Joe from Camel 8 news (Job)

This is Joe from Camel 8 News reporting en route to Ur of the Chaldean’s to interview Abram and have him tell us the great things that we here at Camel News 8 have heard, when we encountered a caravan who had just left Uz and I tell you back at the news desk this is a story that is beyond anything I have encountered before. This news team met three caravans traveling together, the leader of each caravan are so named Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. These men heard about their friend Job who have severe devastation not like any other I have heard of ever. In one day Job lost everything, his children were feasting and drinking and a whirlwind crushed the house and all ten of his children lost their lives. Sabean raiders came and took his oxen and his donkeys and killed the servants except one. Then a Chaldean raiding party took his camels and killed those servants except one. Then shortly afterwards he broke out in malignant boils of some sort. Even his wife told him it would be better off to commit suicide.

Our first interview is with Eliphaz.

Sir, “You are a Temanite?”

“Yes,”

“Why did you come this distance?”

“To console my friend Job.”

“You traveled with your two friends to Uz.”

“Yes.”

“Tell me what happened when you arrived.”

“When we got here we couldn’t believe what we saw with our eyes, Job was a disaster, he didn’t look like a man, the bleeding ulcers, and boils, he was using broken pottery to scrape himself with. We were so devastated that we wept aloud, tore our robes, threw dust on our heads, sat on the ground for seven days without saying a word. This man was suffering beyond all recognition.”

“Being the eldest you spoke to him first. What did you say to such a one in distress?”

“No, actually he spoke first with a lament, in retrospect who could blame him. He lamented the day of his birth, who could blame him, he was in extreme distress and pain. How is one to react? The helplessness that one would feel in that situation, on top of all his disasters his wife tells him he should curse God and commit suicide. Truthfully death seems like the only relief to pain at times. What makes it worse their isn’t any explanation to this, the why question has yet to be answered. Job also pointed out it would have been better for him to have been still born, he came real close to cursing God but he kept his integrity and cursed his birthday. He also lamented the purposelessness of his life, and its meaninglessness. It was after this that I spoke first.”

“What did you say to Job?”

“I guess you could break down what I said to Job to about a half dozen points. I started with the fact that Job himself had been a counselor to many, and was able to help them with their problems. Job helped many face their hurts and he needed to follow his own advice. I was really positive that if he was innocent and blameless the he could take confidence in his innocence. I then contrasted Job’s life to my own view of things.”

“Such as.”

“Such as, I’ve always held the view that the innocent don’t perish, and the upright aren’t destroyed. I also pointed out that to reap evil, evil must be sown, those who do evil are destroyed by the breath of God.”

“Isn’t that a smooth way to say to your friend that he had sin in his life?”

“Yes, but I wanted to be a gentle as I could, I didn’t want to be brutal on him and crush his spirit. Speaking of spirits I had one appear to me one night and tell me things, basically that even though God charges Angels with error, and man is mere mortal then God would be less concerned with man, and since man is in this kind of condition then man can’t question God. I see now that the spirit was an evil spirit, telling me false hoods about God’s love for mankind, I didn’t understand this before. My point to Job was that since God is infinite, and pure, that fallen man is nothing and we have no chance before God especially since Angels are sinful compared to him.”

“Now what a minute, what ever happened to compassion and love in all this, I see that you are only brought up the fact that God is a God of justice.”

“At the time this was the extent of my wisdom, which is my folly.”

“What else.”

“I thought Job was being foolish in his continuance of his innocence declaration. I pointed out that when a fool takes root, that his house is coursed, that his children are far from safety, and if he was in court there wouldn’t be a defender.”

“You used the analogy of a root, doesn’t that point to one who is prosperous, healthy, and has strength. It is beginning to appear that you were a little jealous of Job by equating root with fool.”

“You have no idea of the regrets that were said recently, even after everything that my two friends and I said to Job and his retorts, a young man in the company named Elihu speaks and Job is silent. This young man apparently has more wisdom than us, because when he was done speaking God shows up in a whirlwind and rebukes me, saying that we had darkened his counsel, we each had to take seven bulls and seven rams and bring them to Job and their offer a burnt sacrifice for ourselves and Job had to pray for us, so that God wouldn’t deal with us in our folly.”

