Fear No Fear

(All scripture from Lexham English Bible, Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software)

Chapter twelve is Job’s refusal to give in to what his friends are saying. He mocks their claimed ‘wisdom’ because they were rejecting his claim that he was innocent. Job points out they are making his suffering worse by their refusal to believe him.

Chapter thirteen shows Job telling his friends they hadn’t said anything he didn’t already know. He agrees that God punishes sin. But Job does NOT believe that is what is happening in HIS circumstance. He points out they are talking down to him as if they knew more than he did – something he rejects. He says that they are not properly representing God and it would be better if they just shut up. But Job clearly doesn’t understand that God’s blessing to us are NOT in proportion to our performance. Job thought he deserved better. Job is unjustly disappointed with God.

Chapter fourteen continues Job’s exposition. He talks of the generic woes of humanity. He knows humanity is nothing compared to God and that they are all unclean compared to God. So Job asks since his life is short and insignificant, why couldn’t God just leave him alone and let him die in peace? He even claims God treated trees better than He was treating Job. Job admits he – like everyone – has sin, but he bemoans that all the sacrifices and his choices to live godly don’t seem to matter and God is set against humanity (Not true. God is against SIN, not humanity. That’s why Jesus came – John 3:16-18). Job complains about how bad life was.

Chapter fifteen is Eliphaz cutting Job off so he can get some words in. Basically, his stance is that Job is speaking without wisdom (true). That everything Job said was useless (not entirely true). That in fact, Job’s words revealed how evil he was – when in truth they reflected how much Job was hurting. Job spoke from a hurting heart, not an evil one. They were emotional words. Eliphaz mocked Job and insulted by Job’s claims about himself and the other two good friends. He was correct that Job’s heart was running his mouth and not his head. He was correct that Job was getting bitter toward God and it was not a right attitude to have. But again, Eliphaz is convinced that everything stemmed from Job’s secret sin – which was false.

Chapter sixteen in Job’s rebuttal to Eliphaz. Job wondered aloud whether the long-winded speeches of his friends would ever end (that’s the pot calling the kettle black!). Job bemoans that God has worn him out AND given him bad company that was growing his pains and sorrow, not helping him. Job even claimed God hated him and that God saw Job as an enemy (NOT true). His claim was that he was minding his own business and God attacked him and left him for dead and then gave him friends who slapped him (with their words) and made everything worse. He declared that God was a witness he was innocent and cried about his friends not being on his side. Job was going with what he FELT and not what was TRUTH – especially in regards to the Lord.

Summary

Key Players: God, Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zophar, Elihu.

Key Verse(s): Job 12:1-6; 13:1-5; 14:7-12; 15:1-6; 16:15-22