Worthless Physicians, Miserable Comforters

One might conclude that since Job’s friends Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were phonies, we need not bother reading what they said to Job, especially since Yahweh Himself declared that they had not spoken what was right. Some wonder why their speeches are even included in the Bible, since all Scripture is said to be inspired (2 Tim. 3:16).

To their credit, these three friends had set out with noble motives, to sympathize with and to comfort Job (Job 2:11), exactly as Job’s relatives did after his restoration (Job 42:11). They performed all the rituals of sympathy and grief, tearing their robes, sprinkling dust on their heads, and sitting on the ground mourning with him for a week (Job 2:12, 13). They also did attempt to console him. Eliphaz assured Job that God would rescue him from calamities (Job 5:18-24), multiply his descendants (verse 25), and restore his health fully and permanently (verse 26). In his final speech Eliphaz described a Job returned to full favor with God (Job 22:27-30). Bildad suggested that Job’s latter life would be even more prosperous than his early life (Job 8:6, 7). Zophar assured Job that his position in society would be restored (Job 11:19). But all these efforts were in vain.

The three friends went beyond their stated purpose of sympathizing and consoling, and started speaking for God. And here is where they went wrong. God condemned them for not speaking about Him what was right (Job 42:7). We who also attempt to lecture others about God may learn some lessons from their example by examining what they said about God and how they said it. But first a word about these speakers.

Eliphaz was the leader of the three. His authority came with his age. In a culture in which elders commanded respect (see Job 32:4, 6, 7), he spoke first and longest. Probably old enough to be Job’s father, he claimed: “The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men even older than your father” (Job 15:10).[*] Eliphaz spoke in plural, as though he represented the others: “We have examined this, and it is true” (Job 5:27). When God spoke to the friends in the epilogue, He addressed Eliphaz, saying, “I am angry with you and your two friends” (Job 42:7).

Bildad was likely the closest in age to Job. Their exchanges in the heart of the dialogue were the most caustic (Job 18; 19:2-6, 29). His speech in the third cycle was only six verses long (Job 25), however, and was a rehash of what had been said earlier, giving the impression that he was running out of arguments.

Zophar, like the name Zipporah, refers to a twittering bird (the root from which we get “sparrow”). His tweets lacked the profundity of his companions. Zophar was probably to be considered, if not the youngest, then the least important, because he spoke last and least. He altogether forfeited his turn to speak in the third round, suggesting that his resources had run dry.

What They Said

Unaware of the role of Satan, Job and his friends debated the question of God’s justice (theodicy) and moral order in the universe. The three friends stoutly defended God’s supreme control of the universe and His sense of justice. Eliphaz introduced the doctrine of retributive justice at the onset. The innocent and upright are spared and the wicked are punished, he claimed (Job 4:6-11). God elevates the humble, but brings down the proud (Job 5:11-13). Eliphaz recognized that the righteous also suffer, but attributed it to correction and discipline from God, ostensibly for some minor infraction (verses 17-19).

Bildad represented the far right. He found it preposterous that anyone would question the justice of God. Unashamedly judgmental, he asserted that Job’s children were killed as penalty for their sins (Job 8:4). He assured Job that God would restore his fortunes if he proved pure and upright (verses 5-7). His second speech was devoted to God’s punishment of the wicked (Job 18:5-21), and the third speech focused on the idea that humans cannot be more pure than God (Job 25:4)

Zophar elaborated on the height, depth, length, and width of God’s vastness (Job 11:7-9) in his first speech, and in his next he detailed the terrible retribution God inflicts on the wicked, making them spit out all the riches they had swallowed (Job 20:15).

Job had testified about God from personal experience. He had a personal relationship with God.

How They Said It: Their Argumentation Styles

Eliphaz used clever techniques calculated to clinch his arguments. He began with flattery and followed it up with criticism (Job 4:3-5). It is difficult to reject criticism after accepting the compliment. Eliphaz followed with a rhetorical question (verses 6, 7). Rhetorical questions are not normally disputed. While the answer to the question “Should not your piety be your confidence?” is questionable, all characters in this debate, including Job, subscribed to the theory of retribution, and so it goes unchallenged, as expected. Then Eliphaz quoted a proverb: “Those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it” (verse 8). Proverbs represent accepted wisdom and are not disputed. Eliphaz also claimed to have had a vision (verses 12-17). Any message that comes through “divine revelation” would seem irrefutable. Eliphaz continued with an affirmation prefaced with “I myself have seen” (Job 5:3). Affirmations announce undebatable points. One cannot dispute what another has seen and experienced.

