Book of Job, Session Two
I hope you will find this guide helpful as you read the Book of Job, whether you're reading it on your own or with a group or friend. I have attached a handout in PDF format to assist you. And I invite you to participate here with your comments and questions.
(All images, photographs, and text Copyright 2009 by Shireen Jeejeebhoy.)
Review
Before we begin Session Two, let's review the key points from the first one. Remember what Job was like; remember what happened up in heaven and then to him.
We don't know who the author of Job was or precisely when it was written. Some believe it's the first book, others that it's nearer in time to us. Either way, it was clear from Session One that the book of Job looks at the whole blessings-curses thing differently from the rest of the Bible, with the exception possibly of Ecclesiastes. Deuteronomy 28 laid out blessings and curses for God's chosen people as they prepared to be led into the promised land. In general, when the nation is obedient to God, then He will bless them. But if they disobey Him, then curses will rain down. But as we saw already in the first three chapters of Job, on a personal level, this theology does not hold. Job was innocent, yet he was cursed.
In this session, we look at Job's friends and how their arguments hinge on the universal, invariable truth being the innocent are blessed and the wicked cursed as laid out in Deuteronomy 28.
Discussion
Reflect over these questions on your own or with a group before continuing.
Thinking about a time of personal suffering:
How did your friends react to your time of troubles?
What did they do that was actually helpful? How did they comfort you?
What did they do or say that made matters worse?
Take a few minutes to think this over, and write down your answers.
Friendship on YouTube
What do we think of when we think about friendship?
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Three Friends Come to Comfort Job
One friend is a wise man, two are ordinary men.
Like the video shows, we don't often need to be a friend to someone in real trouble, as Job's friends were called upon to do.Real troubles can be loss of family or one's home or health to such an extent one becomes completely dependent on others. Such was the lot of Job.We think of the Book of Job as being all about Job and his suffering, but it is also about how the people who care about Job respond to his suffering. We learn about ourselves, our words through them (and later on Elihu). They are us.
The places they come from don't tell us much about them, except for one critical point: these friends are wise and they are ordinary, just like we can be one or both. Eliphaz is from near Edom, a place known for its wisdom, according to the HarperCollins Study Bible notes. Bildad and Zophar are from near Arabia, representing ordinary people.
The usual way of reading Job is to read Chapters One and Two, quickly zip through Three, glaze over as Four begins, and then perhaps skip to the end. The middle chapters of the back-and-forth repartee between Job and his friends are often considered drawn out, boring, and misery-inducing. Why is it so long, readers cry out? Well, suffering is long! The narrator is calling on you the reader to reflect deeply on the experience of the long sufferer and on your own reaction to that person or persons in your life, the person represented by Job. The narrator is asking you how you comfort: are you like Job's friends?
Job's friends believe totally that they're comforting him, that they are doing their best for him, that he's not listening to their wise counsel, that they're sitting there with him so that counts for something, that they're getting frustrated with his intransigence in not doing it their way (although they couch it as not doing it God's way), so it's no wonder that a couple of times they make to leave, yet Job calls them back. And why does he call them back, they seem to ask themselves, only not to listen to their superior knowledge and understanding, they vent? But they don't ask themselves or each other why they're not listening to him or why they're not talking directly to God on his behalf. They don't look upon their comforting as a rejection of all that they had known about Job before his suffering, a rejection of his character and his faith, a rejection that is akin to eight small deaths, eight for each time they speak to him.
Comfort is in the eye of the perceiver.
Why is Job Suffering?
The three friends attempt to answer that question.
The friends begin well, by sitting in silent solidarity with Job. There is nothing they can say to assuage his grief over his overwhelming losses. And then he speaks out his despair, and they feel compelled to speak. It would have been better for Job's sanity if they had kept quiet and remained silently by his side.
But we readers benefit from them opening their mouths, for we eventually learn that everything they say, every attitude they evince towards Job as they attempt to answer that question -- why do the innocent suffer -- is not right in the sight of the Lord.
Why do You Think the Innocent Suffer?
Put another way: if you were Job's friend, why would you think he's suffering?
