Second Round of Speeches

Go ahead and open up to Job 15 this morning. We are going to dive into the text pretty quickly this morning because we have a herculean task in front of us.

Let’s remind you of what has taken place up to this point.

When the book opened, we met Job and his family. He is a righteous man who loves God and loves his family. He is also a man of great wealth.

God allowed Satan to attack Job, and in rapid succession, he lost all ten of his children, his wealth, and eventually even his own health.

The Bible says that in all these things, though, Job did not sin.

His three friends—Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar—show up and simply sit with their friend while he mourns these staggering loses.

After seven days, Job starts speaking out of his pain and his anguish.

In response, Job’s friends begin to weigh in on his condition. In a series of three rounds of speeches, Job and his friends go back and forth.

We finished the first round of speeches last week, and this week, we are going to summarize the entire next round of speeches.

That means we are going to cover chapters 15-21 this morning. We are going to jump around a bit, so I would leave your Bible open so you can flip back and forth as we go through this morning.

There is a lot to talk about in these chapters, but if I was going to put one particular theme on it, I would have to summarize them this way:

Address suffering with truth.

If you have been here for our previous messages, you have heard us already talk about this some.

When we looked at chapters 8-10, we talked about the danger of allowing our emotions to determine what is true.

We have seen throughout these speeches that Job’s so-called friends are misapplying truth because they have been viewing God through the lens of retribution theology.

Retribution theology boils down to an understanding of God that says if bad things happened to you, it is because God is punishing you for messing up.

Job’s friends are taking general truths about how God deals with sin and applying them to the specific situation Job is in, and they are wrong.

They were right that God rewards righteousness and punishes sin, but they were wrong in assuming that always happens in this life and that bad things happening were a result of Job’s sin.

As we dive into this next round of speeches, we are going to see all three friends dig in and make the same arguments a second time.

What they say is going to be pretty similar, so we are going to talk about all three of their speeches first, and then we are going to dive deeper into Job’s responses.

Through all of that, we are going to see what we learn about God.

Let’s start where our section starts, and that is with Job’s friends talking again.

When we look at all three speeches, we draw out this lesson:

1) When comforting, make sure what you say is accurate.

In each of the three speeches, the friends start off by rebuking Job and talking about how smart they are.

Those introductions get shorter each time as they dig their heels in and demand that they are correct.

After they finish getting onto Job, they go into great detail about what happens to wicked people.

When they paint the picture of the punishment God metes out on wicked people, it becomes crystal clear that they are still saying that the reason Job is suffering is because he has sinned.

We aren’t going to read all of their speeches, but let’s look at the first 6 verses of chapter 15…

Eliphaz rebukes Job and says that he is full of hot air.

He claims that it is actually Job’s sin that is causing him to lie about what is going on.

He is going to go on to say that the wisdom they are sharing is the wisdom of the ancients and Job has no right to question it.

At no point does Eliphaz slow down enough to acknowledge that maybe he is missing something.

Jump over to Bildad’s speech in chapter 18 to see him dig in on this same concept. Read 18:1-4.

Again, he makes it clear that he thinks Job is an idiot for disagreeing with him.

Do you see some irony in verse 3? The friends get mad at Job for questioning their wisdom, which means they are doing the exact same thing to him!

Zophar doesn’t even attempt to address Job; he just launches into his tirade.

After telling Job how wrong he is, each of the friends spends time talking about what happens to wicked people.

This is where we see them double down again on the idea of retribution theology.

Go back to Eliphaz’s speech in 15:17-24.

He is painting a picture of wicked people: they are ruthless, they live in constant fear and pain.

Their downfall will be sudden and severe.

He has to know what he is doing when he starts describing the downfall of the wicked in 15:27-30…

Does any of that sound familiar? Houses becoming rubble, wealth being taken away…that’s what happened to Job, isn’t it?

