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The Harvester Podcast is brought to you by the Florida School of Preaching. Listen weekly to take a dive into biblical topics and thoughtful studies on things that matter to our eternal souls.
Welcome to the Harvester Podcast.
We are happy you have joined us for this
time as we continue our study
in the book of Job.
This is a bumper-sowed number four.
And if you're not familiar with our
language,
bumper-sowed or episodes between seasons.
And we finished out our season not too
long ago,
and we're gonna pick up the next one as
soon as things settle down and
all three of us can be together again and
record.
But in the meantime, we have some good
content for you from God's Word,
and we've been studying some just some
general lessons ~ from the book of Job.
he's a very interesting and intriguing ~
character of the Bible.
And ~ he gives us some great lessons.
many times we're only familiar with the
first two chapters where
he loses everything, including his health.
And then the last chapter where he is
restored,
~ much of everything he lost doubled
except for his children.
He gets the same amount. But yet there's
so much that goes on between chapters
three
and ~ chapter forty-one.
That we wanted to get some lessons from
that.
And of course, we've looked at some some
things about Satan in Bumper Episode
Number
One on Job. We've looked at ~ Job's
suffering compared with our suffering
in Bumper episode two on the book of Job.
And in episode three, bumper episode three
on the book of Job,
we considered retribution theology and why
it is wrong.
Now, retribution theology is a fancy term.
for this idea that whatever suffering we
incur in this life,
it's because of sin that we have committed
and God is punishing us.
And so if we suffer a little, like we stub
our toe or something to that effect,
then we are being punished for a little
sin.
But if we're suffering like Job,
then we must have done something very,
very serious for God to punish us like
this.
Of course this view is wrong, just
Considering Jesus Christ tells you this
view is wrong,
he suffered immensely for our sins,
but yet he did no sin Hebrews four
fifteen,
although tempted at all points like we
are,
yet he was without sin. And so that
theology,
retribution theology is true even today,
and it will come in to play with our
lesson today,
our episode today on Job's friends,
because you see a
Job and his friends, three friends that he
meant that are mentioned in
the book that we'll look at in just a
moment,
they all believed in this retribution
theology.
Now Job knew he didn't sin to the extent
of deserving the punishment
he was enduring. So he was questioning
God.
Why are you allowing this to happen to me?
The three friends, on the other hand,
they were so certain because of this
theology that Job had to sin.
That they try to gently at first,
and then they downright accuse him of sin,
but they try to gently persuade Job to
just quit trying to hide it,
repent, God will restore you, you'll get
out of this suffering,
and you'll be fine from there.
But again, they tried to justify Job at,
or they tried to justify God at Job's
expense,
and Job was trying to justify himself at
God's expense.
And so we'll see this as we go through
today.
But Job's Friends, ~ and I've entitled
this lesson,
Job's Friends, Right and Wrong.
Much of this material comes from a source
I used long time ago,
and it was an anthology. It was a group of
writings about about Job edited by Roy B.
Zuck, and the name of that book was
Sitting with Job.
But some of these thoughts come from that.
But yet when we think about the friends of
Job,
they did get some things right in the
beginning.
And we're going to look at this here in
Job chapter 2,
Job chapter 2, verses 11 through 13,
verses 11 through 13. Now, of course,
in Job chapters 1 and 2, Job loses,
number one, all his possessions,
well, not I'm not going to say every
single thing,
but most all of his possessions,
he loses those in chapter 1. And of
course,
Satan, and we talked about this in this
bumper so one,
that Satan had to ask permission from God.
Satan accuses.
Job of only serving God because of what
God has blessed him with.
And if God were to take that those
blessings away,
Job would curse him to his face.
And so in chapter one, God says,
Okay, Job, take all that he has.
Now again, God is in control. Satan
always,
always has to ask permission or get
permission from God to do anything.
All right, and so Job comes out of that
trial,
chapter one, verse twenty one,
unscathed, naked came I from my mother's
womb.
Naked shall I return shall I return,
the Lord gives, the Lord takes away,
blessed be the name of God. And so Satan
again approaches God in chapter two,
one through six, and accuses again Job of
serving God because you've given
him good health. But if you take away his
health,
he will curse you to your face.
And so God again says, Well, go ahead and
take his health,
just don't take his life. He does that,
and Job still continues. Well,
as his health was gone,
In fact, let me just read this in verse ~
three Well
I guess verse three I meant to say chapter
three but actually we'll
go back to chapter two and so after he
loses all these things well
of course his wife in chapter two verse
nine then his wife said to him,
Do you still hold fast your integrity?
