Reading 9: The Second Entreaty by Eliphaz Job 15

 

15Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

² ‘Should the wise answer with windy knowledge,
   and fill themselves with the east wind?

Sarcastic reference to Job it seems.

³ Should they argue in unprofitable talk,
   or in words with which they can do no good?

He is dismissing what Job is trying to say in total.

⁴ But you are doing away with the fear of God,
   and hindering meditation before God.

The title of this section in the bible add notes is Job undermining religion.

⁵ For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
   and you choose the tongue of the crafty.

Job is dismissed as telling lies.

⁶ Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
   your own lips testify against you.

Eliphaz gives no credence to Job’s words, he is not listening.

⁷ ‘Are you the firstborn of the human race?
   Were you brought forth before the hills?

Interesting, not referring to him as Adam, but asking if Job has early creation wisdom

⁸ Have you listened in the council of God?
   And do you limit wisdom to yourself?

We had that council of God in opening of Job.

⁹ What do you know that we do not know?
   What do you understand that is not clear to us?

Is Eliphaz being sarcastic or does he truly wonder if Job knows something different?

¹⁰ The grey-haired and the aged are on our side,
   those older than your father.

In age, there is wisdom.

¹¹ Are the consolations of God too small for you,
   or the word that deals gently with you?

Is God not enough for Job? Again, this is all according to their notions of tragedy being punishment.

¹² Why does your heart carry you away,
   and why do your eyes flash,

He sees arrogance in Job and is trying to call him on it.

¹³ so that you turn your spirit against God,
   and let such words go out of your mouth?

Job is turned away from the way of God.

¹⁴ What are mortals, that they can be clean?
   Or those born of woman, that they can be righteous?

This seems to be a recognition of the sinful condition of everyone before God.

¹⁵ God puts no trust even in his holy ones,
   and the heavens are not clean in his sight;

Something of a reverse compliment on the perfection of God.

¹⁶ how much less one who is abominable and corrupt,
   one who drinks iniquity like water!

If heaven is not good enough, so much less is Job in what he is saying.

¹⁷ ‘I will show you; listen to me;
   what I have seen I will declare—

Now that Job has been ‘put in his place’, Eliphaz will proceed to the ‘truth’ once more.

¹⁸ what sages have told,
   and their ancestors have not hidden,

He turns to the wisdom of the ages of experience in God as his authority.

¹⁹ to whom alone the land was given,
   and no stranger passed among them.

These sages are from land blessed especially by God, adding to their authority.

²⁰ The wicked writhe in pain all their days,
   through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.

The wicked writhe in pain, Job writhes in pain, therefore Job is wicked.

²¹ Terrifying sounds are in their ears;
   in prosperity the destroyer will come upon them.

Like Job, they are on the receiving end of God’s destructive power.

²² They despair of returning from darkness,
   and they are destined for the sword.

Like Job, they despair from seeing the goodness of God.

²³ They wander abroad for bread, saying, “Where is it?”
   They know that a day of darkness is ready at hand;

They know their punishment is coming.
²⁴ distress and anguish terrify them;
   they prevail against them, like a king prepared for battle.

The wicked see the destruction that Job sees.
²⁵ Because they stretched out their hands against God,
   and bid defiance to the Almighty,

They see it because they turned against God-therefore Job has too.

²⁶ running stubbornly against him
   with a thick-bossed shield;

They are stubborn in their wickedness, as Job is.

²⁷ because they have covered their faces with their fat,
   and gathered fat upon their loins,

They hide in their own arrogance? As Job is.

²⁸ they will live in desolate cities,
   in houses that no one should inhabit,
   houses destined to become heaps of ruins;

They will be alone, as Job is.

²⁹ they will not be rich, and their wealth will not endure,
   nor will they strike root in the earth;

This is what Job has to look forward to, no return of blessing.

³⁰ they will not escape from darkness;
   the flame will dry up their shoots,
   and their blossom will be swept away by the wind.

There is no escape from God.

³¹ Let them not trust in emptiness, deceiving themselves;
   for emptiness will be their recompense.

Let them not trust, Eliphaz also means Job should not trust.

³² It will be paid in full before their time,
   and their branch will not be green.

God’s punishment will be fully worked out, for Job-he continues to sin in Eliphaz’ estimation.

³³ They will shake off their unripe grape, like the vine,
   and cast off their blossoms, like the olive tree.

The wicked will shake off any sense of guilt, as Job is doing.

³⁴ For the company of the godless is barren,
   and fire consumes the tents of bribery.

Because this is what happens to the evil-that which is happening to Job.

³⁵ They conceive mischief and bring forth evil
   and their heart prepares deceit.’

Therefore, this is what Job must be doing.

 

Eliphaz seems a little more tempered in his response to Job, a little less attacking in his tone. Yet he is convinced that Job is lying, or deceived, in all this protest of innocence. Because this is not how God acts. And to question God acting this way is to question the very nature of being in fear of the Lord. Job’s account of what is going on does not track with what faith tells Eliphaz what must be happening.

 

Pastor Peter

Reading 8: Job’s Reply to Zophar Job 12:1-14:22

 

Job’s replies seems to come in two sections. The first is one that replies to the words of his ‘friend’ in their entreaty. The second is Job returning from a response to making his own case before the Lord.

12Then Job answered:
² ‘No doubt you are the people,
   and wisdom will die with you.

Zophar makes a crack about Job essentially missing the secret wisdom of God, this sounds like Job cracking back at him-telling Zophar this ‘wisdom’ is human and therefore mortal.

³ But I have understanding as well as you;
   I am not inferior to you.
   Who does not know such things as these?

In other words, Zophar is treating Job like an uneducated individual, when Job is not.

⁴ I am a laughing-stock to my friends;
   I, who called upon God and he answered me,
   a just and blameless man, I am a laughing-stock.

