Job's Three Friends

10/26/2011 9:44:53 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

                Today’s Spiritual Diary will be a bit different because there is something that needs to be written about before we procede with the next chapter of Job, and that is to understand a bit more about the three men who came to visit Job after all of the things that happened to him.  I mentioned yesterday that this was the way that I wanted to do this, and the reason is the Dr. Wiersbe took the time to give an account of these men in his commentary on Job, and also because it seems that this is a logical step in order to understand the book of Job.  I am going to do something the perhaps I have never done before when writing a Spiritual Diary, and that is copy what Dr. Wiersbe said in a section, that is all of it, however I believe that this is the best way to cover this important subject.

                “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 (Jeremiah49:7).  Eliphaz based his speeches on two things:  his own observation 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 rigid theology that left little 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 was 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 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 deferent 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 friends as these men spoke to Job?  Why were they so angry?  There is a hint of and 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 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, and uncertainty, all suffering and all doubts; in short, a religion without the Cross.’

                “We wonder how Job’s three friends would have explained the Cross to the two Emmaus disciples!  (Luke 24:13ff).  Let’s listen in on the first round of speeches.” 

10/26/2011 10:23:04 AM