[Coverage: Job 4-27, 29-31, Reading: Job 8:1-6, 16:1-5]
Have you ever visited someone who is sick in hospital? Who has cancer? Or depressed? Or grieving over someone they’ve lost, who has died? Who have lost a spouse, a child? It’s a good place to be. It’s a good place to be because you are looking into your future.
So Ecclesiastes tells us:
2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart. 3 Sorrow is better than laughter, because a sad face is good for the heart. 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure. (Ecclesiastes 7:2-4 NIV)
Imagine you’re in hospital having been diagnosed with cancer. Or you’re at home, having just buried your wife or husband, or child. And in comes a friend. A good old friend. You are glad to see them. And you pour out your grief to them. And after they listen to you, they begin to hint at something. That you are a sinner. Sure, no news there. But they are saying something more. That you have sinned, or that your wife or child had sinned. That is why you are going through this. Or that your faith is not strong enough. That is why you are sick, and suffering. Or that your forefathers sinned in some way. They were masons. Or they opened their lives up to demons. And this disaster has come upon you because of their sin. And you need to repent. You need to repent.
And then another old friend comes in. And you pour out your grief, now intensified by the friends rebuke. And this second friend agrees. It’s all your fault that this disaster has come upon you. And this old friend maintains the rage against you.
And then a third friend comes in. And you pour out your heart again. And you get the same response. It’s all your fault, you sinner. And they stay with you and hammer you with this message in turn. Each of them has not one go, not two goes, but three goes at it. That’s not chaplaincy. That’s not pastoral care. That’s tag team wrestling. That’s kicking someone who's down. That’s rubbing salt in the wounds.
That’s what happens to Job.
This week, we look at what Job’s comforters say to Job. We look also at what Job says. Together they say a lot. In today’s sermon, we cover 27 chapters of complex dialogue. So we need to know who gets what right and who gets what wrong. To do this, we need to look at both the front and back of the book.
At the front of the book of Job, Job is righteous. Job is righteous before God sends the suffering (Job 1:8). Job doesn’t suffer because he is a sinner. Indeed, Job suffers because he is righteous. There is no one else likes him, ‘blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil’ (Job 1:1, 8; 2:3). Job’s godliness is the reason why he suffers.
And Job remains righteous during the suffering. Job endures the loss of his possessions, children, health. And he still retains his integrity (Job 2: 9-10). He even endures his wife’s provocations to curse God. He doesn’t sin before the suffering. And he doesn’t sin during the suffering. His consistent attitude is:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD." (Job 1:21 NIV)
When we go to the back of the book, God says who was right in the debate.
After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has…” (Job 42:7 NIV)
Job’s friends are fundamentally wrong and Job is fundamentally right. So we must look for the mistakes in what Job’s friends say. And we need to see where Job is right to stand his ground against them.
But not everything Job says is right. Job is still rebuked by God. Job does speak what is right when compared to his comforters. But everything Job says is not right. Yahweh says that Job ‘spoke without knowledge’ and ‘darkens his counsel’ (Job 38:2). Job accused God of injustice (Job 40:1, 8). And Job himself repents of this. This fact shows that Job did say some wrong things (Job 42:6).
The friends come to Job to comfort him. It seems they have good and noble intentions. But pretty soon they all they look more like tag team wrestlers than hospital chaplains or visitors to a nursing home. They are a team of wrestlers trying to wrestle Job into submission. And there is a clear structure to the wrestle on the ash heap.
Job starts off by complaining as the sufferer. But pretty soon the friends want to shut Job up. Job pours out his wish to die. And Eliphaz responds trying to make Job ‘see sense’. Job fights back. Then Bildad. Then Job parries and thrusts. Then Zophar. And Job responds. And they go round this circle once, twice, even a third time. As they wrestle on, each of the speakers gets more and more intense. By the end of the third cycle, Zophar has given up. Indeed, so have the others. They give up because Job stubbornly clings to what they think is an untenable position. In the face of the clear evidence, Job still says he’s done nothing wrong. Job maintains that he’s done nothing to deserve the suffering. (Job 32:1). Job justified himself rather than God (Job 32:2). Here is the structure of their dialogue.