Here’s how one commentator summed up Eliphaz’s approach:

“Eliphaz is so intent on winning the argument with Job that he does not consider that maybe his counsel to Job is wrong. Even if Eliphaz is correct in his view of the situation, instead of digging in his heels he could have tried to change his approach to Job.” (Richard P. Belcher, Jr.)

*1

Bildad and Zophar’s speeches sound very similar to Eliphaz’s, with each asserting that the wicked live in fear and everything they have will be destroyed.

When you put them all together, you see that, according to Job’s three friends, wicked people live in constant fear of the sudden downfall that results from their ruthlessness and greediness.

In their mind, it means that Job obviously must be one of these wicked, ruthless, greedy men who God strikes down at the height of his success.

How cruel is it to look at a man who considers you his friend, who has loved his family and his God well and walked in integrity, and be so caught up in your assumption of what is going on that you pile more and more accusations on him?

It’s no wonder that Job responded to them the way he did!

First, he is frustrated with them digging in over and over again the same way.

Look at 16:1-5.

He is pleading with them, “You guys are terrible at this. Why do you keep saying the same things over and over again? I could say the same thing you say if I was in your shoes.”

But look at verse 5…here is a great reminder for us as we seek to comfort others. Seek to encourage, not to tear down.

Remember, when we are comforting others, we are must make sure what we are saying is accurate.

As we have said throughout this series, Job’s friends aren’t completely wrong. God does punish wickedness and sin and does reward righteousness.

However, they are wrong in a few different areas:

They assume that all suffering is a result of sin and all blessing is a result of righteousness. That’s that mix of retribution and prosperity theology we have mentioned, and it is just not accurate. Job’s sin was not the cause of his suffering.

They also assume that God works on the same timeline we do. Yes, ultimately, God will judge the wicked and reward the righteous. However, it doesn’t always happen in this life.

That second truth is where they are so wrong in this round of speeches.

You might have picked upon it.

They say that wicked people live in terror and their memories will be erased and that everything they have will be taken from them.

Is that true, though?

I bet we could all list historical figures we know who didn’t follow Christ and who seemed to die after living healthy, charmed, influential lives.

That’s where Job goes in his final response in this round. Look at 21:7-13.

There are times when we see a wicked person’s empire they built fall apart and crumble, but there are other times when they seem to do just fine.

They seem secure and that “no rod from God strikes them.”

In fact, he says something that sounds very much like the book of Ecclesiastes. (21:23-26)

Some people die after easy, healthy lives. Others struggle their entire lives.

Ultimately, both die. How can you then assert that either suffering or prosperity is an indicator of a person’s standing before God?

Retribution theology isn’t just incorrectly applied here to Job; it is simply wrong!

That’s what Job says at the end of 21:34…

Even if I had sinned, you still can’t guarantee that life would get better if I were righteous.

Ultimately, those matters are up to God and God alone.

What does that mean for us as comforters?

We need to be sure we are accurately assessing the situation at hand. While we don’t want to give false comfort, we also don’t want to pile on false guilt or shame.

Don’t assume you have all the answers and know everything that is going on.

Job’s friends were miserable comforters—let’s not be the same.

What about when we are the ones suffering?

What does this section tell us?

2) When suffering, ground your frustration in truth.

Okay, so now we know what isn’t true—Suffering isn’t always a result of sin, and righteousness doesn’t always make this life easier.

What is true, then?

Job is wrestling with this throughout his responses to his friends’ speeches.

We’ve already looked at some of his third reply, so let’s go back to chapter 16 to pick back up with his other replies.

Listen to Job’s painful descriptions in 16:6-11.

He is worn out from his suffering and cannot understand why this has happened.

And yet, there is a turn in 16:18-22.

In the middle of his disorientation and pain, Job reminds himself and us that his friends do not have the final say on Job’s integrity.

He knows that he has an advocate in heaven, someone who sees what has happened and knows what is true and right.

