Obviously, this shouldn’t minimize the fact that homosexuality is a sin, and gay marriage is a bad idea. However, I’ve written before that not all sin is the same, and that God Himself views some sins as worse sins than other things. And the fact is, abortion takes the life of an innocent human being without proper justification, and that is a much worse crime than homosexuals sleeping together. In fact, reading Romans 1, I conclude that rampant homosexual behavior is the result of God’s judgment on society itself, rather than the cause of that judgment.

Again, we cannot condone sinful behavior, and it is right for the church to oppose the mainstreaming of homosexuality. Nevertheless, it remains that our church today is failing to uphold Christ’s words in Matthew 23:23 (ESV): “These [minor things] you ought to have done, without neglecting the others.”

The problem that I see happening is this. Christian churches rise up with righteous indignation against homosexuality, and think that they have now done all that they need to do. Meanwhile, Christian families send their children into public schools where they are indoctrinated into a hedonistic worldview, where they can get an abortion to get rid of any messy consequences. They divorce their own spouses at a rate that rivals that of the secular masses (mainly because many of these Christian families are actually secular families that just happen to go to church). They become functionally indistinguishable from pagans, believing truth to be relative. In all this, they have a faith with no root, which persecution then causes to whither away.

I believe that homosexual advocates do have a valid argument, in that most who claim the name “Christian” do oppose homosexuals out of bigotry rather than out of what the Bible says. (Granted, these homosexual advocates believe the Bible itself is bigoted too, which I oppose.) I would be surprised if even a quarter of Christians who oppose homosexuality can actually quote a single passage of Scripture that addresses the topic—and if that is the case, then it just about has to be bigotry that motivates them to oppose it. Truly, if Christians had a Biblical worldview in the first place, they would have already seen the important issues affecting society as a whole long before Obama became America’s First Gay President (a label given to him by homosexual activist Andrew Sullivan). So to suddenly become concerned about Obama now really does smack of hypocrisy.

Naturally, that doesn’t mean that a Christian who is just now realizing that he has been living a double standard cannot become consistent in his beliefs. In fact, I would implore such Christians to do so. The best first step would be to actually read the Bible we have. There’s plenty of stuff in there that applies to our everyday lives right now, that show us how we should interact with our culture. The Greek and Roman culture that shaped the world that Christ lived in was worse than the culture we have by any objective standard, and living a righteous life enabled the church to flourish during that time.

Christians, do not call what is evil good, nor call what is good evil. Live your lives as holy, unto the Lord. Be prepared for the backlash, and stand up for the truth. That’s the formula for success in the Bible. But to do so requires consistent, constant living. It requires us not to be conformed to the image of the world, but to be transformed into His likeness. If bigotry has moved you to oppose evil, then exchange your bigotry for a truthful opposition to that evil. (You will be condemned either way so it is best not to allow them to condemn you for actual evil.) Do not just stand up against homosexual marriage as if that’s the worst thing that could happen to us. It’s not! Worse things are already condoned and need to be addressed.

The battle is not just against homosexual marriage. That, ultimately, is just a symptom. It’s the judgment of God being poured out on our society. The reason for that judgment is what we ultimately need to address, and that can only be done as we turn our hearts back to Christ.

To help mitigate against possibly violating the copyright by quoting too much of the text, I’m only displaying the text in my commentaries while it appears on the main page of this blog. Once it’s off the main page, I’ve been editing the posts to delete the text and add in a link to their website instead. Typically, there wouldn’t be a problem with me doing commentary every day, but since we’re in the middle of Job and I’ve been quoting large passages of text at a time in order to get the entire thought out (for instance, today we’re looking at two entire chapters), then I have decided to slow down the number of posts that appear to ensure that enough of the chapters fall off the main page and become links to keep me from going over the 1,000 verse mark.

Please keep in mind that the ESV is well within its rights to limit the use of its text in such a manner. Translations cost a lot of money and take a lot of time to produce, especially when it’s as high quality as the ESV is. As an author myself, I know the importance of protecting intellectual property and keeping one’s copyright secure. I am grateful for the extent to which the ESV graciously allows me to quote from in the first place.

With that, let’s look at today’s text.

Then Job answered and said:

“I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
Shall windy words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
I also could speak as you do,
if you were in my place;
I could join words together against you
and shake my head at you.
I could strengthen you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain.

“If I speak, my pain is not assuaged,
and if I forbear, how much of it leaves me?
Surely now God has worn me out;
he has made desolate all my company.
And he has shriveled me up,
which is a witness against me,
and my leanness has risen up against me;
it testifies to my face.
He has torn me in his wrath and hated me;
he has gnashed his teeth at me;
my adversary sharpens his eyes against me.
Men have gaped at me with their mouth;
they have struck me insolently on the cheek;
they mass themselves together against me.
God gives me up to the ungodly
and casts me into the hands of the wicked.
I was at ease, and he broke me apart;
he seized me by the neck and dashed me to pieces;
he set me up as his target;
his archers surround me.
He slashes open my kidneys and does not spare;
he pours out my gall on the ground.
He breaks me with breach upon breach;
he runs upon me like a warrior.
I have sewed sackcloth upon my skin
and have laid my strength in the dust.
My face is red with weeping,
and on my eyelids is deep darkness,
although there is no violence in my hands,
and my prayer is pure.

“O earth, cover not my blood,
and let my cry find no resting place.
Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and he who testifies for me is on high.
My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
that he would argue the case of a man with God,
as a son of man does with his neighbor.
For when a few years have come
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.

“My spirit is broken; my days are extinct;
the graveyard is ready for me.
Surely there are mockers about me,
and my eye dwells on their provocation.

“Lay down a pledge for me with you;
who is there who will put up security for me?
Since you have closed their hearts to understanding,
therefore you will not let them triumph.
He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property—
the eyes of his children will fail.

