In chapter 19 Job responds with even more intensity than we have seen so far. He does not let his ‘comforters’ off the hook for being miserable. He then makes a very bold statement. Look at verses 4-6:

4 Even if I have sinned,

that is my concern, not yours.

5 You think you’re better than I am,

using my humiliation as evidence of my sin.

6 But it is God who has wronged me,

capturing me in his net.

Job states clearly that God has wronged him. And Job lays out how that has been the case. He also describes his suffering in some pretty interesting ways: his breath isn’t welcomed by his wife, children despise him, etc…And yet we come to verses 25-27:

25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,

and at the last he will stand upon the earth.

26 And after my skin has been thus destroyed,

yet in my flesh I shall see God,

27 whom I shall see for myself,

and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

My heart faints within me! (ESV)

Job still trusts the Lord, in the midst of all that he has gone through. He won’t confess to sin that he hasn’t committed, but he also won’t turn away from his God.

This text reminds me of this version of “My Redeemer Lives” that I heard back in college:

But I also want to comment on Zophar’s speech (ch. 20) and Job’s response (ch. 21). Job essentially asks what many do: why is then that the wicked live in ease and prosper and die in peace? Where is the justice?

Here are D.A. Carson’s comments on this:

“Even allowing for Job’s exaggerations—after all, some wicked people do suffer temporal judgments—his point should not be dismissed. If the tallies of blessing and punishment are calculated solely on the basis of what takes place in this life, this is a grossly unfair world. Millions of relatively good people die in suffering, poverty, and degradation; millions of relatively evil people live full lives and die in their sleep. We can all tell the stories that demonstrate God’s justice in this life, but what about the rest of the stories?

The tit-for-tat morality system of Job’s three interlocutors cannot handle the millions of tough cases. Moreover, like them, Job does not want to impugn God’s justice, but facts are facts: it is not a virtue, even in the cause of defending God’s justice, to distort the truth and twist reality.

In the course of time it would become clearer that ultimate justice is meted out after death—and that the God of justice knows injustice himself, not only out of his omniscience, but out of his experience on a cross.”

Carson, D. A. (1998). For the love of God: a daily companion for discovering the riches of God’s Word. (Vol. 2, p. 78). Crossway Books.

You can feel the intensity ramp up a good bit in today’s reading in Job. Chapter 15 is a fiery rebuke of Job by Eliphaz. Basically Eliphaz isn’t happy with Job’s stance or responses to the ‘comfort’ that he has been given. He doesn’t actually respond to any of Job’s arguments, but rehearses the question of authority and repeats (by implication) that Job must actually be wicked and all his previous prosperity was nothing but empty riches.

Unsurprisingly Job isn’t happy and his response makes that clear:

have heard all this before.

What miserable comforters you are!

Won’t you ever stop blowing hot air?

What makes you keep on talking? (16:2,3).

He also states that he would ‘comfort’ quite differently if the roles were reversed (16:4, 5).

This makes me think about how we interact with others in regard to our belief. I find that too often theology is used not as a comfort but as a bludgeon. We should absolutely strive to know God more and more deeply, but that knowledge is not to puff us up, but it should rather humble us in regard to how little we know and how we are not God. There is mystery to the workings of God. We cannot answer all the questions that people pose. In fact yesterday as I was officiating a funeral I was asked the questions: Why him? Why now? And I can’t answer those definitively. All I can do is turn to the sovereignty of God and his character (which is very good to know and to fall back upon). But for many, it doesn’t seem like an answer and so we are tempted to speak for Providence and that is not a great idea.

I have known ‘miserable comforters’ and I am also sure that I have been one myself (much to my dread). Most of the time the words were well-intended, but they fell flat. Sometimes though, people just like to argue and be extremely dogmatic in their views or utter trite sayings without any reflections on the mystery of God or an attempt to apply theology to real-life situations. I think much of what this reading teaches us (and is causing me to reflect upon) is how much of a privilege it is to be in a position to speak God’s truth and provide comfort, and yet how careful I/we must be. May God give us grace to be those who minister His truth in both grace and truth.

Sometimes following the thought and argument of Job is not all that easy. So if you are struggling, join the club. Job is in misery, and that is understandable. But Job’s friends (this time it is Eliphaz who has spoken) do not offer much by way of help. Eliphaz’s worldview is that the innocent prosper and if Job were innocent this would not be happening to him (but see Psalm 73). In chapter 6 Job rebukes his friends.

15 My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook

that overflows its banks in the spring

16 when it is swollen with ice and melting snow.

17 But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears.

The brook vanishes in the heat.

18 The caravans turn aside to be refreshed,

but there is nothing to drink, so they die.

19 The caravans from Tema search for this water;

the travelers from Sheba hope to find it.

20 They count on it but are disappointed.

When they arrive, their hopes are dashed.

21 You, too, have given no help.

You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.

It is that last line - they have seen it, and they are afraid. Eliphaz (and his friends) have no category for innocent suffering. They believed Job to be a righteous man, but now that he is suffering, rather than comforting him part of what they must do is prove he is unrighteous to protect their categories.

• Why do the ‘innocent’ suffer?

• How does Scripture answer that?

• How does Christ and his life address this?