argues that such a man will not enjoy the rich blessings of God or enjoy the fruit of his labor. Zophar answers that such a man would be full of greed and covetousness and would desire to horde wealth and cling to his material possessions but in seeking to control his stuff, his stuff will control him and he will have no peace. Zophar argues that such a man will be at constant war with everyone and that God and man will rise up in testimony against such a man in the final judgment and that God will consume the man's possessions with his wrath and that will be his portion and eternal reward (justice) for such a man as this. Okay, so we hinted at this already, and Job is probably going to, in typical fashion, respond to this in the next chapter. Is this the ultimate end of the ungodly? In some ways Zophar gets it right that God uses their greed against them to make that which is good taste sour to them and their lives are full of anxiety over that which they cannot control. It is a lot to try to play God and keep the whole world in your hands--a weight for too heave for any man. While we do see from Romans 1 that God eventually allows man to harden his heart to the point where God reaches a breaking point and hardens the heart of such a man and gives him over to strong delusions and lets him experience the just rewards of his wickedness, God takes no pleasure in having to do this and desires for all men to come to repentance and to believe the gospel. God would have much rather poured out His wrath on His Son on the cross than to pour out His wrath on you and me. While typically not the version that I use for my blogs, I like how the KJV translates the word often translates as "mercy" or "kindness" or sometimes "patience" in the Old Testament as "longsuffering." Here are some examples from both the Old Testament and New Testament. Exodus 34:6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Numbers 14:18 The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation. Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? So this is mostly what Zophar gets wrong, not that God will judge such a person but that God desires to do so and God's intent in doing so. If you're studying along with us in The Gospel Project, then you should have a pretty good idea about the nature of God and how He has from the beginning had His mind set on the gospel and the redemption of mankind--something He set out to do before He even spoke the world into existence. Indeed, Job was correct last chapter to call God his Redeemer. Job Replies: My Redeemer Lives 19 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 once again tells his friends that their argument has no standing because first of all there is no hidden sin in his life as they accuse him of and his maladies and the circumstances he's in alone do not justify their remarks. Next he said that even if he did continue in some sin that the sin would be something he would have to live with and he would know he was under God's condemnation and that alone would be punishment enough, but that it would be God and not man that should correct him in such a situation--they have not been wronged and should stop acting like God's attorneys, because He doesn't need any (and they are doing a lousy job at defending God anyways).
Job then turns his attention to God and says that God has committed violence against him. Job has cried out for justice, but none has been given. Job feels like God has laid a trap for him, ensnared him and left him to die, and he feels like God has made him his adversary (enemy). Then Job recounts some things that we probably have assumed to this point, but have not heard him say specifically--all of Job's friends and family have abandoned him during this time with the exception of these three "friends" who are as bad as enemies. Job's employees (his servants) will have nothing to do with him. His wife will not get close to him and even his own siblings have deserted him. I'll stop here to say that probably all this is real, but it's very true that sometimes people in the depths of depression perceive that they are abandoned even though they have not been. Their mind does not remember the people that are there for them and the time that they spend with them. I've been on both sides of this being the person that shut myself away from others and then complaining that no one came to me and the one who came close to someone trying to shut everyone out only to continue to hear that "no one cares about me" when I was sitting right there with the person. I don't know Job's situation or state of mind here but can speak from my experiences that if you are the depressed person you need to do your best to continue to allow access for the people that care most about you--it won't matter how you look or how your house looks or that you have no energy or that it will be hard for you to want to do anything with them. They will understand that you don't want to go out at first, but maybe a good friend will even force you to have a good meat, a goon night's sleep, some good exercise, and/or a day of something fun and enjoyable surrounded by people that love and care for you that you forgot about. If you are that person who has been shut out, don't give up on the depressed person. Start off slow and just sit with them and listen to them. Pray with them and get their attention focused on God and off of their problems. Don't minimize what they are feeling, but help them see that truth is not determined by what we feel. Read the Psalms with them as David shows us how to grieve and mourn, yet always come back to who God, what He has done and the hope that we have in Him. Try not to blame the person for how they feel or tell them to "snap out of it" or "pull themselves up by their bootstraps" or anything like that. Encourage them to get professional help if they need to, but be careful about recommending that they go to secular counselors who won't weight the spiritual side of things or pastors who may not be trained in the physiological side of things. The best advice I can give personally is to see help from a Christian counselor and a medical professional. Go to the counselor for the emotional issues and for help with putting your life back together and dealing with the issues that are the trigger, and sometimes something like a support group may be helpful and it is best if the help you get from that support group is centered in the Word of God and focuses on the God that we worship and praise even in the midst of the storms of life--there is something amazing about turning your eyes to God and praising Him