“He has made me a byword of the peoples,
and I am one before whom men spit.
My eye has grown dim from vexation,
and all my members are like a shadow.
The upright are appalled at this,
and the innocent stirs himself up against the godless.
Yet the righteous holds to his way,
and he who has clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
But you, come on again, all of you,
and I shall not find a wise man among you.
My days are past; my plans are broken off,
the desires of my heart.
They make night into day:
‘The light,’ they say, ‘is near to the darkness.’
If I hope for Sheol as my house,
if I make my bed in darkness,
if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’
and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
where then is my hope?
Who will see my hope?
Will it go down to the bars of Sheol?
Shall we descend together into the dust?” (Job 16-17 ESV)

Job’s comforters have not been very good at all, and the cycle of escalation we’ve seen up to now continues unabated.

Question 1: What are the propositions of the passage?

1) Job answers Eliphaz’s second comment to him.
2) Job points out that his friends have been no help at all, calling them “miserable comforters.”
3) He asks if their “windy words” will ever end.
4) Job points out that he could answer the same way as they do, if their roles were reversed.
5) Job points out that speaking does not assuage his pain.
6) Furthermore, he says that if he doesn’t speak, his pain still remains.
7) He claims God has worn him out and made him desolate.
8) Job says God has shrivled him up, “which is a witness against [him]”.
9) Job says that God has done this in wrath.
10) Job says that God “hated me.”
11) Job says men have openly “gaped” at him and have struck him “insolently on the cheek.”
12) Job believes God has given him up to the ungodly, cast into the hands of the wicked.
13) Job says he was at ease before God broke him apart.
14) He says God has set him up as a target for His archers.
15) He says God breaks him “with breach upon breach” and runs upon him like a warrior.
16) Job says his face is red with weeping, and his eyes are darkened.
17) He says this all happened though he was innocent.
18) Job appeals to the earth to not cover his blood, and that his cry finds no resting place.
19) He says he still has a witness in heaven.
20) Job says his friends scorn him.
21) Nevertheless, Job hopes that God will hear his argument.
22) Job points out that soon he will die.
23) His spirit is broken and he is ready for death.
24) Job points out that God has closed the hearts of Job’s enemies so that they cannot understand, and as a result God will not let them triumph.
25) Still, God has also made Job into a byword.
26) Job points out the upright are appalled at this.
27) He points out the righteous still holds to his way.
28) Job says the man with clean hands grows stronger and stronger.
29) Job then declares he cannot find a wise man among his friends.
30) He utters despair that his days are past and his plans have come to ruin.
31) Job points out with rhetorical questions that there is no hope for him in Sheol (the grave).
32) He asks who will see his hope in death, with a negative answer implied.

Question 2: What does this passage teach about God?

We see that Job has a couple of misconceptions about God here. He believes that God is acting toward him in anger, and furthermore that God actually hates Job. As we saw from the prologue of Job, God is not acting in anger or hatred. He is acting because Job is righteous.

We also see yet again that Job is still convinced that God is the one who is doing this to him. It is apparent that all the characters in the narrative believe that God is responsible for what has happened to Job—including God Himself—even though we also know that God allowed Satan to actualize the inflictions upon Job. Again, this doesn’t seem to make any sense outside of some form of compatibilism.

One interesting note is that even though Job says that God hates him, he still believes that God will be an advocate for him in heaven. Job is still convinced that he has done nothing wrong—and we know from the narrative that his assessment is correct. As a result, we see that Job is convinced that even though God is doing this to him, God still has a nature such that He will acknowledge Job’s innocence in heaven.

Question 3: What does this passage teach about man?

Job’s friends are labeled as “miserable comforters.” Job has consistently told them what he is looking for, and they have responded by doubling down on the very things that Job has asked them not to do. As a result, Job is not improving at all. If we are trying to comfort another person, then we need to listen to the feedback they give. Naturally, we should not always give in to the demands of someone who is hurting—it still takes wisdom to know what is appropriate. But if someone tells you that you are a miserable comforter, you should take the opportunity to rethink your tactics. In this case, given the history of what we’ve already seen about Job’s friends piling on more and more, we can predict that they will not change their tactics at all.

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

“I will show you; hear me,
and what I have seen I will declare
(what wise men have told,
without hiding it from their fathers,
to whom alone the land was given,
and no stranger passed among them).
The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,
through all the years that are laid up for the ruthless.
Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
in prosperity the destroyer will come upon him.
He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,
and he is marked for the sword.
He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;
distress and anguish terrify him;
they prevail against him, like a king ready for battle.
Because he has stretched out his hand against God
and defies the Almighty,
running stubbornly against him
with a thickly bossed shield;
because he has covered his face with his fat
and gathered fat upon his waist
and has lived in desolate cities,
in houses that none should inhabit,
which were ready to become heaps of ruins;
he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,
nor will his possessions spread over the earth;
he will not depart from darkness;
the flame will dry up his shoots,
and by the breath of his mouth he will depart.
Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself,
for emptiness will be his payment.
It will be paid in full before his time,
and his branch will not be green.
He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,
and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.
For the company of the godless is barren,
and fire consumes the tents of bribery.
They conceive trouble and give birth to evil,
and their womb prepares deceit” (Job 15 ESV).

After Job’s response to his friends, Eliphaz rebukes him, and as you can tell, his words have become much harsher than they were during his first statements to Job.

Question 1: What are the propositions of the passage?