Curse God and die Then but he said to her,
You speak as one of the foolish women
speak
Shall we indeed accept good from God,
and shall we not accept adversity?
And all this Job did not sin with his
lips,
and so he lost his possessions,
he lost his health, and he still does not
curse God as Satan said he would.
Now we pick up in verse eleven,
chapter two, verse eleven.
Now when Job's three friends heard of all
his adversity that he had come upon him,
each one came from his own place Eliphaz
the Timanite,
Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the
Naamathite,
for they had made an appointment together
to come and mourn with
him and to comfort him. And when they
raised their eyes from afar they
did not recognize him, they lifted their
voices and wept.
And each one tore his robe and sprinkled
on his head toward heaven.
So they sat down with him on the ground
seven days and seven nights,
and no one spoke a word to him,
for they saw that his grief was very
great.
And so these three friends come to him,
and this is what they did right.
They did right. Notice the arrival of
Job's friends upon hearing the news.
About Job, they traveled at great risk and
expense to mourn with and to comfort Job.
Now, as we know from especially from the
parable of the Good Samaritan,
and it was typical of, you know,
those parables were true everyday scenes,
everyday things, that familiar things that
people knew about.
And we know from the Good Samaritan that
travel was often perilous,
especially at night, and even not at
night.
In fact, this is why
fact was just reading in Luke chapter
twenty-four about the two disciples
on the Emmaus Road. Remember when evening
was come,
and that means late afternoon,
they were wanting Jesus to stay with them,
because that was just hospitality in those
days,
because it was not safe to travel.
Well, among other things, it was not safe
to travel.
All right, but upon hearing this,
notice the three friends came.
Now a friend is
Of course, is an intimate counselor.
Now we do have the word counselor quite a
bit,
for example, in First Chronicles
twenty-seven thirty-three.
But also we have in Deuteronomy thirteen
six,
a friend is defined as someone who is as
your own soul,
is as your own soul. Deuteronomy thirteen
six,
and this is about false prophets,
but Moses says, If your brother,
the son of your mother, your son or your
daughter,
the wife of your bosom, or your friend.
Who is as your own soul secretly entices
you,
and he goes on to talk about if he if he
has you to go serve other gods,
then you know he's not right, put him to
death,
okay? But that idea of the friend who is
as your own soul.
And so this is how you, of course,
Jonathan and David were very good friends,
close friends, as their own soul,
each other as their own soul. Now,
the three friends in Job here,
they are mentioned. Eliphaz,
And interestingly enough, his name means
gold is f or God is fine gold.
God is fine gold, that's what his name
means.
And he came from Teman. He is the
Temanite.
And Teman is in the south land from
Palestine.
Bildad, and that that name means son of
Hadad.
He came from Shua, and Shua was located on
the middle of the Euphrates River.
And then Zophar, his name means young
bird,
and he came from Naemah. ~ and this these
three
men were wise men, these places they came
from were known for wisdom,
and these were, as it were, they were the
powerhouses,
if you will, the powerhouses of their day
when it came to
~ theology and wisdom and these kinds of
things.
And notice they they make plans.
To go visit Job. In other words,
the text said that they had made an
appointment together in Job 2,
verse 11, to come and mourn with him and
to comfort him.
So this was a deliberate visit upon
hearing the news of Job.
Now when they did find him, they were
deeply moved by Job's condition.
They did not recognize him at first
because of his disfigured conditions.
Again in verse twelve, when they raised
their eyes from afar and
did not recognize him, they lifted their
voices and wept.
Now, of course, he suffered greatly,
and of course the health concerns that
Satan inflicted him,
with which Satan inflicted him,
were these boils. But I guarantee you the
boils were not that was just
the beginning of it.
if you go th go through the book of Job,
which we we may do later in one of the
bumper sods here on Job,
is if you go through that book,
you'll find out he's got all kinds of
physical ailments that he'll mention
sometimes
casually, sometimes a focal point,
as we go through the book. And so though
that physical ailment began with the
boils,
but it didn't just end there. His
condition seemingly got worse and worse.
But you know, they did not recognize him
at first.
Now, of course, he's sitting in a
you know, a pile of broken pieces of
pottery and ashes,
scraping himself to try to find some
relief.
And so he was likely disfigured there.
