What did Job's friends do wrong?

from the old testament

• The book of Job is unique in Scripture because it’s the only place where we are allowed to get a behind-the-scenes peek at spiritual realities. It opens with two chapters that set up the “why” for everything else that follows. In it, we learn that Satan, among others, came before God two times (Job 1:8; 2:3–7). While Satan merely says that he has been “going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it,” we learn from God’s reply that Satan has been looking for someone to target: “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?” (Job 1:9). What happens to Job is specifically because Job is righteous but Satan believes he is only acting righteous and that he would curse God if bad things started to happen (Job 1:9–11).
• While we, the reader, know the reason, Job and his friends do not. Indeed, there’s no evidence in Scripture that Job ever finds out the true cause of his afflictions. Rather, one day Job is prosperous; then, in rapid succession, he loses all his property, and his kids are killed (Job 1:12–19). Then, as if things couldn’t get worse, Satan afflicts him with painful boils (Job 2:7). Job was therefore both internally and externally in great pain.
• At first, Job’s three friends (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar) act wisely by sitting with Job for a week, saying nothing (Job 2:11–13). They were mourning with him and showing solidarity with Job’s pain. However, then they began to speak. Their speeches, recorded in Scripture, actually contain sound theology and are worth reading. However, it was the application of their theology that was flawed.
• Their flawed argumentation can be summarized as the following: God judges unrighteous people (Job 8:20), bad things are examples of God’s judgement (Job 4:7–8), bad things are happening to Job, therefore, Job is unrighteous (Job 22:5). So, while everything they say is true about how the world works broadly, they assumed that bad things happen always means God is judging. Therefore, they wrongly judged Job as sinful, deserving of his suffering, and needing to repent (Job 22:5–9).
• Eliphaz, the oldest, argued from both spiritual experience and general observation of how the world works. He rightly noted the general observation that “As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed” (Job 4:8–9). But he had no room in his theology for other reasons why God might be working through suffering, so he implied that Job was sowing what he reaped.
• Bildad argued from tradition and ancient wisdom that God always rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. For example, implying that Job’s children must have sinned, he said, “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression” implying the same for Job unless “you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great” (Job 8:3–7).
• Zophar, the harshest of the three, said that Job deserved even worse than he was receiving and that he must repent immediately. He said, “For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God’s eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you, and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves” (Job 11:4–6).
• As the three men accused Job of sin, Job proclaimed his righteousness. As time went on, Job came dangerously close to sinfully accusing God of injustice, asking God Himself to explain why this was happening (Job 23:3–5).
• In contrast to those three, a fourth young friend, Elihu, provided wise counsel. It took the form of both rebuking Job for believing that his righteousness meant God was being unjust and the friends for their poor theology. We read, “Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong” (Job 32:2–3).
• Elihu wisely noted that God works in ways we don’t understand to mature one’s faith. He said, “For God speaks in one way, and in two, though man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, while they slumber on their beds, then he opens the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings, that he may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man; he keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword” (Job 33:14–18).
• The final word in the book of Job comes from God. Though He was not required to do so, He answered Job. He then rebuked the three friends for their poor wisdom, saying, “My anger burns against you [Eliphaz] and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has” (Job 42:7–8).
• Their theology of how things work was correct in a broad sense, but despite not seeing evidence that Job was sinning, they accused him of sinning because they lacked true wisdom about how God uses difficulties in this life. Sometimes God uses suffering to mature someone. It is not only used for judgment.

from the new testament

• In the New Testament, we read about an account of a man who was born blind. Seeing the man, Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Like Job’s three friends, the disciples held the view that disabilities were the direct result of sin.
• Jesus corrected them by answering, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). Jesus was teaching that disabilities or suffering in this life are not always the result of sin. In that particular man’s case, God had made him blind from birth so that He could display Jesus’ healing power through him.
• Some suffering is indeed the result of sin. Paul explained to the Corinthians that some had been sick and even had died because of their sin (1 Corinthians 11:30). So, it’s always worth double-checking to make sure one isn’t suffering because of sin. However, suffering is also how God matures and disciplines believers, strengthening their faith (James 1:2–4) and training them in obedience (Hebrews 12:5–11).
• Because of this, believers must be slow to accuse others of suffering because of some hidden sin. Rather, they are told to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15). Paul said, “Blessed be the … God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too” (2 Corinthians 1:3–5).

implications for today

What’s interesting about the book of Job is that it’s filled with solid theology that demonstrates a working knowledge of the results of evil and righteousness in this world, yet Job’s three friends so poorly apply it that it both hurt Job and invoked God’s wrath.

This should be a lesson to us. Far too many Christians have spoken truth into the lives of a hurting believer in such a way that it only caused harm. This does not mean we avoid truth, but we must remember that not every time is the right time to say everything. When a woman’s son has died unexpectedly, that is not the right time to tell them that her son is facing God’s wrath because he was an unbeliever. Or when a believer is diagnosed with cancer at a young age, that is not the right time to tell them that God disciplines His children. Likewise, Romans 8:28 should not just be automatically given as a response to someone going through something difficult. Be with the person. Mourn with them. Be the tangible hands and feet of Jesus. Then point them to Christ and truth when the time is right.

We are all to counsel one another (Romans 15:14), but we must do so with wisdom. Indeed, sometimes being a good counselor means keeping our mouths shut and weeping with them. There will be a time to speak truth into their lives to either correct or reassure them, but we must be wise about when, where, and whether to do so. We must also remember that we don’t know why God did something, so as we apply the truth, we must not do it like Job’s friends. Rather, it should be humbly and carefully done, and it should be done for their edification, not condemnation.