The Journey of a Lifetime Job

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The Really Big idea

Notes

Augustine noted, “ Trust the past to the mercy of God, the present to His love, and the future to His providence.”

The foundational fact about Job is that he feared God… (Job 28:28;)

Warren Wiersbe, noted, To fear the Lord means to respect who He is, what He says, and what He does. It is not the cringing fear of a slave before his master but the loving reverence of a child before a father, a respect that leads to obedience.” ( Wiersbe: Logos,)

Oswald Chambers, “ The remarkable thing about fearing God, is that when you fear God, you fear nothing else, whereas if you do not fear God you fear everything else.”

His character noted as perfect: translated perfect, related to integrity (Job 2:3, 9; 27:5; 31:6; People with integrity are whole persons, without hypocrisy, or duplicity.

Interesting: God found no fault in Job, but Satan did. Satan as the adversary, questioned Job’s integrity. There was nothing in Job’s life that compelled God to cause him to suffer, but Satan said guilty— he is the accuser of God’s people, (Rev. 12:10) Satan’s attack on Job really an attack on God. “The only reason Job fears you is because you pay him to do it. You two have made a contract. You protect him and prosper him as long as he obeys you and worships you. You are not a God worthy of worship. You have to pay people to honor you.” (pg. 16)

But the fundamental reason for Job’s suffering was to silence the blasphemous accusations of Satan and prove that a man would honor God even though he had lost everything. It was a battle “in the heavenlies” (Eph. 6:12), but Job did not know it.

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

For one thing, they cared enough for Job to travel a long distance to visit him. And when they commiserated with him, they didn’t sit in a comfortable home or hospital room: they sat with him on the ash heap, surrounded by refuse. Because their grief was so great, they couldn’t speak for seven days. (Of course, they made up for their silence afterward.) In fact, their expression of grief was like mourning for the death of a great person (Gen. 50:10).

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

You will be spending a good deal of time with Job’s three friends, so you had better get acquainted with them.

All three of the men were old (Job 32:6), older than Job (15:10), but we assume that Eliphaz was the oldest. He is named first (2:11), he spoke first, and the Lord seems to have accepted him as the elder member of the trio (42:7). He was associated with Teman, a place known for its wisdom (Jer. 49:7). Eliphaz based his speeches on two things: his own observations of life (“I have seen”—Job 4:8; 5:3, 27, NASB), and a frightening personal experience he had one night (4:12–21). Eliphaz put great faith in tradition (15:18–19), and the God he worshiped was an inflexible Lawgiver. “Who ever perished being innocent?” he asked (4:7); and a host of martyrs could have answered, “We have!” (And what about our Lord Jesus Christ?) Eliphaz had a rigid theology that left little or no room for the grace of God.

Bildad must have been the second oldest of the three since he is named second and spoke after Eliphaz. In a word, Bildad was a legalist. His life-text was, “Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will He help the evildoers” (8:20). He could quote ancient proverbs and, like Eliphaz, he had great respect for tradition. For some reason, Bildad was sure that Job’s children died because they also were sinners (v. 4). The man seemed to have no feeling for his hurting friend.

Zophar was the youngest of the three and surely the most dogmatic. He speaks like a schoolmaster addressing a group of ignorant freshmen. “Know this!” is his unfeeling approach (11:6; 20:4). He is merciless and tells Job that God was giving him far less than he deserved for his sins! (11:6) His key text is, “Knowest thou not this of old … that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?” (20:4–5) Interestingly enough, Zophar speaks to Job only twice. Either he decided he was unable to answer Job’s arguments or felt that it was a waste of time trying to help Job.

All three 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, and the God they tried to defend was small enough to be understood and explained. These men perfectly illustrate Dorothy Sayers’ statement, “There’s nothing you can’t prove if your outlook is only sufficiently limited.”

Why would three men speak to their friend as these men spoke to Job? Why were they so angry? There is a hint of an answer in Job’s words, “Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid” (6:21, NIV). The three men were afraid that the same calamities would come to them! Therefore, they had to defend their basic premise that God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. As long as they were “righteous,” nothing evil could happen to them in this life.

Fear and anger often go together. By maintaining his integrity and refusing to say he had sinned, Job undermined the theology of his friends and robbed them of their peace and confidence; and this made them angry. God used Job to destroy their shallow theology and challenge them to go deeper into the heart and mind of God. Alas, they preferred the superficial and safe to the profound and mysterious.

