Were Job, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar Speaking by Inspiration, and how Must We Read Job 3-31?

[Ed Walsh]

I would be concerned about speaking of a person of the Trinity being comparatively or objectively absent from the OT.

Oh, don't be so dramatic. I just mean that the Father "usually" speaks from heaven to His Son Jesus, who is on earth. Consider also Jesus' baptism by John, where the Son and the Father were located. And, yes @LittleFaith , I do most definitely hold to the doctrine of God's omnipresence (which applies to each of the Three). Then there is the Transfiguration. There are many places in Scripture where the location of Persons of the Trinity.

What do you make of Jude 1:5-7 ESV quoted above, where Jesus is described as the one with boots on the ground? This puts Jesus in a role we were all sure explicitly referred to the Father.

I hope I don't have to state the doctrine of the Trinity for someone who thinks I strayed.

Finally, this is a theory of mine is under consideration. This little man would NEVER knowingly hold to any view contrary to or in addition to that truth as confessed by the Church.

 

[LittleFaith]

I have come to think that the party the most absent from the Old Testament is God the Father.

With respect, I was responding to the above statement which you underlined. I don't think I was being dramatic, but you did explicitly ask for cautions from your fellow brothers. I provided one.

Oh, don't be so dramatic.

 

[Redeemed Ronin]

What is the title of that commentary?

The commentary is titled Job: The Wisdom of the Cross. It's a part of Crossway's Preaching the Word series. You should be able to find it anywhere that carries books from Crossway (Amazon, Reformation Heritage Books, Westminster Store, etc.). I've found everything I've read from Ash to be approachable and edifying.

 

[LittleFaith]

The commentary is titled Job: The Wisdom of the Cross. It's a part of Crossway's Preaching the Word series. You should be able to find it anywhere that carries books from Crossway (Amazon, Reformation Heritage Books, Westminster Store, etc.). I've found everything I've read from Ash to be approachable and edifying.

Thank you, brother!

 

[No Other Name]

The commentary is titled Job: The Wisdom of the Cross. It's a part of Crossway's Preaching the Word series. You should be able to find it anywhere that carries books from Crossway (Amazon, Reformation Heritage Books, Westminster Store, etc.). I've found everything I've read from Ash to be approachable and edifying.

I echo JP in saying thanks. I put it on my New Years' watch list for Crossway but I am tempted to get it sooner.

 

[Sam Jer]

Oh, don't be so dramatic. I just mean that the Father "usually" speaks from heaven to His Son Jesus, who is on earth. Consider also Jesus' baptism by John, where the Son and the Father were located. And, yes @LittleFaith , I do most definitely hold to the doctrine of God's omnipresence (which applies to each of the Three). Then there is the Transfiguration. There are many places in Scripture where the location of Persons of the Trinity.

What do you make of Jude 1:5-7 ESV quoted above, where Jesus is described as the one with boots on the ground? This puts Jesus in a role we were all sure explicitly referred to the Father.

I hope I don't have to state the doctrine of the Trinity for someone who thinks I strayed.

Finally, this is a theory of mine is under consideration. This little man would NEVER knowingly hold to any view contrary to or in addition to that truth as confessed by the Church.

Jude 1:5-7 KJV could refer to the Son, it is quite likely. But it could also refer to the Father, or perhaps to Jehovah our God, who is one Jehovah (Deuteronomy 6:4 YLT).

 

[No Other Name]

This little man would NEVER knowingly hold to any view contrary to or in addition to that truth as confessed by the Church.

Keeping in mind that I am happy to agree with you here, can you confirm if you meant "the Man on the scene" in Job was Elihu? Are you (were you) suggesting Elihu was a Christophany in Job? Is there a text I don't recall suggesting God the Son had his "boots on the ground" in Job?

 

[En Kristo]

Here are a couple of thoughts that I have found helpful.

John Calvin, in his sermons on Job, explains that Job has a good case, but argues it badly. Job’s friends have a bad case, but they argue it well.

What Job's friends say is generally true. Their problem is that they do not understand the truth nor do they know how to apply it. Off the top of my head, I cannot recall any of the theological statements that they made that were not true as stated, though they were often misapplied. They said unkind things to Job, but concerning their pronouncements of God, on one level they are quite true.

The main thesis of the friends is the principle of retribution: God is just and a just God punishes the wicked and rewards the righteous. The corollary is that if someone is suffering, it is because of their sin. Well, there is some truth to that. Read Deuteronomy chapters 27 and 28. Read Psalm 37:25, I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. Paul writes (Gal. 6:7), Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. But Job is a wisdom book. It teaches us to think about how to apply that principle.

John Calvin writes: "[Job’s] visitors adopt a principle that is not true, namely, that God always treats men in this earthly life as they deserve. That notion is completely false, for we observe the opposite, and Scripture confirms it and experience provides a second verification." [Sermons on Job: Chapters 1-14, Banner of Truth (Kindle Locations 2906-2908)]

In the long run, God will punish every sin, either in the wicked in hell, or in Jesus on the cross. But between now and glory, God never treats us as we deserve and he causes the rain to fall on the just and unjust alike. Innocent people suffer; the wicked prosper (Psalm 73).

So, the problem is that the friends speak truth, but they do not properly apply the truth. They lack wisdom. They lack empathy. There is no room in their theology for the suffering of the innocent. They have no room for the works of Satan. Their's is a wooden, ham fisted application of theology.

Eliphaz, for example, is capable of praising God in poetry worthy of a Psalm by David:

Job 5:17 “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves;

therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.

18 For he wounds, but he binds up;

he shatters, but his hands heal.

19 He will deliver you from six troubles;

in seven no evil shall touch you.

20 In famine he will redeem you from death,

and in war from the power of the sword.

21 You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue,

and shall not fear destruction when it comes.

22 At destruction and famine you shall laugh,

and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.

23 For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,

and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

24 You shall know that your tent is at peace,

and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.

25 You shall know also that your offspring shall be many,

and your descendants as the grass of the earth.

26 You shall come to your grave in ripe old age,

like a sheaf gathered up in its season.


What Eliphaz says is not only true, it is worshipful. Our problem is that there is something unsettling about affirming something said by a person denounced by God. If Hitler had composed a theologically correct prayer, who would pray it?

Job is wisdom literature. It isn't meant to be read quickly. It is meant to draw you into contemplation and meditation. One of the riddles to wrestle with is the fact that what Job's friends say is true, but nevertheless wrong and worthy of God's disapprobation.