even when you don't feel like it that makes everything else feel small in comparison when you focus on Him alone. That said, do not ignore the physiological component that we can now do something about that probably wasn't available to Job. We understand more, but still don't understand a lot, about brain chemistry and neurotransmitters and how how they play a role in depression. The problem is that the feelings we describe as depression can be a symptom of may different kinds of problems and they all need to be diagnosed and treated differently. Just giving someone anti-depressants may actually harm them and not help them in some situations--for instance, if the issue has been caused by a traumatic brain injury that is causing the chemical imbalance. I'll get back to the text shortly, but one thing that I will say here is to not let the person that is depressed self-medicate with drugs or alcohol. This is a vicious cycle as even the things that help you feel "up" will face the law of diminishing returns and will actually make the "lows" feel "lower" and people have to continue to take the drugs to feel well. Those who turn to depressants like alcohol to "numb" the pain and suffering end up making their situation worse as these drugs can intensify the issues related to depression. Also, you should never mix any anti-depressants with alcohol or "recreational" drugs and should even be careful with taking over-the-counter medications with them as some things will hurt the effectiveness of those medication or may actually intensify them and give you too strong of a dose. This is why I was saying it's important to not just talk to friends or counselors, but to try to bring in a medical professional into the conversation--especially if you are taking medications for other conditions as well that your counselor may not know about or ask about. Okay, moving back to the book of Job, we are about to get into the most important thing that Job says in this passage. I encourage you to keep reading his remarks to his friends, but I want to jump ahead to verse 23 and spend some time focusing on verse 25. Job wishes that his words were written down in a book for all people of all times to remember (well, that happened as we're reading his words and his story today--probably thanks to the friend who has been silent for so long but will speak in a bit--Elihu). Job then makes a profound statement that seems to come out of nowhere, "For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth." What are we to make of this? Well, we know that Job is prophetically talking about Jesus here, but what makes Job's mind turn from the desertion of his friends and family and his pain and suffering to this thought? I honestly don't know, but isn't it interesting that Jesus faced all this and more during His life here? He was completely innocent and yet was over and over again accused of being a law breaker. He was surrounded by "bad" things that happened to Him and His friends that his enemies and so-called friends pointed to as evidence that He could not be who He said He was, because if He was really the Son of God, then He could keep these bad things from happening to Himself and others. He lost His cousin and one of His best friends in ministry, John the Baptist, and His friend Lazarus, and He had many people reject Him and walk away from Him. He was bruised, beaten, scorned and mocked, and left to hang on a cross to bleed out, for the sun to bake Him and for the birds to eat His flesh. His enemies rejoiced at His suffering and continued to mock Him, even making fun of his name which means "Savior" to say "He said He could save others, but He cannot even save Himself," and to jeer Him and say "If you are the Son of God, come down off of the cross," and all this was done at the hand of God, so the story of Job and the story of Jesus are very much alike in that we see both fingered by God to say "Have you considered this one? There is none like him." to the devil and the devil was insistent on trying to make both of them trip up, but Jesus succeeded where Job would not, and Jesus would willingly go through all of this without reviling God so that He could take the wrath that we deserved. He would purchase our pardon with His blood and be our Kinsman Redeemer (we'll talk more about that in the book of Ruth and possibly in the book of Deuteronomy when we get there). But Job doesn't just talk about God being our Redeemer, He seems to understand that God will come down to Earth to accomplish this redemption. Could it be that Job understood something of penal substitutionary atonement even at this point in history? Is it really possible that this man that seemed to be filled with wisdom and given the gift of prophecy at some points by the Holy Spirit could have understood that redemption from sin was the biggest issue at hand and that only God could solve that issue and that His answer (which He gave in the book of Genesis) was for "the seed of the woman" to crush the head of the serpent and that maybe, just, maybe, Job understood that this Messiah would have to be God in the flesh for this to work because no one else could be perfect to be able to be the substitute for the sins of all mankind? It is possible, but even if Job didn't understand all of that at the time that he made the statement, we can understand all of that now as part of what the Holy Spirit was speaking through Job here. As we sit on this side of the cross we can look back to the Old Testament and see that there has been a "scarlet thread" running through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation where everything looks forward or back to the gospel of Jesus Christ and its work in the hearts and minds of God's people to change them into the people that He has called them to be and to be citizens fit for His kingdom--a kingdom that will have no end under the authority of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's a lot to say about that one verse, but there's even more that Job says here as we wrap up. Job seems certain that there will be a day of reckoning where all men will stand before their Creator as their Judge. There is no escape from this, even in death, but yet Job says that He knows he will see God "in his flesh" presuming that Job understands that after death, he will receive a new body. That's something that we even see the early Church confused about and even many today. Yes, God will give us a body like the Resurrection body of Christ--we will not simply be non-corporeal spiritual beings floating around on the clouds. We will see God and stand before Him in the flesh