The Strange Way God Arranges to Forgive
The three “friends” (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) are restored to God and to Job in the book of Job. God says they must ask Job to pray for them as they offer up a burnt offering. When Job prayed for them, everything changed for him. Jesus commands us to pray for those who persecute us. Job’s animosity toward his three adversaries was largely their fault.
What does God say to Eliphaz?
As he tries to summarize Job’s thoughts from chapter 21, Eliphaz misunderstands Job’s message: “What does God know? Can He judge through the thick darkness? Clouds are a hiding place for Him, so He cannot see; and He walks on the vault of heaven.”
Why did God tell Job?
God explains to Job that sometimes there are no wordsu2014no rationalizationsu2014that can make sense of the misery we face, and that such easy answers are abhorrent to God. God’s response serves as a message to Job that he (and every other human being) cannot begin to comprehend the mystery of life and death.
What can we learn from Job’s friends?
We learn to put our trust in God and allow Him to work in our lives regardless of our understanding of our circumstances, as Job teaches us that God does not require our understanding and does not owe us any explanation for His actions.
What did God finally tell Job’s friends to do?
After pages and pages of advice from Job’s friends, God finally speaks from the whirlwind, asking Job’s friends, “Who are you to talk?” and then telling them to shut up.
What did God say about Elihu?
Suffering may be decreed for the righteous as a safeguard against greater sin, for moral improvement and warning, and to elicit greater trust and dependence on a merciful, compassionate God in the face of adversity, according to Elihu.
What does God say about Job?
Job’s first response to God’s invitation to dialogue falls short: u201cBehold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth; once I have spoken, I will not answer; twice, I will not add anything more.u201d
What is the main message of the book of Job?
The book’s central theme is the eternal problem of unjustified suffering, and it is named after its central character, Job, who tries to comprehend his sufferings.
Is it okay to question God?
u201cDon’t question God; just trust Him,u201d as the saying goes. There’s nothing wrong with God’s Word; the issue is how we hear and understand it at times.
How does God answer our prayers?
u201c7 Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.u201d (Matthew 7:11) This teaching of Jesus does not promise that God will give us what we want, but that He will give us what is good.
What does the story of Job teach us about suffering?
In times of adversity, Jews may turn to the Book of Job, where God allows Satan to put Job to the test, implying that Job would not worship God if God did not protect him.
Is the story of Job true?
True, the book is written in Hebrew, but it is very strange Hebrew indeed, with more unique words than any other book of the Hebrew Bible. The same page of Talmud suggests that Job is not a real person and that the entire book is an allegory; also, that Job was a contemporary of Jacob or Abraham.
What does Zophar say to Job?
His first speech to Job (11:1) emphasizes three ideas: God’s infinite transcendence; Job’s need to repent of the sins he denies having committed in order for God to restore his good fortune; and the inevitability of the wicked’s destruction.
What did Job call his friends after they tried to console him?
Job, predictably, refers to his companions as “miserable comforters.”
What did Eliphaz say to Job?
Eliphaz the Temanite asks Job a loaded question: “Who that was innocent ever perished?” (4:7). At the heart of the question is the assertion that all humans make mistakes; none of us is completely blameless, as Eliphaz points out.
What did Job do when he lost everything?
Job’s wife advised him to curse God and die, but he told her that would be foolish. Despite losing everything and suffering from painful sores all over his body, Job did not sin against God by cursing him. This is the last time Satan is mentioned in the Book of Job.