Job 11 - 14 and Psalm 6
Just like Bildad, Zophar is bothered by Job’s passionate accusations of injustice directed against Yahweh. He disdains his reasoning: “Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?” (Job 11:3) And he attempts to silence Job by returning to Eliphaz’s rigid theology: “For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God’s eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you, and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves” (Job 11:4-6). Just like Eliphaz and Bildad, Zophar invites Job to repent of his unidentified sin: “If you prepare your heart, you will stretch out your hands toward him. If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not injustice dwell in your tents. Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure and will not fear. You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away” (Job 11:13-16).
Once again Job rejects this argument; sarcastically he says, “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you” (Job 12:2). More directly he says, “As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all. Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom! (Job 13:4-5). He agrees with them that in God is all wisdom and power: “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind… With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding” (Job 12:10, 13). But according to Job, what they don’t see is that God also causes injustice: “He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools… He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders… He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste” (Job 12:17, 20, 24). Therefore Job is not satisfied by discussing the relationship between Yahweh and injustice with his blind friends; he wants nothing less than an interview with God Himself: “But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God” (Job 13:3).
Job imagines his day to justify himself before Yahweh: “Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face: withdraw your hand far from me, and let not dread of you terrify me. Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me” (Job 13:20-22). He wants to know several things, as accusations against God: “How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?” (Job 13:23-24) If he has the opportunity, Job is convinced that he can justify himself before God, even if he has to go through death to do it: “Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come” (Job 14:13-14).
But once again he considers his suffering, and again he despairs of relief. Again he accuses God of unrighteousness: “The waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man. You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away” (Job 14:19-20). He still fights with the relationship between God and the injustice of his suffering.
Once again Job rejects this argument; sarcastically he says, “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you” (Job 12:2). More directly he says, “As for you, you whitewash with lies; worthless physicians are you all. Oh that you would keep silent, and it would be your wisdom! (Job 13:4-5). He agrees with them that in God is all wisdom and power: “In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind… With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding” (Job 12:10, 13). But according to Job, what they don’t see is that God also causes injustice: “He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools… He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders… He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste” (Job 12:17, 20, 24). Therefore Job is not satisfied by discussing the relationship between Yahweh and injustice with his blind friends; he wants nothing less than an interview with God Himself: “But I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue my case with God” (Job 13:3).
Job imagines his day to justify himself before Yahweh: “Only grant me two things, then I will not hide myself from your face: withdraw your hand far from me, and let not dread of you terrify me. Then call, and I will answer; or let me speak, and you reply to me” (Job 13:20-22). He wants to know several things, as accusations against God: “How many are my iniquities and my sins? Make me know my transgression and my sin. Why do you hide your face and count me as your enemy?” (Job 13:23-24) If he has the opportunity, Job is convinced that he can justify himself before God, even if he has to go through death to do it: “Oh that you would hide me in Sheol, that you would conceal me until your wrath be past, that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man dies, shall he live again? All the days of my service I would wait, till my renewal should come” (Job 14:13-14).
But once again he considers his suffering, and again he despairs of relief. Again he accuses God of unrighteousness: “The waters wear away the stones; the torrents wash away the soil of the earth; so you destroy the hope of man. You prevail forever against him, and he passes; you change his countenance, and send him away” (Job 14:19-20). He still fights with the relationship between God and the injustice of his suffering.