on that day, and our hearts will "faint" as Job says here either with joy--I think that's the emotion that Job is trying to convey here--or they will melt in fear as we stand before the Righteous Judge that we have lived in rebellion against for our entire lives. He then seems to return to talking directly to his friends saying that we do not seek after God--no God is the one who hunts us down! And, it is true what Job says that "The root of the matter is found in Him." It is sufficient for us know the gospel and to let it change us and to know God and enjoy Him forever. Truly this is the "root of the matter" and the chief end of man. But how can we worship that which we do not know? We cannot, and God must reveal Himself to us through His Word--through the Law, and the books of History, and the Prophets of the Old Testament and also through the Gospels, the history of the early Church in the book of Acts, the Epistles and the book of Revelation in the New Testament. On top of this, we know Him by what He has done in and through us. We should not be so quick though to wish for death to relieve someone's pain. That seems to be Job's final remark here as "It is appointed man once to die and after that, the judgment." Job seems to be telling his friends that he is ready to stand before God as Judge, but he's not so sure that they are (though he doesn't go to the level of accusations that they have made against him). Do you think they will understand what he says and heed his wisdom or do you think they will be angered by it or do you think they will miss it completely and not even look at themselves and turn their fury back against Job while ignoring their own needs? We'll see next time when Zophar speaks. We're nearly half-way through the book of Job now. Tomorrow's statement from Zophar and then Job's reply to it will wrap up this "round" of arguments and there will only be one more "round" after that (or so it would seem, but not everything has been said that that point). Job will give a long closing argument after which Elihu will finally speak and rebuke Job's three friends. We haven't heard from Elihu at all and it is safe to assume from what he says that he stayed silent because he was the youngest, and we might also assume that he was there taking notes and might possibly be the author of the book. He will speak uninterrupted by Job or any of Job's friends. After this, God Himself will speak and challenge Job to the debate that he said that he wanted with God, but Job will speak only to say how foolish he was to challenge God--not good enough though, because the correct response would be to stand in silence and not speak at all, so God makes another round of argument and finally Job is humbled to the point where he covers his mouth and does not speak. God will then turn His attention to Job's friends and correct them and restore to Job everything that he has lost. I know it's going to take us a while to get there--we probably finish up in about 3 weeks as there are 42 chapters in Job and we're about to start chapter 20 tomorrow and there will be a day or two where we cover 2 chapters at once because one of the participants will make a long argument. Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked 18 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.” Bildad feels compelled to respond to Job to say that Job is the one that should be quiet and should think before speaking and that his friends are not as foolish or ignorant as Job thinks, and he should listen to them and ponder what they have to say. Then Bildad adds that the thing thing that Job is asking for is like asking for the Earth to be forsaken or the foundations of the Earth to be moved (we don't simply move planets out of their orbit because we want to). To Bildad, the petitions of Job sound just as ludicrous.
Then Bildad once again repeats what he knows to be true (and I can see most everyone there in agreement)--God seems to punish the wicked, darken their hearts and minds and snuff out their life at an early age. Once again thought, Bildad seems to go from general to specific and try to put some things in there that he "knows" that apply specifically to Job, such as God touching a man's skin with disease and killing the man's children and losing house and home and all that belongs to him. Clearly Bildad thinks he knows that Job is the wicked man that God is punishing and that he knows how God is choosing to punish Job. That's seems pretty arrogant. Bildad even goes so far as to say that all going on in Job's life is proof that it is Job who does not know God. Bildad seems to lack any humility here in the way he is throwing stones (a reference to "let he who is without sin cast the first stone"). He presumes to know the mind and heart of God and Job, yet he doesn't even seem to understand his own mind and heart. How could he be so wrong? Well, first is the fact that we have a lot more revelation of who God is now through the Bible and especially through seeing Jesus, God in the flesh. However, even we have issues today with people falsely representing God and being bad spokesmen and even being false teachers and false prophets. Bildad along with Eliphaz and Zophar seem to think that there is some issue with asking God questions. They would rather assume they know all the facts and ask nothing--probably because they don't believe in a God who would answer them or they don't think they need answers because they believe in a God of their own creation and know exactly what he's like because he's exactly like them--or at least what they created. While Job understands that the mind of God is untraceable and unknowable for natural man, he has some understanding that God wants to reveal who He is to us and the best person to know the identity, nature and character of God is God Himself, and He's also the only one that can answer the question of "Why?" that sometimes we need to ask--though He often times doesn't answer it the way we want as we'll see later in this book. Many times He just reminds us of who He is and that we just need to trust Him and He doesn't explain Himself, but He doesn't get offended by the question, but He might ask us why we would ever doubt. Job Continues: Where Then Is My Hope? 17 “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 has now gone on to full on despair and hopelessness. He has gone from saying that death is near to saying that it is imminent and he is not even sure that his soul will be at peace in death, because all of his enemies will still live and continue to curse his name and speak lies about him long after he is dead.