And as a matter of fact, I made this
connection,
as I mentioned earlier, I was recently
reading through Luke chapter twenty-four,
and remember the disciples on the Maus
Road did not recognize Jesus at first,
which is ~ remember Mary did not recognize
him at first either.
She thought he was a gardener.
And, you know, possibly one reason why is
because he just didn't look like Jesus.
I mean, he was I mean, if he still had the
nail scars in his hands inside,
and perhaps his face was still swollen
from,
you know, both these appearances he was in
his resurrected state,
and perhaps his face and body were still
swollen from the trauma.
so that could be one reason why.
But in any case, the three friends of Job
did not recognize him as they
saw him afar off.
They wept aloud, which means they were
overcome with grief.
Also they sprinkled dust upon their heads,
and this was an expression of sorrow and
mourning.
~ sprinkling ashes upon the head we know
expresses the depth of sorrow
at such a whoring flying affliction.
And you can just imagine what Job lost.
In fact, ~ probably none of us,
in fact, very I mean ninety-nine point
ninety nine percent of the chance.
No one listening to this, no one speaking
this has ever suffered the loss that
Job did ~ living today. ~ and and so it's
just hard to to fathom
to comprehend the suffering and the grief
that he went through.
But they notice they sit with him in
silence in chapter two,
verse thirteen. They sat down with him on
the ground seven days and seven nights.
No one spoke a word to him, for they saw
that his grief was very great.
And so they sat with him in silence for a
week.
And of course, in chapter four is when
they begin to open their mouth,
and from that point on it goes downhill.
But at this point they just sat with Job.
And sometimes, as us preacher folk have
often learned and have taught,
when it comes to grieving people,
we don't need to say anything,
just our presence is comforting enough.
Now sometimes we say things and sometimes
we don't need to say things,
but we think we're saying the right thing.
Now, of course there's ~ you know,
I want to mention this. I recently heard a
lecture about grief.
And you know, there's some things you
don't want to say,
but and I know my wife, when she was dying
of cancer,
there's probably some things people said
that they shouldn't have said,
but I'm not the type of guy to take that,
you know, too personally. ~ they meant
well,
I guarantee you everybody who said a word
to me meant well,
whether the words came out right or not.
But the point here is that we don't have
to say anything,
just being with the person. Now,
in our culture, we might put our arm
around them,
we might hug them, but just being there is
comforting.
Notice also they sat in silence,
they which signified the intensity of
their sorrow.
Now, seven days was a period of mourning
at the death of noble friends or family.
We read in Genesis 50, verse 10,
then they came to the threshing floor of
Atad,
and this is Joseph's family, which is
beyond the Jordan,
and they mourned there with a great and
very solemn lamentation.
He observed seven days of mourning for his
father.
And so they mourned there.
And then in 1 Samuel 31,
13, 1 Samuel 31, 13, then they took
Their bones, and that they're there as
King Saul and his sons,
they took their bones and buried them
under the Tamarisk tree at Jabesh,
and they fasted seven days. And so seven
days seems to be,
and of course we mentioned this about Job
long time ago in episode one,
bumper sode one, that Job lived under the
patriarchal system.
We don't know exactly when he lived,
but he did not live under the law of
Moses.
He lived under patriarchy, he was ~
Serving as a priest for his family in Job
chapter 1,
verse 5. And he was not from the tribe of
Levi,
and so he was under the patriarchal law.
But even under that patriarchal law,
it seems like seven days was a period of
fasting,
period of mourning for the death of
friends and family.
All right, now there is a turning point in
the drama as it unfolds.
Here the atmosphere was tense.
And Job's pain was visibly unbearable.
In fact, chapter three, after this,
Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of
his birth.
And so this is his curse lament for the
day of his birth,
and the idea here. yeah, so now kind of
another side issue here.
Job never contemplated taking his own
life.
And I hear some people when they talk
about suicide,
and when they teach when not not not
people who are
thinking about it, but people who teach
about suicide ethically and
try to encourage people to to,
you know, counselors and this kind of
thing to try to keep people from doing,
they often put Job in the category of,
you know, wanting to commit suicide.
Well he never says that. He does curse the
day of his birth,
and what the idea behind that is,
is that if my day never existed on the
calendar,
I would not have been born and I would not
go through be be suffering.
He also mentions if I'd been still born.
~ I would be in the Hadean realm,
I'd be escaped from all this suffering,
and I wouldn't have to worry about a
thing.