1) Eliphaz responds to Job.
2) He begins with a question that’s really an accusation that Job’s words are as substantive as the wind.
3) Eliphaz accuses Job of “doing away with the fear of God” and “hindering meditation.”
4) Eliphaz claims Job is speaking iniquity, and that it’s his own mouth that is condemning him.
5) Eliphaz asks what Job knows that his friends do not already know, implying a response of “nothing.”
6) He responds to Job’s claims by asserting that the fathers (tradition) are on his side.
7) He claims, again via attacky questions, that Job believes God’s comforts are “too small.”
8) Eliphaz asserts that Job has truned his back on God.
9) He agrees with Job’s assertion that man cannot be pure or righteous, having come from an impure source.
10) Eliphaz asserts again that God does not trust his own holy ones (echoing back to his former statements, which he claimed were revelation from God).
11) Eliphaz concludes since even the heavens are impure in His sight, how much more impure is corrupt and evil man.
12) Eliphaz says he will show Job what he has seen, and what tradition agrees with.
13) He says it is the wicked man who writhes in pain and suffers torments.
14) The wicked man endures this because “he has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty.”
15) As a result, God punishes the wicked man for his sins, to the same extent that Job is now being punished.

Question 2: What does this passage teach us about God?

Like before, we see that Eliphaz still believes that bad things only happen to bad people. He is firm in his belief that God would not bring suffering to Job unless Job were guilty and deserving of the suffering. This we know is not true because the narrative shows us that Job was innocent. Therefore, this serves as more evidence that God does bring suffering to the just and not only to the wicked.

Question 3: What does this passage teach us about men?

The pattern is continuing. Not only has each friend of Job gotten progressively harsher in their dealings with him, but now Eliphaz tops himself. It’s not just new people getting harsher, in other words. This sort of thing can, and does, happen when we try to counsel others, and we must be on guard for it. It’s especially true when we offer advice we think is obvious and it gets spurned by the one we are addressing. Human nature is to then up the ante, as if to punish the one who we were speaking to for ignoring our infinite wisdom.

Eliphaz would have done well to have listened to Job and believed his protestations that he was innocent. Instead, Eliphaz believed that God could not possibly bring suffering to an innocent person, and because that filter was in place he was deaf to Job’s imploring words.

First, let us look once more at the structure. As you recall, the first two chapters (constituting the prologue) had this structure:

A. Job is blameless.
B. Job goes through a trial (family and possessions destroyed).
A. Job remains blameless.
B. Job goes through another trial (his health destroyed).
A. Job remains blameless.

Thus we see a cycle of increasing trial, but Job remaining steadfast. Then his three friends arrive, and we find this new cycle:

C. Job laments and longs for death.
D. Eliphaz gives a gentle rebuke.
C. Job defends himself, laments, and longs for death.
D. Bildad gives a strong rebuke.
C. Job defends himself, laments, and longs for death.
D. Zophar gives a scathing rebuke.
C. Job defends himself, laments, and longs for death—but still has hope in God.

As we shall soon see, this cycle will itself occur in a cycle (but I won’t say too much on that yet, as we are still going through the “blank slate” view of Job). Some things that we can note from this cycle is that the C parts (i.e., Job’s responses) tend to be much longer than the D parts (i.e., his friend’s statements). Most of the D sections are single chapters, while the C sections are two or three chapters long.

Furthermore, we see that the D sections are intensifying in the level of the rebuke given toward Job. This manifests itself in the way that more and more emphasis is shifted toward blaming Job for his circumstances. While Eliphaz begins gently, it is obvious that each of the friends assumes that Job has sinned greatly for what is happening to him. It does not occur to any of them that Job is telling the truth when he insists he is in the right. Indeed, it may be that Job’s insistence on his innocence is provoking his friends to increase their rebuke. It is probable that had Job agreed with Eliphaz from the start and said he was deserving of what he was receiving, the other friends would not have piled on as strongly. Of course, Job could not admit to what was false, and as a result his friends appear to need all the more to pull him down.

Job’s defenses follow a similar track. They begin with fairly straightforward claims of innocence, but then more further and further into accusations toward God and demanding answers from the LORD. As a result, both the C and D sections are escalating, even as they cycle over the same material.

One thing that does separate Job from his friends is that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar talk about God—but Job also talks to God. This shows us that Job’s faith is quite strong even as he longs for death.

It is also interesting the each of the characters, including Job and even God Himself, maintain that God is the one who is causing the disasters. On that, they agree. The only disagreement is on why God is doing that, with Job’s three friends assuming Job must be guilty of some sin and Job believing God will punish both innocent and guilty alike. We know, on the other hand, that God was doing this for a different reason—namely, He was doing this because Job was righteous and his faith was not based on any blessings God had given him. God was demonstrating that first to Satan, but then also to us who would read the text.

Remember again that this is the first revelation God has given to man in Scripture. This is how God wanted to be known first. This is not the way the majority of modern Christians would have chosen to have God reveal Himself. In fact, the majority of modern Christians would probably prefer that Job was not even in the Bible, because it so clashes with their other beliefs. But if you want to be a Biblically-based Christian with a competent worldview, you must find some way to square your theology with what happens in Job. If you cannot do so, then that is probably a good indication that your theology is man-centered instead of Bible-centered.

But being a political junkie, no matter which side of the aisle you fall on, results in a skewed view of how the average American thinks of politics. See, the people who I read on blogs are the people who care about politics. Even the pages that are linked to from people who I disagree with are still people who care about politics. Thus, even reading “the other side” only gets me the other side of the politically obsessed.

The fact of the matter is, if we truly look at the numbers of people who follow politics to this extent, I doubt it would constitute even twenty percent of the population. The vast majority of people in America don’t care about politics. They just want to go home and play video games, eat junk food, and have fun. They don’t want to worry about spending bills in Congress, the national debt, or Socialized healthcare. They don’t care about executive orders, three branches of government, or what the Constitution actually says. None of this genuinely interests them.