Job only wants this from his friends--that they will at least stop people from tarnishing Job's name and reputation in death. Even if they don't understand, that they will not let the wicked triumph, and that they will keep the greedy vultures away from his property. The thing is though, I think he's talking about what he thinks these friends will do when he's dead and gone. He thinks they can't wait to divide the spoils of his estate now that he has no living heir (whichever marries his wife would probably take over what was left of the estate, though it is in shambles after the disasters that Job has faced). It seems Job has come to think very little of these friends. Job then continues to be vexed by how things that seem to be impossible still happen such as light and darkness existing so close together. The light should drive out the darkness. And there seems to be a lack of wisdom, even among those who have had a long life (like his friends)--we know from the Bible that's the natural result of a godless culture--wisdom begins with the fear of the LORD. Job had been putting some hope in death before, but now he's not even sure that will help because he knows that injustice will still exist and maybe even thrive after his death. Even in death he may have to deal with those who mock and revile him if his friends end up in Sheol with him and there is a common end for the righteous and the unrighteous, and it weighs heavily on Job's heart that God apparently lets injustice happen in the here and now even though Job knows that God will ultimately judge all mankind in the final judgment. Is that enough though? Is that consistent with God's nature and character? We'll continue to see Job's friends emphasize that "God punishes the wicked" as we continue but Job, like David and many others will say that he sees the righteous suffer and the wicked go unpunished. This is one of the fundamental questions that we must ask ourselves. The only answer I can come up with is that if God punished all sin fully and swiftly then none of us would survive. Adam and Eve would have dropped dead as soon as they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and we would have never experienced or known God's plan of redemption and forgiveness nor of his grace and mercy nor of his patience and kindness that lead us to repentance. We cannot just focus on one attribute of God at the exclusion of all others. Likewise we make a mistake when we try to form a God that is so loving and merciful and patient and forgiving that He is unjust and permits all sin to go unpunished or we make God out to be a liar and say that what He promised as the punishment for our sin isn't really so and that we won't spend an eternity in the lake of fire along with the devil and his angels but will simply be annihilated (this is one of the false teachings that is still popular at the time that I'm writing this article). God will not let the sin go unpunished, but in a way that is both consistent with his justice and mercy, He made a way for His Son, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, to become sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God. it is for this reason that we will one day be able to enter God's Sabbath rest. For a while we may still ask "How long Lord will you let the wicked go unpunished?" (See Revelation 6:10) Revelation 6:9-11 English Standard Version9 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 10 They cried out with a loud voice, “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then they were each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves had been. One day all sin will be punished whether on the cross or in the lake of fire, but it will be our choice as to if we wish for God's Son to pay for our sin as only He can or if we will spend an eternity trying to pay for it ourselves and never making any headway (like the man thrown in debtor's prison until he can pay off everything he owes). You see, even in death, those souls will continue to curse God and continue to sin so there be an infinite amount of sin leading to an infinite confinement in hell because they have chosen to never repent (and God has chosen to never let them repent after death)--"It is appointed to man once to die and after that the judgment." Job Replies: Miserable Comforters Are You 16 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 is upset that once again his "friends" have made accusations against him instead of remaining silent as he requested. He asks them if their "wind" had no end to it and what he had said to them that would provoke them to answer--Job had only challenged God and asked God to answer him, not these men, and they certainly are not answering as prophets of God (though they may think they are).
Job then says that he too could use his words to wound or to heal them if he desired, but none of that will change the way that he feels and the pain he is going through. The only conversation he needs to have right now is with God. God has worn him out and pushed him to his limit of what his is physically, emotionally, and mentally able to endure. He feels he has experienced the wrath of God and the scorn of men. There is no escape and Job feels like he is constantly in mourning, suffering and pain--though Job still persistently pleads his case that he is innocent. Job then gets a little morbid and looks forward to death as a relief from this anguish, but he cries out to the earth to remember his innocent blood. But then again, Job makes an interesting statement--"My witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high." He has just charged God with pouring out His wrath on Job unjustly, so who is this witness that Job says is in heaven that will plead his case to God for Him? We know that it is none other than Christ, but is it possible that Job understood that? Most likely not, but the Spirit seems to give Job this understanding that God will let Job's case be heard and there will be one who sees and will open the books and be a fair and righteous Judge, and He will not let the guilty go unpunished, but He will also defend the innocent. All Job can conclude is that he doesn't have much longer to live--at most a few years if God wishes to continue to drag this out, but there will be a day very soon when he will "depart" and never return. Job's hope is that somehow in death he will receive the peace and justice that he did not receive in this moment (and maybe even that he would be surrounded by better friends). |
Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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