Read Job 15:1-17:16.

Introduction⤒🔗

In this present passage Job’s friend, Eliphaz, exhorts him to take solace and comfort in the consolations of God. He asks Job, ”Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words that have been spoken gently to you?” (15:11)

In reply to Eliphaz, Job maintains that he can find no consolation—not from his brethren:

...all of you are miserable comforters!... ⁴I, too, could speak like you, if you were in my place. I could compose speeches against you and shake my head at you. ⁵[But] I would encourage you with my mouth; comfort from my lips would ease your pain. 16:1-5

Nor does Job think he can find consolation from God. Speaking with reference to God, Job declares,

In his anger he tears me apart and assails me. He gnashes at me with his teeth; my adversary glares at me with his eyes... ⁷God has turned me over to the vicious and has tossed me into the hands of the wicked. 16:9, 11

When a Christian is experiencing deep sorrow and anguish of soul, he seeks consolation. Where can he find it?

You Might Not Find Consolation from Your Brethren←⤒🔗

Eliphaz sarcastically charges Job with being a wise man that answers “with empty notions;” (i.e. meaningless thoughts and conceptions). Eliphaz is maintaining that Job, who has a reputation for being wise and claiming to possess godly wisdom, is, by his present discourses, displaying a total lack of knowledge; such is Eliphaz’s estimation of Job’s speeches. These friends who supply Job with superficial and pat answers to his dilemma are unable to plummet the depths of his problem, nor are they able to comprehend his responses as he seeks to grapple with his suffering and come to understand its purpose.

Eliphaz declares that Job, by his inquiries and discourses, is “undermining [godly] fear” and “hindering devotion” to God (15:4). As Job expresses his concern—and even his doubts—with regard to how God is dealing with him, Eliphaz fears that Job is promoting impiety: disrespect for God, even blasphemy against God. Eliphaz is unable to distinguish between a sincere seeking to understand God’s dealings with a suffering man and the defiant scoffing of the godless. He makes no allowance for the fact that such seeking sometimes borders close to blasphemy; note Job’s earlier plea, “To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown by his friend; or else he might forsake the fear of the Almighty” (6:14).

Indeed, Eliphaz charges Job with being impious and ungodly; addressing Job, he declares, “Your iniquity prompts your mouth” (15:5-6). Eliphaz is charging that Job’s speech is articulating the evil attitude and thoughts that originate in his heart. Here is the cruel irony that Job, who is introduced as a righteous man (1:1), in the time of his suffering as he seeks to understand the ways of God, should be accused of being impious and even a hypocrite.

Eliphaz next accuses Job of being arrogant and presumptuous (15:7-10). He sarcastically inquires as to whether Job is “the first man [ever] to be born” (15:7). He asks, Is Job older, and therefore, wiser, than the ancients? Indeed, was Job “brought forth before the hills?” Does Job pre-date the creation itself and is he on a par with the divine wisdom? In Proverbs 8:22-25 the divine wisdom (a pre-incarnate manifestation of Christ?) declares,

²²The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old. ²³I was appointed from eternity, from the beginning, before the world began. ²⁴When there were no oceans, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water, ²⁵before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was brought forth.

Eliphaz asks if Job has heard the secret counsel of God (15:8a); has Job been permitted access to the throne room of God in the heavenly places? Or again, does Job have a monopoly on wisdom? (15:8b) Eliphaz ignorantly assures Job that his companions know as much as Job does, (even though they have not entered into the depths of spiritual anguish that Job is experiencing); furthermore, the friends possess the wisdom of the ages, the wisdom of the aged (15:8b-10).

Eliphaz recommends that Job take comfort in “God’s consolations” (15:11). “God’s consolations” apparently is a reference to the counsel given by Job’s friends, who, as the community of believers, are representing God. Especially being referred to here may be the message from God that Eliphaz received in a vision of the night (see 4:12-16). The gist of these consolations is that God is faithful to reward the righteous, but He will inflict judgment upon the wicked; if Job repents, he will find mercy with God and be restored (11:13-19).