Job grounds himself in the truth that someone out there knows what is true and will vindicate him.

Who is the one who will vindicate him? Given the context, God himself is the one who will vindicate Job.

Didn’t he just accuse God of doing all these things, though? And now he believes God will be his advocate?

Belcher comments,

“There are times when Job sees God as his enemy, but there are increasing instances where Job responds with confidence that he will be vindicated by God. Job is…affirming genuine confidence in God regardless of the way it appears God is treating him.” (Belcher)

*2

Right after that confident statement, Job dives back into lament.

Job is going to do the same thing in chapter 19.

He starts by mourning his situation and begging for his friends to lay off since he is already going through enough.

Right after that, he utters some of the most hope-filled words in the book.

Read 19:23-27…

Let’s slow down here a minute.

Remember, Job has been resting in the reality that he has someone in heaven who will ultimately vindicate him.

Here, he is bringing that back up.

The Redeemer Job is looking for to vindicate him is one that lives forever. He is both alive during Job’s day and will be alive after Job is dead and gone.

The only person who fits that description is God himself!

This Redeemer would stand “on the dust,” which likely refers to Job’s hope that he would be vindicated after his own death. The Redeemer would stand on Job’s grave and declare him righteous.

Not only that, Job is certain he will see his Redeemer, likely after his death.

Do you see his confidence—”I am going to see God, and I am going to look on him as one I know and I love.”

There is some question about the last phrase—He may be saying that he is longing for the time when he will stand before God or he may be saying that his heart is getting tired of holding onto that hope.

Either way, we see that in the midst of the pain and suffering and confusion Job is going through, he is still bringing his heart back to what he knows is true about God.

When we suffer, we need to do the same thing. We can be honest with God about out hurt and confusion and all of that, but we must take time to ground our frustration is what is true about who God is and what he has done.

Even as his friends become more and more accusatory, Job grabs hold of the fact that the God he knows and has served for so many years will one day vindicate him.

Job knows he is going to see him, and he is holding onto that truth with the last strength he has.

What does this teach us about who God is?

Well, we know more than Job did, so for us:

3) In everything, rest in the work of Christ.

Job didn’t know the beauty of what he was saying in these verses.

He knew that God would one day redeem and vindicate those who are his, and he knew he would see God face to face one day after his death.

However, he didn’t know what exactly what that was going to look like, but the Holy Spirit who inspired these words sure did.

Like all of us, Job was born with a heart turned inward and away from God. He chose to do what he wanted instead of what God wanted, and the Bible calls that sin.

Job didn’t just need to be proven innocent in regards to his suffering; he needed to be redeemed from his sin.

The way God would accomplish that was by sending Jesus to live a perfect life.

Like Job, Jesus was falsely accused of wrongdoing and was handed over to wicked people.

Unlike Job, though, Jesus had no sin, so when Jesus died on the cross, it was to redeem you and me from sin.

Not only that, but Jesus rose from the dead and now lives and rules and reigns from heaven.

Our Redeemer lives! He did walk on the dust, he took our death upon himself, and now he will save and redeem any who come to him.

In joy, he calls us to turn from trying to vindicate ourselves and surrender to him, accepting his gift of life and committing to follow him all our days.

No matter what this life holds, we rest on the finished work of Christ on our behalf.

When suffering hits, we hold tightly to the fact that God showed has forever proven his love for us by sending Jesus to the cross.

Instead of heaping on guilt and shame, we point our suffering friends back to the work Jesus has done on their behalf to remind them of his goodness and help them find hope again.

That’s the truth!

When we are suffering, we run to Christ for comfort and then we show that comfort to others.

Where do you find yourself this morning?

Are you suffering? Turn to Christ.

Are you helping someone who is suffering? Turn to Christ.

Are you trying to live life on your own? Turn to Christ.

Endnotes:

Belcher, Richard P. Job: The Mystery of Suffering and God’s Sovereignty. 97.

Belcher, 106.