Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 11:1-2 and following. Indeed, Tsophar takes the floor in turn. Strange comforter in truth! Even harsher than his two companions, he begins by accusing Job of being a talker (v. 2), a liar and a mocker (v. 3). He then speaks of his iniquity (v. 6). And, from v. 13, he paints a picture of what he thinks must be done to be blessed by God: If you do this, if you do that…! This disposition of mind is called legalism. Eliphaz had already committed Job to put his trust, not in God, but in his own fear of God, in the integrity of his ways (Jb 4:1-6). And Job was just too willing to rely on himself – rather than on the Lord. This shows us how imbued the human heart is with its own justice. Even a believer is exposed to this legal spirit that leads to thinking of the good of oneself and consequently to underestimate the immensity of God’s grace. Vs. 7 to 9 ask precisely questions about God’s infinity in all directions: height, depth, length, width. What mortal can appreciate them? Eph. 3:14-21 provides the answer: Through the Spirit all the saints can be made “capable of understanding what is the breadth and length, and the depth and the height – and of knowing the love of Christ that surpasses all knowledge.”
We then hear Tsophar, the sharpest and least thoughtful of the three. He accuses Job of moral blindness and pure boasting. He approves of the harsh thoughts of those who attacked him and attaches no price to Job’s pleas in his misery. On the contrary, he begins by formulating the sad suspicion that all three harbored, that some serious and hidden evil was at the bottom of all this trial, and that it was the cause of Job’s unprecedented and multiplied calamities. We will, however, find a much greater development of this false thinking when we consider Job’s second discussion with his friends.
The third and probably the youngest of Job’s three friends now takes up the argument somewhat with the same tension as the others. Without wishing to be unfair to Tsophar, we are somewhat warned against him from the beginning; and the writer must want us to be, since he makes him attack Job as an empty talker:
“Shouldn’t we respond to the multitude of words? And will a man with his lips be justified? Will your bragging will silence people, so that you make fun of yourself, without anyone shamed you? It was true, Job had used vehement speech. Yet it’s a most insulting suggestion that he meant little irreligious bluster. Tsophar’s special note appears in his rebuke of Job for the mockery, that is, the skeptical speech, to which he had indulged. People who simply repeat opinions are usually the most dogmatic and assume them the most. No one believes himself more apt to detect error in doctrine, no one denounces rationalism and infidelity with more confidence than the man whose creed is formal, who has never applied his mind directly to the problems of faith, and has only a moderate amount of mind to apply.
Tsophar, in fact, is a man of considerable intelligence; but he betrays himself. For him, Job’s words were tiresome. He may have tried to understand the matter, but he had only a general impression that, in the face of what appears to him to be the clearest evidence, Job denies being in any way justiciable. He had dared to say to God, “You know I’m not evil. What? God can afflict a man whom he knows to be righteous! It is a doctrine as profane as it is new. Eliphaz and Bildad assumed that they were dealing with a man who did not want to humble himself in the way of acknowledging hitherto hidden sins. Through pressures of one kind or another, they hoped that Job would carry out his secret transgression. But Zophar noted the whole tendency of his argument to be heretical. “You say, My doctrine is pure.” And what is this doctrine? Well, that you were pure in God’s eyes, that God struck you without cause. Do you mean, O Job! accuse the Most High of doing so? Oh may God speak and open His lips against you! You have expressed a desire to explain your case to him. The result would be very different from your expectation.
Now, under any misconception of sincere people, there is almost always some kind of foundation of truth; and they have at least as much logic as they are satisfied with it. Job’s friends are religious men; they do not consciously build on lies. Each and every one of them is convinced that God is invariable in his treatment of men, never afflicting the innocent, always inflicting judgment to the precise extent of a man’s sin. This belief is the basis of their creed. They could not worship a God less than absolutely just. By starting religious life with this faith, they have always clung to it. After thirty or forty years of experience, they are still convinced that their principle explains prosperity and affliction, the circumstances of all human beings. But have they never seen anything that does not harmonize with this vision of providence? Didn’t they see the good ones die in their youth, and those whose hearts are dry as the dust of summer burns to the orbits? Haven’t they seen vile schemes flourish, and schemers take advantage of their ill-gotten power for years? It is strange that the old faith has not been shaken at least.
Of course not! They arrive at the case of Job as firmly convinced as never before does the ruler of the world show his righteousness by dispensing joy and suffering in proportion to the good and bad deeds of men, that whenever trouble falls on someone, a sin must have been committed that deserves precisely this kind and this amount of suffering. In trying to go to the source of belief, we must admit to ourselves partly lost. One author suggests that in the older and simpler conditions of society there may have been a closer correspondence between evil and suffering than we see today. Maybe there’s something in there. But life is not governed differently at different times, and the theory is hardly proven by what we know about the ancient world. Undoubtedly in the history of the Hebrews, which hides behind the faith attributed to Job’s friends, a link can be drawn between their misdeeds as a nation and their sufferings as a nation. When they distanced themselves from faith in God, their obedience languished, their vigor diminished, the end of their existence was lost sight of, and so they fell prey to enemies. But this did not apply to individuals.
