Bible 101 - Job Chapters 6-21

Presented January 23, 2006 by Phyllis Gilbert

Review: In Job 1, we were introduced to Job as a wealthy man - big family, big herds and flocks, abundant servants - a man who seemed to have it all. He was respected by the people of his area, consulted for advice; if he'd run for public office, he would have been elected in a landslide. Above all, God called him "my servant Job," and said of him, "he is blameless, upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." In short, God said, "there is no one on earth like him." What a resume! And then we watch as all that Job has is taken away. When his children are killed, his herds stolen, his servants taken as slaves or killed, he has to consider why he's alive and what's important. And though Satan tells God that if all his worldly possessions and all those who are dear to him are gone that Job will curse God, Job does not react that way. He continues to trust God, though he curses the day he was born. Satan is puzzled. But God's knowledge of Job is greater than Satan's - and, it turns out, much greater than that of his friends.

Job's friends: Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar hear of Job's suffering (for by now his health is gone, too), and come to "comfort him." Their dialogues with him consume chapters 3 through 27. Each offers his opinion about why Job is suffering and to each, Job replies.

Plan for study: We'll look at samples of each of these speeches and replies in the first and second of the three cycles of speeches tonight; next week, we'll finish all the dialogues and hear the monologues (ch. 22-37), and in the last week of our study, Feb. 6, we'll hear what God has to say to Job, Job's reply and finally, the epilogue of the book.

First cycle of speeches: We began last week with Eliphaz's speech. Eliphaz makes it clear that those who suffer are being punished by God, and if Job is suffering, it is because he's sinned. God rewards righteousness and punishes sin. That, to Eliphaz, is self-evident. What does Job say?

Job 6-7: Job acknowledges that his miserable state must be from God. Recall he says "the Lord gives, the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord." But he does not know why. As with many other human beings down through the ages, he asks "why me, God? What have I done that I'm being punished?" Remember Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof? "Do you have to love me so much, God," Tevye asks because if the Jews are the people God loves, and he as a Jew is suffering, it must be a sign that God loves him. Job, however, isn't seeing love here; he returns to his first lament: "I wish God would remove his hand of punishment and let me die." And then he turns to his "friends" saying that if he could count on their support, perhaps he could patiently endure his suffering. But they are no consolation to him. He's down, and all they can do is say "you've sinned, Job. Admit it." Job cries out to God "If I have sinned, what have I done?" He doesn't know what sin he's committed unconsciously; if he has, why hasn't God forgiven him since he's careful to repent and to offer sacrifices ? We can infer from this that Job has repented of all the sin he knows about in his life; this must be the "sins known and unknown," that we confess in the General Confession of Holy Eucharist. He asks God to act quickly before he dies.

Job 8: Bildad then speaks and his "comfort" is no better than that Eliphaz offered. Bildad has taken Job's words as a accusations against God, and so he defends God as just. He reasons much as Eliphaz has that God, who is just, would not punish a man for nothing; therefore, Job has sinned and if he confesses, God will restore him. "Surely God does not reject a blameless man," he says (v. 20).

Job 9-10: Job replies with more about God's greatness, mercy and justice. He doesn't deny these attributes of God. But he is puzzled: "How can I dispute with God?" He's convinced that God is too great and too far away to answer him, and so he returns to his lament over his "loathesome" life, asking God to be fair: "don't condemn me until you've told me what the charges are." In a legal sense, he's asking to be told why he's been arrested: "what's the charge? I've been convicted, sentenced to death, but I still don't know why I was arrested in the first place." Of course, Job speaks in much more eloquent poetry than a "Law and Order" suspect.

Job 11: Zophar's speech is an echo of the two friends who've already spoken. Job is undoubtedly miserable and afflicted; anyone can see that. But anyone who knows anything about God knows that sin is punished and goodness is not. Therefore, Job has sinned, and if he'd confess his sin, God would forgive him. "If you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear." (11:14-15). Zophar's advice is good advice for those who have sinned because God does hear us when we confess our sins (I John 1:9). But Job is getting weary of all this advice.