Job recognizes that his friends do not believe him. He called on God, but they answered instead.

⁵ Those at ease have contempt for misfortune,
   but it is ready for those whose feet are unstable.

Job seems to be saying ‘it is easy for you to talk when you are not suffering’.

⁶ The tents of robbers are at peace,
   and those who provoke God are secure,
   who bring their god in their hands.

His friends seem to be accusing Job of being one of these robbers, these provokers, but in Job’s mind, even they have peace compared to his circumstances.

⁷ ‘But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
   the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
⁸ ask the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;
   and the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Job is appealing to the created life of God to be the witness to his circumstances, where there is not cause and effect, blessing and punishment, in the good and bad that happens?
⁹ Who among all these does not know
   that the hand of the Lord has done this?

It feels to me like there is a ‘circle of life’ thing here, everything gets eaten by something else-faces its own tragic circumstances.

¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every living thing
   and the breath of every human being.

God’s hands are behind all these circumstances, those that happen in nature and what has happened to Job, that this is not the punishment his friends presume, but ‘just’ tragedy.

¹¹ Does not the ear test words
   as the palate tastes food?
¹² Is wisdom with the aged,
   and understanding in length of days?

Job seems to be presenting with these metaphors to defend what he is saying against the accusations of his friends.

¹³ ‘With God are wisdom and strength;
   he has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴ If he tears down, no one can rebuild;
   if he shuts someone in, no one can open up.
¹⁵ If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
   if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
¹⁶ With him are strength and wisdom;
   the deceived and the deceiver are his.

Job is acknowledging the power of God, the power God has over all, that there is no reversing what God has done, unless God does it.

¹⁷ He leads counsellors away stripped,
   and makes fools of judges.
¹⁸ He looses the sash of kings,
   and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped,
   and overthrows the mighty.
²⁰ He deprives of speech those who are trusted,
   and takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹ He pours contempt on princes,
   and looses the belt of the strong.
²² He uncovers the deeps out of darkness,
   and brings deep darkness to light.
²³ He makes nations great, then destroys them;
   he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
²⁴ He strips understanding from the leaders of the earth,
   and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
²⁵ They grope in the dark without light;
   he makes them stagger like a drunkard.

Is Job here taking a swipe back at his friends? Demonstrating the power of God to bring the mighty low and the powerful to an end, so God is working among ‘the wisdom’ of his friends?

13‘Look, my eye has seen all this,
   my ear has heard and understood it.
² What you know, I also know;
   I am not inferior to you.

Again, Job claims the same knowledge and same understanding has his friends, that even in tragic circumstances, he is not lesser.

³ But I would speak to the Almighty,
   and I desire to argue my case with God.

As he has said before, Job wants to come to God in his tragic circumstances.

⁴ As for you, you whitewash with lies;
   all of you are worthless physicians.

His friends are not only unhelpful, but worse than useless because they do not listen to him.

⁵ If you would only keep silent,
   that would be your wisdom!

Politely asking them to shut up.

⁶ Hear now my reasoning,
   and listen to the pleadings of my lips.

Job just wants to be heard that they are not listening.

⁷ Will you speak falsely for God,
   and speak deceitfully for him?

Here is his counter accusation, that they speak for God, but it is a lie that they speak.

⁸ Will you show partiality towards him,
   will you plead the case for God?
⁹ Will it be well with you when he searches you out?
   Or can you deceive him, as one person deceives another?

Are they going to be able to deceive God and get away with their falsehoods in God’s name?

¹⁰ He will surely rebuke you
   if in secret you show partiality.
¹¹ Will not his majesty terrify you,
   and the dread of him fall upon you?

God is going to come back on them for their falsehoods.

¹² Your maxims are proverbs of ashes,
   your defenses are defenses of clay.

Their answers are essentially junk.

¹³ ‘Let me have silence, and I will speak,
   and let come on me what may.
¹⁴ I will take my flesh in my teeth,
   and put my life in my hand.

Job just wants them to listen and not judge.

¹⁵ See, he will kill me; I have no hope;
   but I will defend my ways to his face.

Job might die in the process, but he will do so in his innocence.

¹⁶ This will be my salvation,
   that the godless shall not come before him.

Job will be saved, not lumped in with the guilty as his friends presume he must be to receive this tragedy.

¹⁷ Listen carefully to my words,
   and let my declaration be in your ears.
¹⁸ I have indeed prepared my case;
   I know that I shall be vindicated.

Just listen, Job says, he knows he will be found innocent.

¹⁹ Who is there that will contend with me?
   For then I would be silent and die.

Contend with Job on the merits of his case, unlike his friends, who speak falsely in the Lord’s name.

²⁰ Only grant two things to me,
   then I will not hide myself from your face:

The point of view has changed, Job is now calling upon God.

²¹ withdraw your hand far from me,
   and do not let dread of you terrify me.

Again, he asks for God’s hand of tragedy and fear to be withdrawn.

²² Then call, and I will answer;
   or let me speak, and you reply to me.

Job wants to make his case before this silent Lord.

²³ How many are my iniquities and my sins?
   Make me know my transgression and my sin.

Job protests he has not deserved this punishment, but he is not so arrogant as to presume that he might be wrong. If he is, he seeks God to enlighten him on what he did wrong.

²⁴ Why do you hide your face,
   and count me as your enemy?

But Job’s deep sorrow seems to be that God is ignoring him in his pain.

²⁵ Will you frighten a windblown leaf
   and pursue dry chaff?

Job seems to be referring to himself in these metaphors.

²⁶ For you write bitter things against me,
   and make me reap the iniquities of my youth.
²⁷ You put my feet in the stocks,
   and watch all my paths;
   you set a bound to the soles of my feet.
²⁸ One wastes away like a rotten thing,
   like a garment that is moth-eaten.