“Hold on, God shows up!!!”

“Yes”

“Stunning, how did you ever, what did you, I mean how, I can’t imagine God showing up.”

“It was fearful to say the least. We ate a lot of humble pie, on our faces, you don’t stand before God. It wasn’t a casual conversation, we didn’t speak at all.”

“I can’t even wrap my mind around this, you must tell me what God was like.”

“It’s an encounter you don’t want, its a dread that will be felt for a very long time. Please don’t ask me to describe the event, it was the most scary thing to have that kind of Holiness present, it makes you very small and ashamed.”

“Okay, I can see where you made some errors, but their must have been more to be rebuked by God.”

“Yes.”

“And that was.”

“Well I went on to say that trouble doesn’t spring from the ground, or come out of nowhere, I had always held the view of cause and effect. I pointed out to Job that there is no point in playing games with God. It was my belief that if Job and I were to switch places then I would appeal to God and lay my cause out before him, I contended that God is in control. I said that God is so wise he can’t be deceived, you can’t hide, he’ll catch you and uncover your sin. (Job 5:8-16) I wanted Job to get his sin out in the open, I wanted Job to surrender to God and God would bless him. The premise here is that if you cast yourself on the mercy of God, then he’ll restore you and everything will be fine. I have since learned the error of my ways, sometimes the righteous suffer for no apparent reason. My theology was simplistic and unrealistic, it is my hope to correct this error so others will not be caught in the same folly I was. Sometimes bad things happen to good people.”

“So what did Job say to all this?”

Job responds

Eliphaz comments about Job’s response:

E “We didn’t understand Job’s anguish at first, because he rebuked all three of us at first, then he took his complaint to God .”

J “What did he say to you three.”

E “He started by comparing his anguish to weights stating that his anguish and misery couldn’t be weighed or placed on a scale, that it would outweigh the sand of the seas. He was basically stating he had the right to complain. He admitted that he was speaking strongly but if we were walking in his shoes we’d understand. He went on to use the analogy that you never hear an animal complain when it is well fed and taken care of. He also stated that you can’t tasteless food unless you add salt to try and improve it. He said this to point out that complaining helps him cope with his troubles. He further pointed out his inability to bear his tribulation, by stating that he wanted God to crush him and end his misery. He was wondering if God understood what he was made of, he said did he have the strength of a stone, or was his flesh bronze. When his cry went unanswered he turn to us for being unsympathetic to him, for no empathy. He compared us to mountain brooks that are full of water in the wintertime when no one needs it, but when the summer sun comes out, and one longs for some refreshing water, there’s nothing there but a dry gravel filled stream bed. He was saying we came to comfort me but all you did was to bring me this trouble. In other words: “Did I ask for your help? I didn’t send for you! I didn’t ask you to ‘comfort’ me, so don’t do me any favors. (Job 6:22-23). In essence Job was want us to point out the sin. None of us could. We all knew that God had allowed this pain. Job’s complaint was why? He knew he kept a short account of his sins. The Job took his complaint to God about the hardness of his unbearable circumstances.”

J “Wow, so at this point he wasn’t concerned that God was going to be angry with him.”

E “No, not really, what more could be done?”

J “What did he say?”

E “First he pointed out that the natural order of things man’s life is hard, slave like,like a hired man waiting for his wages at night. He said he had a months worth of misery.”

J “Where I come from we call a long period of time a month of Sunday’s.”

E “Exactly.”

E “He went on to point out his body was clothed with worms and scabs. It was pretty gross. He also pointed out the pointlessness of this misery, due to the shortness of life. He finally gives up and thinks he will never see any relief.”

J “How did he say that?”

