Eliphaz and Job in conversation

This transcript has been automatically generated

Well, thank you very much to Daniel and to Sarah for reading so beautifully. I hope you don’t mind us having those long readings. I just think it’s important with Job that we do have great chunks of it read and we feel the force of it. Before I start, I wanted to address very, very briefly a couple of good questions that have been passed on to me. And they’re these.

The first one is, someone has said, If God is so pure that he cannot see or look at evil, which is what the prophet Habakkuk says he is, how can Satan be in his cabinet? How can God have any dealings with Satan? And it’s a good question. I think the answer is that God can have no fellowship with evil in any way, but that doesn’t stop him using evil for good in his government of the world in some way. I think that’s that’s the main answer to that.

I hope so. The other question that’s been asked is, isn’t it self-centred and immoral of God to make the universe serve his own glory? After all, when human beings serve our own glory, we call it megalomania. So, isn’t it that in God? And I think just to illustrate this, If somebody suggested that Christopher Ash should be awarded a Nobel Prize for Chemistry, most of you would grasp that there was something inappropriate about that, with a rather modest O-level in the middle of the last century.

You know, there’s something that just isn’t right. But if you take a really distinguished scientist, chemist, and you say, let’s give him a Nobel Prize for Chemistry, you know, you might say, yes, that’s the right thing to do. And I think the point with God is that it’s a terrible thing when we steal glory from God. That is megalomania, when we pretend to be glorious. But it’s a right thing when all glory goes to the God who deserves it, because it’s his by right.

I think that’s the lines along which we should think about that. There’s something profoundly right about glory going to God. Do come back at me later on those if you’d like to. Let’s pray, and then I’m going to have a go. This is probably a mistake, but we’ll have a go at these 4 chapters, see how we go.

God our Father, we thank you that all the Bible is inspired by you and is profitable, and we pray that we might get from these chapters something of the profit that you have for us. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Yesterday we looked at chapters 1 and 2, the narrative which sets the story, it sets the scene and tells us what happens to Job and the arrival of his friends. We glanced very briefly at chapter 3, Job’s dark lament at the beginning. And now today and tomorrow we’re going to launch into these cycles of speeches which are told, I guess, in a fairly stylised way. So it’s very stylised. You have Eliphaz, the first comforter, and then Job replies, and then you have Bildad the second, and then Job replies, and then you have Zophar the third, and then Job replies.

First cycle. Then the second cycle, exactly the same: Eliphaz, Job, Bildad, Job, Zophar, Job. And then the third cycle begins the same way: Eliphaz, Job, Bildad, Job. But actually Zophar never gets a look in, in the third one. It kind of grumbles to a halt.

And, I mean, it’s 24 chapters’ worth of Scripture. It’s as long as Luke’s Gospel. And so it ought to be of some profit for us. And although we’re inclined to skip it because we read it and we think, I don’t know what’s going on here, I guess we ought to have a bit of a look at it. Just before we do, one or two sort of controls to help us to know how to read these things.

I’ve got 4, well, no, 4 controls. Here they are. First of all, just glance at chapter 42, verse 7. These are things to shape how we read these cycles of speeches. Chapter 42, verse 7.

So we’re cutting pretty much to the end. And in verse 7, the Lord says to Eliphaz the Temanite, as the leader, the representative of the 3 comforters, and the Lord says to him, my anger burns against you, and against your 2 friends, Bildad and Zophar, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So the first guideline is that God says that basically Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar are wrong and Job is right. And that’s a crucial control. Second control is simply to note that again and again and again Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar say things that are echoed elsewhere in the Bible, particularly in the Psalms and in Proverbs and in Hebrews.

And in one place, as we’re going to see in one of today’s chapters, Eliphaz is actually quoted by Paul in the New Testament. It’s the only clear New Testament quotation from the Old Testament, is from Eliphaz. And Paul says, it’s right. So, although God says the comforters basically get it wrong, they often say things that the rest of the Bible says. So that’s confusing.

Here’s the third control. Third control is that at the beginning of the Lord’s speeches, we don’t need to turn them up, but the 2 big speeches that God makes at the end, he rebukes Job for speaking out of turn. And he says, he describes Job as one who has spoken words without knowledge. In other words, God says Job was right and yet Job was wrong. And God says the comforters were wrong, and yet the rest of the Bible says they were sometimes right.