This is poetic language of Job referring to what God has done to him in these tragic circumstances.

 

14‘A mortal, born of woman, few of days and full of trouble,
²   comes up like a flower and withers,
   flees like a shadow and does not last.

Reflection on the mortality of humans.

³ Do you fix your eyes on such a one?
   Do you bring me into judgement with you?

Why are you targeting me Lord?

⁴ Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean?
   No one can.
⁵ Since their days are determined,
   and the number of their months is known to you,
   and you have appointed the bounds that they cannot pass,
⁶ look away from them, and desist,
   that they may enjoy, like laborers, their days.

Job is asking the Lord to let up on the tragedy that God has inflicted upon him. Let him live in peace.

⁷ ‘For there is hope for a tree,
   if it is cut down, that it will sprout again,
   and that its shoots will not cease.

Job is seeking renewal from his tragedy, as a tree that has been cut down.

⁸ Though its root grows old in the earth,
   and its stump dies in the ground,
⁹ yet at the scent of water it will bud
   and put forth branches like a young plant.

Even if it looks as though it dies, it can renew-hope Job seeks.

¹⁰ But mortals die, and are laid low;
   humans expire, and where are they?

He hopes for it, but Job does not see this renewal in humans brought down.

¹¹ As waters fail from a lake,
   and a river wastes away and dries up,
¹² so mortals lie down and do not rise again;
   until the heavens are no more, they will not awake
   or be roused out of their sleep.

This seems to be a ‘pre-Christ’ understanding of life and death in God.

¹³ O that you would hide me in Sheol,
   that you would conceal me until your wrath is past,
   that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

But in God, Job seeks to be hidden by God in the place of the dead-Sheol-till this wrath passes by.

¹⁴ If mortals die, will they live again?
   All the days of my service I would wait
   until my release should come.

Release from the tragedy, not unto death.

¹⁵ You would call, and I would answer you;
   you would long for the work of your hands.
¹⁶ For then you would not number my steps,
   you would not keep watch over my sin;
¹⁷ my transgression would be sealed up in a bag,
   and you would cover over my iniquity.

Job is seeking renewal in the Lord, speaking in the language of Jesus covering our iniquities.

¹⁸ ‘But the mountain falls and crumbles away,
   and the rock is removed from its place;
¹⁹ the waters wear away the stones;
   the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;
   so you destroy the hope of mortals.

That is what Job hopes for, but he is only seeing, in his grief, the destruction of the Lord.

²⁰ You prevail for ever against them, and they pass away;
   you change their countenance, and send them away.

God is always overcoming.

²¹ Their children come to honor, and they do not know it;
   they are brought low, and it goes unnoticed.

Someone punished, like himself, could have God bring his children to honor, but Job will not know what is to come.

²² They feel only the pain of their own bodies,
   and mourn only for themselves.’

Job is focused into the mourning of his own tragic circumstances.

 

Job transitions in his entreaty from Zophar to the Lord. He is not above mocking back at his friend, calling him out on presuming that Job does not know how things are ‘supposed’ to work. What seems to pain Job is not that he has these tragic circumstances, but that God is silent among their outpourings on his life. He seeks renewal, he seems something.

If there is a common theme among these entreaties of his friends, it is this presupposition that tragedy must be punishment and Job must have done something to deserve it.

Pastor Peter

Reading 7: Zophar’s First Entreaty Job 11:1-20

11Then Zophar the Naamathite answered:

So begins the third of Job’s friends ‘come to comfort him’.

² ‘Should a multitude of words go unanswered,
   and should one full of talk be vindicated?

No introduction, Zophar appears to be going at Job’s extended soliloquy without a word of comfort.

³ Should your babble put others to silence,
   and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

He disparages what Job has said, calling it babbling, claiming Job is mocking them with his protests of innocence, as though to forestall a reaction from his friends.

⁴ For you say, “My conduct is pure,
   and I am clean in God’s sight.”

“You say”, Job presenting unsubstantiated testimony to Zophar.

⁵ But O that God would speak,
   and open his lips to you,

But Zophar wants God to have a go at Job with what Zophar perceives as reality.

⁶ and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!
   For wisdom is many-sided.
Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

Zophar seems to think that God has been merciful upon Job, that Job’s guilt, compounded by his ‘protests of innocence’, deserve more of a divine punishment.

⁷ ‘Can you find out the deep things of God?
   Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

This is a recurrent theme about God in Job, that God’s limits far beyond human understanding.

⁸ It is higher than heaven—what can you do?
   Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

We might equate this to heaven and hell in New Testament terms, but the dichotomy of being with God or being with the Devil are not as defined here as yet. Heaven is God’s abode, Sheol is the place of the dead. A fully realized sense of resurrection comes in Jesus.

⁹ Its measure is longer than the earth,
   and broader than the sea.

Continuing to measure the power of God beyond the limits of creation.

¹⁰ If he passes through, and imprisons,
   and assembles for judgement, who can hinder him?

There is no opposing the will and testament of the Lord.

¹¹ For he knows those who are worthless;
   when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

Seems to be a barb here, God knows the evil doer and will consider it, right Job? (implying he is the worthless doer of iniquity)

¹² But a stupid person will get understanding,
   when a wild ass is born human.

Again, this seems to be an insult aimed at Job.

¹³ ‘If you direct your heart rightly,
   you will stretch out your hands towards him.

The call is for Job to confess, to ‘direct his heart rightly’.

¹⁴ If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,
   and do not let wickedness reside in your tents.

Job has but to confess and put his sin away from himself.

¹⁵ Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish;
   you will be secure, and will not fear.

At that point, the Lord will forgive and Job’s life will be restored.

¹⁶ You will forget your misery;
   you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

In that repentance, all this pain shall go away, forgotten.

