LESSON PAGE

OLD TESTAMENT STUDIES

924 - Allegations Of Eliphaz And Job’s Response 5

925 - Job Responds To Bildad .. .. .. .. .. .. 12

926 - Zophar’s Counsel And Job’s Reply .. .. .. 19

927 - Job Reaffirms His Innocence .. .. .. .. 26

928 - Job Declares Faith In The Resurrection

Of The Just .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 33

NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES

929 - Obedience To The New Commandment .. 40

930 - Love Not The World .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 48

931 - Freedom From Sin .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 56

932 - Practical Christian Love .. .. .. .. .. .. 63

933 - Discerning The Spirit Of Truth And Error 70

SPECIAL STUDIES

934 - Prayer And Fasting .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 77

935 - Divine Healing And Health .. .. .. .. .. 83

936 - Service Of Consecrated Saints.. .. .. .. 90

 ADULT STS VOLUME 72

LESSON 924

ALLEGATIONS OF ELIPHAZ AND JOB’S

RESPONSE
MEMORY VERSE: “I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit
my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things
without number” (Job 5:8,9).

TEXT: Job chapters 4 to 7

T he four chapters that make up this study contain

the first part of the circle of speeches between Job and his friends who had
visited him in his adversity. They came for two main reasons: “…to come to
mourn with him and to comfort him” (Job 2:11). An understanding of these
goals will aid proper studying of the first round of conversation between
Eliphaz and Job. Their mission is worthy of emulation among brethren: when
those who hurt look up to us for pity and comfort, we should be there for them
as we prayerfully work with “the God of all comfort” who is able to turn His
children’s mourning into joy, and make them sing through their sorrow
(Jeremiah 31:13). We must resist every temptation to work with our archenemy
whose mission is to accuse, steal, kill and destroy our joy.
Eliphaz and his friends have mourned with Job for seven days and seven
nights (Job 2:12,13). However, listening to Job’s complaints in chapter 3,
Eliphaz could not restrain himself but respond to the lament. He alleges that
Job might not be as righteous as he claimed. Therefore, Eliphaz affirms that
true religion is characterised by peace and comfort; in other words, to be
righteous is to live a life void of challenges. This assertion contradicts the
wholesome teachings of the Bible which talks of days of joy and gladness mixed
with chastisement and persecutions on earth. Unalloyed and uninterrupted
pleasures abound for the righteous only in heaven where there shall no more
be sorrow or sadness (Revelation 21:4).
Eliphaz further calls on Job to compare his sorry state with those of previous
saints, if he would ever find a parallel or comparison. Alleging that Job might
have been foolish in his lifestyle, he calls on him to seek God and take his
plight as divine chastisement that will in turn bring good days. In all, Eliphaz
tends to comfort Job, on one hand, and on the other, chastise him.
 Job replies his friends but also directs his complaints to God. This is
instructive that we do not only speak about our hurts to mortals when it is
necessary but also “seek unto God” and commit our cause to Him. He knows
and sees what we do not know and see; and He is touched with the feelings of
our infirmities (Hebrews 4:15,16).

Question 1: What should be our duties to our brethren who hurt?

ELIPHAZ REASONS WITH JOB (Job 4:1-21; 5:1-27; James 3:1-8; Proverbs
12:18; 15:4; 21:23)

Having listened to Job’s complaints, Eliphaz addresses him on three main

issues – his impatience (verses 3-6), the cause of his affliction and the justice of
God (verses 8-21). In his introduction, he fell into the universal temptation of
the natural man – inability to tame the tongue (James 3:1-8). But with the
grace of God in the heart, believers are able to ensure that they are not only
slow to speak but also allow their words to be seasoned with salt in order to
minister grace to their hearers.
Although the comments of Eliphaz about God’s power to deal with the wicked
are true (Luke 1:52; 1 Corinthians 3:19), the application to Job was wrong. His
pronouncements pitch him against God who holds Job to be upright and
perfect (Job 1:7,8). God’s verdict about us is more important than people’s
opinion, praise or condemnation. His verdict on what Eliphaz and his friends
said about Job cautions us as limited creatures to be very slow to judge
especially when we do not have all the facts (Job 42:7-9). To accuse Job of
impatience, dishonesty and wickedness, and claim that his calamities were
occasioned by them, smacks of cruelty. Eliphaz even appealed to his vision
(Job 4:12-21) to defend the justice of God and nail Job as a hypocrite for
claiming to be righteous when he was not.

Question 2: What can we learn from Eliphaz’s speech?

We know that the righteous Abel was slain by Cain and the saintly Joseph
was persecuted, imprisoned and narrowly escaped death from the hands of his
cruel brothers and master. Until we get to heaven, our days on earth would be
a mix of pleasure and pain, chastisement and comfort. Our Lord Jesus Christ
says, “In the world ye shall have tribulations…” (John 16:33). Teachers and
preachers of the Word should declare the whole counsel of God to their
listeners whether they are newborn babes or long-standing believers in the
faith. Righteous living without persecution is strange to the wholesome
teachings of the Bible.
However, sin, wherever it is practised, whether among members or ministers,
attracts the judgment of God (Ezekiel 18:4). This is the theme Eliphaz pursues
in chapter 5:1-7. What we sow, we reap, as God cannot be mocked. The wicked
and the religious hypocrite may flourish for a while like flower; but they shall
soon fall under the judgment of God. He concludes his logic by claiming that
Job was suffering because of his sin. He suggested that Job should seek God in
repentance in order to reverse his days of suffering to days of pleasures and
peace (Job 5:8-27; Acts 3:19). For “Behold, happy is the man whom God
correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty”.
Eliphaz holds that discipline is healthy and temporary and will be followed by
healing and recovery (Proverbs 3:12; 23:13; Hebrews 12:4-13). Unknown to
him however, it was Satan (not God) that was buffeting Job. Beware of being
hasty in words and judgment (Proverbs 29:20)!