Write your comments and ideas down here. Share them with other readers!
1
Not up to me to judge the source of his suffering
I hope that's what I'd say anyhow.0 points
Eliphaz
Read chapters 4, 15, and 22.
The usual way of tackling Job is to read the whole book from beginning to end, and I suggest you read it once like that. But to see the way the characters interact with each other and to see the build up of each friend's comments to Job, it's enlightening to read in turn just the chapters where one character speaks. We begin with Eliphaz, as he's the supposedly wise one and seemingly the big cheese of the three. He also leads off the responses as to what's happened to Job.
When reading these chapters, pay particular attention to these verses:
4:1-9
15:7-16
22:1-11, 21-22
Eliphaz speaks three times, his third speech being about half the length of his first one. These passages highlight his main points.
Eliphaz, the Temanite, the Wise One from Near Edom
He speaks the most to Job.
Like any good lawyer, Eliphaz comes up with various rationalizations about why Job is suffering, all of which say the same thing: that Job is wicked, is sinful, and does not fear God.Retributive
Eliphaz's first speech is pretty long, taking up two chapters. He begins his comforting speech with the words, "if one ventures a word with you, will you be offended?" Basically, he's saying I'm going to say a few not nice things to you, and I don't want you to point that out to me because I want to pretend that I'm doing this for your own good.
He says the upright are not cut off, that those "who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap trouble." (4:8) And so Job must've plowed iniquity to now be experiencing trouble. We, the reader, know he's off base because of what's in the first two chapters and because God does not speak through spirits that make
one's hair stand up on end, as Eliphaz describes about his vision. (4:1216)
Eliphaz isn't up for listening to Job's despair and rebukes him: God's creation should be good enough, so stop navel gazing.
How often have you heard something similar said to a sufferer?
There are many variations on that theme: Christians, your unbelief is the cause; others, you gotta get over yourself; you're focused too much on the problem and if you weren't so focused you'd be better; you're not grateful enough, or showing gratitude enough; if you were grateful and sought out things to be grateful for, it would change the whole perspective of your life - you would no longer be miserable. But these types of sentiments deny the legitimate despair of the sufferer for the comfort of the friend.
And then Eliphaz crosses the line: "Their children are far from safety, they are crushed in the age, and there is no one to deliver them." (5:4) He is telling Job the deaths of his children are his fault. Can good intent excuse cruelty and insensitivity?
Eschatological
Eliphaz repeats his argument about the consolations of God's Creation. He slips into irony when he accuses Job of doing away with the fear of God (15:23), yet he himself shows no fear of God. He says Job's own mouth testifies against him without the slightest idea that it holds true for himself as well.
Ineffable
Eliphaz's question in 22:3 sounds like a good one. But then why call a people to Himself and show them His ways if righteousness does not give God pleasure? Eliphaz blatently calls Job wicked and tries to seduce Job with platitudes about making peace with God by agreeing with the reasons for his suffering. It seemingly is in accord with orthodoxy plus it makes for an easy out: repent and all be well.
Bildad
Read chapters 8, 18, and 25.
When reading these chapters, pay particular attention to these verses:
8:1-7
18:1-5, 18-21
25:4
Bildad speaks next and speaks fewer words than Eliphaz. He speaks three times as well, but his last speech is short and given almost as if Job is not even there.
These verses highlight Bildad's main points. What is he saying?
The further we get from obvious action-consequence, of doing obvious wrong, the more tenuous the connection becomes between sin and suffering. Yet does Bildad see that?
What would have happened if Job had repented as Bildad calls him to do?
God would have been terribly frustrated with that as he would have lost his bet with Satan. By repenting, Job would've denied his integrity, the very attributes that God boasted to Satan about and that formed the core of Job's faith.
Bildad, the Shuhite, the Ordinary Man from near Arabia
He's the second to speak to Job.
He continues the theme that Eliphaz started, that there is a reason for Job's suffering and it lies in his wickedness, his sinfulness, etc. etc.Disciplinary
Bildad asks rhetorically if God perverts justice (8:3), a key theme in the book that Job also muses over. And since the answer obviously is no, asserts Bildad, therefore Job's suffering is because of his disobedience.
