Adult Class
Job
Lesson 4
Job 15-21
In the first cycle of speeches, each of Job's friends takes a turn at explaining to Job why all this evil has happened to him. Unfortunately, they all came to the same conclusion: Job deserved it because of his sin. Job maintained his innocence and rejected the statements of each of the friends. In the second cycle of speeches, each friend continues the debate and tries to force Job to admit that he is a sinner. Job, in return, assails each of them as a wooden-headed dolt.
Eliphaz speaks:
Eliphaz opened his remarks with an indictment of Job. He considered Job's words empty wind that even discouraged piety toward God! He continued and charged that Job condemned himself by his words. In Eliphaz' view, Job was not paying sufficient respect to the ancient traditions. He seemed to be constructing his own world view that flew in the face of received wisdom. Eliphaz meant Job to understand that the friends were, in fact, wiser than Job. And it all boils down to this: Job was wrong to be angry with God.
Eliphaz stated that nobody is righteous (Romans 3:23), and then declared the ancient truth: evil comes to evil people. Like produces like, so trouble results in evil happenings (Job 15:35). Eliphaz did not mention it, but he clearly had in mind those who defy God-as he suspected Job was doing then!
Job replies:
Job's answer is sarcastic: I've heard it all before. He labeled his friends "miserable comforters," that is, the kind of person that would rescue a drowning man by throwing him an anvil. Job pointed out that it is easy to have all the answers and speak confidently when everything is good and pleasant in life. And he declared that if the situation were reversed, he would help, not torment, his friends.
Job declared that God was responsible for all his misery and had practically become Job's enemy. God seemed to be angry with Job! He had made Job a target, with one wound after another applied. Job's grief was incessant and he never expected to stop his mourning. Since he would never have to set aside his sackcloth, he had sewed it on himself (16:15). He refused to be consoled and declared that his prayer was pure-meaning that he was free from sin, hypocrisy and guilt as he addressed God.
In a strange kind of reversal, Job then declared that he had an advocate in heaven. This makes best sense as a reference to God, Himself. Therefore, the meaning seems to be that Job counted on God being forced to acknowledge the truth that Job was innocent! He then challenged God to provide something like a bail bond for Job. He had already noted that his friends were of no help in this regard (6:22-23).
Job pointed out that people were simply horrified by the sight of him. They persecuted him in his distress. Earlier, he noted that wicked people mocked and jeered at him. And they slapped his face (16:10). We can only imagine the pain of a slap against a boil. Finally, Job appealed to his friends to try again. They certainly hadn't had any success in offering hope to him.
Bildad speaks:
To paraphrase, Bildad demanded that Job be sensible and stop assuming that his friends were actually idiots. In Bildad's thinking, Job was trying to turn the world upside down, to declare that all the fixed principles of the universe had somehow been changed for him. Bildad considered that to be idiocy!
He continued in the same vein as Eliphaz by describing the end of the wicked. Oh, they may look prosperous and happy for a moment, but in the end they are miserable and they are destroyed by their own evil. It always happened that way. It is possible that Bildad tried to paint a rough portrait of Job as one of these desperately wicked men who suffered the consequences of their deeds (18:13).
Job replies:
Since Bildad started both his speeches with "How long?" Job mocked him by beginning the same way. His friends had become another source of torment to him. He pointed out that if he had actually "gone astray," implying isolated mistakes and not a pattern of life, still that remained his business. Then Job plainly said the unthinkable: God had wronged him. In verse 7, he cried out "violence!" This word is a call for help, much as we might call out "fire!" It is interesting to note that in Hebrew, the word is "Hamas!" Thus, the terrorist organization of the Palestinians is named for a cry for help against an unjust foe.
In Job's case, nobody would come to help him. There would be for him no justice, no recourse and no assistance. On the contrary, even local boys ridiculed him. The expression "escaped by the skin of my teeth" is impossible to understand, but it has come to mean something like the first clause of the 19:20-I have nothing. Job called for pity from his friends, and declared that his words should be permanent, graven in stone and filled with lead for a lasting reminder.
Then he made another unusual leap: he declared that he had hope that God would Himself act as the Kinsman-Redeemer to ransom Job. Only then would he have any assurance that a future existed for him. In sly aside, Job then declared that if his friends considered him guilty of sin and therefore suffering properly, then shouldn't they be afraid since they, too are vulnerable?
Zophar speaks:
This speech is longer than Zophar's first! He had to answer Job; he was very upset at Job's characterization of God and the friends. He affirmed that it has been forever true that the wicked pay for their deeds. The wicked man may die and be forgotten. His children will have to suffer for his deeds. Indeed, the wicked man dies of the poison he creates. Even if he seems to flourish for a moment, he fails and this future is infallibly true.
Job replies:
Job declared that his complaint was not to the friends. And anyway, the truth is, the wicked often prosper and die in security even though they have rejected God. Job thunders questions: How often do they pay? What if wrath should be visited on the children? Why would the wicked care? If his friends thought the evil suffer for their deeds, they should inquire more carefully. It's not true, and their answers were nonsense.