Bring Comfort Not Condemnation - Job 22

 Job 22:1 (ESV)

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

We don’t know too much about Job’s three friends:  Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite.  They were all introduced in Job 2:11-13 (more about that in a moment).   There will eventually be a fourth friend who is on the scene.  He apparently was sitting in the background unbeknownst to the reader (and perhaps Job and the other three).  His name was Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram.   

The first three men listed showed up right at the beginning  of Job’s dilemma.   Here is what the early passage states:

Job 2:11-13 (ESV)

Job's Three Friends

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. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

As we can see, these three coordinated their efforts to come to Job’s aide and to bring him “sympathy and comfort.”   This goal of theirs was quite admirable.   Seeing them walk up from even a distance must have given Job such joy and hope.  He had three (maybe four) friends coming to see him.  When they arrive and see his actual condition (remember, they had no phones back then that would give them instant photos of Job).  It states that from a distance they could not recognize Job.   As they approached and beheld more of his visage, they were so overcome with grief that they tore their clothes, sprinkled themselves with dust and closed their mouths.  Job was in bad shape.  

Eliphaz is, above, about to give his third and final speech.  Each of the first three friends have, thus far, given two speeches to Job.   Bildad will give one more, as well.  Zophar (must have been the introvert in the group) only gives two speeches to Job.   Eliphaz’s name means, “My God is fine gold.”   He is about to once again prove to Job that all this suffering is a result of his sin and that Job should quit claiming his innocence. He has done this before in the previous two speeches (Job 4:7-9, 17-19; 15:14-16).  He is like a dog with a bone.   Even though God Himself at the beginning of the book has declared Job innocent (Job 1:1,8 and 2:3).  Eliphaz is a great representation of the God-fearing believer who has their doctrine right but that application all wrong.   He is about to start correcting Job and “setting him straight” on Job’s own theology.   It is not that some of Eliphaz’s words are wrong.  He simply forgot his mission: To synthesize and comfort a man stricken by great ills.   Why is it that people must be right in their arguments when addressing the ills of others.   There will always be a time to correct bad behavior, but in this last speech Eliphaz actually has to make things up that Job is supposedly  doing that God says Job didn’t do. If he did do the things Eliphaz is about to accuse him of in this third speech God would never have said (twice) Job is blameless.   A key take-a-way from these three friends is to stop accusing and first comfort.   In most cased Jesus actually dealt with the “what” (what is wrong with the sick person) and then the “why” (why are they like this).   Jesus met need first and theology second.  Let’s be less condemning in our words to others and more comforting.   Let’s not point out their supposed wrong doing until we find some way to give them some creature comforts.   Elihu, the fourth friend, will rebuke Job’s three friends.  God will rebuke Job’s three friends.   Why?  They failed at their designed mission to bring comfort.