What do you think? Has Job been disobedient?
He insists that Job must seek supplication for his intransigence against God.
He speaks to be heard and listens not at all to Job. He probably has one of the shortest attention spans in the Bible.
Bildad avers that wisdom is to be found in our ancestors as our days are but a shadow. Yet the days of the ancestors would have been but a shadow too when they were alive. His theory also does not accord with God's statement as to where wisdom is found.
Retributive
Bildad increases the weight of Eliphaz's statements. Eliphaz said Job was windy; Bildad that Job hunts for words. Eliphaz said those who plow trouble sow it; Bildad that God sets traps for the wicked.
And then Bildad executes his coup de grace: no one will remember Job, for the wicked "have no offspring." (18:19) First Eliphaz and now Bildad pile the deaths of his children at Job's feet. Ironically, generations remembers Job for his patient suffering, and they remember Bildad for his not-so-nice words to the sufferer.
Incidental
In his final speech, which totally ignores Job, Bildad states that anyone born a mortal or from a woman cannot be righteous or pure. Leaving aside the misogyny of the statement (and for Christians that Jesus was born of woman), one wonders why he says that. Perhaps because he feels he cannot attain it, and so no one can? He leaves it at that, as if his short, false assumption says it all.
The sufferer has become invisible.
Zophar
Read chapters 11 and 20.
When reading these chapters, pay particular attention to these verses:
11:1-6
20:1-5
Zophar, the third friend, says the least to Job. He speaks only twice, although there is apparently some discussion about whether his third speech is buried in Job's final speeches.
What comes to mind when you read these chapters?
With Zophar, the friends are no longer twisting the knife like Bildad did, but now taking a 2x4 and thwacking Job upside the head. But if Job takes the blame for his suffering, then God is off the hook.
It's not our job to get God off the hook.
Zophar, the Naamathite, the Ordinary Man from Near Arabia
He speaks last to Job.
Zophar gets rather hot and bothered with Job, and foreshadows some of Elihu's words about his own passionate need to speak. He's completely convinced that Job is wicked and that his suffering proves it. He's so sure of the rightness of his arguments that he remembers the pre-suffering Job in a completely imaginative way so as to prove his own statements that Job behaved wickedly towards others, not wanting to let Job's good deeds, well-known good character, and deep faith get in the way of a good theory and his own sureness.Probative
Basically Zophar says Job's suffering in and of itself is proof positive that he is guilty as sin. He repeats the platitudes that God only exacts as much from a person as they are guilty; thus Job's extreme suffering is proof of extreme guilt or sin. He is espousing the idea that Deuteronomy 28 is absolute and applies in all situations, both to nations and to individuals, despite what we all see every day.
Revelatory
Zophar gets so agitated, that like Elihu later on, he speaks about how his thoughts are urging him to speak, to answer Job. How awful of Job to defend himself, to insist over and over his innocence, his integrity, the unreasonableness of his suffering!
He's so incensed that Job stands up for himself and won't back down that he grinds into Job the idea that his exulting - the exulting of the wicked - is short and that he'll get his. God is going to bring him down! Zophar says emphatically about his friend Job, the one he came to comfort.
What do You Think of Job's Friends' Comforting?
Do their arguments sound familiar? Are you feeling that maybe they have it right? Have such things being said to you? Or have you found yourself saying similar things to your friends in despair?
Share here your comments!
The Three Miserable Comforters
Their main points are different ways of saying the same thing.
Job's friends repeatedly say Job is wicked. They become more and more vociferous on this point, that it is his fault that he is suffering. They become so convinced by the sound of their own voices that their argument is right, that they start making up stuff about him, stuff that proves his wickedness, proves God is right to make him suffer, proves that he is the author of his own misery. And they even rub salt into his own wound by reminding him obliquely and directly of his worst losses and saying that if he had not done 'x', he would not have lost 'y,' his children.
They argue the same point in different ways, probably believing that they are right in saying Job is wicked and guilty as his suffering was proof of that. They cannot conceive of anyone suffering for any reason beyond the idea that he had done something wrong or did not fear God and have enough faith.