The good ones suffered with the unwary and the wicked in the seasons of national calamity. And the history of the people of Israel would support such a vision of divine government as long as national transgression and its punishment were the only ones taken into account. Now, however, the distinction between nation and individual has clearly emerged. The sin of a community can no longer satisfactorily explain the sufferings of a member of the community, faithful among unbelievers. But the theory seems to have been established rather by the following argumentation course. Also in the administration of the law and the exercise of paternal authority, transgression was struck with pain and deprivation of privilege. The father whose son has disobeyed him shall inflict punishment and, if he is a judicious father, render the punishment proportionate to the offence. The sovereign, through his judges and officers, punishes transgression according to a code of order. Criminals are deprived of their liberty; they are fined or flogging or, as a last resort, executed. Now, having thus built a system of law that imposes punishments with more or less justice in proportion to the offense imputed, men take for granted that what they do imperfectly is perfectly done by God. They take for granted that the calamities and troubles he appoints are ordered according to the same principle, with precisely the same purpose, as the punishment is inflicted by a father, a chief or a king.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
God’s wisdom is beyond us:
- Disapproval, the duty to express the
Pr 24:25 But those who chastise him find themselves well, and happiness comes upon them as a blessing. Lk 17:3 Beware of yourselves. If your brother has sinned, take him back; and, if he repents, forgive him. Eph 5:11 and do not take part in the fruitless works of darkness, but rather condemn them. 2 Tim 4:2 preach the word, insist on every occasion, favorable or not, resume, censor, exhort, with all gentleness and teaching.
- Own justice, examples
Jb 33:9 I am pure, I am sinless, I am sharp, there is no iniquity in me. Mt 23:30 and you say: If we had lived in the time of our fathers, we would not have joined them in shedding the blood of the prophets. Luke 10:29 But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus: And who is my neighbor? Rom 10:3 not knowing God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they have not submitted to God’s righteousness;
- Divine knowledge, general references
1 S 2.3 Do not speak with so much height; Let arrogance no longer come out of your mouth; For Jehovah is a God who knows everything, and through him are weighed all actions. Isa 40:28 Don’t you know? didn’t you learn it? It is the God of eternity, Jehovah, Who created the ends of the earth; He does not get tired, he does not tire; One cannot probe his intelligence. 1 Cor 3:20 And again: The Lord knows the thoughts of the wise, He knows that they are in vain. 1 John 3:20, for if our hearts condemn us, God is greater than our hearts, and He knows all things.
- Spiritual preparation, the stages of the
-Abandonment of idols 1 Sam 7:3 Much time had passed since the day the ark was laid at Kirjath Jearim. Twenty years had passed. Then the whole house of Israel groaned toward Jehovah. 2 Ch 19:3 But good things have been found in you, for you have made idols disappear from the land, and you have applied your heart to seek God.
-Purification of God’s temple 2 Ch 29:15 They gathered their brethren, and after sanctifying themselves, they came to purify the house of Jehovah, according to the king’s command and according to the words of Jehovah.
-Returning to the Lord Luke 1:17 he will walk before God with the spirit and power of Elijah, to bring the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the rebels to the wisdom of the righteous, in order to prepare for the Lord a well-disposed people.
-Personal Purification 2 Tim 2:21 If, therefore, anyone keeps himself pure, by abstaining from these things, he will be a vessel of honor, sanctified, useful to his master, proper to all good work.
From all the above, we note that men take for granted that the calamities and troubles he calls himself are ordered according to the same principle, with precisely the same purpose, as the punishment is inflicted by a father, a chief or a king. Ifthis is not the truth, what other explanation can be found? The desire for happiness is vivid; pain seems the worst of evils: and they do not see that endurance can be the means of good. Feeling compelled to maintain God’s perfect righteousness, they affirm the only theory of suffering that seems to agree with it. Now, Tsophar, like the others full of this theory, admits that Job may not have seen his transgression. But in this case, the victim is unable to distinguish good from evil. Indeed, his entire thesis seems to Tsophar to show ignorance. If God spoke and revealed the secrets of His holy wisdom, twice as profound, twice as penetrating as Job supposes, the sins He denied would be brought back to Him. He would know that God requires less of him than his iniquity deserves. Tsophar suggests, which is very true, that our judgment on our own conduct is imperfect. How can we trace the true nature of our actions, or know what they resemble the sublime wisdom of the Most High? Job seems to have forgotten all this. He refuses to allow himself the fault. But God knows better. Here is a clever argument to strengthen the general position. One could always say of a case that presented difficulties that, while the victim seemed innocent, yet the wisdom of God, “doubles in understanding” (Job 11:6) compared to that of man, perceived guilt and ordered punishment. But the argument turned out to be too long, as Ts ophar’s health and comfort contradicted his dogma. He took it for granted that the double wisdom of the Almighty found nothing wrong with him. It was a naïve oversight. Could he claim that his life had no flaws? Barely. But then, why is it in the spotlight? How could he have come straddling his camel, accompanied by his servants, to judge Job? Obviously, on an argument like his, no man could ever be in comfort or pleasure, for human nature is always defective, always in more or less sin. Repentance never exceeds the future. Therefore, God who deals with man on a broad basis could never treat him except as a sinner, to be kept in pain and deprivation. If suffering is the penalty of sin, we should all, despite Christ’s Atonement, suffer the pain of the hour for the defect of the hour, for “all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God.” At this rate, man’s life, again despite the atonement, would be the continuation of trial and conviction. From all this, it is obvious that the world is governed on a different plane than the one that satisfied Job’s friends. Our prayers are with you all.
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom as I walk in your ways.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Job’s Response to Tsophar.” (Jb 12)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.