Page 50 - Job

Reading JOB to Know God

Chapter 5 Introduction of Job’s Friends

Job chapter 2 beginning at verse 11,
“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had
come upon him, they came each one from his own place, Eliphaz the
Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they
made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and
comfort him. When they lifted up their eyes at a distance and did not
recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them
tore his robe and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.
Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven
nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain
was very great.”
As we get into this section, Chapters 3-31, man’s futile attempts to
explain the problems of life, I am going to be brutal on Eliphaz, Bildad
and Zophar. I think they deserve to be criticized, and I am going to hit
them with both barrels. I was interested to read a little book by G.
Campbell Morgan entitled, “The Answers of Jesus to Job,” and in that
book (and he is the only commentator I ever read that did this) he gives
three reasons why he likes Job’s friends, and they are worth mentioning.

He said, I like these three men because they cared enough to come and
see an afflicted friend. According to the record, all of his other
acquaintances, even his family, even his wife, forsook him. Proverbs
17:17 says, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for
adversity.” You do not have to go too deeply into life, especially the
Christian life, to realize that adversity is an acid test of friendship. When
you are in trouble, then you see who your real friends are. Even in the
world they have that proverb. You can tell who your friends are when
you’re down and out. There is some truth to that. Real friendship, and I
am talking about Bible friendship, is a mighty miracle of God, and it is
based on love, which is the fruit of the Spirit. That is why I like to relate it
to Song chapter 8:6 and 7,

“For love is as strong as death, many waters cannot quench love,
Nor will rivers overflow it.”

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