Introduction. Read Job4and5

Eliphaz responds to Job's impassioned outburst in which he despairs of life and looks forward to death. It is not really a carefully reasoned reply to Job's bitter observations. Rather it is an attempt to fit Job's discomfit into Eliphaz's view of life. I will look at the six points Eliphaz made, try to assess them in the light of God's disgust with him and then describe how I might proceed if faced by a modern day Job. It ill behoves us to be critical of Eliphaz if we couldn't do any better.

(1) The observations of Eliphaz.

(a) Job should act on the advice he gave to others. See Ch4v1to6.

In the past Job had encouraged those who suffered misfortune, strengthened the inadequate and supported the weak. Now that he is experiencing trouble Eliphaz thinks he should follow his own advice. It is possible that Eliphaz actually repeats what Job has counselled in the years of his prosperity: "Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?" v6.

It is a lot easier to give comforting advice than to act upon it or to issue a challenge than to respond to it. My old friend John preached a stirring sermon to his own church on God's inspiring words to Joshua: "Be strong and courageous, because you will lead these people to inherit the land I swore to their forefathers to give them." Josh1v7. You can imagine the general tenure of his message. A few days later when the roads were icy John and his wife did not venture out to the prayer meeting. John received a phone call from a "friend" wanting to know why he failed to put his sermon into practice! John wasn't best pleased!! But what answer would he give his "friend."

The mistake Eliphaz made was to liken Job's condition to that of the people whom he had advised and helped in the past. Job's loss and suffering were of a truly staggering magnitude. Eliphaz himself had experienced nothing like Job's losses.

As a general rule the best people to help others in a truly awful experience are those who have been through it themselves. If we have come through trouble we can empathise with and help those who share the same experience. I like this story taken from an article by Bob Greene in the Chicago Tribune, August, 1987:

Douglas Maurer, 15, of Creve Coeur, Missouri, had been feeling bad for several days. His temperature was ranging between 103 and 105 degrees, and he was suffering from severe flu-like symptoms. Finally, his mother took him to the hospital in St. Louis. Douglas Maurer was diagnosed as having leukaemia. The doctors told him in frank terms about his disease. They said that for the next three years, he would have to undergo chemotherapy. They didn't down play the side effects. They told Douglas he would go bald and that his body would most likely bloat. Upon learning this, he went into a deep depression. His aunt called at a florists to send Douglas an arrangement of flowers. She told the shop assistant that it was for her teenage nephew who had leukaemia. When the flowers arrived at the hospital, they were beautiful. Douglas read the card from his aunt. Then he saw a second card. It said: "Douglas--I took your order. I work at Brix florist. I had leukaemia when I was 7 years old. I'm 22 years old now. Good luck. My heart goes out to you. Sincerely, Laura Bradley." His face lit up. He said, "Oh!"

It's funny: Douglas Maurer was in a hospital filled with millions of dollars of the most sophisticated medical equipment. He was being treated by expert doctors and nurses with medical training totalling in the hundreds of years. But it was a salesgirl in a flower shop, a woman making $170 a week, who--by taking the time to care, and by being willing to go with what her heart told her to do--gave Douglas hope and the will to carry on.

It is the teacher who has made mistakes and had a rough time with a difficult class who is best able to sympathise and counsel the probationary teacher who is going through a difficult patch. It is the mother who has suffered the agony of losing a child who can get alongside another bereaved parent and share the pain. It is the pastor who has worked for years without much apparent success who is able to commiserate with and encourage a young man starting out in the ministry who experiences early setbacks.

(b) Ultimately you reap what you sow. See Ch4v7to11.

Eliphaz makes this point with great eloquence. He claims the upright are never destroyed. Those who sow trouble reap it. v8. He likens a wicked man to a roaring, growling lion - a lion whose teeth God smashes so that it perishes for lack of prey. v11.

This is undoubtedly a recurring theme of the Old Testament. See Ps1, Dt28 and Malachi3v6to12. Indeed, the final triumph of Job supports this belief. The LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before. Job42v10.