But rather than accept words that have been spoken gently to him, Job is accused of turning his spirit against God (15:12-13). Eliphaz asserts that it is foolish and impious for Job to maintain and defend his innocence, for no man is righteous before God; indeed, far from being righteous, man by nature is “vile and corrupt” (15:14-16). Eliphaz fails to distinguish between man as a sinner by nature who cannot measure up to God’s divine standard in the ultimate sense, and the godly man who sincerely and with moderate success leads a life of devotion to God, (i.e. a man who has believed into Christ and, therefore, is one in whom the righteousness of Christ is being reproduced)—note that God Himself defines Job as “my servant” (1:8).

Furthermore, as expounded in a previous study, Eliphaz, and the other friends, fail to take into consideration the anomalies of this present life, (i.e. those times when the wicked experience blessing and the righteous appear to be treated as though they were wicked); as well as failing to entertain a more comprehensive view of the role of suffering in God’s dealing with His people. For Job's friends, suffering is limited to either just punishment meted out to rebellious sinners, or severe chastisement administered to saints who have knowingly departed from the way of righteousness.

Eliphaz now declares that he will instruct Job. He exhorts Job to listen, because what he is about to offer him is the teaching of wise men handed down from their fathers (15:17-19). Their teaching, according to Eliphaz, is that it is the wicked man who suffers torment all his days (15:20) and who is plagued by terrifying sounds (15:21); he is without hope (15:22); he is the one who is reduced to poverty (15:23a); and it is he who lives in constant dread of the inevitable judgment of God (15:23b­24). This is the plight of the wicked because “he shakes his fist at God,” (a gesture of blasphemous defiance), and “conducts himself with arrogance against the Almighty” (15:25).

Against the wicked God launches a fierce and irresistible attack: “[God] charges headlong at him with his massive shield” (15:26). Although the wicked man may presently gorge himself in self-indulgence, “though his face is covered with fat and his waist bulges with flesh” (15:27), he will come to ruin before the righteous and all-powerful judgment of God: “he will reside in devastated cities and houses where no one lives—[houses] destined to become a pile of rubble” (15:28). With great solemnity, Eliphaz pronounces the fate that shall befall the wicked: “his wealth will not endure” (15:29)—he shall lose all his possessions and be reduced to poverty; “he will not escape the darkness” (15:30)—he shall be cast into the outer darkness of permanent separation from the blessed presence of God, consigned to experience the righteous curse of God forever.

Therefore, in the light of these things, Eliphaz counsels the wicked man, “Let him not trust in what is worthless, [only] deceiving himself; for he will get nothing in return” (15:31). It is worthless—vain, foolish—for the wicked man to assume that he can defy God and escape God’s judgment. Unless he repents, judgment shall come upon him: pre-maturely terminating his prosperity and even his life (15:32-33).

By indirectly speaking to the wicked, (“Let him not trust in what is worthless”), Eliphaz is subtly identifying Job as a wicked man and is implicitly offering his warning to Job. Also note that the situation Eliphaz has attributed to the wicked: endless days of suffering, 15:20a; hopelessness, 15:22a; sudden pre-mature demise, 15:27-28,32-33, is the very situation in which Job now finds himself. The implication is that Job is a wicked man who needs to repent.

Eliphaz closes by reiterating that what awaits the wicked is a righteous judgment. He describes such men as “godless,” men who “love bribes,” “conceive mischief,” and “give birth to iniquity” (15:34-35).

Job responds to Eliphaz’s speech by identifying his companions as “miserable comforters” who are of no value (16:1-3). It is ironic that here are comforters who inflict misery upon their suffering friend, rather than administering comfort. Job states that if their positions were exchanged, he would minister solace to his suffering friends and attempt to assuage their grief (16:4-5).

Like Job, there may be occasions when we find no consolation from our friends; rather than receiving compassion and sympathy, what we may encounter is misunderstanding, lack of comprehension, criticism, and even judgmental condemnation.

Conversely, when others come to us in agony of soul, let us remember the testimony of Job: “To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown by his friend; or else he might forsake the fear of the Almighty” (6:14), and the helpful example of his companions: before they sought to offer him counsel, they initially ministered to him by means of a silent, empathetic presence:

¹¹When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the calamity that had come upon him, they each came from their own home and, meeting together, they agreed to go to console and comfort him. ¹²When they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. They began to wail and to weep; each one tore his robe, and they tossed dust into the air and upon their heads. ¹³So they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, because they saw that his grief was very great. Job 2:11-13

You May Not Seem to Find Consolation from God←⤒🔗

Far from finding solace in the consolations of God, as Eliphaz counsels (15:11), Job declares of God, “he has worn me out” (16:7). Addressing God directly, Job says, “You have shriveled me up—this has become a witness [against me]. [Indeed], my gauntness rises up against me; it testifies to my face” (16:8). God is viewed as having sapped Job’s strength and his very life so that he is withering away. The evidence Job submits for this contention is his physical malady: “my gauntness rises up against me; it testifies to my face” (16:8b).

