I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 11-15.

Zophar’s response shows us the perils of being involved in a debate with more than one person.  He takes what Job has said to counter the other two and answers it from a different direction.  Zophar says one thing which is true for all of us, God punishes us far less than we deserve.  The problem is that Zophar’s statement is aimed solely at Job and does not include himself.  Zophar’s whole statement is that Job is suffering because he is a sinner and all Job needs to do to stop suffering is stop sinning, confess his sins, and beg God for forgiveness.  Then all will be lilies and roses.  Zophar does not actually know what sins Job has committed.  He just “knows” that he must have committed some heinous sin to be suffering as he is.  The main point of this book is that suffering is not always evidence that someone committed a great sin. 

Job’s next monologue contains many truths.  First, several times he says something his friends should have said themselves and that each of us should keep in mind: Job’s friends were no better than he.  And, what they were saying was not something known only to them.  I strive to remember both of these things.  I believe that I am pretty good at making people aware that I do not think I am better than they, but I struggle to remember that others often know the same insights which have come to me. 

In this monologue Job asks a rhetorical question, “Can the dead live again?”  He is sure that the answer is no, but he says something from which those who believe in the death and resurrection of Christ take great comfort.  If the dead can live again, then we have a basis for hope when we suffer.  And since Christ rose from the dead we know that the dead can indeed live again.  We know that death is not the end, so we can endure suffering knowing that even if it leads to death, God will raise us again to live with Him.

When Eliphaz first spoke, he made minor errors.  This time he gets too caught up in convincing Job that he is wrong.  Previously, Eliphaz had merely suggested that Job had sinned.  This time he makes it a full-blown accusation.  Yet, he cannot site what terrible sin Job has committed.  He has judged Job guilty of some terrible, unknown sin just because Job is suffering.  Eliphaz makes one true statement in this monologue: no man is truly pure, all have sinned.  However, he fails to see that this means that he also has sinned and is just as deserving of suffering as Job.