My wife is a political junkie of sorts, too. She is currently reading a lot of books on the economy and has decided that one of the best things we can do is end the Federal Reserve. I happen to agree with her that the Federal Reserve is harming the economy quite a bit, and that its continued existence will only do more damage. Yet very few people—even those who would agree with us politically—care about the Federal Reserve, or even want to take the time to figure out basic economic theory. Theory is hard. It takes thinking. That’s no fun for most of us.

So what happens? We have a small minority of people on both sides of the issues who are extremely vocal and passionate, and a wide range of people in the middle who just want to live their lives, have fun, and make a little money. Most of them vote based on family traditions (whether they keep in line with their family or rebel against it). They’re not interested in the actual facts of debate. It’s why presentation on TV is better than trying to follow arguments. It’s why Mitt Romney is the candidate for the GOP—because he looks good on TV. That’s the same reason Obama is currently president, too.

The majority of us don’t care about policy or principals, and they look at those who do care about such things with equal disdain. Republicans and Democrats are both seen as too extremist. About the only universal agreement is that everything is bad and no one who’s currently involved in politics does any good at all.

I realize that I do speak with generalities here; yet I think they are fairly sound generalities. A culture that’s interested in The Jersey Shore and still thinks American Idol features talent is a culture that doesn’t care about the Federal Reserve, abortion, or gay marriage on the whole. It also means that, unfortunately, well-reasoned arguments are not going to be effective in bringing about change (at least not at first). People now are too ignorant of logic and reasoning to even tell what a good argument is in the first place. If you don’t believe me, just spend a half hour reading YouTube comments.

If we want to be effective at changing our culture, we have to actually affect the culture itself. I’m not sure exactly how to do all of this myself, of course. But I do know that our public schools, the entertainment industry, and our media are designed to facilitate the lessening of quality thinking. If we want to salvage our culture, it has to begin with a renewing of our minds.

And that renewal isn’t just mental knowledge, but a heart change as well. The single most effective technique to alter culture still remains religious beliefs, because what one believes in his heart is what will come out in his behavior. I, for one, do not find it unusual that America is becoming less thoughtful and more intolerant precisely at the point we abandon Christianity. And as Europe is demonstrating, one simply cannot replace Christianity with the moral vacuum of relativism and materialism that comes from rejecting God altogether.

In the end, a liberal utopia is when the masses of uneducated fools, who are deluded into thinking they are wise, vote in lockstep with all the other deluded people into perpetuating the existence of the very institutions that made them uneducated fools in the first place, because they have been tricked into thinking what they are doing is good. This will happen in America given enough time. Indeed, it is well on its way already. It may no longer be possible to fight using only good arguments. To one who believes propaganda, the truth is a lie.

Note that due to copyright issues, we are linking the text instead of quoting it directly. Job 13-14 ESV.

Job continues his response. After focusing on the sovereignty of God in the previous chapter, he now indicates that he still trusts God.

Question 1: What are the propositions of the passage?

1) Job declares he is not inferior to his friends and knows what he speaks of.
2) Job wishes an audience with God to argue his case.
3) Job accuses his friends of whitewashing lies.
4) He calls them worthless physicians.
5) Job wishes they would keep silent, and says silence would be wisdom.
6) He longs for them to listen to his argument.
7) Job asks rhetorical questions indicating that his friends are speaking lies as if it were on behalf of God.
8) Job points out that they cannot plead the case for God.
9) He points out that it will be bad for his friends when God searches them out.
10) This is partly because they cannot deceive God like they can deceive a man.
11) Job says God will rebuke them if they show partiality.
12) He asks if they do not fear God.
13) He says their words are “proverbs of ashes” and “defenses of clay.”
14) Job asks for silence so that he might speak.
15) After he speaks, he is prepared for whatever the results may be.
16) He asks why he should put his life in his hand.
17) Job maintains that even if God kills him, he will still hope in God.
18) Even with such hope, he will still argue his case to God’s face.
19) Job maintains his salvation is secure because the godless cannot come before God, indicating that he has not rejected God even now.
20) Job against asks for silence so that his friends will listen.
21) Job has prepared a case.
22) He knows he is in the right.
23) Job asks who would contend with him, indicating no one can do so.
24) Job says that if it were possible to disprove his case, he would be silent and die.
25) Job asks that God withdraws His hand and cease to terrify him.
26) If that happens, Job would answer God.
27) Job asks to know what his sins are.
28) He asks why God hides His face and considers Job an enemy.
29) Once more, Job points out that God is causing the pain and suffering he is going through.
30) Job points out that man is impure, like “a rotten thing.”
31) Man’s days are few and full of trouble.
32) Job asks why God brings judgment upon him.
33) Job asks who can bring a clean thing out of something unclean, and answers “there is not one” who can.
34) Job says man’s days “are determined” and that “the number of his months is with” God, and that God has “appointed his limits that he cannot pass.”
35) Job asks, therefore, that God leave man alone that he may enjoy his day, like a hired hand.
36) Job uses the imagery of a tree that has been cut down, speaking of how there is still hope that it may sprout again.
37) He contrasts that with man, who dies and is no more.
38) Job uses the image of a dried up lake to show what happens to a dead man.
39) Job longs to be in the grave (Sheol), concealed until God’s wrath is past.
40) Job points out that man does not live again after he dies.
41) He says he’d wait through all his toil until he is renewed.
42) Job’s renewal would be when God “would not keep watch over [his] sin” and when his “transgression would be sealed up in a bag” so that God “would cover over [his] iniquity.”
43) Yet just as the mountain and rocks are destroyed through erosion, so Job claims God destroys the hope of man.
44) Job says God prevails forever against man.
45) What happens to a man’s sons are unknown to the man because he feels only his own pain.

Question 2: What does this passage teach about God?

There are some things that Job says that do not fit what we know from the rest of the narrative of the book. For instance, Job is convinced that God is his enemy at the moment, even though we know that is not case. That Job still hopes in a God whom he now believes is his enemy, however, is somewhat difficult to understand. At one point, he even says: “Though he slay me, I will hope in him.”