So we’ve really got to think about this, haven’t we? I mean, most of the Bible you think, well, I take it it’s right, and my job is to understand it and believe it and obey it. But here we’ve got stuff we don’t know whether it’s right or wrong, so it’s really quite stretching. The 4th control is simply to observe that neither Job nor his comforters know what has happened in chapters 1 and 2, the heavenly scenes. Neither of them know that.

Neither of them understand that there is such a thing as undeserved, innocent, and redemptive suffering. None of them understand what we would call the foolishness of the cross. And I think as we launch into this, the key thing to bear in mind is this. I think I’m right in saying that C.S. Lewis was once asked, what’s the difference between between Christianity and all other religions?

And he said, that’s easy, grace. Undeserved love, undeserved favour. That’s the thing that no other philosophy or religion has, but Christianity has. And I think the point is that the cost of undeserved love, the cost of grace, is undeserved suffering. And so what, in a sense, you’ve got is the counsellors who are saying stuff which— there is really very little place in their thinking for grace, whereas Job grapples towards it.

Let me give you a little extract from the prologue to the Geneva Bible, 1560, one of the great Reformation translations of the Bible into English. And the prologue to Job says this: In this story, we have to mark that Job maintains a good cause, that is, he’s basically right, but handles it evil. In other words, he says some things that are wrong. Again, his adversaries have an evil matter, so they’re basically wrong, but they defend it craftily. And I could read you more.

It’s an excellent prologue, actually. Just making the point that you’ve got to, we’ve got to think about this. So let’s launch in and then I’ll try and draw some conclusions from this when we get to the end. Let’s launch into Eliphaz’s first speech, chapters 4 and 5. And we’ll go at quite a lick, if that’s all right.

Well, I’m sure it’s all right, otherwise you’ll never get coffee. So we’ll go at quite a lick, and I want us to try and get a feel. We won’t look at every detail. So chapter 4, verse 1, Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said— Job has just lamented bitterly, chapter 3— and he says, Verses 1 to 11, basically he says to Job, look, you know the system, stick with it. So, if one ventures a word with you, verse 2, will you be impatient or irritated?

Why are you so cross? Who can keep from speaking? We’ve got to tell you, say things to you, because, verse 3, you’ve instructed people, many people, you’ve strengthened weak hands, your words have upheld him who was stumbling, you’ve made firm the feeble knees. In other words, you’ve said to other people exactly what we’re about to say to you. Job’s understanding of right and wrong and punishment and blessing is basically exactly the same as theirs at the beginning of the book.

It isn’t by the end, but it is at the beginning. And he says, so Eliphaz, look, you know, you’ve said this kind of stuff to other people. You’ve told them the system. You’ve told them the rules. So don’t get cross when we tell it to you.

But now, verse 5, trouble has come to you, and so you’re impatient. You can’t bear it. You’re discouraged. It touches. And the word touch is a strong word.

It strikes you. And you’re dismayed. But you shouldn’t be, verse 6, because your piety, or your fear of God, your godliness should be your confidence. The integrity, the blamelessness of your ways should be your hope. Because you know the system and you know that if you’re blameless, things are bound to turn out right.

Because remember, verse 7, this is a very important verse, who that was innocent ever perished? Answer, of course, nobody. Where were the upright? Cut off, destroyed. Of course they weren’t.

It’s wonderfully unfalsifiable.

If somebody is destroyed, they must have been guilty. Very simple system. If somebody suffers, they can’t be innocent. It is, of course, exactly what the world thinks. So, do you remember near the end of the Acts of the Apostles, Paul They’re shipwrecked and he lands on Malta and a viper fastens itself to Paul.

And the people say exactly what Job’s comforters say, no doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, justice has not allowed him to live. You know, here’s a viper about to bite him and kill him, so he must be a murderer. That’s the way the world thinks. That’s the way human philosophy and religion thinks.

And that’s the way Eliphaz thinks. Who that was innocent ever perished? It’s unthinkable. Because, verse 8, as I have seen, I’ve observed this, people who plough iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. He brought his trouble on himself.

That’s how trouble comes. It’s not dissimilar from Galatians 6. We reap what we sow. But the reaping in Galatians is at the end of time. And the reaping here is in this life.

So if you plough iniquity and sow trouble, you’re going to get trouble. If you’ve got trouble, it must be because you ploughed it and sowed it, you did it. And I know what happens, he says, verse 9, by the breath, the wind of God, they perish. Do you remember how Job’s children died? A wind of God came, like a tornado, destroyed the house.