Yet, the writer of Ecclesiastes strikes a more realistic note: There is something else meaningless that occurs on earth: righteous men who get what the wicked deserve, and wicked men that get what the righteous deserve. Ecc8v14. It is, perhaps, salutary to read what the author of Hebrews wrote about the heroes of faith: Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawn in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and ill-treated - the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains and in caves and holes in the ground. Heb11v36to38.

Despite this many share Eliphaz's simplistic view. They are taken in by the 'prosperity gospel'- a promise that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians, and that faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always increase one's material wealth.

It is very difficult to square this belief with the numerous warnings Jesus gave of the dangers of wealth. The master's contempt for material prosperity was treated with scorn by the Pharisees who loved money and amazement by his disciples who considered it a sign of God's favour. There is absolutely no doubt that both Jesus and his apostle, Paul, were poor men.

Jesus came to teach men and women to lay up treasure IN HEAVEN. Paul had this in mind when he wrote to the Galatians: Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction; the one who sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. Gal6v7to10.

I believe it is possible reap what you sow in this life - but not always - any more than a farmer always reaps what he sows. During the 1930s on the Great Plains of the U.S.A. farmers lost their crops to drought, wind erosion, hail, locusts and fire. But Christians who faithfully serve God can be sure of an ultimate harvest. They will reap eternal life.

(c) All men are worthless to God. Ch4v12to21.

This is a weird passage! It seems as if Eliphaz witnessed an apparition. It scared him witless. He shook with fear and his hair stood on end. The spectre, unlike angels that appeared to men, was without form. This visitor from Satan, for I am sure that is what it was, had a dreadful message. First of all God's character is blackened. He is so particular that if one of his angels makes a small mistake they pay for it. So what hope is there for mankind? They are mere creatures of clay who can be snuffed out as easily as an irritating moth fluttering in the candle light. Their time is short, their deaths unnoticed and they perish forever. Men are like tents that come tumbling down when the guy ropes are thrown off.

The message of the spectre was that men and women were worthless to God. He could snuff them out on a whim. They were powerless to withstand him. Eliphaz believed Job should bear this in mind when he rails at his misfortune. Who is he to complain?

There are Christians who overdo man's sinfulness. They promote the doctrine of total depravity. This doctrine leaves men and women totally incapable of faith. They are only able to exercise faith if God gives it to them. It is no use wanting to be a Christian you can only become one if God has chosen you and gives you the where with all to believe.

There are other Christians who overdo God's wrath against sin. God is so disgusted with man's sin that he will inflict upon the unrepentant torments for ever more.

Sadly some Christians are afflicted with depression and that black and formless spirit will convict the sufferer of their utter worthlessness to God. What does God care for them? They are hardly likely to be in his thoughts. It little matters to God whether they live or die.

In contrast to Eliphaz's demonic visitor let us listen to Jesus: "Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are numbered. Don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows." Lk12v6and7.

We should pay no attention to Satan the father of lies. God said of Jesus, "This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Listen to him." Jesus is God's authentic voice and Jesus' message is that even a sparrow is of significance to the Creator. If God values a sparrow he most certainly values us. We are worth more than many sparrows!

Paul wrote to the Romans: He (God) who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also along with him, graciously give us all things? Rom8v32.

(d) Job should stop complaining. Ch5v1to7.

I found it quite difficult to make sense of these seven verses! Eliphaz seems to be accusing Job of having a foolish attitude. His cries of resentment and envy of the dead are unlikely to arouse any sympathy from anyone who matters. He ought to show more moderation.

Eliphaz then goes on to say that he knew a fool who prospered for a time but before long he lost his family, crops and wealth. The implication being that Job's experience was very similar to that of the fool.

Job's eloquent but ineffective comforter then states troubles have a cause. They don't spring from the ground. He suggests that the cause of trouble lies within rather than with external factors. Job must be at fault - he should examine himself.

This is a very, very common and must irritating attitude. It is one I came across during my long teaching career. Trendy educationalists were fond of saying: "There are no problem children - only problem teachers." So if you have a problem with a pupil the fault must lie with you.

I have heard the same said about dogs and their owners. "There are no problem dogs - only problem owners." This overlooks the fact that the dog is by nature a wolf.

