Introduction
If you are anything like me, you may have wondered from time to time about the precise nature of the argument between Job and his three friends. Everyone in the book speaks a lot about the greatness of God, but in all the back-and-forth, what was the nub of the issue exactly?
Job was a very wealthy man and a series of disasters came upon him. That is clear enough. His three friends thought that he should take responsibility in some way, but for what exactly? This Job refused to do, but what was he refusing to do exactly? Was it simply a matter of did too/did not? What were their arguments revolving around exactly?
This has bothered me for some time, and so the last time through the book of Job, I tried to summarize the flow of the argument as I went—leaving out the portions where everyone agreed about the greatness of God.
A Bit of Background
My take is that Job was the second king of Edom. The land of Uz was in Edom (Lam. 4:21). Eliphaz was a Temanite, and Teman was the capital city of Edom (Jer. 49:7). In addition to this, the name of the second king in Edom, given elsewhere, is remarkably similar to the name of Job. I take it that Jobab was a variation on the name of Job.
“Now these are the kings that reigned in the land of Edom before any king reigned over the children of Israel; Bela the son of Beor: and the name of his city was Dinhabah. And when Bela was dead, Jobab the son of Zerah of Bozrah reigned in his stead. And when Jobab was dead, Husham of the land of the Temanites reigned in his stead.”1 Chronicles 1:43–45 (KJV)
Notice that the kingship here did not descend from father to son, which indicates (perhaps) that it was granted to the most powerful and influential man. Job certainly would have been a contender for that position. But even if Job wasn’t the king, he was a very wealthy man, and his fortunes and the fortunes of Edom would have been all tied up together. What happened to Job mattered to everyone else.
However I do believe that he was the king, and disaster came down upon his head. I take his three friends to have been members of his cabinet, as it were, or chief advisors. They came to him in order to urge him to run the play that has always been run in situations like this, from ancient times. When disaster befalls a city, whether a military debacle, or a plague, or something like this, there needs to be a fall guy. Job needs to take one for the team, the way Oedipus was willing to do. “Best for all concerned,” don’t you think?
But to everyone’s astonishment, Job refused to do it. He will not be an arbitrary scapegoat, and so the argument began.
The Arguments
Eliphaz begins (Chapters 4-5)
We know that you, Job, have instructed many, but you are not applying your own teaching here (4:3-5). We know you had to have done something wrong (v. 7). This was reinforced to me in a dream (vv. 12-21). You know, the kind that Candace has.
Job replies (Chapters 6-7)
I wish I was dead (6:8-9). If I have sinned, then you need to tell me how and where (vv. 24-25). Job has sinned, but doesn’t know what the sin could be (vv. 7:20). So the sticking point from the beginning is not whether Job claims to have been sinless. The sticking point is that he will not just make something up. He needs to know what it was. Any confession needs to be honest.
Bildad speaks (Chapter 8)
If your children sinned, that is why they were cast away (v. 4). If you were pure and upright, this affliction would cease (v. 6). The hypocrite’s hope is going to perish (v. 13).
Job replies (Chapters 9-10)
God is all-powerful, who can stand before Him (v. 2)? Who can challenge Him and say “what are you doing?” (v. 12). He is not a man, such that Job could contend with Him (v. 32). So God should show him why this is happening (10:20). God knows Job is not among the wicked, but no one can contend with God anyhow (v. 7). If Job is wicked, things are bad. If he is righteous, things are bad (v. 15).
Zophar speaks (Chapter 11)
This is happening because of your sin, and Job is getting better than his iniquity deserves (v. 6). If he would but just acknowledge this, God would restore all his fortunes (v. 14). It is striking how many times his friends said this—God will restore you if you just cooperate. God did restore him, but not on their terms.
Job replies (Chapters 12-14)
When his counselors say that God is almighty, and His ways inscrutable, Job knows this as much as they do (13:2). But whatever truths they state about God, they are lying about Job (v. 4). Despite everything, Job trusts God (v. 15). Job is not saying that he has not sinned. He is saying that he does not know what it could possibly be (v. 23). His transgression is hidden from him, and is sealed up (14:17). Job is refusing to make something up just so that he could go through the motions of confessing something.
Eliphaz speaks a second time (Chapter 15)
Job stands condemned on the basis of the words he is currently saying (vv. 5-6). Why do you speak this way (v. 13)? Look. Bad people have bad things happen to them.
Job replies (Chapters 16-17)
Job maintains that his prayer is sincere and pure (v. 17). If he has sinned, he needs to know what it is, and not make something up. To lie would be to augment whatever sin it was.
