So far we have covered the narrative prologue that tells about Job’s sudden hardship and his friend’s journey to comfort him. Job give a poetic lament over his pain and calamity. Then each of Jobs friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite each give a speech and Job replies to each. This happens in three rounds, and we are currently st the end of the second round.
Instead of having a separate post for the rest of this second round of speeches, I am going to cover them here. As always, I have included the text from Job that I am discussing. This makes the post seem much longer than my analysis takes. Job is a long book and instead of repeating the arguments that they are discussing with each of these smaller speeches, I am going to cover them here.
Part of the point of Job to keep in mind is that this is poetry. The whole book is a long lament to feed the soul of those who are suffering and to counter the condemnation coming both from outside and inside one’s mind. Some times we experience Jobs friends in those we know and sometimes we are Job’s friend’s in our own internal dialogue. This massive work reflects this and points us back to faith in God.
Job 19
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
3 These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me.
4 And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
5 If indeed ye will magnify yourselves against me, and plead against me my reproach:
6 Know now that God hath overthrown me, and hath compassed me with his net.
7 Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.
8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
9 He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
10 He hath destroyed me on every side, and I am gone: and mine hope hath he removed like a tree.
11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
12 His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
13 He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
14 My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15 They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
16 I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
17 My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.
18 Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
19 All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20 My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21 Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22 Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 Oh that my words were now written! oh that they were printed in a book!
24 That they were graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock for ever!
25 For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth:
26 And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:
27 Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another; though my reins be consumed within me.
28 But ye should say, Why persecute we him, seeing the root of the matter is found in me?
29 Be ye afraid of the sword: for wrath bringeth the punishments of the sword, that ye may know there is a judgment.
This speech by Job is very much like the laments in the Psalms. There is a small portion of the beginning that is a direct response to Bildad from my previous post. Most of Job’s speech, though, is directed to God. Job lists his struggles, declares that no one remembers him, and declares that he still trusts in God. Even if God does nothing to change Job’s situation until after he dies, he still knows that God exists, is good, and will vindicate him. This is extraordinary faith!
Job 20
1 Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said,
2 Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.
3 I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer.
4 Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth,
5 That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
6 Though his excellency mount up to the heavens, and his head reach unto the clouds;
7 Yet he shall perish for ever like his own dung: they which have seen him shall say, Where is he?
8 He shall fly away as a dream, and shall not be found: yea, he shall be chased away as a vision of the night.
9 The eye also which saw him shall see him no more; neither shall his place any more behold him.
10 His children shall seek to please the poor, and his hands shall restore their goods.
11 His bones are full of the sin of his youth, which shall lie down with him in the dust.
12 Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue;
13 Though he spare it, and forsake it not; but keep it still within his mouth:
14 Yet his meat in his bowels is turned, it is the gall of asps within him.
15 He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.
16 He shall suck the poison of asps: the viper’s tongue shall slay him.
17 He shall not see the rivers, the floods, the brooks of honey and butter.
18 That which he laboured for shall he restore, and shall not swallow it down: according to his substance shall the restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein.
19 Because he hath oppressed and hath forsaken the poor; because he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not;
20 Surely he shall not feel quietness in his belly, he shall not save of that which he desired.
21 There shall none of his meat be left; therefore shall no man look for his goods.
22 In the fulness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits: every hand of the wicked shall come upon him.
23 When he is about to fill his belly, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him, and shall rain it upon him while he is eating.
24 He shall flee from the iron weapon, and the bow of steel shall strike him through.
25 It is drawn, and cometh out of the body; yea, the glittering sword cometh out of his gall: terrors are upon him.
26 All darkness shall be hid in his secret places: a fire not blown shall consume him; it shall go ill with him that is left in his tabernacle.
27 The heaven shall reveal his iniquity; and the earth shall rise up against him.
28 The increase of his house shall depart, and his goods shall flow away in the day of his wrath.
29 This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.
So yet again, Job is being accused of being proud and wicked. Zophar lists the bad things that happen to the wicked. More specifically, Zophar calls Job a hypocrite. Unlike Job, he does not express any interference by God other than the natural order and consequence inherent in the world. He is not moved by Job’s faith, but sees it as a show.
Job 21
1 But Job answered and said,
Job 2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
Job 3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
Job 4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
Job 5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
Job 6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
Job 7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
Job 8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
Job 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
Job 10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
Job 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
Job 12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
Job 13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
Job 14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
Job 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
Job 16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
Job 17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
Job 18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
Job 19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
Job 20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
Job 21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
Job 22 Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
Job 23 One dieth in his full strength, being wholly at ease and quiet.
Job 24 His breasts are full of milk, and his bones are moistened with marrow.
Job 25 And another dieth in the bitterness of his soul, and never eateth with pleasure.
Job 26 They shall lie down alike in the dust, and the worms shall cover them.
Job 27 Behold, I know your thoughts, and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me.
Job 28 For ye say, Where is the house of the prince? and where are the dwelling places of the wicked?
Job 29 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do ye not know their tokens,
Job 30 That the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction? they shall be brought forth to the day of wrath.
Job 31 Who shall declare his way to his face? and who shall repay him what he hath done?
Job 32 Yet shall he be brought to the grave, and shall remain in the tomb.
Job 33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable before him.
Job 34 How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood?
Job points out the main problem with Zophar’s assertion that the wicked gets punished and the righteous prosper. That problem is that sometimes the wicked prosper snd the righteous struggle. Job does agree that in the end, God God is a good judge and people are eventually rewarded or punished for there deeds, but you can’t just look at any moment of a person’s life and see if they are righteous or wicked by the circumstances they are in.
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8 (NIV) says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and
a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn
and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to
search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to
speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”
What Ecclesiastes is saying is that good and bad happens to everyone. It is part of the seasons of life. Just like both the diligent and lazy farmer experience rain and droughts, the righteous and wicked experiences good times and bad. We know that wise actions make the most of the good that happens and foolishness prolong to hard times, but this doesn’t mean that good people can avoid all pain.
Even so, we should not fear the future or loose hope in the present. God brings justice in this life and in the next. If we had no belief in God or in an eternal future, then events of life would seem random and futile. Yet we know God has a plan and a story. Everything happens with a purpose which leads to good, a good that will last for eternity. Through this volatile journey through our mortal life to our eternal life, we learn who God truly is and who we are. Hold on through the darkness, learn what is here to learn, and know, just like Job, the good will come!
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