Job 6:1 Job answered,
2 “Oh that my anguish were weighed,
and all my calamity laid in the balances!
3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas,
therefore my words have been rash.
4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me.
My spirit drinks up their poison.
The terrors of God set themselves in array against me.
5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass?
Or does the ox low over his fodder?
6 Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt?
Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 My soul refuses to touch them.
They are as loathsome food to me.
8 “Oh that I might have my request,
that God would grant the thing that I long for,
9 even that it would please God to crush me;
that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
10 I would still have this consolation—
my joy in unrelenting pain—
that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
11 What is my strength, that I should wait?
What is my end, that I should be patient?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones?
Or is my flesh of bronze?
13 Isn’t it that I have no help in me,
that wisdom is driven away from me?
14 “To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend;
even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook,
as the channel of brooks that pass away;
16 Which are black by reason of the ice,
in which the snow hides itself.
17 In the dry season, they vanish.
When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.
18 The caravans that travel beside them turn away.
They go up into the waste, and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema looked.
The companies of Sheba waited for them.
20 They were distressed because they were confident.
They came there, and were confounded.
21 For now you are nothing.
You see a terror, and are afraid.
22 Did I say, ‘Give to me?’
or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance?’
23 or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand?’
or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?’
24 “Teach me, and I will hold my peace.
Cause me to understand my error.
25 How forcible are words of uprightness!
But your reproof, what does it reprove?
26 Do you intend to reprove words,
since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind?
27 Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless,
and make merchandise of your friend.
28 Now therefore be pleased to look at me,
for surely I will not lie to your face.
29 Please return. Let there be no injustice.
Yes, return again. My cause is righteous.
30 Is there injustice on my tongue?
Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?
Job is quite upset with Eliphaz for weighing his words on the scales of cold analytical reasoning. v.2 Job is in pain and is simply speaking out in anguish. Cold analysis is no way to respond to a man in despair. People in pain need to speak their anguish. Where is compassion, sympathy, and understanding?
If it could be measured Job’s pain is heavier than the sand of the seas. v.3 In such pain, of course, Job’s words have been rash. v.3 He asks, “Do you expect a man in despair to be as contented and composed as a donkey eating grass or an ox with a stable full of fodder?” v.5 Because Job was wallowing in despair, even food had lost its flavor. v.6 Because he has no strength v.11, his prayer is…
that God would grant the thing that I long for, even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! v.8-9
But even in pain as he is praying for death Job says,
I would still have this consolation—my joy in unrelenting pain, that I had not denied the words of the Holy One. v.10
His only joy in this trial of unrelenting pain is that he continues to cling to Yahweh.
He certainly did not find comfort or joy from his friends. He was looking for kindness and all he has received is criticism. To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend. But even if Job had forsaken the fear of the Almighty his friends should have shown compassion. Instead they had dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away. v.14-15 In other words, Job was looking for some kind of refreshment, like a cool brook on a hot and dusty day, but the brook was dry. It offered no refreshment, just like the counsel of his friends offered only forcible words of uprightness, and reproof. v.26 They only offered self righteous speeches to one who is desperate. v.26
Their speeches to Job are as wind. v.26 They were not helping because they missed the mark. Instead of offering compassion they were offering solutions. First, they have misdiagnosed the problem. Job is, in fact, just like God said in the opening chapter, righteous. v.29 Yet they continued to insist that he had sinned. And second, even if Job had forsaken the fear of the Almighty, v.14, which he had not, reproof and correction are not ways to demonstrate support and compassion to one who is in pain.
How do you counsel friends who are in pain and slipping into despair?
Do you lecture, offering solutions, telling them to confess their sins and suck it up?
Are you able to sympathize with them in their weakness? Hebrews 4:15
In practical terms, what would that look like?
Job 7:1 “Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth?
Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
2 As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow,
as a hireling who looks for his wages,
3 so I am made to possess months of misery,
wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say,
‘When will I arise, and the night be gone?’
I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust.
My skin closes up, and breaks out afresh.
6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle,
and are spent without hope.
7 Oh remember that my life is a breath.
My eye will no more see good.
8 The eye of him who sees me will see me no more.
Your eyes will be on me, but I will not be.
9 As the cloud is consumed and vanishes away,
So he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more.
10 He will return no more to his house,
neither will his place know him any more.
11 “Therefore I will not keep silent.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a sea monster,
that you put a guard over me?
13 When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me.
My couch will ease my complaint;’
14 then you scare me with dreams,
and terrify me through visions:
15 so that my soul chooses strangling,
death rather than my bones.
16 I loathe my life.
I don’t want to live forever.
Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
17 What is man, that you should magnify him,
that you should set your mind on him,
18 that you should visit him every morning,
and test him every moment?
19 How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
20 If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men?
Why have you set me as a mark for you,
so that I am a burden to myself?
21 Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity?
For now will I lie down in the dust.
You will seek me diligently, but I will not be.”
Job continues by describing his suffering. Life is hard, similar to forced labor or a hired hand, working all day, looking forward to being paid his wages and finding rest in the evening shadows. v.1-2 But instead of finding rest in the evening Job endures months of misery and many sleepless, wearisome nights, tossing and turning until the dawning of the day. v.3-4 Have you ever endured sleepless nights? In addition to all of this suffering, life is short, life is a breath. v.7 Life is as brief as a cloud that vanishes away. v.9 Job cannot see any way out. He is a man without hope. v.6 Can you feel his hopelessness?
How would you comfort a hopeless friend?
And to make matters even worse, if that were possible, when Job was trying to find comfort on his couch v.13, rather than comforting him, Eliphaz shows up scaring Job with his dream and terrifying him with his visions. v.14 Do you remember how Eliphaz had diagnosed Job’s condition based on the revelation he had received from a spirit?
Then a spirit passed before my face.
The hair of my flesh stood up. Job 4:15
This freaked Job out. Job knew that he was innocent but his friend, having been visited by a false spirit, accuses him of grievous sin, sins so great that Job was responsible for the death of his children. Because Eliphaz was the opposite of a good comforter Job complained:
Therefore I will not keep silent.
I will speak in the anguish of my spirit.
I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. vs11
Job again appeals to God:
How long will you not look away from me,
nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
If I have sinned, what do I do to you, you watcher of men? Why have you set me as a mark for you,
so that I am a burden to myself?
Why do you not pardon my disobedience, and take away my iniquity? vs19-21
Job comes to God in prayer. He has not lost faith in God. He is complaining in faith. He knows that God, the watcher of men v.20, sees him. He knows that God would never abandon him. But he feels like God is looking away v.19, and he wants to know why.
Hearing Job’s cry, Bildad can no longer keep quiet. He begins …