Speaking of God to anyone who would listen to his agonizing complaint, Job cries out, “In his anger he tears me [apart] and assails me. He gnashes at me with his teeth; my adversary glares at me with his eyes” (16:9). Job portrays God as a wild animal voraciously tearing its prey in repeated assaults:¹ “he gnashes upon me with his teeth.” Job identifies God as “my adversary.” In the midst of his inexplicable suffering, Job sees God assuming the role of Satan, making Himself the adversary of the righteous man—note Job 1:6 where the devil is identified as “Satan,” meaning, “the Adversary.”

Here is the anomaly that the righteous man, who should be enjoying God’s favor and fellowship, is being treated like the wicked, for God is the Adversary of the wicked: “The angel of the LORD said to [Balaam], ‘Listen; I have come as an adversary, because what you are doing is contrary to [my will]’” (Num. 22:32). As Job presently sees it, all the roles are mixed up: God has assumed to role of Satan, and/or, Job has been viewed by God as occupying the role of the godless.

God not only seems to be treating Job as though he were a wicked man, Job further charges that God has tossed him into the hands of the wicked (16:11). God has given His faithful servant over to wicked men who strike him and gather around him with the intention of doing him further harm and even taking his life (16:10). Note: Job may here be symbolically referring to his friends. Again, there is the anomaly: rather than rescuing His righteous servant from the hands of the wicked, Job senses that God has given him over into the hands of the wicked.

Job now contrasts his present condition with his former state: “All was well with me, but then he crushed me” (16:12a). He now resorts to graphic images in an effort to describe the way God is presently dealing with him:

• Like a strong and brutal man seizing his helpless victim, so God seizes Job by the back of the neck and shakes him to pieces (16:12b).
   
• Like a marksman, God has made Job to be His target and He relentlessly pierces Job’s vital organs with His arrows (16:12c-13).
   
• Like a mighty general, God musters His troops against Job in repeated assaults, hacking breach after breach in the walls of Job’s “fortress” until those walls collapse and Job is left defenseless, ready to be impaled on the enemy’s spear (16:14).

Job now goes on to describe the impact this divine assault has had upon him (16:15-17). He has been reduced to a state of mourning, (clothing himself in sackcloth), and humiliation: he has buried his brow in the dust (16:15). His face is red from weeping; here is bitter, inconsolable agony and grief. He is so overcome by his agony that he is close to the point of death: “dark shadows circle my eyes,” or, “on my eyelids is the shadow of death” (16:16). He is reduced to this state of overwhelming agony despite the fact that his hands are free from violence and his prayer is pure—i.e. his is not the prayer uttered by a hypocrite (16:17).

Far from finding consolation from God, at this point Job’s perspective may be summed up in the words of the Psalmist:

¹My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, so far from the words of my groaning? ²O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.Psl. 22:1-2

There may be times when the Christian may feel himself to be in the same state as Job: he may not seem to find consolation from God. In such times, where do you find consolation?

You Find Consolation in A Totally Unexpected Place←⤒🔗

Job cries out, “O earth, do not cover my blood!” (16:18). His cry is reminiscent of the LORD’s words to Cain concerning the shed blood of his brother, Abel: “The voice of your brother’s blood is crying out to me from the ground” (Gen. 4:10). Job is pleading that he would finally receive justice, that his cause would not go unheeded and eventually lie forgotten in the dust. But no sooner does Job make his plea to the earth, then he lifts up his eyes unto heaven.

Job proceeds to boldly and confidently assert, “[But] even now my witness is in heaven; my defender is on high” (16:19). “Even now,” even in his present predicament of intense agony of soul and even as he is on the very edge of despair, Job utters a confident declaration that there is One in heaven who will intercede for him and come to his defense.

Job has become aware that he can find no solace from his friends: “my friends scoff at me” (16:20a), so he looks to God: “my eyes pour out tears unto God” (16:20b). Job’s hope is that he might plead with God as a man does with his neighbor (16:21); Job’s confidence is that God will be faithful to uphold justice.

