So far, in our reading of Job, we have seen that Job “was blameless
and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil.” (Job 1:1) In
chapters one and two, we have also seen how God allows Satan to test Job with
various trials. C.S. Lewis once summarized Satan’s role this way: “Satan is
without doubt nothing else than a hammer in the hand of a benevolent and severe
God. For all, either willingly or unwillingly, do the will of God: Judas and
Satan as tools or instruments, John and Peter as sons.”[1]
At the end of chapter two, we see Job’s friends (Eliphaz the Temanite,
Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite) gathering to comfort and console
Job. They act very wisely at first. “They sat with him on the ground seven days
and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his
suffering was very great.” (Job 2:13) This is, I believe, most often, the best
thing we can do for those who are suffering: not say anything, but simply be
with them. The ministry of presence is far more important and valuable than the
ministry of words in times of suffering.
In chapter three, we see Job cursing the day of his birth because of
the extremity of his suffering. This leads, in chapters four and five, to a
response from Eliphaz the Temanite. It is a very eloquent response. It contains
an oft-quoted verse of Scripture, “But human beings are born to trouble just as
sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:7) The problem with Eliphaz’s speech is that he
assumes Job is suffering because of some wrongdoing. He says, “How happy is the
one whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the
Almighty.” (Job 5:17) However, this is a faulty assumption. The book of Job
shows us that suffering does not always come as a punishment from God.
Sometimes suffering is just suffering, with seemingly no rhyme or reason from
the human perspective. One thing we know for certain in this case, because we
are told so in chapter one: Job is righteous. Therefore, his suffering is not a
punishment from God.
In chapter six, Job speaks in response to Eliphaz. Whereas Eliphaz has
said, “Surely vexation kills the fool,” (Job 5:2), Job wishes that his vexation
were weighed and all his calamity laid in the balance. (Job 6:2) In other
words, Job believes his vexation is appropriate to the calamity he has endured.
Job wishes that God would crush him, that God would end his life before he
denies the words of the Lord. At least then, Job believes he will die with a
righteous record. Job asks all those who hear him to check and see if there is
any wrong on his tongue. (Job 6:30)
Another one of Job’s friends, Bildad the Shuhite (the shortest man in
the Bible!) responds in chapter eight. Bildad clearly finds fault with Job’s
words for he asks, “How long will you say these things, and the words of your
mouth be a great wind?” It does not seem exactly helpful or compassionate to
call one who is suffering “a great windbag,” but there you have it. As has
often been said, “With friends like this, who needs enemies?”
Bildad, like Eliphaz before him, expresses himself with great
eloquence. Basically he says that we cannot know the ways of God “for we are
but of yesterday, and we know nothing, for our days on earth are but a shadow.”
(Job 8:9) However, of this one thing Bildad is sure: “God will not reject the
blameless person.”
The problem with the speeches of both Eliphaz and Bildad is that they
speak general truths, in fact, they echo the psalms and proverbs of Scripture,
but they do not speak truth appropriately applied to Job’s situation. We need
to beware of doing the same thing as these two “friends,” especially when we
seek to minister to those who are suffering.
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