Sermon Tone Analysis
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Prayer
Cross-Less Wisdom
“Religious Wisdom”
Unless our wisdom keeps Christ at the center, it will be harsh, uncharitable, extremely burdensome, and ultimately is vanity.
When we think about Job’s friends, it’s important to start off by explaining several assumptions.
Initial Assumptions
Antitypical
“Negative Example”
Like every story, we will read the dialogues back and forth with Job and we will subtly place ourself in the position of Job.
We will modestly place ourself in the place of the one being accused.
And truly that may be the situation for us.
But we also need to see that like most Hebrew poetry, these friends actually should be viewed as us as well.
They act as a warning of how we shouldn’t give wisdom to others.
Prophetic
“They Point Beyond Themselves”
These friends are not simply pointing to themselves.
They are NOT simply giving us how to be a good friend guide.
They are pointing beyond themselves.
We will cover this later on…
Eliphaz
“Who Was He?”
He is the first one of Job’s friends to talk.
This likely meant that Eliphaz was the eldest (wisest) of Job’s friends.
He is referred to as a “Temanite” in chapter 2, which was a city of Edom.
Though it doesn’t seem like it, he speaks with kindness and courtesy toward Job.
Of all the friends, Eliphaz speaks as a Theologian.
He is neither pushy nor aggressive toward him.
Though he is a sweet “older man” to Job.
This does not mean his counsel was sweet or helpful.
Eliphaz’s error lies in the content of what he believes, not so much in the way he expresses it.
Eliphaz is going to give Job three different pleas, and we will look at them in turn...
Plea From Tradition
“How The World Works”
Request for a Listening Ear
“Will You Hear?” (4:1-2)
He asks Job, “will it be too much for you?” (NET Bible Note)
Eliphaz is kindly beginning to speak.
Knowing that Job has just been through the wringer, kindly begins to enter in.
Appeal to Learn
“Let Me Instruct You” (4:3-6)
Eliphaz’s initial point to Job is that he was once a counselor to many people in the land.
People who were once of “weak hands”, that is hands hanging down
People who were once of “feeble knees”, that is like one who is carrying a heavy load
He was once a man who provided counsel to others, and now he is the one who needs to be counseled.
What is interesting to note is that Job and Eliphaz have started with the same world-view.
Eliphaz even appeals to Job that this is the advice that Job would have given to Eliphaz.
He appeals that if the “shoe was on the other foot” Job would respond in the same way.
He is appealing to the fact that they have both counseled others..
In verse 6, he gives a more robust worldview..
Eliphaz is pleading with Job to remember the convictions they have both held to in the past.
His appeal is that God rewards the pious people with blessing.
“You know that God rewards those who sow good things”
“You know the universe is not in chaos, there is a moral order to things”
“God gives good things to good people.”
Eliphaz is not doubting that Job fears the Lord, but he is encouraging him to live out what he has told others.
He is urging him to apply to himself what he has so many times applied to other people.
The crux of what Eliphaz is hinting toward comes in verse 7.
Eliphaz now gives his main point...
“You know that the righteous never perish.”
“You know that the wicked are the ones who are cut off”
“You know that ‘what you sow is what you reap’”
Retributive Justice
“The Grain of Life” (4:7-11)
Woodworking Illustration
We have phrases in our society like: Against the grain.
This come from working with wood.
Now life has a grain to it.
It has an order, that we can talk about in general terms, but there is a “grain” to life.
Proverbs has been called the book for common living.
Proverbs: Is with the grain
Ecclesiastes: Goes against the grain
Job: Is the knot in the tree
It is a “with the grain” kind of book.
The Righteous Prosper
It’s simple: if you walk in righteousness, then blessing will come.
If you walk in wickedness, then folly will be what you reap.
Now this is the grain of life, but not the end of the story.
Eliphaz takes this position, with no caveat....
Take for example Paul on the island of Malta.
Paul and his associates were journeying and they crashed on the island of Malta.
The people were kind to them until...
Why would these people have thought this?
The Wicked Suffer
Because they take a similar line of reasoning as Eliphaz.
Paul is reaping bad things, so he must have sown bad things.
Or take for example in John 9:1-2
So there is again the same underlying assumption as Eliphaz.
Here is someone who has experienced a bad situation, that means someone must have done something wrong for this to happen.
Now to be fair to Eliphaz, the Bible does teach what is called: Retributive Justice.
Which is the fact that the righteous will prosper and the wicked will suffer.
This is what is taught all over the Proverbs.
And this idea I would argue is what could be called going with the grain of life.
The grain of life is how God designed the world to operate.
But Job’s whole situation goes against the grain of life.
His situation moves in a different direction than how life normally operates.
And Eliphaz’s theology does not account for it!
Eliphaz now gives an example of those who do wicked receiving what they have sown.
What’s important to see here is that Eliphaz never directly accuses Job of this, he merely implies it.
“[Wink, wink, nudge, nudge] I’m talking about you here...”
What Eliphaz does not understand though is when the retributive justice will come to pass.
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