¹⁷ And your life will be brighter than the noonday;
   its darkness will be like the morning.

This is what Job has to look forward to.

¹⁸ And you will have confidence, because there is hope;
   you will be protected and take your rest in safety.

This is the presupposition of what God does for the faithful.

¹⁹ You will lie down, and no one will make you afraid;
   many will entreat your favor.

It is a call of Job’s return to the time when he was a man of importance.

²⁰ But the eyes of the wicked will fail;
   all way of escape will be lost to them,
   and their hope is to breathe their last.’

But Zophar ends with a warning. He presumes that Job is wrong, lying about not having a reason for God’s punishment. He preaches the need of repentance, but ends by reminding Job what will happen if Job does not.

 

So Zophar seems to be reacting to what Job has already said. There is no consideration of the merits of Job’s words. He is just wrong. End of discussion. All that matters now is for Job to understand the consequences of his error and the possibility of his restoration if he confesses.  It is the same presupposition of good and evil that all three friends have.

 

Pastor Peter

Reading 6: Job’s Reply to Bildad Job 9:1-10:22

 Job's response is in two parts. The first, chapter 9, is directed back against Bildad's speech. The second part, chapter 10, is Job returning to his own grief and pain. 

9Then Job answered:
² ‘Indeed I know that this is so;
   but how can a mortal be just before God?

Bildad is giving Job nothing he does not already know, that the good are blessed before the Lord and the wicked are punished, he knows the argument.

³ If one wished to contend with him,
   one could not answer him once in a thousand.
⁴ He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength
—who has resisted him, and succeeded?—
⁵ he who removes mountains, and they do not know it,
   when he overturns them in his anger;
⁶ who shakes the earth out of its place,
   and its pillars tremble;
⁷ who commands the sun, and it does not rise;
   who seals up the stars;
⁸ who alone stretched out the heavens
   and trampled the waves of the Sea;
⁹ who made the Bear and Orion,
   the Pleiades and the chambers of the south;
¹⁰ who does great things beyond understanding,
   and marvelous things without number.

This is a litany of the power of God, a poetic reflection on the powers that God manifests in creation. The Bear and Orion and the Pleiades are all astrological references that God will return to in Job 38, along with other parallels of what Job recognizes in God.

¹¹ Look, he passes by me, and I do not see him;
   he moves on, but I do not perceive him.
¹² He snatches away; who can stop him?
   Who will say to him, “What are you doing?”

Job admits his powerlessness before God.

¹³ ‘God will not turn back his anger;
   the helpers of Rahab bowed beneath him.
¹⁴ How then can I answer him,
   choosing my words with him?
¹⁵ Though I am innocent, I cannot answer him;
   I must appeal for mercy to my accuser.

Here Job defies the assumption of his friends. He claims innocence. There is no answer to a crime to give to the Lord, there is only a cry for mercy-for it to stop.

¹⁶ If I summoned him and he answered me,
   I do not believe that he would listen to my voice.
¹⁷ For he crushes me with a tempest,
   and multiplies my wounds without cause;
¹⁸ he will not let me get my breath,
   but fills me with bitterness.

Job does not even believe he can receive a fair hearing from the Lord, not with this apparent punishment dealt unjustly.

¹⁹ If it is a contest of strength, he is the strong one!
   If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
²⁰ Though I am innocent, my own mouth would condemn me;
   though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse.
²¹ I am blameless; I do not know myself;
   I loathe my life.

From where Job is sitting, in an ash heap scratching his sores with a potsherd, he cannot see how the Lord would acknowledge his innocence.

²² It is all one; therefore I say,
   he destroys both the blameless and the wicked.
²³ When disaster brings sudden death,
   he mocks at the calamity of the innocent.
²⁴ The earth is given into the hand of the wicked;
   he covers the eyes of its judges—
   if it is not he, who then is it?

So from the point of view of tragedy as punishment, God punishes everyone without distinction, good and bad. Job does not see how, in all this, a fair hearing before the Lord can even exist.

²⁵ ‘My days are swifter than a runner;
   they flee away, they see no good.
²⁶ They go by like skiffs of reed,
   like an eagle swooping on the prey.
²⁷ If I say, “I will forget my complaint;
   I will put off my sad countenance and be of good cheer”,
²⁸ I become afraid of all my suffering,
   for I know you will not hold me innocent.

Job speaks of just ignoring the tragedy. His friends say that this must be punishment, but he knows it is not, for he is innocent. If he ignores it, will it go away? If he ignores it, he knows his friends will still think him guilty of something worthy of the punishment.

 
²⁹ I shall be condemned;
   why then do I labor in vain?
³⁰ If I wash myself with soap
   and cleanse my hands with lye,
³¹ yet you will plunge me into filth,
   and my own clothes will abhor me.
³² For he is not a mortal, as I am, that I might answer him,
   that we should come to trial together.
³³ There is no umpire between us,
   who might lay his hand on us both.

This attitude of ignoring it he takes from his friends and applies it to God, that there is no one who can make things equal between them.

³⁴ If he would take his rod away from me,
   and not let dread of him terrify me,
³⁵ then I would speak without fear of him,
   for I know I am not what I am thought to be.

If God took the tragedy, the punishment, away, Job says he could look God in the eye once more. Because he knows he is not guilty.

10‘I loathe my life;
   I will give free utterance to my complaint;
   I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

He turns away from the vain arguments from his friends. He is suffering and he gives vent to it once more.

² I will say to God, Do not condemn me;
   let me know why you contend against me.
³ Does it seem good to you to oppress,
   to despise the work of your hands
   and favor the schemes of the wicked?

In other words, if this is how God acts according to the presuppositions of his friends, God favors the wicked? This is Job trying to impose some kind of logic on what has happened.