What is the friends’ advice? What do they say to this distraught man? Clearly they say much, for a long time, and in turns? At the start, they say it gently. As things go on, they say it angrily, frustratedly. But what is the basic content of their advice?
Their basic advice is this. “Job, these disasters have come upon because of your sins.You have committed particular sins. And these sins are being punished by these disasters. And you need to repent of the sins you committed prior to your sufferings. Then you will be restored to your former prosperity.”
Now, this is a falsehood, as we will see. But underlying this falsehood are some grains of truth. The three comforters believe some things that are correct.
First, the three friends believe that God has sent this tragedy. I agree with this. Some well meaning church people, well meaning chaplains, well meaning ministers, don’t believe God sends suffering and bad things. As I talk to people suffering, I have to constantly undo the work of these well meaning people. In the face of disaster, they cannot say that God has sent it. They believe God only sends good things. But the ‘devil’ or impersonal ‘laws of nature’ send bad things. And God isn’t really in control of these evil forces.
Unfortunately, they end up with a nice but impotent god. Their god is all good intention but without the power to carry it out. So they say things like, “the God that I believe in didn’t send the Tsunami. I can’t believe in a god who sent this, cyclone, earthquake, car accident, cancer." You fill the blanks. Their god is a Santa Clause god, who gives good things to good children, but whose hands are tied when bad things come along.
Friends, this is a terrible mistake. God is all powerful and decrees everything that happens. We need to agree with Isaiah 45:7
‘I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.’ (Isaiah 45:7 NIV).
And at least the friends don’t fall into this mistake. They see that God is behind the suffering.
Of course, that leaves them and us with a problem. We know suffering is painful. And pain is bad. So the question is then, is the all powerful God all good? If God sends all things, both the good and the bad, then is God himself evil?
Here, the friends give a resounding ‘No’. They believe that God is just in everything he does. Nothing that God sends reflects adversely on his character. So Bildad says:
3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? (Job 8:3)
And when Job is at his best during the debates, Job agrees with them (Job 9:2).
But then, Job’s comforter’s make a wrong conclusion. They have correct premises. God is all powerful and God is good. But then they jump to a wrong conclusion. Suffering is a just retribution for sin that Job has committed. So Bildad reasons:
3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? 4 When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. (Job 8:3-4 NIV)
Again, Zophar says:
God has even forgotten some of your sin (Job 11:6 NIV).
In other words, you are even more sinful than this suffering suggests. You deserve even more suffering than this. And so Zophar’s answer to Job is:
14 if you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, 15 then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear. 16 You will surely forget your trouble, recalling it only as waters gone by. 17 Life will be brighter than noonday… (Job 11:14-17 NIV)
At first Eliphaz sugarcoats this bitter pill. But by chapter 22, Eliphaz has the gloves off. Here is what the oldest and most respected of Job’s comforters, thinks:
4 "Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you? 5 Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless? 6 You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked. 7 You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry, 8 though you were a powerful man, owning land-- an honored man, living on it. 9 And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless. 10 That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you, 11 why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you. (Job 22:4-11 NIV)
Job’s comforters have no direct evidence of Job’s sin, nor those of his children. Indeed, we know for certain that the cause of Job’s suffering is NOT his sin. But Job’s comforters are reasoning from the suffering itself. God has sent the suffering. And the suffering is just. Therefore, the suffering is a just punishment, a retribution or pay back, for sin.
Now, is disaster a particular punishment for specific sin? Not necessarily. It might be, but it might not be. Sometimes suffering in scripture is attributed to specific sin. In the Old Testament, the disaster that followed David’s adultery comes to mind. The death of Bathsheba’s baby, Amnon’s rape of Tamar, Absalom’s adultery with 10 of his father’s concubines, and the subsequent exile of David and following civil war and death of Absalom. All of this is specifically said to be the result of David’s sin. In the New Testament, the Corinthian Christians were falling sick and dying. This was specifically said to be because they abused the Lord’s Supper. They were gutsing all the food and shaming the poor. So God made some of them sick and they died.