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have many disciples today. Whenever you meet a person who feels compelled to explain everything, who has a pat answer for every question and a fixed formula for solving every problem, you are back at the ash heap with Job’s three friends. When that happens, remember the words of the Swiss psychologist, Paul Tournier:

We are nearly always longing for an easy religion, easy to understand and easy to follow; a religion with no mystery, no insoluble problems, no snags; a religion that would allow us to escape from our miserable human condition; a religion in which contact with God spares us all strife, all uncertainty, all suffering and all doubt; in short, a religion without the Cross. (Reflections [New York: Harper & Row, 1976], 142)

We wonder how Job’s three friends would have explained the Cross to the two Emmaus disciples! (Luke 24:13ff)

Now, let’s listen in on the first round of speeches.

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Alas, they preferred the superficial and safe to the profound and mysterious.

Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have many disciples today. Whenever you meet a person who feels compelled to explain everything, who has a pat answer for every question and a fixed formula for solving every problem, you are back at the ash heap with Job’s three friends. When that happens, remember the words of the Swiss psychologist, Paul Tournier:

We are nearly always longing for an easy religion, easy to understand and easy to follow; a religion with no mystery, no insoluble problems, no snags; a religion that would allow us to escape from our miserable human condition; a religion in which contact with God spares us all strife, all uncertainty, all suffering and all doubt; in short, a religion without the Cross. (Reflections [New York: Harper & Row, 1976], 142)

We wonder how Job’s three friends would have explained the Cross to the two Emmaus disciples! (Luke 24:13ff)

Now, let’s listen in on the first round of speeches.

TWO

JOB 4–7

“But what Satan could not do with all his Sabeans, and all his Chaldeans, and all his winds from the wilderness to help him, that he soon did with the debating approaches and the controversial assaults of Eliphaz, and Zophar, and Bildad, and Elihu. Oh, the unmitigtable curse of controversy!”

Alexander Whyte

The Discussion Begins

The three friends were silent for seven days (Job 2:13), and Job later wished they had stayed that way (Job 13:5). “Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered [Job].” But what did he answer? The pain in Job’s heart? No, he answered the words from Job’s lips; and this was a mistake. 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 heart with love. Yes, you must speak the truth; but be sure to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

The three friends were silent for seven days (Job 2:13), and Job later wished they had stayed that way (13:5). “Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered [Job].” But what did he answer? The pain in Job’s heart? No, he answered the words from Job’s lips; and this was a mistake. 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 heart with love. Yes, you must speak the truth; but be sure to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

1. Eliphaz’s rebuke (Job 4–5)

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Never underestimate the power of words to encourage people in the battles of life. James Moffatt translates Job 4:4, “Your words have kept men on their feet.” 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.

His accusation (Job 4:5–11). Eliphaz then moved into his accusation. Job could “give it,” but he couldn’t “take it”! He could tell others how to handle their trials; but when trials came to his life, he didn’t practice what he preached. “Is not your reverence your confidence?” asked Eliphaz. “And the integrity of your ways your hope?” (v. 6, NKJV) If Job is living a godly life, Eliphaz argues, then he has nothing to fear; because God always blesses the righteous and judges the wicked.

This is the basic premise of all three friends: Do what is right, and things will go well for you; do what is wrong, and God will send judgment. That judgment may sometimes be gradual, like the growing of a crop for harvest (v. 8); or it may be sudden, like the coming of a storm or the attack of a lion (vv. 9–11). But you can be sure that judgment will come; for God is a righteous Judge.

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

interesting—

Job responded with two passionate appeals. First, he appealed to his three friends that they might show more understanding and sympathy (Job 6). Then he appealed to God, that He would consider his plight and lighten his sufferings before he died (Job 7).

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Hopelessness can lead to a feeling of uselessness; and when you feel useless, you don’t want to live. This explains why Job wanted God to take his life (3:20–23; 6:8–9; 7:15–16; 10:18–19; 14:13). Job didn’t attempt this himself, for he knew that suicide was wrong; but he prayed that God might take him out of his misery. Job’s friends were healthy and comfortable and didn’t know the burden of waking up each morning to another day of suffering.

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Job made two requests of his friends: “Teach me” (v. 24) and “Look upon me” (v. 28). He didn’t need accusation; he needed illumination! But they wouldn’t even look him in the face and behold his plight. Physically, the three men were sitting with Job on the ash heap; but emotionally, they were like the priest and Levite, passing by “on the other side” (Luke 10:30–37).

Wiersbe, Warren W. 1996. Be Patient. “Be” Commentary Series. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.