Beloved, I am pleased to share with you today the above theme from Job 15:1-2 and following. Indeed, a new debate has opened. Each interlocutor will speak again in the same order as the first time. Blow after blow, the three companions will drive their accusation into Job’s consciousness, as one drives a nail: You are a hypocrite, a cunning man. If you weren’t guilty you wouldn’t defend yourself with so many words. Whoever apologizes accuses himself – says the proverb (vs. 5 and 6). Job’s three friends are moralists, each with their own theory and method. Eliphaz relies on human experience: what he knows (v. 9), what he has seen (v. 17). Bildad, on the other hand, readily refers to ancient traditions (Jb 8:5-10). As for Tsophar, as we have noticed, his arguments are inspired by the purest legalism. But none of the three is based on what God has said. Having only these uncertain bases, let us not be surprised if they wander, “not knowing the Scriptures…” (Mat 22.23-33). God’s word is the only source we can rely on for ourselves and to help those who are placed on our path. A young person, even a child, who knows her, has more intelligence than an old man with white hair (v. 10) whose wisdom is based only on his own experience (Ps 119:98-100).
In examining the second debate presented to us in the rest of this book between Job’s friends and the latter, we will seek to collect the main features of these discourses to help the Christian study them for himself. The first point to which we wish to draw attention relates to the erroneous principle that was the basis not only of Eliphaz’s thoughts, but of those of Job himself. This principle distorted the application of all the words of Job’s friends and was condemned by Jehovah himself at the end of the book. This will allow us to understand, when the time comes, why, despite all his mistakes, Job was in the truth, while his friends were not. This, in fact, is the positive conclusion of the book, although there was in Job what required discipline and judgment of himself that God produced in a very deep way in his soul in the end. This is not our personal opinion, but the divine statement given for the teaching of all believers.
There can be no more instructive lesson for us about the danger of judging on appearances. This is undoubtedly one of the important truths of this wonderful book. A superficial examination is never the way to form a just judgment; the Lord Himself, in His day, warns us of this. If such a way of acting was blameworthy in Job’s friends, how much more is it in us! An entire book of the Word is meant to warn us against such a trap. “For your mouth makes known your iniquity, and you have chosen the language of cunning men.” Appearances were contrary to him: “Your mouth will condemn you, not me, and your lips lay against you. Were you born the first of men?” Eliphaz is probably referring to the misplaced words he had spoken. Then he testifies to the obvious bad mood produced by Job’s lack of consideration for his friends.
Eliphaz therefore continues to rebuke Job so severely that his speech is no longer at all in the peaceful spirit that had characterized the interview at the beginning. He peremptorily tells her that he should feel his inexperience in comparing himself to them and the impropriety of using such freedom of language, since he was talking to friends older than him. But all this shows us how solemn and dangerous it is, even for a saint, to have his self before his eyes rather than God – not only God in his general character, but above all in his infinite grace. Job’s friends talk a lot about Him, but what they say proves that they only consider Him a Judge. It is true that the time had not yet come to show that evil was completely baffled in his efforts and set aside, for this could only take place through the cross of Christ.
Is it not remarkable that no reference to this promise is found in the speeches of Job’s friends, while on the contrary in the portion of this book that we consider, the seed of the woman occupied an important place in Job’s heart? We do not deny that his friends were not believers, but “from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Why do they make no mention of this blessed Person who was to assert and manifest the superiority of grace over evil? Why could they not rise above the fear that there would be a hidden evil in all this? Why did they finally find it useless to do anything other than censor, warn, and threaten Job, while presenting him with encouraging promises of present blessings, if he repented, and bitterly reproaching him for his past life?
Another lesson becomes even clearer as Job’s friends move forward in their insulting insinuations. It is difficult to conceive of anything more overwhelming for the mind of a pious man, for having no clear and positive accusation to present to him, they do not advance any fact that they can place on his conscience. The spirit of judgment that dominated them prevented them from waiting for God to manifest the truth of the situation, and disposed them to hastily take advantage of the reckless words of their grieving friend to conclude that there was a more serious evil hidden behind it all. They could say, “Your mouth will condemn you… and your lips lay against you.” There was faith in Job, despite everything, and a trust in God incomparably firmer and truer than in any of those who blamed him; so God did not fail to bear witness to it in the end.
But let’s continue our study of the book. Eliphaz, after taking job back for his lack of respect for his friends older than him, comes to the point that God is in his perfect holiness and, on the other hand, to what man is in his wickedness. This was quite true, but could not solve the difficulty. Was that the whole issue to be debated? Is there no other subject to consider than man suffering the consequences of his abominations in this world? Don’t we also see the righteous suffering on earth? Is there not an Enemy who afflicts him and a God who chastises him? For Job’s friends, there was no other thought than to judge sins.