But suffering is not always divine retribution for sin. It might be, but then again, it might not. Thus, when asked whose sin caused a blind man’s suffering, Jesus said:
"Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. (John 9:3 NIV)
Christianity has no doctrine of Karma. God has not built a reflex action into the universe to automatically pay someone back for sin. Present suffering is not necessarily caused by what you did in the past. Nor is it necessarily caused by your ancestor’s sin[1].
Job is suffering because he is the most righteous man on earth. He is not suffering because he has sinned. But the three counselors are unrelenting in their accusation. Job, you suffer because you have been wicked. So says Zophar:
27 The heavens will expose his guilt; the earth will rise up against him. 28 A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath. 29 Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God." (Job 20:27 - 29)
The tragedy has exposed Job’s guilt. It is God’s just judgment on him.
What is the solution then? What do the friends say Job must do? Job must search out the sin he has committed, confess it, and repent of it. Then Job’s fortunes will be restored. The possessions will come back to him. This is how Eliphaz puts it:
21 "Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. 22 Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent 24 and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines, 25 then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you. (Job 22:21-25 NIV)
Here we see the two wrong assumptions yet again. First, Job wasn’t punished for his sins. He hasn’t mistreated anyone or obtained money wrongly. So repentance by getting rid of his ill gotten gain is unavailable to Job.
And second, Job doesn’t serve God for what God gives him. You will remember this was the slander the devil leveled at Job. The devil said that Job serves God for prosperity. That Job loves God for the money that God gives him.
What can Job say in response to his friends? He’s got so many things to say. An articulate, grieving man, with faith in God and many questions, he has hours and hours worth of things to say.
Understandably, Job grieves for what he has lost. He longs for the days when he had his children, and life was better, and he was respected (Job 29:2ff). Now, Job is a social leper. Job’s society reviles him. He is looked at as a pariah, one cursed by God. And he is paid out accordingly.
At other times, Job wants his comforters to be quiet. Their accusations make things worse. Is not God’s heavy hand bad enough?
"Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. 22 Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh? (Job 19:21-22 NIV)
They keep telling Job he has done something to deserve the suffering. So it rubs salt into the wounds God has laid on him. So Job calls his friends all kinds of nasty things.
And God agrees with Job, as we saw, at the end of the book. The friends have sinned in what they said. And only through Job will they be forgiven.
Job again and again reasserts his innocence. His friends say he’s sinned. Job rightly says he has not. So for example, Job 23:11-13.
11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. (Job 23:11-13)
Job 31 is an extended plea of innocence by Job. He has carefully followed God’s word and has done nothing deserving this suffering.
At several points, Job wishes that God would stop the pain. One option for this is death. God has taken so much from Job, and now he lives in continual agony. So Job says to God. ‘Finish off the job. Crush me now, while I still have my integrity. At least then I wouldn’t have denied you’ (Job 6:9-9).
He is not suicidal. He wants to live. He says:
8Your hands shaped me and made me. Will you now turn and destroy me? 9 Remember that you molded me like clay. Will you now turn me to dust again? (Job 10:8-9 NIV)
God, don’t destroy me. I want to live, but not like this, not with your heavy hand, O God.
Again we see this, that Job hopes for better days.
12 You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. 13 "But this is what you concealed in your heart, and I know that this was in your mind: 19 If only I had never come into being, or had been carried straight from the womb to the grave! 20 Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment's joy 21 before I go to the place of no return… (Job 10:12-21 NIV)
So Job has these two requests from God.
20Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you: 21 Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. 22 Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply. (Job 13:20-22 NIV)
First, stop the unrelenting pain, O God.
And second, let’s deal with this in a court of law. For I have a complaint against you, O God (Job 21:4). You have made me look guilty, O God, by this suffering. Not only do I have the continuing grief of what I’ve lost. But everyone now thinks I have sinned against you. But both you and I both know I haven’t sinned to suffer like this. Job wants his day in court with God (Job 13:3, 15-16; 21:3-10). Job is confident God will vindicate him and show him to be innocent.