Bildad speaks (Chapter 18)
Really bad things happen to wicked people (vv. 1-21)
Job replies (Chapter 19)
If Job has indeed erred, his error remains self-contained (v. 4). God has come down against him (6), but Job has faith in the resurrection (vv. 25-27). His friends should have recognized that the root of integrity is in him (v. 28).
Zophar speaks (Chapter 20)
The triumph of the hypocrite is short-lived and he always comes down to nothing quickly.
Job replies (Chapter 21)
The hypocrite flourishes for a time (v. 7). But Job is not in their number (v. 16), and they will all be brought to nothing.
Eliphaz speaks (Chapter 22)
At this point, Eliphaz apparently loses his cool, or his temper, and charges Job with explicit acts of great wickedness (v. 5). He has stripped the naked (v. 6), withheld bread from the hungry (v. 7), and sent widows away empty (v. 9). But if he repents and returns, God will prosper him again (v. 23).
Job replies (Chapters 23-24)
God is inscrutable and distant (v. 3), but Job yearns to appear before him, where he would be vindicated (v. 10). There are people out there who are just like the one Eliphaz described, and they will in fact be brought to nothing (24:1-17).
Bildad speaks (Chapter 25)
How can a man be clean in the sight of God, when even the celestial bodies are not (vv. 1-6)?
Job replies (Chapters 26-31)
How have you helped the helpless (vv. 2-4)? The one thing Job will not do is lie about it (27:34-5). Wisdom is inscrutable and resides with God alone (28:1-28), and so the part of wisdom for man is to fear God and depart from evil (v. 28). Job yearned for the days back when he was well-respected (29:1-25), as those were the days when he delivered the poor and orphans (v. 12), helped the lame and blind (v. 15), and threw down the wicked (v. 17). But Job is now the derision of moral idiots, for God has struck him (30: 1-31). Job again declares his integrity, in many areas. He knows nothing against himself (31: 1-40).
A Word About Elihu
I take Elihu to be a righteous character, and not to be numbered with the three friends. First, God rebukes the three friends, but not Elihu. Second, Elihu’s observations are largely reinforced by what God says from the whirlwind. Third, Elihu, despite his age, is given a large speech. Fourth, that speech is near the climax of the book, introducing God in the whirlwind. Fifth, Job does not answer Elihu, just as he does not answer God. So we should pay attention to the words of Elihu.
Elihu speaks (Chapters 32-37)
Elihu is exasperated because Job had started to justify himself rather than God (v. 2), and he was vexed with the three men because they had not been able to answer Job (32:1-22). Though he is young, he must speak or burst. Elihu tells Job that he has moved from “I don’t know my sin, if I have sinned” to “I have not sinned” (33: 8-9). But God is greater than man (v. 12). Job was to be faulted, not because he had sinned initially, but because he had come to demand that God show him everything that was going on. But God cannot do wickedly (34: 10,12), and owed Job nothing. Job multiplied his words against God in this way, and was therefore to be blamed (v. 37). Job had claimed there was no profit in righteousness (35:3), and therefore he multiplied words without knowledge (v. 16). God does right, by definition, and when someone falls into affliction because of a transgression, God will reveal that to him (36:9)—in due time. Trust Him. God is great and incomprehensible (37: 5, 23)
God speaks from the whirlwind (Chapters 38-41)
God appears at this point, and speaks from the whirlwind. He does not answer any of Job’s questions, but in effect, He answers them all. This is simply four chapters of an ineffable divine sovereignty as manifested in creation. There is only one allusion to Elihu’s objection to Job (40:8), which supports Elihu, but all the rest of it is simply a tsunami of creational glory.
God wraps everything up (Chapter 42)
Job’s response to all of this is simply to repent, and to abhor himself (42:2-6). God chastises the three friends, requiring sacrifices from them (vv. 7-8). And God then restores Job’s fortunes.
In sum, there was no initial sin that provoked the disaster, but rather righteousness. The three friends maintained that there had to have been an initial sin. Job granted the possibility that there could have been an initial sin, but that he needed to know what it was in order for any confession to be honest. As the debate wore on, Job’s position slid from “there could be sin, but I need to know for sure in order to be honest” to “God is wronging me by not revealing the meaning of all this.” God dealt with him by overwhelming him with his majesty as a Creator. God dealt with the error of the three friends by means of requiring sacrifice, and through Job’s intercession for them.
And I think it all makes sense.