The Great Debate

The Great Debate

Job 3–28

The release date of Thinking Through Job is now set for January, 2011.  The following is a brief summary of the debate between Job and his friends.  Get the book for the detailed exposition.

The First Round of Speeches (Job 4–14)

The friends came to comfort Job in his affliction (2:11).  They sat there for a week without saying a word (2:13), perhaps thinking any words from them would only make matters worse.  But when Job cried out that he had better never been born, wishing for a speedy death, and questioning why his life was being prolonged (ch. 3), the challenge to divine providence was too much for Eliphaz.  He could not let it pass (chs. 4–5).  At first he was gentle in his comfort, considering Job a pious man who was simply being chastised by God.  But he needed to be careful about speech that seemed to imply that man was more righteous than God.  He warned against “vexation,” complaint against what one regarded as unfair treatment.  He counseled Job to yield to divine correction and he would soon be restored to a state of blessedness.  God is the subject of the first round of speeches (chs. 4–14).  The friends saw Job’s complaint as an indication that he needed to be taught respect for God.

Job felt he had good reason for vexation (6:1–7), and refuses to be silenced (6:8–13); he expresses disappointment in his friends, who had failed to provide any real comfort (6:14–23); he challenges them to point out the sins for which he was being chastised (6:24–30).  He renews his complaint in Chapter 7, first with regard to the sad plight of man in general and then with special regard to his own situation.  So he was determined to continue to complain of treatment that made no sense at all.

Bildad’s first speech (ch. 8) is in the same vein, contending that God will never be unjust, as Job seemed to suggest, and so would always punish the godless and reward the pious.  Job replies:  Of course, but suppose one has a complaint against God; how could he argue his case and get a just verdict.  He complains that there is no umpire to mediate the case (ch. 9).  So Job was determined to continue his complaint (ch. 10).

Zophar’s first speech (ch. 11) was harshest of all.  If the whole truth were known, says he, it would be plain that you deserve worse than you deserve.  Zophar is not just being mean.  His words are a conclusion from what he has heard from Job.  But Job is outraged and answers sarcastically:  No doubt you three have cornered the market on wisdom; when you die wisdom will die with you (12:2).  But the fact is, I know as much as you do, and in fact you are just speaking commonplaces that even the lower animals could teach (7–12).  He has no use for these “friends,” who are “physicians of no value” (13:4) whose best chance to show wisdom would be to shut their mouths (5).  He threatens the friends (6–12).  They have shown partiality toward God in this case, and God will not let them get away with it (8–11).  That is an important expression of faith.  Job has no use for these foolish friends, but has confidence in divine justice.  God would not take partiality lightly, even if shown toward himself.

So Job brushes the friends aside, but not God!  In fact he wanted to take his case before God, confident that he would get justice if he could (13–19).  Ch. 14 is a low point in Job’s trial.  He complains about man’s sad lot in life.  He does not even have the hope of a tree, which might sprout again after being chopped down.  But not man.  He dies and that is all there is to it.  But he has no more reached that depth of despair than he begins to climb out of it, expressing the wish that it might be otherwise:  If only God would keep a man in Sheol till his wrath was past and then at some future time remember him and set things right (13–15).  At verse 14a it is as though Job suddenly realized what he was saying:  “If a man die, shall he live?”  If only!

Second Round (Job 15–21)

If God was the subject of Round One, man is the subject of the second round, and especially the sinful man and what is known about the end he faces.  All of these speeches about the destiny of the wicked man are intended as a warning against Job.  After Job’s answers in Round One, the friends thought this is what he needed to hear, and each of them does his best.  See Thinking Through Job for the details, and also for Job’s answers.

“Miserable comforters are ye all,” Job answers (16:2).  I could do better, were our positions reversed.  There seemed to be no way to shut them up, so he challenges them:  Come on again with these stupid speeches “and I shall not find a wise man among you” (17:10).  Job continues to complain at the treatment he is receiving from God.  It was not fair.  He knew himself to be a good man, but was being treated as one would expect a sinful man to be treated.  So it gave the friends plausible reason for treating him as a sinful man.

Job continues to express some hopelessness in this round, but he tries desperately to hold on to his faith in God.  See 16:18–17:5; 19:23–29 for good illustrations of the latter.  Job finally tells the friends:  I know what you are doing.  You speak of the destiny of the wicked man, but you are really talking about me (21:27–34).  His answer to their points about the bad end of a wicked man is a challenge:  It is not always true that they end up as you contend (21:17–34).  So how are these speeches supposed to provide any comfort?  They are full of lies (21:34).  

Third Round of Speeches (Job 22–28)

The friends are left with only one option, and that was to directly accuse Job of being guilty of great sins.  Eliphaz starts it (ch. 22).  He thinks he can even enumerate the sins of which Job was guilty (1–11).  But he is only guessing.  He has no knowledge of any real guilt on Job’s part.  But the points enumerated are common sins of a rich and powerful man.  He has not been able to wring a confession out of Job, but only expressions of outrage.  So he thinks Job must be guilty of great sins, and that the ones listed are probably the sins he is guilty of.

Have you ever been treated like that?  Have you ever had someone make accusations against you without evidence, but simply on the ground of assumption and guesswork, perhaps hearsay?  If you have, then you will understand Job’s outrage, and you will also be able to draw some comfort from this part of the book of Job.

Job continues to protest his innocence, to complain of unfair treatment, and to wish for an opportunity to go before God and make his case (chs. 23–24).  In ch. 24 he sets forth the need for a day in which cases could be heard and decided, for the wicked often seem to escape any justice.  Thus he deplores the absence of moral government in the world.  It is a low point for Job’s faith.

Bildad’s last speech (ch. 25) is short, with nothing new added.  Zophar does not even come forth for a last speech.  Plainly, there is nothing more to say.  The friends have done their best, but have not been able to convict Job.  So Job answers Bildad (ch. 26), but when Zophar does not come forth, Job simply continues (ch. 27).  Job’s words in Ch. 27 sound like something the friends might have said about a wicked man.  But the fact is, Job held the same view they did, but was puzzled that the destiny one might expect to see for a wicked man was not always realized.  So that brings us to Chapter 28.

Job’s Evaluation of the Debate (Job 28)

I think that is the way Job 28 should be explained.  It is Job’s assessment of the debate.  Man has been able to dig into the depths of the earth and to bring forth every kind of precious metal and stone (1–11).  But he has not been able to attain to wisdom (12–22).  Only God, who planned and created the universe, knows the way to wisdom; but as for man, the only wisdom accessible to him is a moral wisdom, the right way to live (23–23).  He will have to be content with that.

Good students of Job will realize that my analysis of the speeches is incomplete.  You will have to buy my book to get the rest.  I wanted only in this blog to indicate something about the structure of the book, and perhaps to create an appetite for the full meal.  Another blog or two will discuss the twofold resolution of the problem of Job.