Naturally, we know that God does not want to slay Job—He has specifically forbidden Satan from taking Job’s life. Yet even that mistake on Job’s part helps show that Job had a rich faith, and while we do not have all that information presented yet, there must be something about God that Job has already experienced that results in that hope.

Question 3: What does this passage teach about man?

Again we see the devastating effect that Job’s three friends have had on him. Job here calls them liars who would even try to deceive God. His anger toward them is certainly justifiable from our human perspectives, given that we know the innocence of Job.

Job also longs to plead his case before God. This expresses a very human tendency. It is very easy to slip into a defensive stance, to try to justify ourselves when we are wronged. Of course, this extends to cover even the times that we only think we have been wronged too. But it is understandable for us to see Job wanting his vindication.

Due to copyright restrictions, we are linking the text rather than fully quoting it. Job 11 ESV.

We now see that the cycle of Job’s friends is getting progressively worse. Eliphaz’s first comments were generally sympathetic. Then Bildad responded with harshness, saying that Job’s children deserved to die. Now, Zophar tells Job that Job deserves even worse!

Question 1: What are the propositions of the passage?

1) Zophar responds to Job.
2) Zophar asks if Job’s “multitude of words” should go unanswered, with a negative implication.
3) Zophar also accuses Job of being a man “full of talk” with no substance.
4) Zophar calls Job’s words “babble”.
5) Zophar accuses Job of mocking.
6) He says Job should be shamed.
7) Zophar mocks Job’s claims of innocence.
8) He wishes God would speak to Job.
9) Zophar decrees God has vast understanding.
10) Zophar declares God does not punish Job as much as Job deserves.
11) He then points out the vastness of God, comparing it to the heights of heavens and the depth of the grave (Sheol).
12) He says God’s wisdom exceeds the earth and sea.
13) He points out that none can turn God away, or resist Him.
14) He says God knows worthless men, indicating Job is one of those worthless men.
15) Zophar claims that a stupid man will get understanding when a colt gives birth to a man, indicating the impossibility of Job to understand anything.
16) Zophar says that if Job repents, then surely God will not continue to punish.
17) He says that Job will feel secure and unafraid if he repents.
18) Zophar warns, however, that the wicked cannot escape.

Question 2: What does this passage teach about God?

By now, we are familiar with the refrain that this passage only describes how Zophar views God. His views are not radically dissimilar from Eliphaz’s or Bildad’s, nor, for that matter, from Job’s. The main difference between the three friends and Job is that Job knows he has not sinned, whereas the friends believe he must be receiving punishment. As a result, Job’s view differs from Zophar’s specifically in that Job believes God “punishes” both just and unjust, whereas Zophar clearly believes that the “punishment” Job receives must be because Job is a sinner.

Question 3: What does this passage teach about man?

The events in Job are capturing a cycle of destruction; a repetitive upping of the ante. Job laments that he is going through pain though he is innocent, and his friends progressively offer worse and worse statements in response. Though Job wants comfort, he gets judgment. No doubt his friends were sincere and wanted to help Job, but their methods lacked all tact and, indeed, resulted in outright blame and shaming of Job. Instead of helping, they inflict greater harm upon Job. At this point one could wonder if Job’s friends are not actually part of the affliction that he’s going through, for they are not seeking to destroy Job’s life but their words are also harmful. As a result, they fit the template of God giving all but Job’s life over to Satan.

Either way, if we put ourselves in Job’s shoes, we can easily predict what his response will be. His response to Eliphaz was to assert his innocence, and then begin to accuse God of an attack. His response to Bildad was to assert his innocence, and then clearly accuse God of an attack. Now that Zophar has given feedback that is likely to escalate the issue even more, we would predict that Job’s next reaction will be to assert his innocence, and accuse God of an attack all the more.

Job’s friends are contributing to Job’s defensiveness by their attack. In some instances, there may be legitimate reasons to accuse someone even when they respond defensively, but we know that this is not one of them (and really it becomes difficult to think of circumstances when it would work without a lot of ad hoc restrictions in place). From that, we can take note that our attempts to help other people can backfire tremendously if we approach the situation carelessly and without knowing all the facts. It likely would have been much better to offer sympathy rather than accusation, even if Job was in the wrong; how much more, then, because he was in the right?

Due to copyright restrictions, we are linking the text rather than quoting it directly. Job 9-10 ESV.

After Bildad’s blistering comments, Job responds with a mixture of righteous indignation and despair. Job knows he is innocent, yet he knows no one believes he is innocent. Job is also fully convinced that it is God who is orchestrating everything against him.

Question 1: What are the propositions of the passage?

