Explore: Was it my fault?

• The Explore the Bible lesson for June 9 focuses on Job 4:6-7; 6:2-3, 24; 8:4-8; 11:6, 13-15; 13:4, 22-25.

This section of Job is the first of three rounds of dialogue between Job and his three friends. Actually, dialogue is a bit of a stretch, since the friends and Job talk past each other. Nonetheless, there is a conversational pattern to these chapters, where Job speaks, followed by a response from one of his friends.

The friends’ general logic is part of Israel’s covenant and wisdom tradition. It runs as follows: God blesses those obedient to the covenant, while the disobedient are cursed. The friends, each in their own way, argue that since Job is suffering, he must have sinned. Job does not necessarily disagree with their logic, but he doesn’t think it matches his experience. That is, he doesn’t think he sinned.

Job curses the day of his birth

In the first exchange, Job, who utters the first words spoken in seven days, curses the day of his birth because “it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes” (3:10). The reader can certainly hear the pain in Job’s words: “For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water” (3:24).

Eliphaz, the first friend to speak, uses chapters 4 and 5 to respond by reminding Job righteous people do not suffer punishment: “Who, being innocent, has ever perished?” (4:7). “Blessed is the one whom the Lord corrects,” Eliphaz says, teling Job he should accept God’s discipline so he can be healed (5:17). To put an exclamation point on his remarks, he declares: “We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself” (5:27).

Eliphaz has not convinced Job. In the second exchange, Job, using chapters 6 and 7, cries out from the depths of his agony: “The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me” (6:4). What further tortures Job is his suffering doesn’t make any sense, since he has no awareness of any sin: “Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong” (6:24).

In chapter 8, Bildad, another of Job’s friends, refuses to bend, accusing Job of avoiding the main issue: “How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind” (8:2). Further, Bildad reminds Job he is subject to the same covenant as his children (8:4) and his ancestors (8:8). He should expect no special treatment. If Job is suffering, there must be sin somewhere in his life.

Professing innocence

In the third exchange, Job uses chapters 9 and 10 to continue to profess his innocence, turning his attention to his defense against God. He notes it is difficult even to ask for justification of his state: “How then can I dispute with him? How can I find words to argue with him? Though I were innocent, I could not answer him; I could only plead with my Judge for mercy” (9:14).

Nonetheless, with no mediator to represent Job’s case to God, he boldly proclaims, “I say to God: Do not declare me guilty, but tell me what charges you have against me” (10:2).

For Job, the dissonance he feels between his understanding of God and his life experience is too much to bear. If he sinned, he can accept that, but he needs to know what he did wrong. Zophar, the third of Job’s friends, responds by telling Job to turn from his sin so that God can receive him. Like the other friends, who see Job’s speeches as a distraction and a stubborn refusal to repent, Zophar wants Job to “stand firm and without fear,” but that requires Job to turn away from sin.

Chapters 12, 13 and 14 conclude this cycle of speeches between Job and his friends. Clearly, they are not on the same page. Many commentators point out the initial silence of Job’s friends may be the most supportive thing they have done for him. Even Job recognizes this: “If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom” (13:5).

‘Worthless physicians’

Job resents their “help,” calling them liars and “worthless physicians” (13:4). Job continues to plead with God for relief and answers: “Only grant me these two things, God, and then I will not hide from you: Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors. Then summon me, and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply to me. How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin” (13:20-23).

At the end of this cycle, we find ourselves with no answers to Job’s suffering (at least for Job and his friends), but we have seen the depth of Job’s suffering, moving beyond mere physical pain and emotional loss to an almost unbearable psychological state grounded in Job’s bewilderment.