Few Days and Full of Trouble
Job Chapters 4-14
Worse than Death
As Chapter 3 begins, we find Job, who after suffering a series of calamities, has been sitting for seven days in the company of his friends who have come to comfort him. As the chapter opens he begins to speak. Without addressing anyone in particular, he begins to curse the day of his birth (3:1-4). This seems only slightly different from the suggestion of his wife, who had instructed him to “curse God and die” (2:9) but it is a difference that is important to Job, for reasons we will later discuss.
Among Biblical characters, Job is not alone in his desire, as Jeremiah also curses the day he was born (Jeremiah 15:10; 20:14-18). The idea that there is a fate worse than death (or is it worse than life?) has been taught to us by our Lord. Speaking of his betrayer, Christ says it would be better for his betrayer that he had never been born (Matthew 26:24). As I, myself, have been that betrayer, this is a statement that causes me great concern.
Eliphaz
Following Job's soliloquy, his friend Eliphaz begins the first of several cycles of dialogue. In his speech, Eliphaz challenges Job with the deuteronomic logic that was widely accepted in that day, as it is today: you reap what you sow (4:7-9). This common wisdom is repeated by Paul, who states it as a simple rule (Galatians 6:7). In contrast, we have the Parable of the Talents (Luke 19:20-26) which does not directly contradict the rule, but reinforces the sovereignty of God that will not submit to any human idea of justice.
Eliphaz goes on to encourage Job to accept the discipline of God (5:17-20) which is another idea we sometimes call upon to explain what we might otherwise understand as the arbitrary nature of our lives. We speak of the trials of this life, which the Lord intends to our benefit (James 1:2-4) and there is certainly Biblical precedent for the idea that discipline is an expression of God's love for us (Jeremiah 30:11; Revelation 3:19-20).
Job responds in a manner that is formulaic of this dialogues, not only in direct rebuttal of his earthly accuser, but also with entreaty to the Lord. In this case, the entreaty is split into two parts. In the rebuttal that comes between the two (6:24-30) Job declares that he would accept any wisdom his friends might have, but charges his friends with the request: “look at me.” Eliphaz had offered common wisdom, but had not considered either the plight or the character of the man whom he accused. This accusation is one that we should carefully consider whenever we seek to council or console.
In the first part of his address to God, Job makes a request that betrays his own sense of values (6:8-10). It is not clear what it would mean to “deny the words of the Holy One” but we must note the importance Job has placed upon it, as earlier evidenced by his refusal to curse God. This issue of piety (the “fear” of the Lord) and the role that it plays in our theology is but one of the aspects of the central theme of the book of Job, which is the Problem of Evil.
In another address to this question, one that originates from the idea that God “tries” or “tests” us, Job asks “What is man?” The Psalmist asks this question in response to the majestic generosity of God (Psalm 8:4-9) but Job, without denying that generosity, wonders why our Creator ever bothered with us (7:17-20). What does God get out of our existence? One might be so bold as to ask what God needs from us.
Bildad
Bildad finds these questions outrageous, and castigates Job as a blasphemer who challenges divine justice (8:1-6). For Bildad, the logic of this justice is unquestionable, and the conclusion of Job's suffering requires the premise of his sin. Job does not dispute this logic, but again questions the role of humanity in the plan of God (9:1-2).
It is helpful to remember that irony is the prevailing literary device in the book of Job. Job responds to his friends with irony that depicts his wearied exasperation, and the author of Job uses irony to explore the paradox of the human condition. It is with considerable irony that Job prefigures the intercession of Christ in the judgment of God (Romans 8:33-34) with his suggestion of an extra-divine court in which he and God might confront each other on equal terms (9:32-35).
In the court of his imagination, Job would not only requires of God an account of the charges held against him, but would question the very nature of the God who created the world which we perceive (10:2-7). In the eyes of Job this world is not beyond reason, or even without reason, but is actively unreasonable. Eliphaz and Bildad have charged that Job's punishment is evidence of his sin. Job's charge to God is that, had he sinned, God would surely punish him, but that punishment could be no worse than the reward he had received for his piety (10:13-15).
Zophar
Zophar is relatively brief in his charge against Job, perhaps because he has nothing new to add to the conversation, other than to pursue former ideas to further extremes as he tells Job that God has in fact been lenient with him and forgotten some of his transgression (11:1-6).
Job's response is extensive. With characteristic irony he declares his friends the epitome of human excellence who hold the complete store of human knowledge (12:1-3). He then shatters this ironic image by characterizing them as worse than useless – a people who would be wise to be silent, and who could never achieve the standard they had set for him (13:1-9).
Having found no reason and certainly no consolation from his friends, Job returns to his address towards God, from whom he seeks an injunction from retribution until the charges against him have been declared (13:20-23). Expanding on this idea of injunction, Job observers that our lives are short to begin with, and trouble enough without the relentless intervention of an unappeasable god (14:1-6).
It is my custom to close a lesson with some uplifting and hopeful resolution, but such a closing would not be true to our text. We must, ourselves, consider the nature of the one in whom we find our faith.
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.(Isaiah 46:9-10 NIV)