⁴ Do you have eyes of flesh?
   Do you see as humans see?
⁵ Are your days like the days of mortals,
   or your years like human years,
⁶ that you seek out my iniquity
   and search for my sin,
⁷ although you know that I am not guilty,
   and there is no one to deliver out of your hand?

In other words, if God saw things like humans do, he would see no evil in Job to punish.

⁸ Your hands fashioned and made me;
   and now you turn and destroy me.
⁹ Remember that you fashioned me like clay;
   and will you turn me to dust again?
¹⁰ Did you not pour me out like milk
   and curdle me like cheese?
¹¹ You clothed me with skin and flesh,
   and knit me together with bones and sinews.
¹² You have granted me life and steadfast love,
   and your care has preserved my spirit.

Job is looking at God as his creator, as the one it has been his delight to be faithful to.

¹³ Yet these things you hid in your heart;
   I know that this was your purpose.
¹⁴ If I sin, you watch me,
   and do not acquit me of my iniquity.
¹⁵ If I am wicked, woe to me!
   If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head,
for I am filled with disgrace
   and look upon my affliction.
¹⁶ Bold as a lion you hunt me;
   you repeat your exploits against me.
¹⁷ You renew your witnesses against me,
   and increase your vexation towards me;
   you bring fresh troops against me.

Despite his knowledge that God is good, he cannot make sense of why God is doing this to him.

¹⁸ ‘Why did you bring me forth from the womb?
   Would that I had died before any eye had seen me,
¹⁹ and were as though I had not been,
   carried from the womb to the grave.
²⁰ Are not the days of my life few?
   Let me alone, that I may find a little comfort
²¹ before I go, never to return,
   to the land of gloom and deep darkness,
²² the land of gloom and chaos,
   where light is like darkness.’

Again, he is seeking death to relieve his suffering, but still hopes for some comfort from his God. He still has faith but everything that he thinks he knows about his faith has been taken from him.

Pastor Peter

 

Reading 5: The First Speech of Bildad Job 8:1-22

 8Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

Natural conversations do not normally take such regimented form, so it appears that Job has been written in a deliberate and likely accepted way of the time. And yet, this does not read like a philosophy discourse. There is an emotional component behind the words that are spoken, and emotional points of view that can be distinguished between the speakers.

² ‘How long will you say these things,
   and the words of your mouth be a great wind?

Eliphaz approached Job with something akin to respect, whereas Bildad seems to be deliberately provocative. The ‘great wind’ reference reminds me of Chicago, ‘The Windy City’. Some claim that it is due to the weather conditions off Lake Michigan. It is more likely a reference to the styles of political speeches in Chicago’s earlier history.

³ Does God pervert justice?
   Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

Again, right to the center of the matter. It is not simply questioning if God can be in error. Using the term ‘pervert’ is deliberately provocative.

⁴ If your children sinned against him,
   he delivered them into the power of their transgression.

Remember two pieces from the beginning of Job. The second is that all the children died together by natural disaster. But the first is that Job would sacrifice on their behalf ‘in case’ they’d done something against God. Bildad seems to indicate that they had, therefore they were killed as punishment.

⁵ If you will seek God
   and make supplication to the Almighty,

Again, the presupposition is that disaster is punishment, therefore the reply is repentance, confession.

⁶ if you are pure and upright,
   surely then he will rouse himself for you
   and restore to you your rightful place.

The blessings of God are implied to being on the proper behavior of those who have faith in God. Right behavior offers right reward.

⁷ Though your beginning was small,
   your latter days will be very great.

The notion seems to be one of incremental forgiveness. What we read at the end of Job defies this as there is a complete and rapid turn around of fortunes from the Lord.

⁸ ‘For inquire now of bygone generations,
   and consider what their ancestors have found;

In other words, this is the way things have always been done.

⁹ for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
   for our days on earth are but a shadow.

What can be learned in the very brief time that we have on earth?

¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you
   and utter words out of their understanding?

What we know of God comes from what we have already been taught by those who have lived before us.

¹¹ ‘Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
   Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
¹² While yet in flower and not cut down,
   they wither before any other plant.
¹³ Such are the paths of all who forget God;
   the hope of the godless shall perish.

It says in Psalms, “the grass withers, the flower fades, but God is forever.” The implication is that Job’s fortunes have faded, therefore he is as one who forgets God.

¹⁴ Their confidence is gossamer,
   a spider’s house their trust.
¹⁵ If one leans against its house, it will not stand;
   if one lays hold of it, it will not endure.

The modern cliché might be something like ‘those who live in glass houses should not throw stones’.

¹⁶ The wicked thrive before the sun,
   and their shoots spread over the garden.
¹⁷ Their roots twine around the stoneheap;
   they live among the rocks.
¹⁸ If they are destroyed from their place,
   then it will deny them, saying, “I have never seen you.”

I am reminded of Jesus’ parable of the seeds of faith that are sown. Birds get some, weeds get some, some hit good soil. Some fall among the rocks where they spring up quickly but the sun quickly beats them down for they have no roots. Bildad’s reference to the evil among the rocks is they too quickly wither.

¹⁹ See, these are their happy ways,
   and out of the earth still others will spring.

Is Bildad being ironic? The evil have their ‘happy ways’, where they wither while others, apparently more faithful, will spring from the earth. Or it could be that the evil are simply ignorant of their own destruction by the Lord, thus happy to the end.

²⁰ ‘See, God will not reject a blameless person,
   nor take the hand of evildoers.

In other words, God would not be doing this to you Job if you were blameless and not an evildoer.

²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
   and your lips with shouts of joy.

Thus, if Job repents, confesses his evil, he can still be made right with and blessed by God.

²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
   and the tent of the wicked will be no more.’