1) Job agrees with Bildad’s claims.
2) However, Job also asks how it’s possible for anyone to be right before God (with the implication that it’s impossible).
3) Job points out that if you contend with God, you cannot answer him.
4) Job says God is wise and mighty.
5) He asks who has succeeded after hardening himself against God, with an expected negative answer.
6) Job uses a metaphor of removing mountains to indicate God’s might.
7) He also uses the metaphor of shaking the earth to indicate God’s might.
8) Job points out that God commands the sun and the stars.
9) Job says that God created the heavens.
10) Job says God controls the waves of the sea.
11) Job says God made “the Bear and Orion [and] the Pleiades”—each star constellations.
12) Job says God does great things that we cannot “search out”.
13) He says that God does marvelous things “beyond number.”
14) Job says God moves by him and Job cannot see Him.
15) He says God snatches things away, and when He does none can turn Him back.
16) Job asks who would dare question what God is doing, implying no one can even ask this question legitimately.
17) Job says God will not turn back his anger.
18) Because of this, Job says he cannot answer God.
19) Job insists that he is righteous.
20) Yet Job’s righteousness does not give him grounds to answer God.
21) Job indicates he must appeal for mercy from his accuser, God.
22) Job says if he was able to summon God and God answered Job, Job would not believe God was actually listening to him.
23) Job says God crushes him and multiplies wounds without cause.
24) He also says God fills him with bitterness.
25) Job points out that in a contest of strength, God wins hands down for God “is mighty!”
26) Job says no one can “summon” God even if it’s a “matter of justice”.
27) He says that even though he is in the right, his own mouth would condemn him.
28) He says that though he is blameless, God would prove him to be perverse.
29) Job insists he is blameless.
30) He says he does not regard himself.
31) He says he loathes his life.
32) He says all of these things are the same thing.
33) Therefore, Job concludes God destroys both the innocent and the wicked.
34) Job says God “mocks” when the innocent experience calamity.
35) Job says the earth has been given to wicked people.
36) Job says that if it is not God who does this, “who then is it?” indicating that no one else possibly could be doing this.
37) Job says his days run swift and see no good.
38) He says that if he forgets his complaints and tries to pretend to be happy, he will be terrified of his suffering.
39) He says that he fears his suffering because others do not believe him to be innocent.
40) He asks what purpose there would be to labor to do good if he will be condemned anyway.
41) Job points out that no matter how he tries to purify himself, God will plunge him “into a pit”.
42) Job says God is not a man that he could take to court over His behavior.
43) Job says there is no arbiter between himself and God.
44) Job says that if God took away the scourges he is experiencing, Job would speak without fear of Him.
45) Job repeats that he loathes his life.
46) He again affirms he will not restrain his tongue, and will speak from bitterness.
47) He implores God not to condemn him.
48) He asks for God to explain why He contends against Job.
49) He asks if it seems good to God to oppress the righteous and favor the wicked.
50) He asks a series of rhetorical questions with negative answers:
  A) Does God have eyes of flesh?
  B) Does God see like men see?
  C)Is God bound to time the way man is?
51) Regarding this last point (50.C), Job points out again that he is innocent and proclaims there is none who can deliver him from God’s hand.
52) Job points out that God created him.
53) Job asks God to remember that Job was made like clay, and asks if he will be returned to dust (essentially asking if God is planning on killing Job).
54) Job points out that God gave him skin, flesh, bone, and sinew; He granted job life and love, and that I was God’s care that preserved his spirit.
55) Yet God still hides the reasons for why Job is in pain.
56) Job points out that God sees when he sins.
57) He says that God does not acquit him of his iniquity.
58) Job points out that if he were guilty, it would be a woe to him; yet if he is right he still cannot lift up his head.
59) He says this is because he is filled with disgrace.
60) He also says if he lifted up his head, God would hunt him like a lion.
61) Job says God continues to renew his attack on Job, increasing the vexation and bringing “fresh troops” against him.
62) Job asked why God even brought him from the womb.
63) Job wishes he had died in the womb.
64) Job points out his days are few.
65) As such, he asks God to cease His attack and leave Job alone.
66) Job longs for a little cheer before he dies.
67) He indicated death is a land of darkness and shadow, without any order.
68) He also indicates that once he dies he would not return from the land of death.

Question 2: What does this passage teach about God?

It is interesting that Job actually begins by agreeing with Bildad’s statements, although pointing out that Bildad’s conclusions were still wrong. Bildad said that God would never destroy an innocent man. Job agrees, but points out that no one is innocent before God. Were he to have stopped there, Job’s statements would have been accurate; however, Job then continues to maintain his innocence even after having maintained that none are innocent before God. This contradiction in Job’s statements is easy to understand, given the fact that he certainly believed himself to be innocent of anything deserving the kind of treatment he was receiving, and also that he could plainly see that unjust people were not experiencing the same things he was. As a result, he concludes that God destroys both the innocent and wicked without concern for whether or not either is righteous.

We also see Job’s conviction that God is much more mighty and strong than Job is. God is not like a man. For one thing, Job cannot see Him directly. For another, Job cannot take God to trial. Even if he could do so, however, Job knows that God would win, for Job cannot stand against Him. In any contest, God would crush Job. As such, he knows that he can do nothing but submit to God, even though Job believes what God is doing is an injustice to him. Job also accuses God of petty behavior. For instance, he insists that were he to have any pride at all such that he could lift up his head, God would attack him all the harder.

Note that at no point in Job’s statements does Job believe anything that occurs has happened other than directly from the hand of God.

Question 3: What does this passage teach about man?

Job’s words have now turned completely against God. Though he was a righteous and blameless man before, now he begins to accuse. He acknowledges that he is speaking unrestrained and from the bitterness of his heart, and it is quite evident in his speech. Such a tone is understandable, given the context of his suffering, but that doesn’t mean they are righteous words. Indeed, when we think back to before Job began to lament, we see the statement “in all this Job did not sin with his lips” seems to have been put forth to contrast the speech Job was about to give.

This should serve as a cautionary tale for us. Even when we have behaved righteously, there are always ample opportunities for us to stumble in the future, and we should be on guard against those pitfalls.

However, there’s another key element to this passage, and that’s the fact that Job’s arguments actually do seem valid. The narrative is clear that before Job was inflicted, he was a righteous man who was blameless and innocent. Intuitively, it seems that his claim that God is not just actually has some standing, therefore. This should caution us against relying too much on our intuition instead of the Word of God. After all, if we believe that God does behave righteously in all circumstances, then we must conclude that God’s role in what happened to Job must likewise be righteous. Which means that what God did to cause Job to turn so bitter is, itself, still righteous behavior on the part of God, even if our own moral intuitions would say it is wrong for God to do that. Ultimately, if we acknowledge that we are sinners, we must also acknowledge that our own moral intuitions can be flawed such that it is much more likely that we assume God does something immoral only because we ourselves are immoral.

