Round Three; Things Intensify

Job 22-24

            As third round of debates begins, we see something that we see all the time in our lives: people are just repeating the same tired arguments and becoming more and more incalcitrant in them. Eliphaz, who up to now has been the gentlest of Job’s friends, comes out firing, asserting all sorts of social sins—charging interest, ignoring the poor and hungry, failing widows. His reasoning is exactly backwards: Job must have done this because it’s the only way to explain his suffering (22:10-11). In 21:13, Eliphaz makes his most devastating case: Job sounds exactly like the unrighteous that Job describes; Job himself is asking, “What does God know?” Finally, in calling Job to repentance (21:22-30), he implies that Job loves his wealth more than he loves his God.

            On the increasing harshness of Job’s friends—and even Job, I guess—I observe something that I have often observed: humans hate the very idea of randomness. That something might just happen, without rhyme or reason bothers us. I maintain that is one of the reasons that conspiracy theories of various sorts are so common: we just can’t bear the thought that terrible things just happen. For Christians it’s doubly hard because we believe in a God who is all-powerful and good. If bad things happen, it casts doubt on either His power or His goodness. I think it’s helpful to remember the 3^rd Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven,” because it reminds us that God’s will is not unopposed. The devil opposes Him; the world opposes Him; our sinful nature opposes Him. The Lord could, of course, end all opposition immediately, but for His own reasons He does not, and that’s a mystery we don’t like either. (2 Peter 3:9 says that the Lord is patient because He doesn’t want anyone to perish.)

            For his part, Job is becoming more strident in his demand to face God. In his suffering, Job complains about God’s seeming absence. He’s sure God wouldn’t press charges, that He would vindicate Job, but Job doesn’t know where to find God. Tellingly, Job ascribes his present suffering to the Lord (22:14-15). Chapter 24 begins with Job longing for judgment and a long list of the ways that the truly ungodly sin against the Lord. The truly wicked, Job says, will perish eternally. Job longs for that day, when the ungodly will be punished and the godly will be vindicated.