Job 2:11–13 (ESV)
Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.
So, what did Job’s friends do right?
They sat with him for seven days without saying a word.
That’s a lot. Is seven days some kind of mourning ritual?
Presumably. It’s quite common in Judaism, even today.
So, how does that change?
Job breaks the ice with a great lamentation.
After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job said:
“Let the day perish on which I was born,
and the night that said,
‘A man is conceived.’ …“Why did I not die at birth,
come out from the womb and expire?
Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breasts, that I should nurse?
For then I would have lain down and been quiet;
I would have slept; then I would have been at rest, …“Why is light given to him who is in misery,
and life to the bitter in soul,
who long for death, but it comes not,
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures,
who rejoice exceedingly
and are glad when they find the grave? …
I am not at ease, nor am I quiet;
I have no rest, but trouble comes.” — Job 3:1, 11–13, 20–22, 26 (ESV)
So, that’s it; Job has cracked.
Actually, no. That comes a lot later.
This is too advanced of a topic for now, but lamentations like this are perfectly okay; they’re all over the Bible. I’ll get to that lesson in due time, but for now, let me just say that if you’re being honest with God, it’s okay to scream.
So, I guess we need 25 chapters of Job’s friends giving him advice to crack him.
Pretty much. Here’s the beginning of their very first response to Job’s lament.
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
“If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
Yet who can keep from speaking?
Behold, you have instructed many,
and you have strengthened the weak hands.
Your words have upheld him who was stumbling,
and you have made firm the feeble knees.
But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
it touches you, and you are dismayed.
Is not your fear of God your confidence,
and the integrity of your ways your hope?“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished?
Or where were the upright cut off?
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and sow trouble reap the same.” — Job 4:1–8 (ESV)
That’s just awful. Why is he even saying this?
Eliphaz is spouting a false theology that’s contradicted just by keeping your eyes open.
This is one of the key lessons of the book of Job. Bad things happen. Nowadays, innocent children can be struck down by stray bullets. Back then, wild animals could take you out at any moment. In every age, disease has been an uninvited killer. Yet Eliphaz says, “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?” It would be nice if this was true, but that doesn’t make it true.
And you can’t make something true by insisting, with all your might, that it is true. Eliphaz sounds like he’s trying to make something true by pronouncing it so. That doesn’t work.
This is kind of the overarching underpinnings of the whole book, isn’t it?
Yup, and on that mixed metaphor note, I’ll say goodbye until tomorrow.
