BibleProject | One Story That Leads to Jesusનમૂનો

What’s worse than receiving bad advice? Getting the same bad advice three times in a row. In today’s reading, we meet Job’s third friend, Zophar. He puts a new, crueler twist on the friends’ shared assumptions about suffering, retribution, and God’s justice.

Eliphaz focused on the positive implications of Job’s unswerving belief in his own innocence, trying to offer Job hope. Bildad at least talked about Job’s innocence as a conditional possibility. Zophar flat-out denies Job’s claim to innocence. For Zophar, Job’s suffering is irrefutable evidence of God’s just punishment for some wrongdoing: “Surely he recognizes deceivers; and when he sees evil, does he not take note?”

As far as Zophar is concerned, Job’s only hope is repentance. His suffering proves he’s done something terrible. Job’s only hope now is to beg for God’s mercy. Yikes. Imagine how helpless and misunderstood Job must have felt. His close friends are opting for simple, straightforward answers to life’s most complex issue, and they’re doing so in the middle of Job’s deepest pain.

Zophar assumes that if God runs the world according to justice, it is reasonable that the prosperous and safe are doing right while the poor and suffering are doing evil. In other words, you can judge a person’s character based on their wealth and prosperity. When someone is suffering or thriving, you can be sure they had it coming to them.

When Zophar condemns Job as an evil man based on what’s happened to him, Zophar is assuming that his perspectives are divine truths from God. It’s a dangerous assumption—one Jesus warned his followers to avoid.

Watch today’s video to learn more about why Jesus taught his followers not to follow in Zophar’s footsteps.

Reflection Questions

• Meditate on Matthew 7:1-5. When we feel the desire to judge others, what two things does Jesus encourage us to do instead?
• Look back to Leviticus 19:15. What does this verse say about partiality? How does this law help you understand Job’s response to his friends in Job 13:6-12?