When a marriage breaks down a common reaction is: "Well I expect there was fault on both sides." This overlooks the possibility that one side might be a completely innocent party.

When a church declines and years pass without any conversions there is an inclination on the part of leaders of growing churches to blame the membership of the failing cause.

Christians need to listen to Jesus. Eliphaz might say the soil can't be blamed for misfortune. But the great Teacher told a parable about a sower where the soil was at fault for lack of fruitfulness.

Farmers tried for many years to grow crops on the sandy soils of the Brecklands in Suffolk and Norfolk. The cereal crops would not come into ear. It was only with the discovery of trace element deficiencies in the soil that a situation that had lasted hundreds of years could finally be put right.

Sometimes WE ARE NOT TO BLAME. Moses was not to blame when the Israelites made a golden calf to worship. Jeremiah was not to blame when the Jews rejected the message God gave him to deliver. Jesus was not to blame when his own people rejected him as Messiah.

Job was not to blame for his predicament. Far from it! In God's opinion he was a righteous man. So Eliphaz and those like him are at fault.

(e) Job should appeal to God. Job Ch5v8to16.

Eliphaz urges Job to leave things to God. He needs to stop wasting his energies in bitter lamentation and just wait upon God. Eliphaz lists attributes of God that should inspire confidence and trust. He:

• Sends rain upon the earth.

• Rescues the perishing.

• Thwarts the dishonest and deceitful - the speculators and manipulators.

• Saves the poor and needy from their oppressors.

• Gives hope to the impoverished.

This may appear very sound teaching. Perhaps, some would say it bears a resemblance to Jesus' teaching on anxiety - when he told his hearers not to worry about what to eat and what to wear. If God fed the birds of the air and clothed the poppies of the field he would feed and clothe those that relied upon him.

It sounds convincing to stress that God is in control and that he will sort everything out. But this teaching underestimates the part we have to play. Admirable aims are usually only accomplished by God working in co-operation with man.

My father, a Grace Baptist Minister, was always sceptical about the assertion, "God will provide." He used to say, "God's people should provide." I think my father was unduly cynical. God and his people together do provide. God and his people provided for my father.

We have to exercise caution when looking at what Eliphaz claimed God would do. It is not wise to leave everything to God.

After farmers colonised the Great Plains the rain stopped falling in the 1930's. One terrible drought followed another and the Plains was turned into a dust bowl. Three in four farmers survived! They did so by irrigating enough of their land to grow food to live on and then evolving dry farming techniques to cope with the harsh climatic conditions.

God did not miraculously release the oppressed slaves in the Southern States of the U.S.A.. It took a civil war that the North won. Only then were the slaves set free.

Today there are many poor people in Countries like Nepal that barely survive. They need the sort of help the charity Practical Action provides. In Katmandu 5000 people make some sort of a living salvaging material from waste heaps. A woman might spend all day looking for plastic bags and shredding them for recycling. Practical Action trains such women to use the plastic they salvage to make goods like key rings and mobile phone cases thereby increasing their income.

The danger of Eliphaz's approach is that it is a recipe for doing nothing. We can just leave everything for God to sort out. Even Jesus' teaching has to be applied with some caution. Years ago I read, 'The Robe'. It was a novel about the life of Christ. The author imagined the reaction of old Zebedee, father of James and John, to Jesus' teaching about God providing food for the bird's of the air. He said, "Even the birds have to scratch for it!"

(f) Job should accept his troubles as God's discipline. See v17to27.

Eliphaz told Job: "Do not despise the discipline of the Almighty." v17.

He does not then go on to explain how Job's troubles will improve either his character or his relationship with God. What does Job need to be corrected about? He didn't take his prosperity for granted. He ascribed his success to God. Job wasn't like the rich fool in the parable of Jesus - secure in his own good fortune.

Now it is perfectly true that we do need from time to time to be disciplined. This is the message of Hebrews12v7 to11: Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you like sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? ..... God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Discipline, however, should not be oppressive. Most school teachers learn that excessive discipline is counter-productive. It results in resentment and hatred.

