Podcast 20, Stories of the Bible, “The Book of Job, Ch 6”

Perhaps most Christians agree that the Sermon on the Mount is the greatest sermon ever given. It is universal in its application, and if followed, all nations could live in peace. It is in the Sermon on the Mount that we get the following gem.

Matthew 7:1-5

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

In Chapter 5 Eliphaz assumed Job had done some great sin that brought upon him his great misery. Job, though he does not understand the cause of his suffering, knows it is not because of serious sin. Part of Job’s universal appeal is that all of us at one time or another in our lives find ourselves questioning the ways of God. His purposes are not always transparent. When is he involved in our lives? What is his relationship to our suffering? How can he be a just God when we are punished unjustly? What did I do to deserve this?  Many have turned against God because of what they perceived as unjust suffering. It makes it even harder when others judge us unfairly as Eliphaz, who was supposed to be Job’s friend, did to Job. Let’s consider Job’s answer to Eliphaz.

Job 7:1-2

 “But Job answered and said, Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together!”

Balances are scales, often used to precisely measure value. In Job’s case cause and effect. Job’s greatest desire is to have his grief “thoroughly weighed.” He wants to know the true cause of his suffering. Think of the implications of that desire. If he knew the exact cause, he would know the remedy. Is there a human being that doesn’t have that same desire? Think of it in medical terms, in spiritual terms, in emotional terms, in psychological terms. What power such knowledge would give us over our fate. 

 Eliphaz takes a very narrow view. He lays the blame entirely upon Job’s sin without telling him what those sins are. He assumes guilt where there is none. He does not weigh Job’s suffering fairly. The scales are imbalanced. In other words, the suffering does not equal the sin. Job is not perfect, but he knows that the loss of his children and the destruction of his servants and the loss of his possessions far outweigh any sin that he has ever been guilty of. Job wants justice. He laments

Job 6:3

“For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up.”

Anyone who has carried a bucket of sea sand knows how heavy it is when wet. Job compares his sorrow to the weight of all the sand of the sea. He not only has the weight of the sand, but also the weight of the sea sitting on the sand. He uses hyperbole to express the unfathomable depth of his sorrow. He wants it “thoroughly weighed, and his calamity laid in the balances together.”

Eliphaz cannot do that, yet he presumes to judge Job. 

No language can comfort Job. The image brilliantly shows the inadequacy of words to give comfort to one in need of comfort, yet words are all they receive. The person trying to give comforting words seldom if ever understands how meaningless they are. They turn to Hallmark cards with their syrupy sentimentality.