Job 42:7-9
After the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer.
Tag: Prayer for your Foes
Job's friends started out with the best of intentions. They sought to comfort him.
Job 2:11
Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him.
Yet, their comfort turned quickly to judgment and chastisement. They soon saw Job defend and justify himself. God ultimately corrects Job and now it is their turn to be put back on task. God sees how we treat those who are hurting. He ultimately will correct how we "judge" them and "chastise" them, as though we are holy and they are wicked. Yet, the process here is that Job, too, must be in the place of forgiveness. God sends the three men to Job to offer sacrifice and to pray for them. Job could have been bitter at the way they treated him during his time of need. Yet, Job apparently has learned his lessons, too. God forgives these men through the prayer of Job. Jesus told a similar lesson about the man who was forgiven of a few debts and would not forgive those who owed him even minor debt:
Matthew 18:32-35
Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
God wants us to forgive, as He forgave. Job did that.
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