And so that's what he's talking about here
in chapter three.
But that verse one, he opened his mouth
and cursed the day of his birth.
And that's a good chapter. I don't know
that we'll cover it in one
of these bumper sods, but it's pretty a
good chapter about how he felt
and the deep grief that he he had for him.
All right, but it was very intense.
And so we can learn some good things here
from Job's friends.
Another num number one, you know,
we can care enough to be there.
Again, saying the right word is not
required,
but being there is. And in fact,
this is a time in my life, you know,
you don't know the dates or anything,
but I've gone to a bunch of funerals
lately.
In fact, I was just at one today.
one was this is about an hour and a half
away,
and I drove down there with some
With some brothers in Christ, and we
helped comfort that family and mourn.
I was in another city, flew into Lakeland
for a funeral,
flew back, and ~ because I wanted to be
there.
Because these are loved ones, these are
families I love,
and so I wanted to be there. And so we can
learn that from these friends care enough
to be there. Now, sometimes, and I've
unfortunately been at places where
I just couldn't get loose.
And I was cross country, out of town,
different countries, whatever,
where I had to miss funerals, even some
for family.
I don't like to do that, but you know,
care enough to be there. And secondly,
a good lesson we can learn here is to
share the grief of others,
share the grief of others. Of course,
in Romans 12, 15, Paul writes,
rejoice with those who rejoice,
and weep with those who weep.
And so we are family in Christ.
And so we can rejoice with those that
share good news.
And we can weep with those who
are in mournful situations. Now,
of course, with the family, the funerals
I've been to lately,
they've all been members of the church.
And so we do weep, but we don't weep as
those who have no s who have no hope.
For we know that if we live in Christ
Jesus.
We shall see the faithful once again.
Okay, so those are some things about Job's
friends that they did right.
All right, now they did some things wrong,
and we also can learn from those.
Now, number one, what did they do wrong?
Well, number one, as we mentioned earlier,
they assumed, they automatically assumed
that Job must have sinned
in order to be suffering.
To the extent that he was suffering.
Now again, this retribution theology was
deep in their veins,
if you will. Even Job believed that,
and that's why he had such a struggle
trying to figure this out.
The three friends believed that.
And so, you know, if a person is in sin,
what should we do? What should a God
fearing person do if his friend is in sin?
Well, he would try to get him to repent,
come out of that sin so that he wouldn't
die lost.
Of course they assumed, this is the
problem though,
they assumed that Job must have sinned
greatly to deserve this punishment.
They did not know why all this was
happening to Job,
but they felt compelled to come up with
the explanation that they thought
was obvious. Now they did move from subtle
suggestion
to downright accusation of Job.
For example, in chapter four, verses seven
and eight,
this is Eliphaz, and by the way,
~ the dialogue is Eliphaz, Bildad,
and Zophar, they speak in that order.
And then in the third and there's three
rounds of these speeches.
Eliphaz will speak, Job will answer.
Bildad will speak, Job will answer.
Zophar will speak, Job will answer.
Then it goes around again back to Eliphaz,
he'll speak, Job answers, Bildad speaks,
Job answers. Zophar speaks, Job answers.
Then it goes to a third round.
Eliphaz speaks, Job answers, Bildad
speaks,
Job answers, and Zophar doesn't have one
in the third round,
but each of these rounds get more intense.
They get more intense. And so when we
think about this round where they move
from
subtle suggestions, chapter four,
verse seven and eight, Eliphaz says,
Remember now whoever perished being
innocent,
or where were the upright ever caught off?
Even as I have seen those who plough
iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
And so he's kind of hinting at Job,
you know, no one gets away with this,
so you might as well just go ahead and
repent.
In chapter five and verse seventeen,
chapter five seventeen Behold,
happy is the man, and this is a
continuation of Eliphaz,
happy is the man whom God corrects.
Therefore do not despise the chastening of
the Almighty.
Now that statement is sure enough true.
Happy is the man whom God corrects,
because again he corrects us because he
loves us.
Therefore do not despise the chastening of
the Almighty.
That statement is true, but it does not
apply to Job at this time.
And so it's it's but but it is a subtle
hint to get Job to repent and
Because you know, nobody suffers like this
unless they have some kind
of sin that they're trying to hide.
And then in chapter fifteen, in the second
round,
Eliphaz, for example, he says,
verses one through ten, then Eliphaz the
Timanite answered and said,
Should a wise man answer with empty
knowledge,
and fill himself with the east wind?
