January 5
The Dialogue Between Job and His Friends
Job 6-9 continues the dialogue between Job and his friends as they grapple with Job’s suffering and its meaning.
Job responds to Eliphaz in Chapter 6 by lamenting the heaviness of his unbearable pain: “Oh that my vexation was weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea” (v. 2-3). Job accuses God of striking him unjustly, even though he believes that he is not guilty of the charges his friends have implied. He feels utterly overwhelmed by God’s actions against him: “The arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison” (v. 4).
Job defends his right to lament, saying even animals don’t complain without reason: “Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, or the ox low over its fodder?” (v. 5). Job means to say that his own complainings are as natural and instinctive as these animals. He wishes that God would simply take him out of his misery, as he sees no way out. “Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off” (v. 8-9). He wishes for God to end his life, but he still clings to his integrity: “This would be my comfort... that I have not denied the words of the Holy One” (v. 10). This is a moment of deep despair, where Job does not see hope for the future. He questions whether he has any strength left to continue (v. 11), indicating that he feels as if he is being crushed under the weight of his trials.
Beginning in verse 14, Job makes an emotional appeal to his friends, asking them to show him compassion. He feels betrayed and abandoned by them and compares the fickleness of his friends to unreliable streams that disappoint those who depend on them. “My brothers,” he says, “are treacherous as a torrent-bed” (v. 15). Job challenges his friends to show him where he has gone wrong. “Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray” (v. 24). He asks them to point out any sin he has committed if they are so sure that his suffering is a consequence of wrongdoing.
In Job 7, Job continues his lament. He compares human existence to hard labor: “Has not man a hard service on earth, and are not his days like the days of a hired hand?” (v. 1). He describes sleepless nights and restless days, saying, “When I lie down I say, ‘When shall I arise?’ But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn” (v. 4). His physical condition is dire: “My flesh is clothed with worms and dirt; my skin hardens, then breaks out afresh” (v. 5). Job speaks of his misery as if his days are “swifter than a weaver’s shuttle” (v. 6), moving by quickly, but without hope.
In verse 7, Job expresses his longing for relief, saying that he wishes God would remember him. Job speaks candidly about his feelings toward God. He feels that his suffering is being ignored and that God is silent in the face of his anguish. Job refuses to be silent about his pain, declaring that he must speak out. Job concludes his lament by expressing his confusion over why God is paying so much attention to him. “What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him?” (v.17). He pleads for relief, asking, “Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now I shall lie in the earth; you will seek me, but I shall not be” (v. 21).
Chapter 8 begins with Bildad speaking directly to Job, rebuking him for his complaints and questioning whether God would truly punish someone like Job if he were innocent. Bildad responds with a strong defense of God’s justice and a call for repentance. He begins by challenging Job’s words, saying, “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?” (v. 2). Bildad insists that God is just and would not act unjustly: “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?” (v. 3). He argues that Job’s children must have sinned, resulting in their punishment: “If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression” (v. 4).
Bildad encourages Job to seek God, promising that God will restore him: “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” (v. 6). He appeals to the wisdom of the past, urging Job to learn from history: “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out” (v. 8). Drawing from this wisdom, Bildad warns that the godless will perish: “The hope of the godless shall perish” (v. 13). Bildad concludes with a hopeful promise that if Job turns back to God, he will be blessed once more: “And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great” (v. 7). However, Bildad assumes Job’s guilt and adheres to a simplistic view of suffering.
Job replies in Job 9, acknowledging God’s greatness and power. Job states that if one were to try to argue or dispute with God, one would not be able to win. “Truly I know that it is so: But how can a man be in the right before God?” (v. 2). He admits that no one can challenge God’s judgment because God’s wisdom is far beyond human comprehension. Job describes the unmatchable power of God. “He shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble” (v. 6) and “He does great things beyond searching out, and marvelous things beyond number” (v. 10).
Even if God were to pass near him or act in his life, Job would not be able to see or perceive it (v. 11). He feels like God is distant and out of reach, and any attempt to understand God’s actions or reasoning would be futile. Job is deeply aware of his own inability to stand before God and challenge Him. He feels utterly powerless comparing himself to God, as no human can dispute or contend with God’s decisions. “If it is a contest of strength, behold, he is mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him? Though I am in the right, my own mouth would condemn me; though I am blameless, he would prove me perverse” (v. 19-20). He ends by expressing despair, feeling unable to prove his innocence or understand why he suffers: “I am blameless; I regard not myself; I loathe my life” (v. 21).
In the final verses of chapter 9, Job reflects on his situation and desires to meet God, but he feels that it is impossible for him to do so. He longs for a mediator who can stand between him and God—someone who can advocate for him, help him understand his suffering, and possibly bring relief. He feels helpless before God’s might and laments that there is no mediator between them to plead his case. “There is no arbiter between us,” Job says, “who might lay his hand on us both” (v. 33).
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