Due to copyright restrictions, we are linking the text rather than quoting it all. Job 8 ESV.

Bildad’s response to Job stands in stark contrast to Eliphaz’s earlier response in chapters 4-5. Eliphaz had adopted a somewhat gentle tone, although he also said some things that were a bit careless by the end of his speech. Bildad’s rejoinder, however, lacks any sense of compassion for the plight of Job. Indeed, Bildad implies Job is to blame for what has occurred.

Question 1: What are the propositions of the passage?

1) Bildad responds to Job.
2) Bildad asks how long Job will run his mouth.
3) Bildad asks if God perverts justice, implying a negative answer.
4) Bildad says that Job’s children died due to their sins.
5) Bildad says Job should plead for mercy.
6) He says that if Job is pure and righteous, then God will restore him to even greater position.
7) Bildad says that Job’s original position was small.
8) Bildad tells Job to consider what the traditions of their forefathers have said.
9) He points out that our lives are short and “a shadow.”
10) He says that the forefathers will teach Job.
11) Bildad compares those who forget God to withered plants.
12) Bildad says that the hopes of godless people perish, and they have no confidence.
13) He compares the trust of a godless man to a spider’s web.
14) He says the godless lean against their house and it falls, presumably because it has no foundation.
15) Bildad says when the godless are destroyed, no one remembers them.
16) Bildad points out that that is “the joy of his way”, indicating that there is no joy for the godless.
17) Bildad claims God will never reject a blameless man.
18) Bildad claims God will never accept an evildoer.
19) Bildad says God will bring joy back to Job.
20) Bildad says those who hate Job will be shamed.
21) He finishes by saying the tents of the wicked will be destroyed.

Question 2: What does this passage teach about God?

This gives us Bildad’s view of God. In Bildad’s view, God is nice to those who are righteous and He destroys those who are wicked. The implication of this is that Job obviously deserves what is happening to him, since God would never do such things to a righteous man. Bildad’s ultimate concept of God can be found in the clause: “if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you”.

However, we know that Bildad’s view is incorrect, for the narrative itself has explained that Job is blameless. Therefore, this view of God is not true.

Question 3: What does this passage teach about man?

The most striking aspect of Bildad’s speech is that he roots it in the teaching of the forefathers: “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.” If you recall, Eliphaz claimed to have seen a form, which he assumed was God. Eliphaz therefore gave advice based on what he believed to have been revelation. In contrast, Bildad appeals to traditions.

And the traditions truly are not that different from what we see around us today. Aside from Christianity, virtually every religion has some kind of salvation-by-works concept, where if we do what is right then we earn favor from God. Thus, Bildad’s conclusions fit right in with what the vast majority of mankind thinks. If we see someone who is suffering torments, our first assumption is that they have done something to deserve it. This is our human nature. Yet clearly Bildad was in the wrong on that point, and we too must take care under such circumstances. Simply because a person is suffering trials does not mean that that person is a sinner. Indeed, that person could be suffering precisely because he is righteous, as happened to Job.

Another thing we learn from Bildad is how not to try to offer compassion to someone who is suffering. This is not as hard and fast a rule, given that sometimes harsh language is necessary to “snap” someone out of a negative mode of thinking. Nevertheless, in the previous chapters Job has lamented that none has shown him compassion in spite of his suffering. Bildad’s response is to ignore Job’s request, and indeed proclaim two harsh falsehoods: 1) that Job’s children deserved to die for being sinners; 2) that Job himself deserves his predicaments for some kind of sinful behavior. Bildad therefore shows no tact at all in dealing with someone who is suffering, and indeed may be seen as someone who is fully convinced of an error and who will storm ahead with that error, no matter who he hurts in the process. (Yet even if he were speaking truth instead of error, Bildad’s methods are more likely to cause harm than to heal.)

Ultimately, Bildad’s vehement speech here teaches us that even if we are fully convinced of something because everyone thinks it’s true (i.e., appealing to the traditions they grew up with), you can still be in grievous error.

Due to copyright restrictions, we are linking the text rather than quoting it directly. Job 6-7 ESV.

Before delving into the propositions of these two chapters, I wanted to briefly examine the structure of the book so far. As we’ve already discussed, the first two chapters of Job function as a bit of a prologue. The prologue itself can be broken down as follows:

A. Job is righteous.
B. Satan says Job will fall if his property and family is destroyed; God permits this.
A. Job remains righteous.
B. Satan says Job will fall if his personal health is destroyed; God permits this.
A. Job remains righteous.

Now, after the prologue, we are seeing a similar type of interaction develop. Thus far, it goes like this:

C. Job issues a lament and wishes he was dead.
D. Eliphaz critiques Job.
C. Job denies the critique and wishes he was dead.

More specifically, Job first wishes he had been born dead; now he wishes his disease would kill him (incidentally, he is wishing for the very thing that God has constrained Satan from doing at that point). While there is nothing mystical or magical about this type of point/counter-point, the structure can help us to keep track of the narrative. Let us now move on to our three questions.

Question 1: What are the propositions of the passage?