So, it is not simply that Job will be restored, but does it seem the enemies who destroyed his stuff will be shamed as the wicked are no more?

 

Eliphaz and Bildad share the same basic message, the presupposition that tragedy is punishment and God only punishes the guilty. Therefore, Job’s tragedy is punishment and the way out is by confessing to the Lord. But Bildad seems a lot more pointed, maybe sarcastic in his response to Job. Neither understands Job’s recalcitrance, that there might be another reason for the tragedies that have befallen. Again, they are more interested in trying to fix his behavior.

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Reading Four: Job 6:1-7:21 Job Responds to Eliphaz

             What Job is responding to is his friend implying that Job has missed the point of his suffering. That what has happened is punishment, because that is the presupposition of how things work. That if he wants to recover, Job has some repentance to get on with.

6Then Job answered: ²“O that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances!

So Eliphaz is implying Job is wrong in what he is saying, Job replies with, essentially, “Okey, lets consider all that has happened to me, lets put it out there.”

 ³For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash.

The question of balancing one’s life, makes me think of ancient Egypt, where the soul of the dead was measured against a feather (I do not understand the theological mechanics) but the point is there seems to be a balance between good and evil in the religious consideration. If Job were found to be a sinner, then his words would be rash-words cursing the day of his birth instead of seeking out what sin he committed.

 ⁴For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.

Job does not appear to be buying into what Eliphaz is saying, that this is punishment for something Job has yet not admitted. But he is admitting that these tragedies have befallen him from God.

 ⁵Does the wild ass bray over its grass, or the ox low over its fodder? ⁶Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any flavor in the juice of mallows? ⁷My appetite refuses to touch them; they are like food that is loathsome to me.

In the metaphors he uses here, Job appears to, after considering the explanation Eliphaz has proposed, reject that this is a result of his sinning. That there is nothing in the heart to repent.

⁸“O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; ⁹that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!

And Job continues with a variation of his initial outcry, that the Lord would crush him, cut him off even now and end the suffering.

 ¹⁰This would be my consolation; I would even exult in unrelenting pain; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Because in ending him, in crushing him, Job would die with his faith intact, that he has not done something against the Lord to deserve what has happened.

 ¹¹What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? ¹²Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? ¹³In truth I have no help in me, and any resource is driven from me.

But for Job, there is no word from God, there is no explanation, he is in lamentation because he has no strength to go on, but lives on anyway.

¹⁴“Those who withhold kindness from a friend forsake the fear of the Almighty.

It looks like Job speaks back against his friends. Eliphaz has not offered kindness to Job but supposes that he can diagnose Job’s spiritual troubles and fix the problem.

 ¹⁵My companions are treacherous like a torrent-bed, like freshets that pass away, ¹⁶that run dark with ice, turbid with melting snow. ¹⁷In time of heat they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place.

As snow disappears to liquid, then evaporates as the heat comes, so is the kindness of his friends. That is what I see in this metaphor.

 ¹⁸The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste, and perish. ¹⁹The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope. ²⁰They are disappointed because they were confident; they come there and are confounded. ²¹Such you have now become to me; you see my calamity, and are afraid.

He seems to be comparing his friends to caravans, hoping to come to him to make a profit (as traders seek to do) but instead, they have found his tragedy and they are confounded, afraid.

²²Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’? Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’? ²³Or, ‘Save me from an opponent’s hand’? Or, ‘Ransom me from the hand of oppressors’?

Job is not asking for intercession from his friends, not with God or anyone else.

 ²⁴“Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone wrong.

Eliphaz implies that Job has sinned, Job asks for them to show him how and where.

 ²⁵How forceful are honest words! But your reproof, what does it reprove? ²⁶Do you think that you can reprove words, as if the speech of the desperate were wind?

But Job has not done wrong, so the words of Eliphaz are empty.

 ²⁷You would even cast lots over the orphan, and bargain over your friend. ²⁸“But now, be pleased to look at me; for I will not lie to your face. ²⁹Turn, I pray, let no wrong be done. Turn now, my vindication is at stake. ³⁰Is there any wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern calamity?

Job is imploring his friends not to jump to conclusions, but to believe that this tragedy is without the trigger of Job having done something wrong to deserve it.

7“Do not human beings have a hard service on earth, and are not their days like the days of a laborer? ²Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like laborers who look for their wages, ³so I am allotted months of emptiness, and nights of misery are apportioned to me. ⁴When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I rise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing until dawn. ⁵My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out again. ⁶My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and come to their end without hope.

Without something to repent, without understanding what has gone wrong, without something to fix, Job just sees his life going on without break and without hope.

⁷“Remember that my life is a breath; my eye will never again see good. ⁸The eye that beholds me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall be gone. ⁹As the cloud fades and vanishes, so those who go down to Sheol do not come up; ¹⁰they return no more to their houses, nor do their places know them any more. ¹¹“Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

There is no end to the suffering in sight, Job feels he will just fade away in pain to nothingness. In the meantime, he is not going to keep his tongue in check, he is going to express his anguish and bitterness.

 ¹²Am I the Sea, or the Dragon, that you set a guard over me? ¹³When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ ¹⁴then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, ¹⁵so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body. ¹⁶I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.

I see Job demanding why his friends are even there. To guard him? To scare him? They are certainly not helping. He just wants to die.

¹⁷What are human beings, that you make so much of them, that you set your mind on them, ¹⁸visit them every morning, test them every moment? ¹⁹Will you not look away from me for a while, let me alone until I swallow my spittle?

I see Job feeling like he is some kind of sinful specimen that his friends have come to watch, not letting him alone.

 ²⁰If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of humanity? Why have you made me your target? Why have I become a burden to you? ²¹Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be.”

As he concludes, I see Job’s perceptions moving from the friends who are not helpful to perceptions about God ‘Why am I a burden to you? Why do you not pardon me?’ He is crying out for relief.