In his second speech Eliphaz attacked Job rather than his arguments, questioning his piety (Job 15:4-9). He then resorted to argument from statistics, though he had no proof that all the old and wise men were on his side. Taking advantage of his age, he assumed the role of teacher, saying, “Listen to me and I will explain to you” (verse 17). Embedded in his lecture was a caricature of a pudgy-faced obese man brandishing a shield and shaking his fist at God (verses 25-27). By cartooning, Eliphaz hoped to force Job to abandon his position as silly.

Bildad waited for his turns impatiently. His first two speeches opened with “How long?” In the first speech he went on to describe Job’s words as a blustering wind, a lot of hot air (Job 8:2). In the second he followed up the “How long” by asking Job to be sensible (Job 18:2). Bildad put down his opponent in an attempt to make him cut short his speeches. With limited wisdom of his own, Bildad appealed to the “faith of our fathers,” i.e., tradition (Job 8:8-10). He too employed a rhetorical question (verse 11) and a caricature, that of a foolish man leaning on a spider’s web for support (verses 14, 15), to describe Job’s folly. Bildad recited a poem on a well-watered plant that is uprooted and withers (verses 16-19), which by analogy drew attention to Job’s withered body, something Job could not dispute (verses 20-22).

In his second speech Bildad argued from extremes—abandoning the earth, moving rocks. Bildad hoped to persuade his opponent to give up his appeal as preposterous (Job 18:4). The rest of his speech (verses 5-21) was one long threat calculated to terrorize his opponent. He painted frightening pictures of a wicked person caught in a variety of traps, experiencing a series of calamities and disasters. Bildad’s victim, after suffering being eaten alive by disease, is “marched off to the king of terrors” (verse 14). He struck hardest at what was important to an Easterner facing death—Job had no offspring to carry on his name (verse 19).

Bildad’s third speech was just six verses long, very short for one who earlier could hardly wait for his turn to speak. He recited a poem that is a rehash of Eliphaz’s first two speeches (Job 4:12-17; 15:14). Clearly running out of arguments. Bildad ended with an unhappy picture of man as a maggot and worm before God (Job 25:6).

Zophar opened with a rebuke, labeling Job not only as a “talker,” but as an idle one (Job 11:2, 3). Not having paid adequate attention, he misquoted Job. While Job claimed to be blameless, and pleaded not guilty (Job 10:7, 15), he never said he was absolutely pure, as Zophar claimed (Job 11:4).

Zophar devoted much of his speech to the fate of the wicked, just as Bildad ended his second speech. In fact, Zophar borrowed a number of images from Bildad’s speech (Job 20:26-29; cf. Job 18:15-21). Zophar should have spoken for the third time after Job’s response to Bildad (Job 26; 27), but he forfeited his turn in the third round likely because he had run out of arguments. And so Job continued his speech, possibly after seeing Zophar making no effort to speak (Job 27:1). With that, the debate ended on an unfinished note.

What They Did Not Say

Job’s friends had not spoken the truth about God, as Job had (Job 42:7). Job had acknowledged some similar things about God as the friends had asserted, that He was all-powerful (Job 9:4-13) and that His justice could not be challenged (verses 19, 20). In his frustration Job vented his feelings rather freely (Job 10:1; 13:14), but most important, Job had testified about God from personal experience. He had a personal relationship with God. He reminded God that He had carefully shaped and molded him (Job 10:8-12). He insisted that although God might slay him, he would maintain his trust in Him (Job 13:15). He looked forward to his renewal, saying, “You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made” (Job 14:14, 15). Job knew his Witness in heaven was his Advocate and Intercessor (Job 16:19, 20), and expressed his conviction that he would rise to see his Redeemer with his very own eyes, and his heart yearned for Him (Job 19:25-27).

Job’s friends had spoken about God. They had talked about His greatness. They had elaborated on His activities in the natural world and in the moral world. They had supported their wisdom theory with proverbs and poems. They had spoken on behalf of God, attempting to defend His sense of justice. They had detailed the way God blessed the righteous and punished the wicked. They had even appealed to Job to plead with God, who would restore a penitent person.

But not once did any of the three share a personal encounter they had had with God. It appears that the three lacked a relationship with Him. They attempted to convert Job without realizing God was not on their side. They had probably listened smugly as Yahweh embarrassed Job with a series of rhetorical questions about His power and justice (Job 38-41), and as Job humbly conceded his error (Job 40:4, 5; 42:3-6). They might well have expected God to turn to them and congratulate them. When we fail to experience results, we would do well to examine our personal relationship with God, and share with others not just the God we know about, but one whom we have experienced.

[*] Bible texts are from the Holy Bible, New International Version. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.