The apostle Peter needed to be disciplined. He was proud, presumptuous and over anxious to be well thought of. Jesus spoke to him sharply about his presumption. Paul took him to task for currying favour with the legalists from Jerusalem when they visited Antioch. God allowed Peter to be tempted to deny his Master. His failure to stand by Jesus on the day of his arrest humbled him.

Failures, setbacks, accidents, a bout of pain, criticism and the like can all be used to teach us important lessons. However, terrible illnesses like depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease, motor neuron disease, multiple sclerosis are too awful to count as God's discipline. No father would inflict these on his son for any purpose whatsoever.

So Job's catastrophic losses are far too great to be an example of God's discipline. They overwhelm him. He prefers death to life.

Eliphaz then lists a whole series of ways God rescues a man from distress and trouble. He wounds but also heals. God provides in famine, protects in battle, shields from criticism and delivers from wild animals. The man God disciplines will eventually discover his property is secure, be blessed with a large family and enjoy a vigorous old age.

This sounds too good to be true! Ray Stedman in his excellent commentary on Job writes: Eliphaz argues from a simplistic and unrealistic theology. If you just cast yourself on God's mercy, he will restore you and everything will be fine. Do that, and God will protect you and keep you safe from trouble.

This, of course, is not the way the universe works. ...... Godly people are not immune from trouble. Many people go through suffering precisely because they live godly lives. ...... Those who think godly living makes them invulnerable to trouble are living in a fantasy world.

Jesus told his disciples that if he was persecuted they, too, would be persecuted. Many Christians have been persecuted to the death. This is not God exercising discipline! There was no deliverance in this life.

(2) A concluding assessment of Eliphaz's speech.

On first reading there seemed a lot of sense in what Eliphaz said. The approach of many modern Christians is very similar to that of Eliphaz. Yet we need to remember that God was angry with Eliphaz because he misrepresented him. See Job42v7.

Eliphaz makes several mistakes:

(a) He was unrealistic. He didn't live in the real world. Goodness doesn't always pay in this life. It is not true that if we follow a given agenda all will be well with us. Paul was one of the greatest of all Christ's servants but he suffered one set back after another until his probable martyrdom at the hand of Nero.

(b) He had God taped! Eliphaz believed God MUST act in a certain way. God's actions had to conform to Eliphaz's morality and sense of justice. So God rewards good people with prosperity and punishes bad people with deprivation. This was the great error the Pharisees made in the time of Jesus. Their God was nothing like the father of Jesus!

(c) He did not really understand what troubled Job. Job was not so much troubled by his severe losses as by the fear that God had turned against him. Somehow, for reasons unknown to him, he had forfeited the friendship of God.

(3) How would I react if I had a Christian friend who suffered like Job?

I wouldn't try to explain my friend's suffering. Jesus never gave an explanation of the blindness of the man born blind. His disciples asked if it was due to his own or his parent's sin and Jesus replied, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned but this happened so the that the work of God might be displayed in his life. Jn9v3. All Jesus really said was that the man's blindness gave him the opportunity to do God's work. See exposition on John9 for more detail.

I would assure my friend that he was still precious to God no matter what befell him. In this respect I have the benefit of the knowledge of the love of God revealed in Jesus.

I would pray with my friend and plead with God to make his presence felt to him in his trouble. David wrote: Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for you are with me: your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Ps23v4. It is a terrible thing when God is not there when you need him. This was C.S. Lewis' experience in the grief that overwhelmed him following his wife's death. It is something Jesus went through on the cross. It is the severest of all trials of faith.

I would also pray aloud with my friend and ask God to ease his suffering and prove himself the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles ..... . 2Cor1v3.

Finally I would ask my friend if there was anything I could do to help. This is the advice Jesus gave his disciples before helping the man born blind. It is interesting that Job was helped to get back on his feet when his brothers and sisters visited him and each gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. See Job42v11. When I went to the wake of my neighbour who died of bone cancer his widow came and sat beside me and confided that she had incurable pancreatic cancer. I said I would do what I could to help. Eventually she asked me to dead head the flowers in her lovely garden. This is what I do - and it is a far better policy than trying to give an explanation of her suffering. AS ALWAYS, JESUS SETS US THE BEST EXAMPLE.