They refuse to listen to Job's experience for fear it will rock their comfort zone, move them into unfamiliar and unhappy territory, kind of like many not wanting to read the middle bit of Job for fear of coming smack up against the angst of his experience.
No wonder Job calls them miserable comforters.
Do you agree with Job's description? Are they miserable comforters?
God's silence, the lack of anyone rebuking them other than Job, serves to make them feel in the right and empowers them to descend more and more into miserable comforting, into becoming like a "treacherous torrent-bed" on which to smash Job's integrity, his emotional stability, his very being so
that he will finally conform to their thinking.
They withhold kindness, understanding, and show no wisdom in their words. They think not of God - for they not once speak to him - and they think not of Job - for they listen not to his words and his anguish but to their own rigid thinking. They get bored with listening to Job, and they want him to listen to them. Ironic, since he listens very carefully to them.
They don't once speak to God on Job's behalf.
Who do you think is motivating the friends to say such things, to be messengers against Job? Satan? Or God? Or their own free will?
We'll see what Job thinks in the next session.
Questions for Us
How do we treat our suffering friends? Do we see these reasons as applying to our own suffering?
Job's friends declare Job wicked, guilty, sinful; they accuse him of acts he did not commit; they don't listen to him and complain he doesn't listen to them; they don't even pray to God for him.
All this so that they can say that it's his fault he's suffering.
Although God tells them off at the end, while they are speaking to him, Job is on his own. God remains silent, seemingly endorsing what the three friends are saying.
The way Job's friends respond to his suffering says much about our assumptions for the reasons for suffering. Not all suffering is cause-and-effect. Not all suffering has a clear line between the beginning and end, as in, for example, smoking causes heart attacks. The suffering of ill health after a lifetime of smoking is to be expected.
Even so, is the extent of suffering justified by the sinful, causative act?
And does it make alright the kind of "miserable comforting" that Job's friends heap on him?
And when suffering happens through no fault of a person's own, are the reasons that the friends' espouse apply to us, less perfect but still innocent human beings?
In trying to answer these questions, we must remember what God and the narrator said in the first two chapters about Job. But God's words do not just apply to Job. This Book is an allegory for suffering; it attempts to answer the millenniaold question of why it happens for all the people who suffer and all the people who comfort the sufferers from their thrones of healthy complacency.
Next Time: Job's Response
The Job Sessions
- Book of Job
- An introduction to how I came to read Job and write a guide to it.
- Job Session One
- The first session of the series. It covers the first three chapters of Job, which introduce Job and reveal the bet between God and Satan over Job.
- Job Session Three
- The third session in this series. It covers Job's response to his friends and to his suffering.
- Job Session Four
- The fourth session in this series. It covers Elihu, a young person who pipes up after Job and his friends have rested.
- Job Session Five
- The fifth session in this series. It covers God's answer to Job's questions.
- Job Session Six: Epilogue
- This is the sixth and final session in this series. It covers Job's restoration and transformation.
Reader Feedback
What do you think about the Book of Job so far? How do you like this guide? Please leave your feedback here!
ShireenJ wrote...
in reply to cappuccino136 Thank you! I agree. Wisdom is so hard to recognize sometimes but Job really does show it to us.
[in reply to Webcodes] Thank you! That's so true. It's a hard thought to shake too, and Job is inspiring in how he can resist it.
Posted May 30, 2009
Webcodes wrote...
Well done. 5*. When bad things happen, we can't help to think if we have done something wrong before God.... we can learn a lot from Job.
Posted May 28, 2009
cappuccino136 wrote...
Excellent lens. There are many important lessons from the book of Job. I really like your thoughtful discussion questions.
Posted May 27, 2009
ShireenJ wrote...
in reply to spirituality It just may be! I was amazed and honoured that one person who heard my presentation on this session thought about this and followed the lessons of Job's friends (what not to do!) the next time they were in a position to listen to those suffering hardship.
Thank you! I've submitted to the group. :)
Posted May 27, 2009
by ShireenJ
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