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The three friends who sit with Job are not simply random names, and the original reader would have recognized their homelands. Eliphaz was from Teman, of the land of Edom, Israel’s brother and renown in the ancient world for its wisdom tradition. Bildad was a Shuhite, descended from Shuah, son of Abraham and his second wife Keturah, from Arabia. Finally, Zophar was a Naamathite, likely from the region of Canaan.

While this information is not necessary to follow the story, it does add a layer of understanding. Though Job’s origins are shrouded in mystery, his friends likely represented more to the original reader – depicting various strands of wisdom in the ancient world. Pay attention to how accurately they depict the LORD’s character, based on what you know of Him from the law and the prophets.

Yesterday’s reading ended in the middle of a speech by Eliphaz the Temanite. Eliphaz first responds to Job’s complaint by affirming the gift that Job’s wisdom has brought others: “Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.” But this wisdom, in Eliphaz’s mind, has not helped Job deduce the obvious: “…Who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.”

The charge of iniquity is intensified today by Bildad. Reflecting on the fate of Job’s children he asks, “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.” Furthermore, he challenges Job to beg for mercy: “If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation.”

Consider that Job is forced not only to deal with his grief and pain, but now to respond to each of these challenges. Listen carefully to his responses today. Remember, also, that you know the background for Job’s suffering to which Job and his friends are not privy. What of their theories does he absorb, and what does he repel? How does he feel, and how does he convey that feeling? And, finally, what questions is Job himself asking?

Our verse for this week is James 4:7: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Job 5 through 9. Now let’s read it!

Job 5 - 9

"Call now; is there any who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? For resentment kills the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple. I have seen the foolish taking root, but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety. They are crushed in the gate. Neither is there any to deliver them, whose harvest the hungry eat up, and take it even out of the thorns. The snare gapes for their substance. For affliction doesn't come out of the dust, neither does trouble spring out of the ground; but man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward. "But as for me, I would seek God. I would commit my cause to God, who does great things that can't be fathomed, marvelous things without number; who gives rain on the earth, and sends waters on the fields; so that he sets up on high those who are low, those who mourn are exalted to safety. He frustrates the plans of the crafty, so that their hands can't perform their enterprise. He takes the wise in their own craftiness; the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong. They meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at noonday as in the night. But he saves from the sword of their mouth, even the needy from the hand of the mighty. So the poor has hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. "Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty. For he wounds and binds up. He injures and his hands make whole. He will deliver you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil will touch you. In famine he will redeem you from death; in war, from the power of the sword. You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither will you be afraid of destruction when it comes. You will laugh at destruction and famine, neither will you be afraid of the animals of the earth. For you will be allied with the stones of the field. The animals of the field will be at peace with you. You will know that your tent is in peace. You will visit your fold, and will miss nothing. You will know also that your offspring will be great, your offspring as the grass of the earth. You will come to your grave in a full age, like a shock of grain comes in its season. Behold, we have researched it. It is so. Hear it, and know it for your good." Then Job answered, "Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore my words have been rash. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me. Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder? Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me. "Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for, even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! Let it still be my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn't spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient? Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of bronze? Isn't it that I have no help in me, that wisdom is driven away from me? "To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away; which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself. In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish. The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them. They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded. For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid. Did I ever say, 'Give to me'? or, 'Offer a present for me from your substance'? or, 'Deliver me from the adversary's hand'? or, 'Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors'? "Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand my error. How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove? Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind? Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend. Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I will not lie to your face. Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous. Is there injustice on my tongue? Can't my taste discern mischievous things? "Isn't a man forced to labor on earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired hand? As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages, so I am made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me. When I lie down, I say, 'When will I arise, and the night be gone?' I toss and turn until the dawning of the day. My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust. My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh. My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. Oh remember that my life is a breath. My eye will no more see good. The eye of him who sees me will see me no more. Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be. As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more. He will return no more to his house, neither will his place know him any more. "Therefore I will not keep silent. I will speak in the anguish of my spirit. I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. Am I a sea, or a sea monster, that you put a guard over me? When I say, 'My bed will comfort me. My couch will ease my complaint,' then you scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions, so that my soul chooses strangling, death rather than my bones. I loathe my life. I don't want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath. What is man, that you should magnify him, that you should set your mind on him, that you should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle? If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you, so that I am a burden to myself? Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? For now will I lie down in the dust. You will seek me diligently, but I will not be." Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience. If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty. If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous. Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase. "Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers. (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.) Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart? "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water? While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed. So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish, whose confidence will break apart, whose trust is a spider's web. He will lean on his house, but it will not stand. He will cling to it, but it will not endure. He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden. His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones. If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.' Behold, this is the joy of his way. Out of the earth, others will spring. "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers. He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked will be no more." Then Job answered, "Truly I know that it is so, but how can man be just with God? If he is pleased to contend with him, he can't answer him one time in a thousand. God is wise in heart, and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against him and prospered? He removes the mountains, and they don't know it, when he overturns them in his anger. He shakes the earth out of its place. Its pillars tremble. He commands the sun and it doesn't rise, and seals up the stars. He alone stretches out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea. He makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, and the rooms of the south. He does great things past finding out; yes, marvelous things without number. Behold, he goes by me, and I don't see him. He passes on also, but I don't perceive him. Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, 'What are you doing?' "God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him. How much less will I answer him, and choose my words to argue with him? Though I were righteous, yet I wouldn't answer him. I would make supplication to my judge. If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn't believe that he listened to my voice. For he breaks me with a storm, and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to catch my breath, but fills me with bitterness. If it is a matter of strength, behold, he is mighty! If of justice, 'Who,' says he, 'will summon me?' Though I am righteous, my own mouth will condemn me. Though I am blameless, it will prove me perverse. I am blameless. I don't respect myself. I despise my life. "It is all the same. Therefore I say he destroys the blameless and the wicked. If the scourge kills suddenly, he will mock at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. If not he, then who is it? "Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good. They have passed away as the swift ships, as the eagle that swoops on the prey. If I say, 'I will forget my complaint, I will put off my sad face, and cheer up,' I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that you will not hold me innocent. I will be condemned. Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow, and cleanse my hands with lye, yet you will plunge me in the ditch. My own clothes will abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, that we should come together in judgment. There is no umpire between us, that might lay his hand on us both. Let him take his rod away from me. Let his terror not make me afraid; then I would speak, and not fear him, for I am not so in myself.

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