Job 12-15: "Doubtless you are the people and wisdom will die with you," he says in retort. "You know it all," he's saying. But then he reminds them that he's an intelligent man, too, and in essence, tells them their logic won't work in his case: "I'm blameless," he shouts (12:4), and he's tired of being the object of their jokes and derision. After all, he suggests, there may be other explanations for my plight than either you or I have discovered. Job reminds them that "God is wisdom," and as Isaiah tells us: "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isa. 55:8-9). In Job's time, in Isaiah's time in and our time, we make a big mistake when we forget that God is God and we're not. His ways, his mind, are far above ours. He sees the big picture; we see only the smallest particle of it. And Job reminds his critics that God is powerful; man cannot oppose or defeat God. He turns his friends' comments back on them: "If what you say is true, how would you respond to God's testing?" If they were tormented as Job is, had lost their wealth and families, would they be quiet if they were told they'd sinned - when they knew they had not? What Job really wants is a chance to talk with God and to hear God - not their lies and accusations (13:2-4), and he begs them to stop talking. He trusts God: "though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. . . " God is to be counted on; his friends are on thin ice talking of things they really don't understand. He tells them "Your maxims are proverbs of ashes." Job continues to ask God for an audience, and speaking in beautiful poetic phrases, he contrasts the frailty of man to the greatness of God.

Job 15: Eliphaz takes the podium again and accuses Job of paying no attention either to his friends or to God. Eliphaz agrees that God is greater than man, and for that reason, he suggests that Job has blasphemed God, and for that man, there's only death. He also says "What is man that he could be pure, or one born of woman that he could be righteous?" He then describes what an evil man can expect from God, and he does so in poetry; nevertheless, his words give Job no comfort.

Job 16-17: Now Job is angry: "I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all. Will your long-winded speeches never end?" Not only are they long, they're repetitious, and Job, who's already told them their equation is faulty (sinners are punished; he's obviously being punished, therefore he's sinned), has lost patience with them. Recall, he's asked them to be silent; in fact, their first seven days with him were spent in silence and perhaps were the best seven days of their visit. Job describes himself as a victim of both God and his friends: "God assails me and tears me in his anger; my opponent fastens on me his piercing eyes. Men open their mouths to jeer at me." He can't win. He asks God once again for an answer; his hope is running out.

Job 18: Bildad speaks again, and once more, repeats the refrain that the wicked are punished. If Job is blaspheming God, he'll be punished.

Job 19: Job has had it: "how long will you torment me with words?" and we can hear his despair. Poor Job has lost his family, his living, his health - and all his friends can do is provide a drum beat of "you're a sinner! You're a sinner," when what he needs is their prayer and their empathy; not once have they "felt his pain" or even asked him to tell them how he feels. "Treat me as a man who understands that I am a man and God is God," he pleads. And then he makes that wonderful statement of faith: "I know that my Redeemer lives and that in the end, he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him and with my own eyes." (19:25-27). Job, even in his pain and despair, can say "I yearn to see God and to be with him." He has not cursed God, nor has he lost his faith in God. And this finally is the crux of the matter: when tested, how do we react? Do we shout at God and then go elsewhere for answers? Or do we faithfully take God at his word? Paul tells us: "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Rom. 8:28).

Job 20: Zophar says nothing new; has he heard Job's lament? Has he taken to heart Job's desire to speak with God and to hear no more accusations from his friends?

Job 21: Job has heard the "wicked are punished" speech too many times, and he replies with his observations: "I've seen the wicked live on and prosper," he says. "God's rod is not on them." The three friends have said that Job's plight is evidence of some wickedness in his life. Their logic is straight forward, but Job says real life doesn't bear it out. The wicked DO prosper; the evil man lives just as long as a righteous man. Of course one day, God will punish the sinfulness of these men, but in the meantime, they're living a pretty good life. And so, he says, "How can you console me with your nonsense? Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood."

Next week: We'll finish the dialogues and hear from a 4^th friend, younger than the others, who speaks up because he can't keep silent any longer. Meanwhile, Job continues to suffer not only his losses, but the lack of sympathy of his friends.

Homework for those who want to go deeper:

Let's close in prayer.