Even the fool looks wise until he opens his mouth. Job 4-5.

I know it's belated, but Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all! Now that turkey has been eaten, gifts have been unwrapped, (Blu-Ray player!), and miles have been traveled, I'm back to blogging about Job. I know you missed me.

My subject line is actually a proverb in the Bible, Proverbs 17:28. It speaks to the situation Job finds himself in. He's a man in intense grief who questions the plan and purpose of the Almighty, (see previous blog post and/or chapter 3 of Job). He is wondering why God has done all of this to him. He wondered why God even allowed him to live if he was just going to experience such sorrow. In short he asks a lot of the same questions you and I have asked of God when we experience pain, death, sorrow, or injustice in a fallen world.

Job's friends come along and actually seem like pretty smart guys for a while because they just sit there and grieve with him. Then they decide to open their mouths and it all goes downhill. First up to bat is Eliphaz. He swings and misses. Let's look at what he has to say.

Treebeard: "It takes a long time to say anything in old Entish."

Like I mentioned before, the speaking for the most part of the book of Job are like Shakespearean
monologues. The speeches are long and take a long time to say anything, (which is eerily similar to an Ent). Eliphaz is this way. He takes two whole chapters to say just a few things. (Why does he do this? I don't know, maybe he likes hearing himself talk). Eliphaz's comments are broken down into four sections, 4:1-11, 4:12-21, 5:1-7, and 5:8-27.

First in 4:1-11, Eliphaz encourages Job to remember the counsel he has given to others. He thinks it is odd that Job, who has counselled so many people who have been in hard times, now has a hard time understanding what is happening (1-6). Job, according to Eliphaz, should remember that those who are righteous never perish, God only destroys the wicked (7-11). In other words, Job was getting what he deserved because of his sin. If Job was righteous then these awful things would never have happened to him. (Counsel like this is why Eliphaz was never successful in his career as a grief counselor and subsequently opened a McDonald's instead). "Call to mind now: Who, being innocent, ever perished? And where were upright people ever destroyed? Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same," (7-8).

In 4:12-21 Eliphaz enlightens us with the wisdom he received from a creepy spirit. He said he was sleeping one night and a "breath of air passed by my face" and freaked him out. There is no indication this ghost was from God. For one thing, no where else in the Bible do angels scare people and speak to them like something out of a horror film. Usually angels showed up in some sort of form people could recognize. They also said things like, "Hey, I'm an angel. Listen to me," instead of the whispering creepiness described by Eliphaz. The "vision" Eliphaz received can't be verified against any other revelation from God. It's a very relativistic experience. Eliphaz himself also doesn't claim it was God or from God. He just had a creepy message from a ghost vision and thought whatever that ghost had to share would be important to this conversation. (Am I being overly sarcastic and possibly rude? Yes). So what did the "vision" share? Basically that man is a mortal creation that can never be in the right before an immortal and almighty God. How comforting. Please stop talking Eliphaz...No? You have more to say? Oh goody.

Even this Panda is less of a jerk than Eliphaz. 

5:1-7, Eliphaz: "No one is going to answer you, sinner. Stop bothering God". Seriously, that's what he has to say. What a good friend, huh? "Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?" (1). A quote here from the NetBible commentary sums it up better than I can: "If he (Job) makes his appeal against God, who is there who will listen? The rhetorical questions are intended to indicate that no one will respond, not even the angels. Job would do better to realize that he is guilty and his only hope is in God." In 2-7 Eliphaz shares that the sinners get what is coming to them. Trouble finds those who deserve it. Evil people's children, "are far from safety, and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered," (4). What a nice thing to say to a guy whose kids were killed when the roof fell on them. Eliphaz = jerk. The bottom line for Eliphaz is "affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground," (6). In other words, trouble comes to a person for a reason. Men get what they deserve.

Job 5:8-27. So then, what should Job do, according to Eliphaz, the ghost whisperer? Job should repent because God is disciplining him as a sinner. If Job repents before God, then God will bless him. In other words, good people get blessed by God and evil people get punished. If Job repents and does good, then God will bless him. "Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal," (17-18). Here's the problem with what Eliphaz is saying: Job was not experiencing pain and sorrow because of his sin. By God's own admission he was a righteous man who feared God and turned away from evil. Job was experiencing this trouble because of the sovereign will of God and the evil works of Satan, (don't ask me to explain how that all works together).

Yoda Mr. T has pity for the foolishness of Eliphaz.

Lessons to learn from the foolishness of Eliphaz:
- Whenever you give advice to hurting people, make sure your "advice" is not from a voice, a vision, or a creepy ghost. I know that seems like common sense, but apparently it needs to be said. Eliphaz's advice was not based on the revelation of God, but rather his own relativistic experience. It sounded good and spiritual at the time, but was not based in truth, as we shall see at the end of the book. (No peeking ahead now). Make sure what you think about God, life, evil, suffering, etc is based on truth, i.e. the Bible.
- Remember that in this world sometimes bad guys get the girl, win the trophy, and have a big house. Sometimes good guys suffer, lose the Super Bowl, and get cancer. Therefore don't view a person's circumstances as a reflection on their righteousness or evil before God. Some of the best and godliest people I've known have suffered with debilitating diseases. Is that fair? No. Does that mean God doesn't love them? No. Some wicked jerks have their own TV shows, waste money, promote abortion, and defile God in public. God doesn't step on those folks and then scrape them off his shoe, (yet). That's the world we live in. We cannot view our circumstances as a reflection of God's favor on our lives. This is one of the key messages from the book of Job.
- God is not the uncaring sovereign portrayed by Eliphaz. Eliphaz describes God as not hearing, not caring, and highly judgmental. "Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?" (5:1). "Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;" (4:18). God is not this way. He is the God who descended onto earth, experienced the sorrow and suffering of man, and bore their sins and brokenness on his body in Jesus Christ.
"Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed." (Isaiah 53:4-5).
The God of creation is not uncaring. He loves man who he has created. He is not without understanding. He has experienced injustice, sin, sorrow, loss, and pain. He is not someone we cannot approach. We are welcomed to come to him in our pain, confusion, and suffering. He is there and he cares. We may not always  (or ever) understand his purposes, but we cannot doubt his character or his heart.

So Eliphaz strikes out with his counsel. Big surprise. Next time we'll look at Job's response to this "wisdom". So say goodbye to Eliphaz and his ghosts and we'll see you next time. Happy New Year again. Peace out.