Were Job's Counselors Really All That Bad?

In this regular feature Dave and Tom respond to questions from listeners and readers of The Berean Call.Here’s this week’s question:Dear Dave and Tom:I’m confused by how I am to understand much of what I read in the Book of Job.That applies especially to what Job’s first three counselors say to him.I know that God admonishes them for what they have to say, but honestly, some of it sounds very Biblical to me.For example, Eliphaz says, Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth, therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty for He maketh sore and bindeth up, He woundeth and His hands make hold.Am I to disregard everything they had to say, or am I to consider their input verse by verse?

Tom:

Dave, there are lots of verses early in Job by these so-called, Job’s Comforters, sarcastically.For example, Job:5:7Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
See All... says, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.”But then, the person that wrote this points out Job:42:7And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.
See All..., 8, God is really taking Eliphaz to task.He says, “My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends:for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.”So, it can be a little bit confusing.

Dave:

Yeah, it can be, the Bible is the Word of God, but everything in it is not God’s words.I mean, you don’t have to go far for that---“You won’t really die, the serpent said”---that’s in the Bible.

Tom:

Genesis Chapter 3.

Dave:

God is reporting what the serpent said, but that’s not wisdom that comes from God.On the other hand you could have something like this, because there are other passages in the scriptures that confirm this.Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and you could find that in Hebrews Chapter 12.He scourgeth every son that He receives, or you would find it in Revelation Chapter 3: 19, where the Lord Himself says that Whom I love I chasten.So that’s good advice and we would accept that.This is not God speaking through this person.These three guys are a bit self righteous and they---

Tom:

You can see that progressively as Job is not taking their counsel and they move farther and farther away from God’s Word, let’s put it that way, or anything that relates to it.

Dave:

So, we have a lesson to learn there, too.How often do we think, if some disaster befalls someone---someone comes down with some dread disease, or whatever.I mean, I’ve seen it happen many times in my life.I have a cousin who was murdered, he was a professor at SyracuseUniversity living in Washington.After the summer he was on his way back to teach and he was tricked, waylaid, you know, by a lady standing there with a map way out in the middle of nowhere waving for help.And she’s got a gun underneath the map, and there’s guys waiting, and so forth.They murdered him, and I will never forget, one of the elders in the fellowship that I was attending saying, Well, you know, when you’re not living for the Lord that’s what’s going to happen to you.So, we have to be careful that we don’t judge people like that.None of us deserves anything that God has given us.So, we learn that lesson from these guys too.There’s a lot of pride, there’s a lot of holier than thou attitude on their part.You know, Look at us, this didn’t happen to us, Job there must be something wrong in your life.So, a lot of what they come up with has some validity to it, but it’s not God speaking through them and that’s very clear by what you just said.You quoted where God says, You have not spoken of Job the things that are right, or about Me.

Tom:

Dave, isn’t much of it too, in Job, application?For example, they had some truths that are reflected in God’s Word, in the scriptures, but the application was dead wrong, they completely missed it.So then, for those of us who are reading through the scriptures, we have to be careful.We have to hold everything up, in other words, it’s not a matter of you pick a verse and right away you think you understand it.Scripture interprets scripture, we can have a sense of the application by knowing the context, and they didn’t understand the context by which God was dealing with Job.

Dave:

You know, they were judging Job’s heart by his circumstances.If this disaster has happened to you, then you must have been sinning in secret somewhere.Job is a---Wow---you know, it’s the first book written in the Bible, I believe, the oldest book in the Bible.

Tom:

He lived at the time of Abraham, didn’t he?Somewhere, a little after Abraham?

Dave:

You know, I’m not sure exactly when he lives, but you learn a lot in the Book of Job.The sons of God appear before the Lord, and Satan comes with them---he still has access before God’s throne.Scripture says he’s the accuser of the brethren, accuses us day and night before the throne of God.You wonder, well how does Satan still have access there?It’s like a former President, he’snot President anymore, but he’s got access to the White House that nobody else has.Satan still has a certain amount of authority because he has not been stripped of that authority into full defeat by the redeemed living in the victory that Christ won out of defeat.So, again Tom, going back to our first segment, towards the end of Chapter 12 in Revelation, it says that they defeated the Antichrist and defeated Satan by the word of their testimony, by the blood of the Lamb and they loved not their lives unto death.So, there again, in defeat there was victory.And Job finally got the victory when he acknowledged his need and that whoever he was he didn’t deserve anything.And then he prayed for his friends, and then God restored him.