That’s what happens to wicked people. They’re consumed. This is their system. And I’ve observed, he says, verses 10 and 11, that the lion— and the lion is a picture here of the arrogant wicked oppressing the poor— the roar of the lion, the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions are broken, because God destroys them. God punishes the wicked.

The strong lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered. God punishes people. You know that, Job. That’s the system.

That’s the rules. So don’t complain about it. And then he buttresses it by a bit of spirit, what we would call spirituality, in verses 12 to 21. This is spooky. He says, now, he says, a word was brought to me stealthily.

My ear caught it, the whisper of it, amid thoughts from visions of the night. Hitchcock would love this. When deep sleep falls on men, deep sleep, utterly passive, Dread came upon me and trembling which made all my bones shake, and a spirit, a breath, glided past my face, a gust of wind. The hair of my flesh stood up, my hair stood on end. It stood still.

I couldn’t discern its appearance. I couldn’t tell what it was. There was a form before my eyes. There was silence, and then I heard a voice. So what I’m about to tell you is the result of my spirituality.

And you cannot contradict spirituality. Isn’t that contemporary? God has told me this. No argument. Can mortal man be in the right before God?

Can man be pure before his Maker? The NIV has, can mortal man be more righteous than God? I think in this case the ESV gets it, gets it right. Can mortal man be in the right before God? Which is actually Satan’s question in chapters 1 and 2.

And the wonderful answer of the Bible is actually, yes, mortal man can be in the right before God by faith and by grace. But Eliphaz doesn’t think that’s possible. And Eliphaz says, no, surely not, because, verse 18, even in his servants, his angels, he puts no trust, he charges them with error. How much more we who are just built of clay? We have foundations in the dust, we’re fragile, we’re crushed like a moth.

Between morning and evening, just like that, beaten to pieces, perish forever without anyone noticing. And we’re just like a tent, our tent cord, you know, like just you pull the tent cord out and something which was a world of activity, a tent with campers, it’s just a piece of inert material. That’s what happens when we die. And without that, without wisdom. So he says, you know that, and there’s no point arguing.

Very similar to Islam, actually. A friend of mine who works with Muslims was saying that the more he reads Job’s comforters, the more he thinks how similar their theology is to the theology of Islam. Just a thought. 1 to 7 of chapter 5, he says, call now, which is what Job has been doing. Call out, but there’s nobody’s going to listen.

Is there anyone who’s going to answer you? Which are the holy ones? Is there a mediator? Is there somebody in God’s cabinet who’s going to listen to you, who’s going to have access to God? Nobody’s going to listen to you.

You can shout your head off, nobody’s going to listen. So don’t get so vexed, verse 2. Vexation kills the fool, and jealousy or envy or crossness, burning anger slays the simple. It just shows you’re stupid. So don’t get so cross about it, because verse 3, I, and the I’s emphatic, I’ve seen the fool taking root.

Sometimes the fool doesn’t just get wiped off the map straight away. I’ve seen foolish people taking root. But suddenly I cursed, or possibly I declared his dwelling to be cursed. And I’ve noticed that what happens to him, even if things go well for a while, is verse 4, his children aren’t safe. Remember what’s happened to Job’s children?

They’re crushed in the gate, the place of the law court, in court. There’s no one to deliver them. And the hungry people eat the harvest of the rich person. They take the harvest and steal from him and get it. Because, verse 6, affliction, or misery, doesn’t come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.

It doesn’t just happen. But man is born to, or man engenders, or man gives birth to trouble, like sparks flying upwards. Flying upwards is an unnatural thing. But human wickedness is an unnatural thing. And we generate our own trouble.

So don’t complain about it when it comes. You know, you’re a sinner, it’s bound to happen.

Then 8 to 16, as for me, if it were me, and there is, I think, a certain sensitivity, although Eliphaz is actually deeply wrong and deeply hurtful, I think he’s being kinder here than he is in the passage we’re going to look at tomorrow, in his second speech. He says, look, I would seek, or I would appeal to God, and to God I’d commit my cause, because God is very good. He does great and unsearchable things. He does marvellous things. He gives rain, verse 10.

He sends water. He sets on high those who are lowly. It’s like the Gospel, isn’t it? It’s Hannah’s song, the Magnificat. Those who mourn are lifted to safety.

That’s what God does. And he doesn’t like the crafty people. He frustrates their devices, verse 12. Their hands achieve no success. Verse 13, quoted in 1 Corinthians 3, he catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick, quick end.

