4. THE BOOK OF JOB.

JOB’S THREE SO CALLED FRIENDS.

JOB’S COMFORTORS ELIPHAZ, BILDAD and ZOPHAR.

These men were older than Job.

Job 32:6.

They had travelled a long distance to console Job, but that consolation turned into condemnation, so it aggravated Job’s suffering to the point of unendurable stress.

Let’s look a little closer at these three friends and later the fourth who is much younger.

ELIPHAZ.

He was the eldest and wisest of the three. He is the philosophical one who based what he believed on his supernatural illumination with visions and wisdom handed down from his descendants. He based all arguments upon his personal’experience’

He assured Job from his observations, that suffering is a direct result of personal sin and God’s judgement upon it.

Chapter 4:8.

Please read the reference.

He outwardly denounced Job that his suffering was a result of his hypocrisy and that is the reason why he lost everything!

BILDAD.

His speeches occur in

Chapters. 8,18, and chapter 25.

They do not have the same air of courtesy as those of Eliphaz. Bildad’s philosophy of life is based upon his own life’s traditions. He looked at what “appears” to be right, for example, the death of Job’s three children was the result of God’s Divine judgment for their sin. (How cruel.) He concluded that it must be so for Job.

He implied that Job couldn’t be “pure and upright.”

Note that in this speech, there are three ‘ifs’ that mark how Bildad loved to reason things out…

‘If’ Job was intelligent then God would not throw away a perfect man! He said, “You’d be full of joy and laughter, ‘if’ you were such a man.”

He became fiercer in his conclusion of Job and asked indignant personal questions.

‘If’ the stars cannot be pure in His sight, then how can you?” Job never claimed that he was without sin, but only that his sins were not the cause of his trouble. He calls Job a hypocrite!

ZOPHAR.

Chapter 11. He is more drastic than either Eliphas or Bildad. Maybe because Job had answered his innocence with increasing tenacity. Zophar’s opening words denote he was already aggravated.

Chapter 11:2,3 His speeches are full of assumptions; he has no sense of reason. He was condemning Job from the moment he first gave an opinion. He judged Job as having “no substance to his words.”

“Job, your words are empty, full of hot air, you presume too much.”

“You are not clean and pure as you make out, you are steeped in SIN and deserving of God’s Judgement. You must repent.”

“You, Job are suffering the portion of a WICKED MAN.”

Putting together these three opinions of:

ELIPHAZ.

BILDAD.

ZOPHA.

We conclude that they are saying to Job.

“God prospers the upright and punishes the wicked.”

Job replied that his own experience proved their argument defective.

For he was ‘upright yet afflicted’!

ELIPHAZ insisted that “ONLY THE WICKED SUFFER.”

BILDAD insisted that the WICKED ‘ALWAYS’ SUFFER!

ZOPHAR insisted that “WICKED LIVES ARE CUT SHORT!”

We know that it is not only the wicked who suffer: but the righteous who suffer as well.

“Not always do the wicked suffer, but some escape altogether. Some wicked people actually prosper.

So the four men end up in a deadlock because Job protested his innocence all along.

Job knew he was a sinner for all men are sinners. He had been conscientiously upright according to the light given to him and he was utterly sincere in his protestation.

The verdict of God Himself comes down on Job’s side which we will discuss further along.

We still have to hear another voice as well as God’s to bring the debate to a majestic finale.

Now if you are suffering from a long-term illness or a diagnosis. Please don’t live under condemnation from yourself or someone else.

Listen to God’s Word.

“YOUR SINS AND INIQUITIES WILL I REMEMBER NO MORE.”

KNOW ALSO THAT HIS PURPOSES ARE HIGHER THAN YOURS!

JUST TRUST HIM!

He has the power to heal all those who come to Him as the Healer. He is not punishing you. Sometimes, the consequences of our wrong choices cause our bodies to break down, leading to ill health. He loves you so much that He gave His only begotten Son to suffer in your place.

He died so you can have the abundant life he promised. Some loyal beautiful Christians are in horrific pain and some Godly people die in pain and they are righteous before God.

If you take the side of these three men you become a self-righteous, judgemental Christian.

You become a Pharisee!

Let’s hold on to one sure thing for those of you who are in Christ and are suffering from sickness and disease. God has not abandoned you, nor will He ever forsake you. He promises this in the Book of Hebrews. Chapter 13:5b

God Himself has said, “I will not in any way fail you or give up on you, nor leave you without support. (I will not in any degree leave you helpless or forsake you, let you down, or relax my hold on you. – assuredly not!)

Hey, what a wonderful promise for any adverse circumstance.

NO ONE HAS EVER SUFFERED PAIN AS JESUS SUFFERED.

OH THE DEPTH AND THE RICHES OF HIS LOVE TOWARD US.

HE UNDERSTANDS YOU AND LOVED YOU UNTO DEATH.

HE IS WITH YOU AND IF YOU DO NOT GET HEALED THE WAY YOU EXPECT OR HOW OTHERS EXPECT. REST IN HIS FINISHED WORK FOR ‘YOU.’

LEAVE ALL THE HOWS, WHENS, AND WHERES, IN HIS CAPABLE HANDS.

YES, HE WANTS HEAL YOU ON THIS EARTH. YOUR HEALING MAY COME IN A WAY YOU DON’T EXPECT.

TRUST HIS PROMISES. SATAN IS THE DESTROYER, GOD IS THE HEALER.

HE PAID THE PRICE WITH HIS PRECIOUS BLOOD AND BY THE WOUNDS THAT WOUNDED HIM YOU “WERE” HEALED 2Peter 1:24

Put your faith in His finished work and take no notice of your diagnosis or your symptoms. They may be factual but not the truth. Rebuke the powers of darkness and by faith move toward your wholeness.