Job 16
Job responds to Eliphaz, recognizing the worthlessness of Eliphaz’s argument and noting that if Job’s “friends” are trying to comfort him, they aren’t doing a very good job! (Job 16:2) Further, he asks what motivates (or provokes) his friends to even engage in the argument. (Job 16:3) And he notes that, were the shoe on the other foot, Job could easily taunt them with similar words (Job 16:4), but he also says that he could just as well soothe their suffering with better words. (Job 16:5)
Job continues to bemoan his afflictions and recognizes that his condition is the very thing that acts as a witness against him. (Job 16:8) He describes his pains and perceives God as the primary One responsible for his suffering (Job 16:7-16), yet he maintains his innocence. (Job 16:17)
In the last few verses of this chapter (Job 16:18-22), a glimmer of hope arises. Job begins to perceive that there might be Someone else in heaven Who might testify on his behalf, Who might argue his case before God. It is not at all clear that Job has any notion yet of Who that might be. It seems that he has in mind “a son of man”, not necessarily “the Son of Man”, but he nevertheless looks for this testimony “on high”. Of course, he still sees God as his Tormentor, so it is unlikely that he expects God to also be his Advocate, but he has at least a suggestion that he is not fighting his battle alone.
What about you? Have you ever felt utterly alone? Do you perceive your Advocate? Do you recognize Who He is? Really?
I’m thinking when Job got to Heaven, the Lord must have had a lot of explaining to do.
At this point in the book, I think Job would agree with you! But I’m not so sure that he would say the same by the end.
I’m hoping for a turn of events!
The Lord does his “explaining” beginning in chapter 38. Stay tuned!
The good news is that we are more than halfway through Job and his three “comforters”. But then, an interesting turn of events…
Thinking of your last paragraph of comments, John, I wonder if Job and his surrounding communities were people who had multiple gods, like the Greeks and Romans in later times? Maybe Job has a secondary god in mind who might appeal for him to the higher god?
Verse 6 is personal for me: Even if I speak, my pain is not relieved, and if I hold back, how will it go away? When I was ill during the second half of our recent time away I was glad that Carol was beside me. Strangely, I found myself wanting to talk about how I felt, but not wanting to talk about how I felt. Talking about it seemed to make it worse, but also I wanted Carol to sympathize with me. A mix of feelings…
Verses 12, ff. were less personal for me, but no less forceful: I was at ease, but He shattered me; He seized me by the neck and crushed me… Here my thought was of Jews in Germany in the late 1930s, living comfortable lives and on a whim, in a flash, to have it all taken away. Sad, shocking, evil. It was man doing this, not God, but the idea of living life “at ease”, then losing it all… But it happens every day, somewhere. We just don’t hear all the stories of lives shattered.
Generally speaking, monotheism in the ancient world was the exception, not the rule, so it is entirely possible that Job and his friends might have had a polytheistic perspective. However, I don’t really see any of that in this book. If Job were really thinking of some other god, he could easily have resolved his own confusion by just blaming some other unjust god rather than holding the LORD responsible for his suffering.
And that actually speaks a bit to your last paragraph. Yes, clearly evil men (and women) were responsible for the Holocaust. But to simply “give God a pass” is to do something very similar to Job’s friends by “whitewashing” the whole thing “on God’s behalf”. God is sovereign and could certainly have prevented the Holocaust altogether. But He didn’t. We honestly need to face that hard reality. Our best answer may end up being “I don’t know” or “I don’t understand”, but we can’t just say that God had nothing to do with it.