As a rule, it is an incomplete truth that becomes a cause of trouble. An inconvert is carried away by his own will and Satan’s lies, but the one who fears God can be gravely misled by a flawed understanding of what God is and what man is. From this flows the immense importance for us to seek not only a truth, but the truth. Moreover, we are all the less excusable because we have the invaluable privilege of possessing the truth fully revealed in Christ, which is not only a truth, but the truth manifested objectively, as the Spirit is in power. What use, then, do we make of the grace that has been deployed in such a way to us? Is it Christ or our own thoughts that we take as a measure to judge all that is before us? But if Job’s friends had considered, not the revelation of God that we possess, but that given by the very first divine communication in the third chapter of Genesis, to which we have alluded, what would have been the result? How does God speak of Christ in this passage and what should have been the significance of these words in relation to Job’s case? Take man into this world, and consider the one who practices any evil: does he bear no consequences? Quite the contrary. Is God limited to the exercise of His government? In no way. This is where Eliphaz and his companions were wrong, and Satan knows how to turn to his advantage, in view of his evil designs, the side of the truth that we prefer, as well as the one we neglect.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
The villain will not escape:
- Lack of prayer
Ps 53.5 Have those who commit iniquity lost their meaning? They devour my people, they take them for food; They do not invoke God. Isaiah 43:22 And thou hast not invoked me, O Jacob! For you have grown tired of me, O Israel! Isaiah 64:6 There is no one who invokes your name, who wakes up to cling to you: So you have hidden your face from us, and let us perish by the effect of our crimes. Dn 9:13 As written in the law of Moses, all this calamity came upon us; and we did not implore Jehovah our God, we did not turn away from our iniquities, we did not pay attention to your truth.
- Own condemnation
Jb 9:20 Am I righteous, my mouth will condemn me; Am I innocent, he will convict me. Luke 19:22 He said to him: I judge you on your words, wicked servant; you knew that I am a stern man, taking what I have not deposited, and reaping what I have not sown; John 8:9 When they heard this, accused by their conscience, they withdrew one by one, from the oldest to the last; and Jesus remained alone with the woman who was there in the middle. Rom 2:1 O man, whoever you are, you who judge, are therefore inexcusable; for, in judging others, you condemn yourself, since you who judge do the same things.
Insecurity of villains, general references
Ps 73:18 Yes, you place them on slippery paths, you bring them down and put them in ruins. Pr 23:34 Thou shalt be like a man lying in the middle of the sea, Like a man lying on the top of a mast: Jer 23:12 That is why their path will be slippery and dark, They will be pushed and they will fall; For I will bring misfortune upon them, the year in which I will chastise them, says the Lord. Mt 7:26-27 But whoever hears these words that I say, and does not put them into practice, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 The rain fell, the torrents came, the winds blew and beat this house: it fell, and its ruin was great.
- Desolation, as a consequence of sin, general references
Jb 15:34 The house of the ungodly will become barren, and fire will devour the tent of corrupt man. Ps 34:22 Misfortune kills the wicked, and the enemies of the righteous are punished. Ps 40:16 Let them be in amazement by the effect of their shame, Those who say to me: Ah! ah! Mt 23:38 Behold, your house will be left deserted;
From all the above, we note that the Christian is no longer in the shadows, as these saints of yesteryear were comparatively. We walk in the light. And let us remember carefully, beloved, that “walking in the light” does not simply mean according to the light, however important it may be, and although this is our simple duty. The fact that we walk in the light is absolutely true of the Christian. This does not mean, as many think, that it is a special progress or a high measure of spirituality that some Christians achieve. This is the consequence of the fact that we have been brought to God who is Light and it is the revealed place of closeness to himself in which grace has brought all those who are removed from darkness and introduced into the wonderful light of God, which is the case of every Christian now. We are light and in light; it is in it that we walk and not in darkness. Also, since, by grace, we walk in the light, we are bound to walk according to the light. But our responsibility to walk in the light is entirely distinct from the fact that we walk in the light, though the latter truth is the foundation of it. If we are truly Christians, we follow Christ and have the light of life, and so we walk in the light, as men literally do, when it is daylight. This is exactly where the knowledge of Christ as light brings us all. For now no one can follow Christ or, in other words, cannot be a Christian without walking in the light. It is not only spiritual Christians, but every believer who enjoys it, as his constant and established privilege. But although we walk in the light, it does not follow that we do so faithfully according to the light. It is in this that we see many practical differences among God’s children, but there are none as to the great truth that now we all walk in the light, as God is in the light. In the time of Job, the time had not yet come for the resplendence of this light, which is why we are much less excusable than him, if we forget that it has him, for all this history is given to us to protect us from the errors into which even pious men then fell. 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 react to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “Job’s reply: I have a witness in heaven. (Jb 16)
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.