January 6
The Dialogue Between Job and His Friends Continues
In Job 10-13, Job continues to wrestle with his suffering and confronts his friends’ perspectives on God’s justice.
With no mediator to arbitrate his case (Job 9:33), Job decides to make his own defense. In Job 10, Job announces his turn to address his Creator directly. He declares, “I loathe my life; therefore, I will give free utterance to my complaint; I will speak out in the bitterness of my soul.”
Job prepares his plea, beginning with a heartfelt request: “Do not condemn me; let me know why you contend against me” (v. 2). He then poses a series of questions to God: “Does it seem good to you to oppress, to despise the work of your hands?” (v. 3). Job continues, asking, “Do you have eyes of flesh? Do you see as man sees? Are your days as the days of man, or your years as a man’s years, that you seek out my iniquity and search for my sin, although you know that I am not guilty, and there is none to deliver out of your hand?” (v. 4–7).
Job follows the questions with a sequence of vivid metaphors to describe his own conception and gestation as an act of God’s creation. Job reflects on God’s care in creating him, saying, “Your hands fashioned me and made me, and now you have destroyed me altogether” (v. 8). Job said his intricate embryonic development was like the curdling of milk into cheese, a process in which he was given skin and flesh and knit together with bones and sinews (v. 10-11). After giving him life, why should God turn against him? Why would God create him only to let him suffer? “Why then did you bring me out of the womb? Would that I had died before any eye had seen me” (v. 18). Feeling abandoned, Job pleads for relief. “Let me alone, that I may find a little cheer before I go—and I shall not return—to the land of darkness and deep shadow” (v. 20-21).
In Job 11, we hear from friend number three. Zophar speaks for the first time, accusing Job of being arrogant and assuming he understands God’s ways. His tone is sharp and accusatory. Zophar responds with a direct challenge to what he sees as empty words and presumptions. He rebukes Job for his words, asking, “Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right?” (v. 2). Zophar echoes Job’s desire for a direct audience with God, but with an entirely opposite intent. While Job seeks vindication, Zophar is confident that such an encounter would result in Job’s condemnation (v. 5-6). Zophar suggests that Job’s punishment is likely less than he deserves (v. 6).
Zophar emphasizes that God’s wisdom is beyond human comprehension, saying, “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?” (v. 7). He suggests that Job’s suffering is a result of hidden sin and urges him to repent (v. 13 -14). Zophar assures Job that if he repents, his life will be restored (v. 15 -16). If, however, Job continues in his wickedness, he will perish, and his hope will die with him: “All way of escape will be lost to them, and their hope is to breathe their last.” (v. 20).
In Job 12, the most extended response of the dialogues with the three friends, Job shows his growing frustration with their claims to wisdom. Job reveals his frustration through sarcasm. “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you” (v. 2). Job argues that he, too, has knowledge and experience and that his suffering should not be used as evidence of his guilt. He emphasizes the sovereignty of God, recognizing that God is capable of exalting and humbling people as He wills. Job reflects on how God allows both good and bad to happen and reproves his friends by pointing out that their approach to wisdom seems to ignore the realities of both the suffering of the righteous and the safety of the wicked, indicating that his friends’ simplistic understanding of divine justice is flawed, In his closing remarks, Job asserts that God is the one who establishes the fate of nations and individuals: “He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away” (v. 23).
In Job 13, continuing his speech, Job declares his intent to argue his case directly before God, expressing frustration at his friends’ assumptions. “What you know, I also know; I am not inferior to you. But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God” (v. 2-3). Job critiques his friends, calling them “forgers of lies and worthless physicians” (v. 4), and questions whether they truly know what they are talking about.
Confident in his integrity, he resolves to seek answers from God himself, whatever the cost. “Let me have silence, and I will speak, and let come on me what may” (v. 13). He declares that he will continue to trust in God despite his suffering, even though he does not understand why it is happening, and still believes that God will ultimately vindicate him. He says, “Though he slay me, I will hope in him” (v. 15), demonstrating his continued faith in God’s justice, even in the midst of intense suffering.
Comments