Despite the fact that he feels God has set Himself against him as his enemy (16:6-17), Job still is compelled to look to God for his salvation (for his justification), the only source of his deliverance: “But even now my witness is in heaven; my defender is on high” (16:19). Once again, deeper than the confusion and doubt that presently plague his mind, at the very core of his being there remains an unshakeable confidence in God—the evidence of true saving faith, the work of the Holy Spirit.

Job is anxious that divine intervention and deliverance come quickly, because the days of his frail, afflicted life are swiftly ebbing away (16:22-17:2). Job is very much aware that “A few more years will pass, then I will go the way [from which] there is no return;” he will succumb to death and the grave (16:22). Even now his spirit is broken as he becomes acutely aware that the grave awaits him (17:1). Meanwhile, as he continues to yet dwell on the earth, he is surrounded only by mockers (17:2). His only hope of solace and deliverance is with his divine Intercessor.

Given his desperate situation, Job urgently pleads with the LORD, “Lay down a pledge, be my surety with yourself, [O God]!” (17:3a) Job is pleading that the LORD will be his Redeemer: the one who pledges to be a surety for his friend pledges to assume and pay whatever debt his friend has incurred; he pledges himself to come to his friend’s rescue. Job is calling upon the LORD to come to his rescue by vindicating Job’s integrity as God’s faithful servant. This is the same plea as that expressed by the Psalmist in Psalm 119:121-122, “I have done what is righteous and just; do not leave me to my oppressors. ¹²Ensure your servant’s well-being; let not the arrogant oppress me.”

Job calls upon the LORD to be his surety because he has no one else to whom he can turn: “Who else will pledge himself to be my surety?” (17:3b) Who else is willing or able to pledge themselves to be Job’s surety? Indeed, God Himself has deprived Job’s companions of understanding (17:4a); consequently, they refuse to “be surety” for Job, they refuse to vouch for him. Job is apparently alluding to the fact that his friends have renounced him in his time of need, refusing to accept his testimony concerning his innocence. As a result, his friends are culpable of not only betraying a friend in time of need, but also guilty of slanderously identifying him as a reprobate, they have caused Job to become a proverb among the people (17:6); consequently, they stand in danger of severe judgment (17:5).

Note: We must also bear in mind Job’s charge that his friends have intentionally shown partiality in favor of God when considering Job’s case, and have thus deviated from God’s absolute standard of justice, His demand that the evidence be evaluated in a just and honest way (see the commentary on 13:1-12, found in Study 5A).

Verse five of chapter seventeen appears to be a proverb, which may be translated, “He who gives his friends for a spoil, his children’s eyesight will fail.” The statement, “his children’s eyesight will fail,” indicates the severity of the crime as seen in the punishment it incurs. Also, in accordance with Exodus 20:5b, there is the principle that not only will the guilty party himself be condemned, but his sin, perpetuated in the conduct of his children, will also bring just condemnation upon them.

Having lifted his voice in confident expectation to God, Job now appears to once again be in danger of succumbing to the waves of despair that rage against him. Job 17:6-9 may possibly be viewed as Job’s effort to supply further reason for the LORD to swiftly come to his rescue as his divine Surety.

Job has called upon the LORD to swiftly come to his rescue as his surety, but instead of immediately answering his prayer, the LORD has made Job to be a proverb for the people (17:6). Job has become a proverb: Look at what happens to the man who sins against God; indeed, the man who hypocritically appears to be righteous! God has brought upon him the most severe judgments he so justly deserves!

This present ordeal, (suffering affliction of body and soul coupled with unjustified humiliation and slander), has taken its toll on Job: “my whole frame is but a shadow” (17:7), i.e. his body is wasting away. Job maintains, “Upright men will be appalled by this; the innocent will rouse themselves against the ungodly!” (17:8) When righteous men witness the incredibly unjust treatment Job is receiving at the hands of men who are far less righteous than he, they will become indignant and be roused to take action against the offenders. His mention of upright men leads Job to once again affirm his own commitment to righteousness: “the righteous man will hold to his ways” (17:9a), and his conviction that he shall finally be vindicated: “he who has clean hands will grow stronger and stronger” (17:9b).