E “He spoke of his death by saying something along the line of that those who see him now won’t see him any more, as a cloud vanishes away and is gone, so is he who goes down to the grave and doesn’t return. He also went to say he would prefer strangling and death rather than the body he currently had. He pointed out that his life had no meaning and for us to leave him alone. Then he took his complaint back God wards.”

J “He really didn’t care what happened did he.”

E “No not really.”

J “Tell me what more did he complain to God about.”

E “Well he was wondering man is that so much attention was given to man from God even though this kind of attention was unwelcome. He asked God why he was a target. Job was asking why he had become a burden to God. He wanted God to pardon his sins and to be forgiven. He just wanted to die and put this behind, and this way his misery would end.”

This is Joe from Camel 8 news back with you at the news desk. You heard my interview with Eliphaz one of Job’s companions this is turning out to be quite an interesting story. There is a second person of interest in the extreme tragedy that virtually destroyed everything Job had his children 10 in all dead, every bit of wealth he gone, only a few servants left alive and his wife. Upon that his health is nearly destroyed. This is Bildad he spoke with Job after Eliphaz.

J “Sir, please tell me what your roll in this was.”

B “What difference does it make.”

J “Sir everyone has a different perspective.”

B “Look, my problem with this whole discourse is fact God can’t do anything wrong, God doesn’t pervert justice, right so if things are unjust then you are not right with God. (Job 8:2-4) . Your name is Joe right.”

J “Yes.”

B “Do you have kids?”

J “Yes.”

B “If your kids do something wrong you punish them, and if they do something right then they are rewarded, correct.”

J “Correct.”

B “Alright then, God created man in his image, if we think like God does then where is the logic that Job was innocent, its still got me baffled. But I have a long journey and a long time to think about it. I also stated that, man, by nature, must have God’s blessing to prosper. If a man is cut off from God he will wither like a reed without water, and the thing he has built will collapse like a flimsy spider web.” (Job 8:10-19)

J “You’re pretty harsh on a man suffering so.”

B “Look Mr. fancy dancy reporter. I didn’t ask for you to but into my business, besides like Eliphaz I took my lumps from God himself. My logic is correct to set the record straight I also know that God doesn’t reject the blameless nor does he strengthen the evildoer. (Job 8:20-22), my logic was sound, my trouble is my message was given with the wrong spirit.

We need to change gears here:

We need to explore and find the flaws in the theology of Job’s friends.

The first error Job’s friends made was to answer Job without listening and trying to find out the truth. They zeroed in on what he was saying without understanding his agony. Even Job himself admits he spoke rashly, but he did so because of his pain and grief. Anyone who has undergone deep, unrelenting pain knows how suffering can grind down the human spirit. When Job spoke out about his pain, his friends should of listened to his emotion and understood his torment, instead the argue and attack.

This is problematic today even thousands of years after Job. Marriage come to mind here. Husbands are often coldly analytical when their wives are pressured, weary, or anxious about circumstances. How often does a spouse hear words and not connect to the pain associated with them. How often does a mate point out flaws and inconsistencies with what was said. This is a good way to destroy any relationship. This lies true with any relationship.

In any court of law Job makes a plea here is the simplified version:

Job prepares his plea

In essence Job was saying it doesn’t matter what happens to me anymore, the next step is death, anyhow even if I’m slain what does it matter. I have no hope. Yet I will defend myself to his face. He is my salvation, no hypocrite can come before him.

Job is expressing the fact that his pain and loss have been corrosive to his faith. He didn’t expect God to rescue him, but rather that God is killing him. Even if he has no hope of surviving his ordeal, Job insists on defending himself before God.

Two part request to the court.

1. 1. 1. That God would lift the pain and anguish he is going through so that he does not have to speak out of a state of torment.
      2. That God would veil his presence so that Job would not be terrified by God’s awesome and intimidating majesty.

Job has become pessimistic, not withstanding the things he has been through, including the things his so called friends have said to him.

His first defense is how have I sinned. Is their something from my youth that is catching up to me?

In any court of law, a prisoner has a right to know what charges are against him. Job searches his heart but can find no hidden sin in his life, even though Job’s friends accuse him of sin.