         

This is the first of nine calls are responses between Job and his friends. In my experience with interpreters of Job, they all tend to be lumped together into the same pattern. The friends presuppose that Job has sinned and must repent. Job knows he has not and does not get what is happening. We shall see how that develops.

 

Peace,
Pastor Peter

Reading 3: Job Chapters 4 and 5 Eliphaz offers and Explanation and Corrective for Job's Tragic Circumstances

 Reading 3: Job 4:1-5:27  The First Speech of Eliphaz.

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:

This begins a round of three responses from each of Job’s three friends. Job replies to each in turn.

      ² ‘If one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?
   But who can keep from speaking?

There is practically an apology built into this opening from Eliphaz. ‘Will you be offended, because that is what I am about to do.’

³ See, you have instructed many;
   you have strengthened the weak hands.
⁴ Your words have supported those who were stumbling,
   and you have made firm the feeble knees.

Eliphaz starts from Job’s strength, a man beloved of God, a man of blessing and riches, a man of power in the community. His was the voice that supported the community.

⁵ But now it has come to you, and you are impatient;
   it touches you, and you are dismayed.

It is from that strength to this collapse that Eliphaz speaks, almost to say “Oh, how the mighty have fallen.”

⁶ Is not your fear of God your confidence,
   and the integrity of your ways your hope?

This draws back to the Divine Council, God calls Satan’s attention to the faith of Job, and Satan is seeking to undermine it. Eliphaz is questioning his foundation of faith.

⁷ ‘Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?
   Or where were the upright cut off?

The thesis of the reaction of the friends is here proposed. Those who have done nothing wrong, have they ever been affected by tragedy?

⁸ As I have seen, those who plough iniquity
   and sow trouble reap the same.
⁹ By the breath of God they perish,
   and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

Tragic circumstances fall upon those who have sinned. It is by God’s ‘breath’ that they are punished, through God’s anger. The implication for Job is clear. God’s anger, his tragic circumstances, the cause and effect must be some sin he has committed.

¹⁰ The roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion,
   and the teeth of the young lions are broken.
¹¹ The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,
   and the whelps of the lioness are scattered.

Here Eliphaz continues to develop the theme of God’s punishment, using the metaphor of the lion, powerful ‘king of beasts’, now reduced under the power of God alone.

¹² ‘Now a word came stealing to me,
   my ear received the whisper of it.
¹³ Amid thoughts from visions of the night,
   when deep sleep falls on mortals,
¹⁴ dread came upon me, and trembling,
   which made all my bones shake.
¹⁵ A spirit glided past my face;
   the hair of my flesh bristled.
¹⁶ It stood still,
   but I could not discern its appearance.
A form was before my eyes;
   there was silence, then I heard a voice:
¹⁷ “Can mortals be righteous before God?
   Can human beings be pure before their Maker?

What Eliphaz has implied, that tragedy is God’s punishment for sin, he is now making explicit, with a long introduction, step by step, considering the relationship of mortals to our God.

¹⁸ Even in his servants he puts no trust,
   and his angels he charges with error;

He continues to speak of the Lord, charging even his angels with error-a reference to the Divine Council where God points out to Satan that Satan is mistaken about Job’s faith?

¹⁹ how much more those who live in houses of clay,
   whose foundation is in the dust,
   who are crushed like a moth.
²⁰ Between morning and evening they are destroyed;
   they perish for ever without any regarding it.
²¹ Their tent-cord is plucked up within them,
   and they die devoid of wisdom.”

Eliphaz moves from the heavenly beings, the divine servants of God, back to humanity. How much more do we sinful beings cause our separation from our God? Put it all together, and Eliphaz is seeking to bring Job to realize that these tragic events are punishment for something that is Job’s own fault, because that ‘is the way of things’.

5‘Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?

Who will answer Job in his call to curse the day of his birth? The implication seems to be that they will not because Job is not innocent in this, but because tragedy is equated to punishment, he must be punished for something he did.

² Surely vexation kills the fool,
   and jealousy slays the simple.
³ I have seen fools taking root,
   but suddenly I cursed their dwelling.

Eliphaz seems to be poking at Job for daring to speak the words he did in his grief, that there is an implied arrogance that Job does not recognize his sin.

⁴ Their children are far from safety,
   they are crushed in the gate,
   and there is no one to deliver them.

Pointing out how Job’s children are part of the punishment.

⁵ The hungry eat their harvest,
   and they take it even out of the thorns;
   and the thirsty pant after their wealth.

To me, Eliphaz seems to be pointing out the loss of Job’s riches.

⁶ For misery does not come from the earth,
   nor does trouble sprout from the ground;
⁷ but human beings are born to trouble
   just as sparks fly upward.

God’s hand is seen as the cause of misery and trouble-that they are punishment, to which humans are born into. In theological terms, applying the notion of ‘original sin’ from Adam and Eve now upon all humanity.

⁸ ‘As for me, I would seek God,
   and to God I would commit my cause.
⁹ He does great things and unsearchable,
   marvelous things without number.
¹⁰ He gives rain on the earth
   and sends waters on the fields;

Eliphaz, if he were in Job’s position, could appeal to God, invoking the unsearchable power of God, the blessings he brings to the earth, the master of all.

¹¹ he sets on high those who are lowly,
   and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

God is the one who delivers those who mourn-like Job.

¹² He frustrates the devices of the crafty,
   so that their hands achieve no success.
¹³ He takes the wise in their own craftiness;
   and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. ¹⁴ They meet with darkness in the daytime,
   and grope at noonday as in the night.

God is not going to be fooled, there is no tricking God. I see the implication that Job, in not confessing, is trying to get away with tricking God in the mind of his friend.