In the light of these things, Job issues to his companions a call for their repentance, “All of you, turn, come back,” or, “All of you, change, turn” (17:10a). Yet Job doubts that his companions will truly understand the situation and heed his call, for he confesses, “still I will not find a wise man among you” (17:10b).

Job closes his present speech by contemplating the question, “Where is my hope?” (17:11-16) Job laments, “My days have passed, my plans are shattered, [and so are] the desires of my heart” (17:11). His hope of being reconciled to his friends and gaining their support is shattered. This is the case because his friends lack spiritual understanding (17:4a); indeed, they turn things upside down: “[these men] turn night into day” (17:12). Thus, Job expresses the lament that he has no hope of finding solace and consolation from his friends. Note: At this point Job is unaware that God will actually bring about a true reconciliation with his friends, which we witness taking place at the end of the book:

¹⁰After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD released him from his captivity; then the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. ¹¹All his brothers and sisters and his former companions came and ate with him at his house. They sympathized with him and consoled him concerning all the calamity the LORD had brought upon him, and each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. Job 42:10-11

Next Job considers the dreadful prospect, “Will his hope be extinguished by his departure into Sheol?” (17:13-16) If Sheol is to be Job’s future home (17:13), if the grave, or corruption, is to be his father, (i.e. if he has a natural relationship with corruption—the dissolution of the body—so that it becomes his personal and ultimate fate, 17:14), if this is his destiny, then what will become of his hope? (17:15) Will Job’s hope accompany him down to the chambers of Sheol? (17:16a) No; his hope cannot join him in the place of the dead—there is no place for hope there. So then, “Will it descend with me into the dust?” (17:16b) Yes; if the grave is Job’s ultimate prospect, then both he and his hope are doomed—they shall perish together. Note: At this point in his trial, Job is once again overwhelmed by the prospect of his departure into Sheol and is unable to look to the day of resurrection.

Yet, even in his moments of deepest despair, Job recognizes that his only hope for solace and deliverance is to be found with God; more specifically, with his divine Intercessor: “[But] even now my witness is in heaven; my defender is on high” (16:19).

So it is that Job testifies, “even now my witness is in heaven; my defender is on high” (16:19). Job understood that his only hope for solace and deliverance was to be found in the person of that divine Redeemer, who, later in the course of redemptive history would be defined in these terms:

³He was despised and rejected by men; [he was] a man of sorrows and acquainted with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we did not hold him in esteem. ⁴Surely, he has borne our afflictions and carried our sorrows, but we regarded him as one who was stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted [as an evildoer]. Isa. 53:3-4

Ironically, at this very time when Job finds himself alienated from his friends—and even views himself as being inexplicably alienated from God—as he desperately clings to the vague knowledge that he has a Redeemer “in heaven” (while he is on earth), at this very time Job is more intimately connected to that Redeemer than he could possibly realize.

Unbeknown to Job, in his present trial he is experiencing one aspect of participating in “the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings” (Phil. 3:10). For Job it is certainly not a meritorious suffering, it is rather an observational suffering: observing by experience the price Christ paid for our redemption.

When you, as a Christian, find yourself identifying with Job, where do you find your consolation?

You find your consolation in this awesome (may we even say, awful?) spiritual truth: ”it has been graciously granted to you, for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.” (Phil. 1:29)

In your sense of alienation from man, and especially from God, you are more intimately bound to Christ than you can possibly realize. This fellowship with Christ in His sufferings, coupled with your continued, (indeed, irresistible), allegiance to Christ, despite your suffering, these two things combined form the source of your consolation, because it is the testimony that you, indeed, belong to Christ. (Note: Despite the fact that he feels God has set Himself against him as his enemy (16:6-17), Job cannot let go of God, Job is still compelled to look to God as his only hope, the only source of his deliverance [16:19].)