JOB REPROVES HIS FRIENDS (Job 6:1-30; 1 Kings 19:4; John 12:27;
Proverbs 17:17; 1:24; Romans 15:1)

“But Job answered and said, Oh that my grief were throughly weighed,
and my calamity laid in the balances together!” (Job 6:1,2). Job answers his
friends as he laments his poor state and acknowledges his helplessness in the
hand of God, which he ignorantly claims is responsible for his plight. We must
beware not to term the arrows of Satan, “the arrows of the Almighty” (Job
6:4). Paul the apostle rightly discerned that the buffeting he received were from
the messenger of Satan and prayed to God to take them away. Believers should
not be ignorant of the devices of the devil; neither should they associate their
afflictions to the hand of God. Some saints ignorantly accept Satan’s buffetings
as God’s operation to humble them.
Thus, Job desired God to terminate his life in order to end his sufferings as it
appeared to him that his afflictions rather than abate increased without any
hope of recovery (Job 6:1-13). How like Elijah who prayed God to take his life;
whereas, He had better and glorious days ahead for him! Many times, the fog of
present affliction blurs our vision of the dawning light and refreshing time at
the end of the tunnel (Jeremiah 29:11). Grieved by his friends’ cruel
accusation, Job accused them of being unsympathetic and demands evidence
of his sins while maintaining his right standing with God (Job 6:14-30).
However, Job reprimands his friends for their unkindness and lack of
sympathy. He says, “To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his
friend…” (Job 6:14). He expects them not to add to his anguish with
uncharitable words. This equally applies today: those who visit bereaved or
sick brethren should be careful not to add to their sorrow through unwise
counsels.

Question 3: What should be the Christian’s attitude and prayer during

affliction?

JOB REMONSTRATES WITH GOD (Job 7:1-21; Psalms 90:1-12; 115:16; Luke
16:19-31; Acts 7:59,60)
 Having replied and reproved Eliphaz, Job now turns from mortal men to the
immortal God who has answers and solutions to all our questions and
problems. When we are misunderstood and wrongly accused by people and
even close friends, rather than take laws into our hands, we should turn to
God in prayer and plead our case.
In his complaints to God, Job first acknowledges that our time on earth is
limited and fixed by Him. “Is there not an appointed time to man upon
earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?” (Job 7:1). To live
as if we own our lives is foolish and to live as if we shall be alive on earth
forever a greater folly. Even Moses prayed that God should “teach us to
number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom”. This
knowledge confirms our frailty (Psalm 39:4) and urges us to make each day
count for God and eternity. Like daily labourers look forward to the end of the
day, so all humans hasten to the close of their life on earth. We should spend
our days preparing to meet our God to account for what we have done on earth
and where we shall spend eternity, either with Him in heaven or with Satan in
the burning lake of fire.
Job’s comments in this chapter remind us of the certainty of death, the
shortness of life, the miseries that attend mortals and the speed with which
everyone hastens to their death. Death, as a fact of life, is certain. “And as it is
appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews
9:27). A scholar observed that we must be removed from the earth and moved
to an invisible world not to return to our house on earth again. This debunks
both the belief in annihilation and reincarnation. “The eye of him that hath
seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not. He
shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any
more” (Job 7:8,10). At death, humans cease to live on earth and their spirit go
to God if they had lived godly on earth; or go to hell if they had died in sin
(Luke 16:22,23).
Job acknowledges the frailty of all humans and thus complains why God
should take on such a worm as he (Job 7:17,18). Supposing that God was
punishing him for his sins, Job asks a number of questions, the same way we
ignorantly question God when we pass through nights of affliction. Finally, he
asks for pardon for his presumed transgression so that he might be relieved of
his sufferings or taken away by death. “…For now shall I sleep in the dust”.
To go to the great beyond with unforgiven sins will spell eternal punishment;
thus, Job asks for pardon. As sin, however small, will bar any soul from
heaven, so must we ensure that our account is settled before we close our eyes
in death.

Question 4: Why is it wrong to ask for death during trials and affliction?

However, for Job to ask for death is not what we should emulate, neither
should we contemplate death when we are in affliction. God determines our
pilgrimage on earth and reserves the right to ask us to come over. No person
should help another person, in any form, to terminate his/her life. Life is
sacred and only the Giver has the prerogative to take it when He pleases.
These chapters have revealed the limitation of humans (Job and his friends).
When we know and acknowledge our limitation, we are better positioned to
seek the limitless God for answers to life’s many questions. The afflicted should
seek God for relief not death, while those who sympathise with them should
avoid further hurt in the name of speaking for God (Galatians 6:2).