¹⁵ But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth,
   from the hand of the mighty.
¹⁶ So the poor have hope,
   and injustice shuts its mouth.

The mercy of the Lord is emphasized here. Job has but to confess and that mercy shall be his from the divine.

¹⁷ ‘How happy is the one whom God reproves;
   therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
¹⁸ For he wounds, but he binds up;
   he strikes, but his hands heal.
¹⁹ He will deliver you from six troubles;
   in seven no harm shall touch you.
²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death,
   and in war from the power of the sword.
²¹ You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,
   and shall not fear destruction when it comes.
²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh,
   and shall not fear the wild animals of the earth.
²³ For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,
   and the wild animals shall be at peace with you.
²⁴ You shall know that your tent is safe,
   you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.
²⁵ You shall know that your descendants will be many,
   and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,
   as a shock of grain comes up to the threshing-floor in its season.
²⁷ See, we have searched this out; it is true.
   Hear, and know it for yourself.’

Eliphaz concludes with a litany of the blessings of the Lord. If Job repents, God is merciful, and here are examples to illustrate what that mercy and protection will look like.

 Eliphaz has an explanation for the tragic occurrences that have befallen Job. Bad things happen by God’s hand to the sinful. It is not a permanent arrangement however, repentance will restore God’s mercy and God’s blessings. While Job is spending his time cursing the day of his birth, the implication is that what has happened is, in fact, Job’s own fault for sins as yet unconfessed.

Job Reading 2 with commentary

Job, Reading 2: Job 2:11-3:26

Job 2, con’t.

¹¹Now when Job’s three friends heard of all these troubles that had come upon him, each of them set out from his home—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite.

Dad jokes do invade the interpretation. Here is one of the shortest men in the bible, Bildad the Shoe-Height…  These three friends appear to come from the region of Edom or from Arabia. The origins of their homes is not clear, as they are not clearly defined elsewhere in the Old Testament.

The introduction of these three is going to set up the conflict of discussion as to the meaning of when disaster befalls people, represented through the person of Job.

They met together to go and console and comfort him.

Such is their declared purpose, but they have their own ideas of what that will be.

 ¹²When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him, and they raised their voices and wept aloud; they tore their robes and threw dust in the air upon their heads.

They are expressing grief in a profound form when they come to Job.

 ¹³They 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.

I have heard this verse interpreted as the friends being insensitive to Job, just sitting there for seven days. But I have also known the experience of simply being in someone’s presence during their grief, allowing them time simply to have support, until they are ready to speak. I tend to lean in that direction when interpreting this verse.

3After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.

This introduction is to clarify Job’s cursing of the day of his birth over and against what Satan was pushing, that Job curses the name of God.

 ²Job said: ³“Let the day perish in which I was born, and the night that said, ‘A man-child is conceived.’

So he finally speaks. It is not to explain, but it is out of his profound grief.

 ⁴Let that day be darkness! May God above not seek it, or light shine on it. ⁵Let gloom and deep darkness claim it. Let clouds settle upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it. ⁶That night—let thick darkness seize it!

I find myself thinking of Jesus as the light of the world, over and against the darkness of sin and death.

 let it not rejoice among the days of the year; let it not come into the number of the months.  ⁷Yes, let that night be barren; let no joyful cry be heard in it. 

In cursing the day of his birth, Job is protesting the gift that he was to his parents. He is by indirect means cursing that God brought him into the world at all.

⁸Let those curse it who curse the Sea, those who are skilled to rouse up Leviathan.

The imagery of the Sea and of Leviathan, a monster of the deep, will come again in Job.

 ⁹Let the stars of its dawn be dark; let it hope for light, but have none; may it not see the eyelids of the morning— ¹⁰because it did not shut the doors of my mother’s womb, and hide trouble from my eyes.

This is the reason for his cursing the day of his birth. Had he not been born, he would not have seen the trouble that has come upon him.

¹¹“Why did I not die at birth, come forth from the womb and expire? ¹²Why were there knees to receive me, or breasts for me to suck? ¹³Now I would be lying down and quiet; I would be asleep; then I would be at rest ¹⁴with kings and counselors of the earth who rebuild ruins for themselves, ¹⁵or with princes who have gold, who fill their houses with silver.

In this extended paragraph (verses 11-18), Job compares himself here first to the rich who have died and avoided trouble.

 ¹⁶Or why was I not buried like a stillborn child, like an infant that never sees the light? ¹⁷There the wicked cease from troubling, and there the weary are at rest. ¹⁸There the prisoners are at ease together; they do not hear the voice of the taskmaster. 

Now he compares himself to the impoverished, those who find freedom in death.

¹⁹The small and the great are there, and the slaves are free from their masters.

In his conclusion, he draws them together, that death comes for rich and poor alike, something of Ecclesiastes echoes here. The slaves are free from their masters, as he would be free from this tragedy.

²⁰“Why is light given to one in misery, and life to the bitter in soul, ²¹who long for death, but it does not come, and dig for it more than for hidden treasures; ²²who rejoice exceedingly, and are glad when they find the grave?

Notice that in the search for death, in the rejoicing that Job hopes he will find there, but Job makes no mention of a self-destructive movement to ‘help’ himself along into the grave.

 ²³Why is light given to one who cannot see the way, whom God has fenced in?

Notice the twist in the language. Satan spoke of God fencing Job in as protection to the material blessings that were granted to Job. Now Job expresses entrapment by that same God.

 ²⁴For my sighing comes like my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. ²⁵Truly the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. ²⁶I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest; but trouble comes.”

It is as though he is looking for the source of the trouble. In the very beginning of Job, he is described as one who turns away from evil. That is developed when Job is described as sacrificing on behalf of his children in case one of them would curse God. His avoidance of evil is an active one, ‘but trouble comes’.