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. Apparently referring to the counsel he and the other friends have given Job as members of the covenant community, what does Eliphaz ask Job? See Job 15:11 What is Eliphaz implying by his question? Has their counsel been true to God’s word (cf. 13:4, 7-8a), has it been spoken with compassion (cf. 16:1, 2b, 4-5)? What instruction does Scripture give us when we are called upon to minister to a fellow Christian in need? See Eph. 4:15,

Are God’s consolations not enough for you, words that have been spoken gently to you? Job 15 :11

You, however, whitewash my case with lies; you are worthless physicians... ⁷Will you speak unjustly on God’s behalf? Will you speak deceitfully for him? ^8aWill you show partiality toward him? Job 13:7-8a

Then Job answered, ²I have heard many such things; all of you are miserable comforters! ... ⁴I, too, could speak like you, if you were in my place. I could compose speeches against you and shake my head at you. ⁵[But] I would encourage you with my mouth; comfort from my lips would easeyour pain. Job 16:1-2, 4-5

...speaking [literally, practicing] the truth in love, with regard to all things let us grow up in him, the one who is the head, [that is], Christ.Eph. 4:15

2. What has been the gist of the counsel the friends have been offering Job? Note Job 4:6-7 For a sincere Christian with a sensitive conscience, how can the counsel that he should place his confidence in his innocence before God give consolation? Note Job 9:1 What alone is the Christian’s confidence before God? See 1 Pet. 3:18,

⁶Should not your fear [of God] be your confidence? Is not the integrity of your ways your hope? ⁷Consider this: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? Job 4:6-7

¹Then Job replied, ²...But how can a man be righteous before God? Job 9:1

Christ indeed died for sins once for all, the Righteous One for the unrighteous ones, so that he might bring us to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive [again] by the Spirit. 1 Pet. 3:18

3. Eliphaz assumes that Job would find consolation from the counsel he has received from his friends, but how does Job respond? See Job 16:1-3 How does their present interaction with Job, (note, again, 16:3), compare with the friends’ initial response to Job’s plight? See Job 2:13 Bearing all this in mind, (along with Proverbs 14:10), besides prayer, what is oftentimes the most effective and loving ministry we can render to a fellow Christian experiencing deep spiritual trials?

Then Job answered, ²I have heard many such things; all of you are miserable comforters! ³Is there no end to your words of wind? What irritates you that you keep on answering? Job 16:1­-3

...they sat with him on the ground for seven days and seven nights. No one spoke a word to him, because they saw that his grief was very great. Job 2:13

The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not share its joy. Prov. 14:10

4. What charge does Eliphaz bring against Job in Job 15:4? What has led him to bring such a charge against his friend? In his moment of weakness, what charge has Job brought against God? Note Job 9:22-23 What kind of man is Eliphaz describing in Job 15:20 and 25; is he placing Job in this category? What distinction has Eliphaz failed to discern? Note Job 21:14-16 As Christians, are we sensitive to appreciate the distinction between a fellow believer who is expressing the questions with which he is grappling and the defiant scoffing of a godless man? What caution does Job give us with regard to a perplexed believer? See Job 6:14,

Indeed, you are undermining [godly] fear and are hindering devotion to God...Job 15:4

²²It is all the same; that is why I say, He destroys both the blameless and the wicked. ²³When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the calamity of the innocent. Job 9:22-23

²⁰All his days the wicked man suffers torment, [such is the plight] throughout all the years reserved for the tyrant... ²⁵[This is his fate] because he shakes his fist at God, and conducts himself with arrogance against the Almighty. Job 15:20, 25

Job testifies:

[The wicked] say to God, 'Get away from us! We have no desire to know your ways. ¹⁵Who is the Almighty, that we should serve him? What will we gain by praying to him?' ¹⁶But, [the fact is,] their prosperity is not in their own hands. I stand far away from the thinking of the wicked!Job 21:14-16

To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown by his friend; or else he might forsake the fear of the Almighty. Job 6:14

5. Job has been expressing the questions with which his anomalous situation has caused him to grapple, and for doing so he has been accused of undermining piety and acting like a scoffer. May we as Christians express the perplexing questions that trouble our hearts? Note Hab. 1:2-3a, 13 In what word spoken by our Lord must we place our confidence? See Jn. 13:7 What assurance has the LORD given with regard to His commitment to justice and righteousness? See Acts 17:31

²O LORD, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear? Even cry out to you, 'Violence!' And you will not save. ³Why do you show me iniquity, and cause [me] to see trouble? ...¹³You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness. Why do you look on those who deal treacherously, [and] hold your tongue when the wicked devours [one] more righteous than he? Hab. 1:2-3, 13

Jesus replied, 'You do not now understand what I am doing; but later you will understand.' Jn. 13:7

...[God] has appointed a day on which he will judge the world with righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all men by raising him from the dead. Acts 17:31