1) Job answers Eliphaz.
2) Job wishes all his troubles were able to be weighed in a balance.
3) Job says that if his troubles could be weighed, they’d be heavier than the “sand of the sea.”
4) Job concludes that his earlier words were rash.
5) Job says that it is the arrows of God (the Almighty) that are in him.
6) Job says his spirit drinks the poison of God’s arrows.
7) Job says it is the terrors of God that are against him.
8) Job points out that animals do not complain when they have food.
9) Job points out that you can’t eat something tasteless without salt.
10) Job points out he has no appetite for such loathsome food.
11) Job requests that God crush him completely.
12) Job wishes he were cut off from God.
13) Job says this would be comfort for him.
14) He claims he has not denied the words of God.
15) Job indicates he is at the end of his strength.
16) Job questions why he should be patient at all.
17) Job rhetorically asks if he has the strength of stones or bronze (indicating that the burden he is under is obviously too heavy).
18) Job indicates all resources have been driven from him.
19) Job says his friends are withholding kindness, forsaking the fear of God.
20) He compares his brothers to torrential rivers, dark with ice and snow.
21) He indicates his brothers have abandoned him out of shame.
22) He says they came in confidence and are now disappointed.
23) He says they have become nothing.
24) Job says they see calamity and have only fear.
25) Job points out that he has asked for neither gift nor bribe, nor has he asked for them to rescue him.
26) Job indicates that if they would teach him, he would be silent.
27) Job wants to understand where he has sinned.
28) Job points out Eliphaz’s words were forceful, but “upright”.
29) Job points out that Eliphaz’s reproof does not apply to him.
30) Job points out that the speech of a despairing man is insubstantial.
31) Job questions Eliphaz’s character, claiming Eliphaz would “cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over [his] friend.”
32) Job asks Eliphaz to look at him.
33) Job says he will not lie to Eliphaz’s face.
34) Job asks for no injustice to be done.
35) He indicates his vindication is at stake.
36) Job asks if he has spoken anything unjustly (with an indication that it is negative).
37) Job rhetorically asks if he is incapable of discerning the cause of calamity (indicating that he is certainly able to do so).
38) Job points out that man’s days are hard service.
39) Job laments his allotted months of emptiness.
40) He says nights of misery “are apportioned” to him.
41) Job’s nights are long.
42) He tosses and turns restlessly.
43) His flesh is full of dirt, covered in worms, and it hardens and breaks apart.
44) His days end without hope.
45) Job points out that his life is fleeting, like a breath.
46) He says he will never again see any good.
47) Job also says no one will behold him anymore.
48) Job will head to the grave and be no more.
49) As a result, Job says he will not restrain his mouth.
50) Job says he will speak and complain about what has happened to him.
51) He points out that when he tries to sleep, God torments him with bad dreams and visions.
52) Job says he would rather strangle and die than live.
53) He says he loathes his life and does not want to live forever.
54) Job asks to be left alone.
55) He asks for the purpose for why God tests him.
56) He asks how long God will persist in looking upon Job.
57) He asks how his sins affect God, the “watcher of mankind.”
58) He asks why God has chosen Job for this treatment.
59) He asks how he has become a burden to God.
60) He asks why God has not pardoned his sins.
61) Job says he will die.

Question 2: What does this passage teach about God?

Just as the last passage we examined taught us what Eliphaz believed about God, this shows us what Job believes about God. However, we also know that this passage is tempered by the fact that Job has said he will no longer be patient and will not be silent. In that sense, therefore, this passage more accurately reflects a distortion of the view Job would have had of God were Job not in pain.

Regardless of Job’s view, however, we do know from the rest of the passage that God is the kind of God who would bring Job to this very position. Job is left longing for death and wishing God would crush him completely, to utterly destroy him. The fact that Job is not crushed or destroyed—indeed, we know that God has made it impossible for Satan to take Job’s life—shows us that God does not want Job to die, despite Job’s wishes.

This passage also shows that God has not informed Job of why any of these events are occurring. We, having the full narrative, know that God and Satan have been holding discussions, but Job is unaware of this. Job believes that God is the ultimate cause of the suffering he is going through, and appears to be saying that he could accept this suffering if he just knew what the purpose for it was. Nevertheless, God does not give him that information. Whether this is because Job is incorrect in his assessment that he would be able to accept it, or because God doesn’t want Job to be in a position to accept it, He does not move to give Job any further data.

Question 3: What does this passage teach about man?

The first thing we can see is that Eliphaz’s help was not very helpful to Job. This often happens when we try to comfort someone who is in pain or who has been suffering. Naturally, some of what Eliphaz said was incorrect, and other portions lacked tact—still, his statements seemed genuine, yet they were ultimately unhelpful. Job rightfully points out that much of what Eliphaz reproves, while being formally correct, simply does not apply to Job.

We can easily be sympathetic to Job’s position, for we know that he is innocent and does not deserve the atrocities that he is going through—at least on a human scale. Yet we can equally be sympathetic toward the views of Eliphaz, who is only trying to help a friend who is in torment.

Job’s responses to Eliphaz are actually quite defensive, and he seems to take it to a bit of an extreme (as we all have tendencies toward). Job ends up insulting his friend, saying that his friend would gamble away the fatherless and bargain his friends (of note, the name “Job” may be related to the term “fatherless”, although it more likely is related to the term “one who suffers” instead). In short, Job questions whether his friend is truly a friend at all. Yet it does not stop there. By chapter 7, Job has gone so far as to shift his focus from Eliphaz to God, and has transferred his defensiveness from his friend to the Divine. This type of escalation is seen quite often in mankind, and I must confess it is often found in my life as well. Job’s lament that he does not understand why these events are occurring also resonates with me on a personal level, and I think I’m not alone on this.

One key point remaining to be examined is the fact that by the end of the passage, Job asks of God: “Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity?” If we remember, however, Job was said to be blameless and upright. How, then, could he ask God to pardon his transgression? Does this expose a contradiction?

The most obvious explanation, of course, is that the nature of a “pardon” is such that one who is pardoned is at that point declared to be blameless. If one’s iniquities are taken away, then one is by definition blameless. As such, Job is righteous because he is pardoned from his sins. There is no contradiction, therefore, between Job acknowledging that he has sinned and Job being described as blameless and righteous. The fact that Job was seen as offering vicarious atonement for his children earlier also helps demonstrate that he is well aware of the need to be pardoned for sinful behavior. The same is true of us as well. Though we are all sinners, if we are forgiven we are simultaneously blameless too.