With Friends Like These . . . Job’s Friends and Religious Foolishness (√XVII. Job’s Response to Bildad – Chs. 26-27)

Bildad’s third round asked the question, “Can a mortal be righteous before God?” (25:4). He not only extols the greatness of God, but he then demeans the human person as a maggot, a worm (25:6).

XVII. Job’s Response to Bildad – Ch. 26)
Job’s sarcastic response mocks the three friends’ unhelpfulness. Their advice has been void of wisdom. It has been so poor, in Job’s estimation, that they must have had some kind of spirit assist them in their counsel! (vv. 1-4).

Job then refers to the dead being “in deep anguish” (v. 5). What does he mean by his statement that “the realm of the dead is naked before God” (v. 6)? Perhaps Job’s point is that his friends have referred quite a bit to the death of the wicked, and Job knows that he does not deserve their fate.

He then speaks about “the outer fringe of [God’s] works” in which he mentions God’s power over the realm of the dead (v. 6), over the northern skies and the very suspension of the earth (v. 7), and over the clouds and the horizon (vv. 8-10). He speaks of God’s  power over the sea (v. 12) and His judgment on Rahab (!) (v. 12). Then Job says, “And these are but the outer fringe of his works” (v. 14).

But, in light of God’s magnificent works in His world, Job laments, “how faint the whisper we hear of him!” (v. 14). In contrast to such acts of God’s power, Job is grieved at His silence. And he certainly isn’t buying the premise that God is speaking to him through his “friends”!

XVII. Job’s Response to Bildad – Ch. 27)

In his second chapter of responding to Bildad’s round three, we notice that the NIV translation has the inscription “Job’s Final Word to His Friends.” Whether this chapter is a specific response to Bildad or a general address to the three friends, we don’t know. Here’s what we do know:

We know of Job’s conviction that God has denied him justice and has made his life bitter (v. 2). We know that Job is determined to say nothing wicked as long as the breath of God is in his nostrils (v. 4). And we know that he is resolute in maintaining his innocence and will never admit that his friends are right (vv. 5-6). His conscience simply won’t allow it (v. 6).

 

With Friends Like These . . . Job’s Friends and Religious Foolishness (√XVI. The Badgering of Bildad Round Three – Ch. 25)

What has Bildad said to Job in his first two rounds? He claimed to know why Job’s children were crushed to death (they had sinned). He challenges Job to seek God and repent and promises that restoration will then come to Job. Arguing from the aged, Bildad says that former generations would agree with him that Job might well perish with the godless. God, of course, does not reject the blameless.

In his second round, Bildad goes to great length to describe the fate of the wicked man. He concludes by saying, “Surely such is the dwelling of the one who does not know God.” In effect, he is challenging Job’s relationship with God.

 XVI. The Badgering of Bildad Round Three – (Ch. 25)

Bildad jumps in with his third round of rebuking Job. He begins with his doctrine of God (that dominion and awe belong to God and that His forces cannot be numbered) (vv. 2-3). This brings Bildad to the point which is obvious to him: “How then can a mortal be righteous before God?” (v. 4). This is almost exactly the same message that Eliphaz says he got from a vision in the night (“Can a mortal be more righteous than God?”, 4:17).

In a unique application of the greater to the lesser argument, Bildad says that only God is pure. Man is but a maggot! This “worm theology,” which was popular during the Reformation among some of its leaders, especially Luther, argues for the greatness of God and the puniness of man.

One contemporary writer says, “Many people have suffered spiritual abuse at the hands of what is sometimes called ‘worm theology.’ In this theology, God’s holiness is set against our sinfulness to such a degree that the only appropriate response seems to be self-loathing. The name may come from a line in the Issac Watts hymn ‘Alas! and Did My Savior Bleed,’ which says ‘Would he devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?’ The idea seems to be that only by abasing ourselves are we able to grasp and receive God’s mercy. Churches taken with this view think it their job to induce guilt and shame, working people up into a state of such remorse and self-revulsion that they are compelled to repent and seek God’s mercy.” https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2010/aprilweb-only/23-51.0.html

How will Job respond to Bildad’s worm theology?

 

 

With Friends Like These . . . Job’s Friends and Religious Foolishness (√XV. Job’s Response to Eliphaz Round Three – Chs. 23-24)

Job has endured two rounds of lectures from Eliphaz. He now responds to the final third round in chapters 23-24. Eliphaz has become quite specific in detailing Job’s social sins (sending widows away empty-handed, stripping people of their clothing, etc.). There is no evidence whatsoever in the book of Job’s committing such egregious acts!

Eliphaz challenged Job to no longer tread the old path of the wicked, but to submit to the Lord and prosperity will be restored to him. Job needs to make the Lord his choicest gold and silver!

XV. Job’s Response to Eliphaz Round Three – (Ch. 23)

Job’s response to Eliphaz’s round three is to reiterate his plea to appear before the Lord. He wants to “state his case” before the Lord, confident that the Lord “would not press charges against me” (vv. 4-6).

Job’s complaint, however, is that He can’t find the Lord, whether he looks north, south, east, or west (vv. 8-9).