15 Though he slay me, yet will I hope in him; I will surely defend my ways to his face. 16 Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance, for no godless man would dare come before him! (Job 13:15-16 NIV)
Job knows he is innocent. But he wants God to publicly vindicate him. So he reasons that God doesn’t distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. The same fate awaits both. So Job 9:22-24:
22 It is all the same; that is why I say, 'He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.' 23 When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. 24 When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it? (Job 9:22-24 NIV; compare Job 12:7-25)
Of course, at the final judgment, there will be a distinction between the righteous and the wicked. But we know that now, during this life, there is often no such distinction. Whenever there’s a natural disaster -- tsunami, flood, cyclone -- the righteous suffer as well. Sometimes suffering even picks out Christians. That why we have Christian martyrs. And through it all God is still behind the wheel, allowing the righteous to suffer. After all, God’s own Son, Jesus Christ, is the suffering servant. So the sovereign God allows the righteous to suffer.
Then Job goes a step further. God not only sweeps away the righteous with the wicked. But sometimes, the wicked don’t get what they deserve. They prosper in their wickedness. And the righteous suffer. So Job says to God:
3 Does it please you to oppress me, to spurn the work of your hands, while you smile on the schemes of the wicked? (Job 10:3 NIV)
Again, in Job chapter 21, Job says:
7 Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power? 13 They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace. 14 Yet they say to God, 'Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. 29 Have you never questioned those who travel? Have you paid no regard to their accounts-- 30 that the evil man is spared from the day of calamity, that he is delivered from the day of wrath? (Job 21:7, 13-14, 29-30)
Yet again, in Job chapter 24, Job says:
12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing. (Job 24:12)
Job agrees that the wicked will be destroyed in the end (Job 24:19-23; 27:13-23). But in the meantime, they get away with murder.
All so far so good. Job has just been observing what happens in the world. There is often no distinction between the righteous and the wicked. And in fact, there are times when the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper.
But then Job makes a value judgment about what he has seen. And in so doing, Job oversteps the mark. Job claims that ‘God has denied me justice’. It is this accusation that earns Job God’s rebuke. It is understandable, but it’s still wrong. We see Job overstep the line in a couple of places. For example, Job 19:5-7:
5If indeed you would exalt yourselves above me and use my humiliation against me, 6 then know that God has wronged me and drawn his net around me. 7 "Though I cry, 'I've been wronged!' I get no response; though I call for help, there is no justice. (Job 19:5-7 NIV)
Job has accused God. Job has said that God has done wrong. We see it again in Job chapter 27 verse 2:
2 "As surely as God lives, who has denied me justice, the Almighty, who has made me taste bitterness of soul.. (Job 27:2 NIV)
It is not that Job accuses God of causing him bitterness. That’s just Job’s proper belief in God’s omnipotence. But it that he says God is unjust in doing it. Job accuses God of denying him justice. In other words, God is unjust. And this is why God rebukes Job to his face. Job chapter 40 verse 8:
Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? (Job 40:8 NIV)
The value judgment that God is unjust in doing it is what earns God’s rebuke.
In the end, Job hopes for a mediator. Someone to represent him before God.
33 If only there were someone to arbitrate[2] between us, to lay his hand upon us both, 34 someone to remove God's rod from me, so that his terror would frighten me no more. 35 Then I would speak up without fear of him, but as it now stands with me, I cannot. (Job 9:33-35 NIV)
Job needs a mediator. His desire is to have a mediator. But more than this, Job is confident that he has that mediator. There is a mediator for him in heaven. It is not a vain wish. It is a reality. Job’s sure and steadfast faith is that he has a friend in heaven. Job has a friend in heaven who pleads his case before God. God himself. God himself is his Mediator, Advocate and Intercessor.
