Communion ( Job 20) prominent place given in the Bible to prophesying
70 Baffled to Fight Better
(c) The Agony of Dereliction ( Job 19:21–29) Have pity on me, have pity on me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. . . . For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth. ( Job 19:21, 25)
withdraws with descriptions; Zophar gives a disquisition as to why he turns on Job with disdain.
(b) The Disquisition of the Offensive
( Job 20:4–29) Knowest thou not this of old, since man was placed upon earth, that the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment? ( Job 20:4–5)
The question of immortality is not necessarily implied in Job's words; he is stating that he believes a time will come when an umpire will arise who will expound to him what he is going through—to the justification of God as well as of himself. It is heroism almost unequalled to say, as Job did, "Though He slay me, I will stick to it that God is a God of love and justice and truth. I see no way out at all, but I will remain true to my belief that when the whole thing is known God will not be condemned." All through Job refuses to take the easy way out along the line of his former creed.
One point of mercy is that the friends do not put the curse on Job directly. Cursing with us is only profane language, an expression and no more, but in the case of the curse of an Arab or a Hebrew the curse lies in the words themselves: if the curse is uttered it is impossible, according to their conviction, but that it shall fall. Zophar is uttering this kind of curse, only indirectly, and it gives his words tremendous power. The power of the spoken word accounts for the prominent place given in the Bible to prophesying and preaching.
3. The Recession of the Apprehension of Communion ( Job 20) The withdrawal of your most intimate friend with the conviction that you are wrong, means the loss of the atmosphere of comradeship and all that is represented by the closer intimacies of communion.
Job's strong utterances are not against God, but against the statements of his former creed. The man who will stand true to God behind the expression of his creed is true to his belief in God, instead of to the presentation of Him which is in dispute. If you listen to a man who has been sorely hit, he may utter what, to you who have not been hit, sounds blasphemous. Job's claim is that his friends ought to have known that it was not imagination made him speak as he did, but the fact that he had been desperately hard hit. The only way out for Job is not on the line of reason, but on the line of implicit confidence, such as he expresses in chapter 13—"Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him."
(a) The Disdain of the Offended ( Job 20:1–3) Then answered Zophar the Naamathite, and said, . . . I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causeth me to answer. ( Job 20:1, 3)
Zophar speaks with dignity, but dignity is not an indication of discernment. Zophar has listened to Job's words but not to the spirit of them; he is ashamed of the attitude his former friend has taken. A retreat from comradeship is nearly always covered by a terrific amount of utterance either in writing or speech. Bildad
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the prImal clash
Job 21–25
1. The Realising Sense of Perverseness ( Job 21)
If we are going to understand the ordinary run of human life we must take into account the extraordinary experiences and tragedies. One reason for the futility of pseudo-evangelism is that we have taken the mediocre man, the average man, as the one best able to expound Christian experience. Christianity does embrace the weakest and the feeblest, but it is the men of exceptional experiences, such as Job or the apostle Paul, who make clear the basis of things. The "Primal Clash" means that we are down to the foundation of things.
What is the Almighty that we should serve Him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto Him? . . . God layeth up His iniquity for His children: He rewardeth him, and he shall know it. . . . Behold, I know your thoughts and the devices which ye wrongfully imagine against me. . . . How then comfort ye me in vain, seeing in your answers there remaineth falsehood? ( Job 21:15, 19, 27, 34)