So don’t try to be too clever for God, Job. You know the rules. The rules are simple. You do bad things, bad stuff will happen to you. You do good things, good stuff will happen to you.

Don’t you try to be too clever for God, because God will beat you at that game. And that’s right. Paul quotes it, 1 Corinthians 3:19. And so what happens to crafty people, verse 14, is they meet with darkness in the daytime. Things are going well in the middle of the day, suddenly everything goes dark.

They grope at noonday as in the night. But, but, verse 15, God saves needy people from the sword in their, in the crafty people’s mouth. He rescues people, and from the hand of the mighty. And so poor people have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. So cry out to God, repent, call out to God, say, I’m a sinner, I’m sorry, I realise that.

Please rescue me. That’s what you need to do, Job. And then 17: Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves, or corrects. This is the blessing of discipline. Pretty much the same thing in Psalm 94: Blessed is the person you discipline, O Lord.

So don’t despise the discipline of the Almighty. Hebrews 12 says something very similar. Because he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, his hands heal. He’ll deliver you from 6 troubles; in 7, no evil shall touch you. So cry out to him, don’t despise his discipline, repent.

That’s what I’d do, says Eliphaz. And it’ll be wonderful, because in famine he’ll redeem you from death, in war from the power of the sword. You’ll be hidden from the lash of the tongue, you won’t fear destruction when it comes. Destruction and famine, you’ll laugh at it. You won’t fear the beasts of the earth, you won’t fear disaster.

You’ll be in league with the stones of the field, the beasts of the field will be at peace with you, your farming will go well. Which is not exactly what’s happened to Job. You’ll know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold, or your property, and miss nothing, which is not exactly what’s happened to Job, is it? Inspect his fold and miss nothing. He’ll inspect his fold and find nothing.

It’s all gone. And you’ll know that your offspring will be many. You’ll have lots of children. It’s a funny thing to say to a man who had 10 children who’ve all died, isn’t it? Your descendants like the grass of the earth.

And you’ll come to the grave in ripe old age. There’ll be no untimely death for you, like a sheaf gathered up in its season at harvest time. And then there’s a certain confidence about this, verse 27, we’ve searched this out, it’s true. Hear, listen, apply this to yourself, know it. So there’s no place in Eliphaz’s thinking for undeserved love or undeserved suffering, and there’s no place in his thinking for the foolishness of the cross.

And there’s no place in his thinking for a man who’s actually in the right relationship with God and whose sins are in some way covered.

No place at all. And therefore, although he says a number of things that are true, it’s not right and appropriate for Job. We’ll go straight on to Job. Are you still— you got your seatbelts on? Nobody’s come adrift at this point?

Let’s keep going. I want us to try and feel the force of this. So Job replies, and it’s a little bit of a dialogue of the deaf, because I’m not sure that Job’s listened very much to them, and I don’t think they’ve listened very much to him. But the first thing Job says in 1 to 13 is this. Eliphaz has said, look, the words you’re speaking, your angry, vexed words, show that you’re a fool and you’re not wise.

And Job says in 1 to 13, look, my words don’t show that I’m a fool. They show the depth of my misery. And if you only understood my misery, you wouldn’t say that kind of thing. So verse 2, oh, that my vexation— same word as chapter 5, verse 2— my vexation, my anguish were weighed, my calamity, my misery laid in the balances. If only you could weigh it, you’d understand it was heavier than the sand of the sea.

That’s why I’ve spoken these impetuous or rash words. They just show the misery, the depth of it. Because, verse 4, God has been firing at me his arrows, like poison arrows, which were very common in the ancient Near East. And you know, sometimes if you get a poisoned finger or a poisoned toe, how you get that dreadful burning sensation inside. And he says, it feels to me as though God has been firing poisoned arrows at me and they’re just burning me up inside.

God’s terrors are arrayed against me. And then there’s another image. It’s full of imagery, isn’t it? Verse 15, a wild donkey doesn’t bray when it has grass, when it’s got a diet that it can cope with and eat. Or an ox doesn’t make a noise when it’s got fodder.

But when you have a diet that’s inedible, something you just can’t digest, well, then it’s not surprising you make a noise. So, verse 6, there’s a little translation uncertainty, but basically he’s saying, You know, if I have a diet of stuff that is tasteless and revolting and disgusting, verse 7, it’s not surprising I won’t touch it because that’s what I’ve been offered. That’s what’s been put before me in life, a diet that’s disgusting and revolting, loathsome. And I wish I could die, verse 8 and 9. I wish God would crush me.

