Understanding The Bible |
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Dr. Clarence E. Mason, Jr.
Philadelphia College of Bible
1970
JOBS THREE "FRIENDS" AND THE CENTRAL THEME THEY PRESENT
The Central Theme (or General
Theory), in which all three friends agreed is:
"Whoever perished being innocent?" (4:7)
They argued:
that Job had sinned and was hiding the fact
that God was punishing him for his sin
that only the wicked suffer
that they (the wicked) always suffer and
that they suffer in this life
that his sin must have been
great for his suffering was great
The Specific Emphasis with which
each of the three approached the subject was:
Eliphaz, as the man of experience, had seen the
evidence of life itself. (4:8) He had also seen a vision. (4:12)
Bildad, the man of tradition, harked back to what "the
fathers" had found. (8:8)
Zophar, the legalist, pierces Job with steel gray eyes and says
in essence: "You aren't getting half you deserve, Job!" (11:6)
This Central Theme (or General Theory), advanced by the three "friends", was however unsound:
because Job was not a secret sinner
God declared him (to Satan) to be a righteous man (1:8, 2:3)
God did not require Job to bring a
sacrifice, and vindicated him before the eyes of his "friends" (42:7-9)
Because it is not true that only the
wicked suffer (14:1). The righteous also suffer in a world which is
under the curse of sin. However, the suffering of the righteous is not
for punishment but rather for corrective instruction.
because, finally, the wicked are not always immediately punished (21:7-9). They often prosper--for a time--and some even "get off" in this life, though none ever "get off" in the life to come.
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