In other words, he is he is
Countering Job's statement of,
you know, I haven't sinned like this in
the previous chapter,
should he reason with unprofitable talk or
by speeches with which he can do no good?
Yes you cast off fear and restrain prayer
before God,
for your iniquity teaches your mouth,
and you choose the tongue of the crafty.
Your own mouth condemns you, and now I,
yes your own lips testify against you.
And so you see how the intensity is
increasing there verse six.
Your own mouth condemns you, that is by
your trying to what
he would consider justifying Job,
by your trying to justify yourself,
you condemn yourself and not I.
Yes, your own lips testify against you.
Are you the first man who is born?
Or were you made before the hills?
Have you heard the counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom with yourself?
What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not in us?
Both the grey haired and the aged are
among us much older than your father.
In other words, they have tradition by
their side.
And so you see the intensity of it is
increasing,
and if you go down to verse thirty one of
that same chapter,
Job fifteen, verse thirty one through
thirty five,
let him not trust.
in futile things deceiving himself.
For futility will be his reward
It will be accomplished before his time,
and his branch will not be green,
he will shake off the unripe grape like a
vine,
and cast off his blossom like an olive
tree.
For the company of hypocrites will be
barren,
and the fire will consume the tents of
bribery.
They conceive trouble and bring forth
utility,
their womb prepares deceit.
And the thee and the theirs and all that
are those who try to hide their sin.
Those who do not repent,
and so the intensity increases,
and then all of a sudden in chapter
twenty-two,
they actually downright accuse Job of
specific sins.
In Job chapter twenty-two, verses five
through nine,
is not your wickedness great and your
iniquity without end?
And this again is Eliphaz in his third
round.
He goes on to say, For you have taken
pledges from your brother for no reason,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
And so these are specific sins Eliphaz now
accuses him of.
You have not given the weary water to
drink,
and you have withheld bread from the
hungry,
but the mighty man possessed the land,
and the honorable man dwelt in it.
You have sent widows away empty,
and the strength of the fatherless.
was crushed. Therefore, snares are all
around you
and sudden fear troubles you, or darkness
so that you cannot see,
and an abundance of water covers you.
And so they go from subtle hints you
should repent,
Job, to intensity you condemn yourself
with your own words,
to downright accusing him of sin.
And so that of course is wrong on their
part because they all assume that this
retribution theology stuff is true and
that Job must have sinned.
Secondly, they tried to prove their
assumption on incomplete evidence.
An incomplete evidence. And then,
of course, in Proverbs 1813, there the
inspired wise man says,
He who answers a matter before he hears
it,
it is folly and shame to them.
And so the wicked do not always suffer.
And we talked about this. There are
several passages in Job that talk about
the wicked prosper. And so if if and and
the wicked who prosper are
Are the wicked who everybody knows is
wicked,
but they still prosper, and so this
retribution theology is not correct.
And then thirdly, when Job argued with the
three friends,
they became indigent. When they were
proven wrong,
they intensified their attacks against
Job.
And often that's the the case.
When we're proven that we're wrong,
we often try to get even.
And we saw the Pharisees and scribes do
this a lot with Jesus,
but of course, Jesus outwitted,
outwisdomed them all. And then fourthly,
at the heat of their argument,
their f friends forget their original
purpose back in chapter 213,
to sit with Job and to comfort him.
But in the heat of the argument they lost
sight of that.
And so we also can become more concerned
with about proving our opinions than truly
helping people. And so we want to help
people the best we can,
and of course the best the best help we
can give them is to comfort them
and to guide them and to let them know
that we still love them.
And again, as the three friends did did
well in the beginning of this,
they came to meet Job, they traveled at
their own expense to at their risk
of their own peril.
And they deliberately did this to be with
their friend.
And so they do serve as a great example of
being a friend as long as they kept their
mouth quiet, but as soon as they started
speaking,
then that's when things went downhill.
But again, if we don't have a correct
understanding of God's word
and the principles therein, we can do the
same thing.
Even though we intend to do good,
we end up discomforting Job rather than.
Comforting Job. And that so there's some
things in the text that we don't have time
to look at here, but I would encourage you
to continue to read the book
of Job and just realize how it's
structured and the great benefit that
we can get from it. And so we do
appreciate your joining us for this bumper
sode,
and we will continue with a few more
studies in the book of Job.
We appreciate your listening, and we would
appreciate your feedback if
you get the chance.