Job's Friends

“I am full of confusion"Job 10:15

J

ob said, “I am full of confusion.” From the collapse of Job’s life and him sitting on a pile of ashes to the final chapter of Job’s deliverance there is doubt, despair and darkness of the soul. The agony of this “just” man is astonishing. Job pours out his heart in honesty and argues with himself as much as with God. How can he win a debate with an invisible, all powerful, all seeing and all-knowing God?  Throughout the painful day, he longs for the night; and through the sleepless nights, he longs for the day. His misery clings to his soul like a loathsome disease, his aching body torments him, he labors to breathe, feeling abandoned by God, there is none to help. Job’s experience is a kaleidoscope of confusion. His three “ministerial” friends only increase his misery. Eliphaz is the first to break the silence and carelessly breaks the bruised reed, crushing Job's heart (4:2).  Bildad implies Job is a hypocrite, wicked, and perverse, pouring reproaches like water on a smoking flax. To this unwelcomed judge, the rubble of Job’s once great estate is proof of Job’s transgression. Bildad’s words were salt to Job’s wounds. Zophar’s sermon was a case of ministerial malpractice and although theologically correct, it was the wrong medicine for the patient doing more harm than good (13:4).