I wish God would kill me. And that would be my comfort, if only I could die. Because I wouldn’t have denied God. But verses 11, 12, 13, he’s saying, I’m not strong enough to cope with this. What is my strength that I should wait or hope?

What prospects have I got? What’s my end that I should be patient? Am I strong like stones or bronze? No, I’m not. I haven’t got power to help myself.

I haven’t got help. I I haven’t got resources. I haven’t got success. I cannot cope with this. So listen to me.

And then he rebukes his friends in 14 to 30. He talks from his own— turns from his lament to rebuking his friends. And he turns to his 3 friends and he says, he who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. In other words, it’s you who aren’t fearing God. It’s you who aren’t pious because you’re not kind to me.

And there is a cruelty in every human philosophy and every human religion, because there’s no grace in it. And there is a cruelty in that, that can bring no comfort to the sufferer. You withhold kindness. And you’re like, verses 15 to 19, there’s a vivid image. You’re treacherous like a torrent bed or an intermittent stream.

You know, a desert wadi, that in the winter where there’s been snow coming down from the mountain, it’s a place where there’s water to be found. Dark with ice and the snow hides itself there. But in the summer, verse 17, it melts and the water goes and there’s no more water there. And the caravans crossing the desert, they say, oh, I remember there was water up there. And they go up there where the wadi was, verse 18, and they take this detour, costly detour up there.

And they say, I know they’ll be able to help. There’ll be water there. And they find there isn’t any water there at all, verse 20. They’re ashamed. They’re put to shame.

They find there isn’t. They were confident. Job says, I thought you’d be able to help me, but you’re like an unreliable desert wadi. And now you’ve become nothing. You see my calamity, you’re frightened.

And all I’m asking you is to say the right words. So verse 22, I haven’t asked you for a gift, I haven’t asked for a bribe, I haven’t asked for a ransom, I haven’t asked for rescue, I haven’t asked for anything very big. All I’m asking for is for you to tell me the truth. And you won’t do that. Verse 24, teach me.

And I’ll be silent. Make me understand how I’ve gone astray. Show me where I’ve gone wrong, if I have gone wrong. Upright words, verse 25, honest words are forceful, but yours aren’t. Yours are just painful.

What does reproof from you, what do your arguments prove? You’re not proving anything. Do you think you can reprove words? Do you think you can correct what I say? When— I think the NIV is better here, and You treat the words of a despairing man as wind.

You treat what I say as just empty fluff. And so you’re no help at all. You’re not really listening. You don’t really care, verse 27. You’d cast lots over the fatherless.

You’d bargain or barter away your friend. You don’t really care about me. But now please, verse 28, this is so painful, isn’t it? Look at me. It seems they’ve turned away.

And they’re declaiming their system, but they’re not even looking at him. Look at me. I’m not going to lie to your face. I’m not going to tell you I’m innocent when I’m not. Please turn.

Please relent. Verse 29, don’t let injustice be done or false testimony. Turn. Reconsider. My vindication, my integrity is at stake.

Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the course of calamity? Please, please, please listen. And then he turns to God in chapter 7, and this is a wonderful moment, it’s a very significant moment. He addresses God.

And he says in verses 1 to 10, he talks about the transience and misery of life. Hasn’t man a hard service on earth? Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand? Isn’t it miserable being a human being? It’s like a slave longing for the shadows, the evening shadows, working away in the hot Middle Eastern sun as a slave in the fields, gasping for some shadow, like a hired hand looking for his wages, because I need them every day because I’m so poor.

Allotted months of emptiness, of futility, pointlessness, nights of misery. And the sleeplessness. I lie down and I say, oh, how long before I get up? But it’s a long night and I’m tossing to and fro, verse 4. I’m sleepless.

And my flesh, my skin, clothed with scabs and worms and dirt and festering and horrible. I’m delirious. And my days, although my nights are long, my days are swift. My prime of life is disappearing like a weaver’s shuttle, just going to and fro and to and fro and to and fro. And they’re coming to an end without hope.

Remember, and he’s calling to God here, verse 7, that my life is a breath. My life will never again see good, happiness, pleasure. I’ll be gone. The person who sees me now won’t see me anymore. You’ll be looking for me, I’ll be gone like a cloud.

