Day 8

Zophar’s First Speech and Job’s Reply

from the Job reading plan


Job 11:1-20, Job 12:1-25, Proverbs 4:18, 1 Peter 2:21-25

BY Guest Writer

Here’s a question: Can anything good come out of the mouths of Job’s friends? I don’t know about you, but I occasionally find myself thinking (dismissively), “Yes, but one of Job’s friends said that.” The subtext is that we can safely skim over what they said and then move on. The three friends, however, had some extraordinarily good theology; it just happens to have been misapplied.

The three “friends,” “comforters,” or whatever we label those well-meaning fellows, arrived from afar in order to weep, mourn, and sit silently with Job. Their intentions were noble—until they started to speak! After they sat silently with Job for a whole week, Job set them back on their heels with a deeply troubling lament. In response, the first two friends tried to cajole Job into confession and repentance, but he would have none of it. His response was to ask why God was so cruelly oppressing him, which had left him longing for the darkness of the grave.

What do we say in response to that kind of raw pain? When we find ourselves in such circumstances, we stumble about, trying to be “meaningful” in our comforting. Toward that same end, Zophar ventured in, declaring that God is utterly transcendent and all-powerful beyond the highest heaven and the depths of the grave. This is true, but a gnawing question remains: how can we really wrap our minds (and hearts) around this majestic, sovereign transcendence of God? And then how do we talk about it, especially when we are face to face with seemingly interminable agony? How can we assure suffering friends that our God is both exalted far above all earthly powers and, at the same time, relentlessly and intimately loving? What comfort lies in that combination?

Zophar’s next words head down the path we so often take. Having professed the mystery of God’s ways, Zophar proceeded to speak for God, promising an array of hopeful results—if Job would just confess his sins!

It is no wonder Job was unimpressed. At the same time, he picked up on the most important part of what Zophar said and fleshed out his own perspective on it. Job indeed knew that nothing in God’s universe was outside God’s control, but he had come to know the dark side of that—devastation of land, degradation of the rich and powerful, whole nations destroyed and dispersed. The upshot for Job was that God was responsible for his suffering in that He allowed it. This is bold honesty. And that is where we need to be, frightening as it might actually be to say (and hear) these things. But we must remember that in the end, God affirmed what Job had said (Job 42:7–8). May that be a profound encouragement to us as we wrestle with how to express the truth of suffering.

Elaine A. Phillips received a BA in social psychology from Cornell University, an MDiv from Biblical Theological Seminary, and an MA in Hebrew from the Institute of Holy Land Studies in Jerusalem, where she and her husband, Perry, studied and taught from 1976–79. She holds a PhD in rabbinic literature, and teaches Biblical Studies at Gordon College. She also serves as a historical geography field instructor for Jerusalem University College. She has published a commentary on Esther in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary; a devotional book, With God, Nothing Is Impossible; and, most recently, An Introduction to Reading Biblical Wisdom Texts.

Post Comments (68)

68 thoughts on "Zophar’s First Speech and Job’s Reply"

  1. Kelsey Hasse says:

    This has been really helpful in my understanding of Job. I am now seeing that he has been asking this sane honest questions about suffering as I have. Or more that I am asking the same as him. We lost our baby last June. And it has been the 2nd most difficult and painful things I have ever walked through ( 1st being the death of my unbelieving father at 16). In both cases I have had to wrestle, painfully? Through deep questions and Why. 12:16, “with him are strength and sound wisdom.” I have to remind myself that we get to see Gods whole story for Job and God knows my whole story. He will not leave me in my suffering. He has a bigger purpose. If I can never have biological children…is God still faithful?

  2. LeeAnn Reid says:

    God allows us suffering in that we will persevere and gain wisdom from suffering as we launch deeper into trusting him. There is purpose in pain and there is love in longing. God doesn’t bring us so far just to leave us there. He will deliver us from suffering on this side of eternity or another, and that’s a tough side of that truth. We may know the purpose of our suffering on this side of heaven, but we also may not know until we meet face to face with Jesus one day. Either way, God does not abandon us in our hurt.

  3. Caitlyn Stark says:

    “We stumble about, trying to be meaningful in our comforting” – How many times have I looked at the face of suffering, in light of the sovereignty of God, and totally misapplied the truth?! A good reminder to prayerfully take that step back.

  4. Amanda L says:

    I think that the hardest part for Job was knowing the God had control of absolutely everything. He has control of this suffering that Job was going through. This pains him because he knows that the Lord was causing him to go through this. It is important to know that the Lord will never leave us in the darkness. He will bring and storm to our life and then our world upside down but there will always be a rainbow at the end. The problem is that to get to that end goal, to the light at the end, our faith must be tested.

  5. Jocelyn Hammer says:

    I struggle with suffering in life being viewed as a form of blessing. I think God allows the brokenness of the world. However, I feel so much emotional pain in suffering, and I don’t want it to continue. I would rather not “grow”, as is often suggested. I think references to suffering being a blessing (in the NT) are in relation to suffering for being Christians. I have few answers just now, and many questions, but I’m feeling an affinity with Job.

  6. Beth Hinson says:

    I am comforted by the fact that I will never know the fullness of God while in my time on Earth, but that He encompasses all things. Situations, people, and words where it feels as though He can not possibly have a hand in, He sees it and allows it to His will. Thank you God for your soveirgnty and removing the pressure that we must earn your love, grace, and attention-because I know I would never be enough!

  7. Amanda MarieO'Malley says:

    I have a question, for those if you who bye the scripture cards, how do you use them?

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