Job 27 and 28: Where Can Wisdom Be Found?

December 11, 2023Posted inJob
Job 27 and 28 make up the second of three parts in Job’s final speech. In the first part he responded directly to Bildad; he used the singular form of the pronoun you in verses 2–4. In these two chapters he responds to all the friends; he uses the plural form of the pronoun you…

Job 25 and 26: What Does the Greatness of God Mean for Men?

December 5, 2023Posted inJob
Chapters 25 and 26 are the last interchange between Job and his three friends. Eliphaz has already spoken three times, Bildad now speaks for the third time very briefly, and there is no third speech of Zophar. Clearly the friends are giving up on persuading Job that they are right, that his suffering is due…

Job 22 to 24: How Does God Deal with Oppressors of the Poor?

November 6, 2023Posted inJob
Chapters 22 to 24 of Job record the first interchange in the third round of speeches between Job and his friends. Eliphaz speaks first in this round just as in the others (chapter 22), and the length of his speech is about the same as most of the others. But Bildad’s speech in this round…

Job 20 and 21: The Wicked Prosper

October 30, 2023Posted inJob
In these two chapters we have the second interchange between Zophar and Job, and the third interchange in the second round between Job and his friends. Both speeches differ somewhat from the earlier speeches in the book. Zophar, for the first time among the friends, indirectly accuses Job of specific sin—oppression of the poor. Job’s…

Job 18 and 19: I Know that My Redeemer Lives

October 24, 2023Posted inJob
In Chapter 18 Bildad continues with the same theme that he, Eliphaz and Zophar had been developing all along—the judgment of God that comes on the wicked. And in chapter 19 Job replies in the same manner as before—that unconfessed sin was not the explanation for his suffering. In fact, in chapter 19 he goes…

Job 16 and 17: O Earth, Do Not Cover My Blood

October 16, 2023Posted inJob
Chapters 15 to 17 in the book of Job record the second interchange between Eliphaz and Job. In chapter 15 Eliphaz is much more severe with Job than he had been in his first speech. After listening to Job’s protestations of innocence and complaints against God, he became convinced that Job had sinned and even…

Job 13:20 to 14:22: Contending with God

October 5, 2023Posted inJob
Job’s answer to the first speech of Zophar, the third of his friends, is found in chapters 12–14. This speech has two main parts. In the first part (12:6–13:19) Job describes for the benefit of his friends some of the destructive and mysterious ways of God. His point is that the wisdom of God (12:13f)…

Job 9-10: How Can I Contend with God?

September 21, 2023Posted inJob
In chapter 8 Bildad, who had pretty bluntly accused both Job and his sons of sin (8:4), called Job to repentance (8:5), and promised blessings if Job became pure and upright (8:6f). In chapters 9 and 10 Job answers him by asking the question, “How can a man be righteous before God (9:2)?” I believe…

Job 6 and 7: No Help in Friends, Self, or God

September 15, 2023Posted inJob
When Eliphaz spoke to Job the first time (Job 5) he gave him good advice (“Do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For He bruises, but He binds up; He wounds but His hands make whole,” 5:17–18), but showed no compassion. In his response (chapters 6–7) Job focused on three things: 1) that his…

Eliphaz’s First Speech to Job: Truth without Love

September 8, 2023Posted inJob
What would you say to a fellow Christian afflicted with a very painful disease who had just lost his family and all his possessions in a great natural catastrophe like an earthquake or a flood? How would you reply if he said with great bitterness, “I wish I was dead?” Two things would be necessary:…