You know, a cloud goes across the sky and it vanishes without trace. You can’t ever get it back. That’ll be me. I’ll go down to Sheol, the place of the dead. It’s the place of no return.

And I’m never going to come back. It’s like Thomas Hobbes’ famous comment that the life of man is nasty, poor, brutish, and short. And he complains to God, verse 11, that’s why I’m not going to restrain my mouth. I’m going to speak in the anguish of my spirit, complain in the bitterness of my soul. It’s the only relief I’ve got is to be able to speak.

It’s all I can do. And he says to God, am I the sea, which is a picture of hostility to God in Bible imagery, or the sea monster? We’ll meet him later, Leviathan, the cosmic anti-God monster. We’ll see him on the last day, I think God will— well, I mean, I hope we won’t literally see him, but we’ll read about him. Am I so dangerous to you, God, that you set a guard over me?

And verse 13, I go to bed and I say, well, at least I can have some sleep and have a little bit of peace, but then you frighten me with dreams and visions. I’d rather be strangled rather than have this bone, my bones, this body of mine. I loathe my life. I don’t want to live Leave me alone, he says to God. And then this parody of Psalm 8: What is man, verse 17, that you make so much of him?

You set your heart on him, you give him so much attention, you visit him, and it’s not a nice friendly visit, this is a visit from the secret police. Every morning you come to me like the secret police knocking on my door. You test me, you won’t give me a moment’s peace. How long will you not look away from me? Just won’t you just look away from me?

Just give me a moment’s keep peace. Just give me time to swallow my spit. It’s unrelenting. There’s no respite. Even if I do sin, he says, verse 20, does it really hurt you so much?

Is it such a big deal to you, you watcher of mankind? Usually, God’s watchfulness in the Bible is a good thing over his people, but Job experiences it as a terrible thing and an oppressive thing. Why have you made me your mark, something you hit like a punch bag? Why have I become so burdensome to you? Why don’t you pardon my transgression?

Job’s not claiming to be sinless, but he’s claiming to be someone who repents and who understands the value of sacrifice. We saw that at the beginning. He offers sacrifices. And take away my iniquity, because I’m going to lie on the earth, you’ll look for me, and I won’t be there anymore, and then you’ll be sorry.

Let’s try and draw some of this together. Neither Eliphaz nor Job understand undeserved suffering. That’s the key thing. But they come at it different ways. Eliphaz says, I’ve got a system.

Job is suffering, so he must deserve it. He’s suffering, so it must be deserved. When did the righteous, when did the innocent perish. Unthinkable. His children must have been guilty.

He must be guilty. That’s why he’s suffering. Job doesn’t understand suffering, but Job knows that he doesn’t deserve it. He knows he’s a sinner, but he knows that he’s a forgiven sinner, or he thinks he’s a forgiven sinner. He’s a believer.

He understands sacrifice. He doesn’t know about the cross, of course, but in principle he understands sacrifice. He knows that he doesn’t deserve this. He knows this isn’t a punishment sin. And so he cannot understand why he’s suffering.

Now, of the two, Job is on the path to enlightenment.

Eliphaz is on the path to nowhere. Never let the evidence get in the way of a good theory is Job’s motto— is Eliphaz’s motto. Got a good theory? Never let the evidence get in the way. And there’s an irony that 1 Corinthians chapter 1, which talks about the foolishness of the cross, and which is the passage that Eliphaz quotes— I mean, sorry, where Eliphaz is quoted, actually turns against, rebounds against Eliphaz.

And it is the foolishness of the cross that Job is finally going to understand. He doesn’t yet understand it, but he will finally understand it. Now, someone said to me yesterday what a good thing it is that we can do this in a week’s summer school. Because I can be pretty confident, God willing, that you’ll be here tomorrow.

And so, whereas if this was a series of 6 Sunday sermons, I couldn’t stop the way I’m about to stop. I wouldn’t be a minister of the Gospel if I did that. I can at a summer school. And so I’m going to stop there and I’m going to leave us with Eliphaz, who gets so much right but is basically wrong because he doesn’t understand. Grace.

And with Job, who’s just grappling, and he hasn’t got far yet, but he’s grappling with— he knows that, or thought he was in right relationship with God, and he cannot understand why this is happening to him. He just can’t get it yet, but he’s on the road to enlightenment, and Eliphaz isn’t. I’m going to stop there, and I think Jeremy’s going to come and pray. Certainly needs to.