In light of all his pain Job could declare, “when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold.” (v. 10). He declares that he has kept God’s way without turning aside, that he has not departed from the commands of his lips, and that he “treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread” (vv. 11-12).

However, God does what He pleases and this terrifies Job (vv. 13-15). But such fear does not silence Job in his protest (v. 17).

XII. Job’s Response to Eliphaz Round Three – (Ch. 24)

Job then launches into a diatribe against the unfairness of life. The offenses range from moving boundary stones, to pasturing stolen fields, to pushing the needy off the path, to forcing the poor into hiding (vv. 2-4). These are the evil acts of wicked men who are not judged by God in this life.

Then there are the cruelties of God’s creation: the wasteland failing to provide food for the poor (v. 5), the poor lacking clothes and having to spend the night naked (v. 7), the fatherless child is snatched from the breast (v. 9), the groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help (v. 12). And Job’s conclusion? “But God charges no one with wrongdoing.” (v. 12).

Specific criminals are singled out by Job: the murderer who kills the poor and needy, (v. 14), the adulterer who thinks no one sees his sin (v. 15), thieves who break into houses (v. 16). All of these rebel against the light and “make friends with the terrors of darkness” (v. 17).

But there will be judgment for the wicked. “The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them” (v. 20). God will drag away the mighty by His power; “his eyes are on their ways” (v. 23). And who, Job asks, can prove me wrong?

 

With Friends Like These . . . Job’s Friends and Religious Foolishness (√XIII. Job Responds to Zophar Round Two – Ch. 21)

The friends have spoken in detail of the judgment of the wicked. They imply that the wicked will suffer judgment in this life! Zophar specifically has declared that the mirth of the wicked is brief and they will perish like their own excrement. His social sins against the poor will have to be remedied by his children. The wicked man awaits the day of God’s wrath.

Why have they spent so many words describing in detail the judgment of the wicked? Because Job’s life looks exactly like the judgment of God! However, their equation doesn’t fit the facts. Wicked people live prosperously and godly people suffer terribly! There is no quid pro quo in this life! Their math simply does not add up. EVIL PERSON + GOD’S JUDGMENT = TERRIBLE SUFFERING IN THIS LIFE! Their theological formula cannot be proven.

XIII. Job’s Response to Zophar Round Two – (Ch. 21)

Job asks Zophar to listen carefully to Job’s words — and then he can “mock on” (v. 3).  He asks a simple question, “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” (v. 7) Their prosperity is evident. “They spend their years in prosperity and go down to the grave in peace” (v. 13). Job asks, “How often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?” (v. 17).

And they also mock God by saying to Him, ‘Leave us alone! We have no desire to know your ways. Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him?” (vv. 14-15).

The truth is, Job says, that both the wicked and the godly often die the same.

^“One person dies in full vigor,
    completely secure and at ease,
²⁴ well nourished in body,
    bones rich with marrow.
²⁵ Another dies in bitterness of soul,
    never having enjoyed anything good.
²⁶ Side by side they lie in the dust,
    and worms cover them both.” (vv. 23-26).

The problem you friends have, Job says, is that you need to get out more! If you did, you would see that “the wicked are spared from the day of calamity . . .. they are delivered from the day of wrath” (v. 30). So, Job says, your nonsense doesn’t console me. “Nothing is left of your answers but falsehood!” (v. 34).

 

With Friends Like These . . . Job’s Friends and Religious Foolishness (√XII. The Zingers of Zophar Round Two – Ch. 20)

In the wings waits Zophar, the one who in round one (11:2) said that Job’s mockery needs to be rebuked and that, in reality, God has even forgotten some of Job’s sin! Because God’s mysteries are beyond finding out, Job should simply bow before the Lord. Zophar promises Job that if he devotes his heart to the Lord and puts away the sin that is in his heart, his life will be brighter than the noonday. But don’t be like the wicked, Zophar says, for their hope will be a dying gasp. What will Zophar add to his first lecture?

XII. The Zingers of Zophar Round Two – (Ch. 20)

Zophar declares that the mirth of the wicked is brief (v. 5). But he will perish forever, “like his own dung” (v. 7). He will die and be forgotten. His children will have to make amends to the poor (v. 10). The evil that he has hidden will become soured food in his stomach, “a venom of serpents” (v. 14). God will make him vomit up the riches he swallowed (v. 15).

Because the wicked person has oppressed the poor, this man cannot save himself by his treasure (vv. 19-20). God will vent his anger against this man, piercing him with a bronze-tipped arrow into his liver. [Sounds like some of Job’s previously given description of the Lord as an archer whose arrows pierce Job’s kidneys and spill his gall on the ground (16:13)]. The heavens will reveal his guilt; a flood will carry off his house. The day of God’s wrath will come upon him. “Such is the fate God allots the wicked, the heritage appointed for them by God.” (v. 29).

It is obvious that Zophar is treating Job as one who is wicked, whose sins against the poor provided him his wealth, who is soon to experience the wrath of God. The issue of Job’s guilt or innocence is not a matter of debate. It is a settled conclusion in Zophar’s mind. Unlike Eliphaz and Bildad, Zophar does not step into the ring for a third round with Job. These are the last words Zophar speaks to his friend.