19 Even now my witness[3] is in heaven; my advocate[4] is on high. 20 My intercessor[5] is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; 21 on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend. (Job 16:19-21 NIV)
That is Job’s confidence. That he has a friend, an advocate in heaven, a middle man and intercessor, someone pleading his case before God. And because of this, Job believes that in the end God will redeem him. There will be a resurrection from the dead. God will raise Job from the dead, and Job will meet God face to face.
25 I know that my Redeemer[6] lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. 26 And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God (Job 19:25-26 NIV)
And we know that Job is right. We know that Job’s confident faith is well placed. For we have seen our Advocate, Mediator, Friend. The one who stands as God between God and us. The one who stands as man between God and man.
Jesus Christ. He is our mediator. Jesus Christ is the one mediator[7] between God and Man, who gave himself as a ransom for all men (1 Timothy 2:5). Jesus Christ is the mediator of a new covenant. He died as a ransom to set us free from our sins (Hebrews 9:15). We have one who speaks to the Father in our defense. In other words, an Advocate. -- Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2 He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 1:21-2).
Jesus is also our redeemer. Job looks ahead and sees that his redeemer lives. His redeemer will stand on the earth. And one day, after he dies, after his body, his skin and flesh are destroyed, he will see God. He will see God in his flesh.
Job believes he will receive a new body after the destruction and decay of his old body. And again, we see how Job’s faith is well placed. For we live after Jesus’ death and resurrection. And this is our hope:
23 …we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. (Romans 8:23 NIV)
'There is a redeemer, Jesus, God’s own Son. Precious lamb of God, Messiah, Holy One.' By Jesus’ death on the cross, Jesus bought us back for God. And Jesus came back to life. And Jesus promises that we too, will rise from the dead (if we die before his coming). If we die before Jesus returns, our bodies will be like Job’s. We will decay and be destroyed, the worms will eat us, and we will return to dirt.
But nevertheless, we will still see God in our flesh. We too with Job will see Jesus our redeemer. For we will stand up in our new bodies, and Jesus will stand up with us. And we will meet Jesus on the earth, when he returns. This is Job’s hope. And this is ours too.
Let’s pray.
[1]The idea is that of intergenerational spirits, that earlier generations make promises which open them to unclean spirits. The demons are said to have rights over a family unless specifically repudiated. The effects of such promises pass on down through generations. The manifest themselves in divorce, chronic fatigue, anxiety disorders, financial problems, depression and autism. This is said to apply to Christians as well as unbelievers, and most be broken by prayers and rituals of renouncing the spirits. This was the topic of Abp Jensen’s article, ‘Christ Frees Us From An Evil Past’, Southern Cross, 26 March 2007.
[2] Hiph Ptcp MS x:ykiAm WnynEyBe; LXX: mesi,thj;
[3] LXX: o` ma,rtuj mou ; MT: ydI[e: my witness.
[4] MT: ydIh]f'w>; LXX: suni,stwr mou; my defender, witness, advocate
[5]See Hartley, Job, 263. MT: yc;ylim. at Job 16:20. Nb ERV, ESV, NAS, AV, Bibleworks take as #yli, ‘scorn’; but NIV ‘intercessor’, BDB says ‘cf. Ph. #lm ‘interpreter’ However, Hartley takes the form as in Job 33:23 ‘#ylime’.translated as ‘interpreter’ (ERV, AV), ‘mediator’ (ESV, NAS, NIV). Isaiah 43:27 ‘^yc,ylim.W’ ‘your interpreters’ (ERV) ‘your mediators’ (ESV), ‘your spokesmen (NASB, NIV)’. Genesis 42:23 ‘#yliMeh;’, ‘the interpreter standing between Joseph and his brothers’. Entry for BDB is ‘#ylime middleman, interpreter of a foreign language, envoy, intermediary, mediator, subordinate heavenly being’.
[6]My redeemer: MT ylia]GO ; ave,nao,j
[7] Mediator (mesi,thj). Used in Job 9:33, Gal 3:20; 1 Tim 2:5; Heb 8:6; 9:15.