Wonderful medicine wrongly applied!

“Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? . . . Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee,” Job 22:5, 21

Our title, I suggest, is a good summary of the book of Job. The two verses I have quoted give us some idea of how the three companions of God saw his condition and that which would be the means of his deliverance if he but heeded them!

Eliphaz the Temanite, whose words these are, was one of the three companions of Job who had come to commiserate with him on hearing of the calamities that had overtaken him.

In Job chapters 1 and 2, we read of the catastrophic events that followed the Lord permitting the devil to test Job.

His livestock were stolen and those caring for them slaughtered (1:14-15); his sheep and their shepherds were destroyed by fire that fell down upon them (1:16); raiders stole his camels and killed his servants (1:17).

This was compounded by the fact that the tragic incidents happened on the same day.

It did not end there. We read in 2:7, “So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.”

As if that was not enough, his wife turned on him: “Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die,” Job 2:9.

I. JOB’S RESPONSE WAS MOST COMMENDABLE.

When the terrible events were reported to him by his servants, he reacted thus: “Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD,” Job 1:20-2:1.

When he became the direct subject of Satan’s cruelty, again he responded well to bodily afflictions and the taunts of his wife.

“But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips,” Job 2:10.

1. Sadly, I don’t believe that Job continued in this commendable frame of heart and mind. I am of the opinion that we should not be harsh in our judgment of Job for the trial he underwent is one that no human being has gone through before or since!

The devil was let loose on Job to a degree that he had never been granted before. The devil has always been under the restraining power of God. He is, as the Saviour tells us, “A murderer from the beginning,” John 8:44.

As such he would have killed every one of God’s people with the greatest joy! Peter also indicated the savage nature of the devil. “Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour,” 1 Peter 5:8.

Please note exactly what Peter says of the devil. He is “a roaring lion”, a hungry lion on the hunt. He is “seeking whom he may devour”. Were he not restrained by the Lord and instead had free access to the people of God, he would not have to walk about for he is surrounded by easily available prey. He is, however, as John Bunyan relates in his wonderful book, ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’, chained with a very limited movement possible.

The Psalmist refers to this protection.

“For thou, LORD, wilt bless the righteous; with favour wilt thou compass him as with a shield,” Psalm 5:12. The Lord is our shepherd, guarding the sheep from the lion and the bear! (Psalm 23).

2. In Job’s case, the Lord permitted the devil a great measure of freedom to attack Job. “And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown,” Job 2:3-7.

3. The devil was never able to attack a human being as he was permitted of God to attack Job. The Lord permitted it in order to show that His grace is able to keep His people from abandoning the Lord and turning against Him.

The devil, on the other hand, was sure he could bring this about. “And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD,” Job 1:7-12.

The devil was confident that should the Lord lift His protection from Job, then job, bereft of the favour he had enjoyed, would curse God. He was alluding to the common practice of both himself and unregenerate mankind — happy to bless God as long as things go well but all too ready to turn and curse Him when the tide of well-being turns!

II. I BELIEVE THAT THE WRONG ATTITUDE ADOPTED BY JOB’S ‘COMFORTERS’ SPRANG FROM THE DEVIL’S ENCOURAGING THEM TO FORM A FALSE VIEW OF THEIR ERSTWHILE FRIEND.

1. I wish to state first of all that I believe that Job’s ‘comforters’ were good men! What is said of Job at the very beginning of this book indicates that.

“There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil,” Job 1:1.

Such a man as this would not have anything other than godly men as his close, intimate and beloved friends. The Hebrew word translated ‘friends’, (ray’- ah) carries such a meaning.

2. The advice they gave to Job was good and in complete agreement with Gospel truth. The mistake they made was regarding Job’s spiritual state. They viewed him as a man in defiance of God.

Had they been correct, the solution they repeatedly pressed upon him was precisely what was needed by such a man and entirely in keeping with the Word of God.

3. But again, when the Lord called upon the three men to make amends for their miscalling of Job, I believe that what was required of them indicated they were saved men. “And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job. So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job,” Job 42:7-9.

This was before the introduction of the Levitical law and the ordaining of the priesthood when men could offer sacrifices before God for themselves and their families. The sacrifices were to be offered in the presence of Job and then he was to pray for them. This to me indicates that the three men were ready to acknowledge their repentance at their wrongful accusations of Job and then, his praying for them, would indicate that he had accepted their apology and forgave them.

If I am correct, then these were not unregenerate men but believers who had made a serious mistake and sinned against the Lord and against Job and needed pardon from both the Lord and from Job.

III. THESE GOOD MEN MADE THE MISTAKE OF JUDGING JOB ON THE BASIS OF A WRONG ASSUMPTION THAT A GOOD MAN COULD NOT SUFFER AS DID JOB.

That is not how the Lord judges men. “But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart,” 1 Samuel 16:7.

Samuel needed correcting for he had looked on the physical appearance of Jesse’s oldest son, Eliab, and assumed that such was his pleasing appearance that he must be the one the Lord has chosen as the king of Israel! He was very wrong.

In the same manner, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had completely misjudged Job on the basis of what he was experiencing!

1. Seeing Job’s sufferings, they concluded that such were the consequences of a visitation of God’s anger and judgment on him for wrongdoing!

This a very common mistake. “And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him,” John 9:2-3.

This man’s affliction was in order that the Lord should show forth His power and glory by healing him. So it was with Job; only in his case, it was a matter of showing the works of God in the preserving of Job from the devil’s vicious attack!

2. As I have already noted, had these men been correct in their assessment of Job, the counsel they gave him was very correct. Chapter 22 contains much sound Gospel truth. “Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.” verses 22-27.

But while it was WONDERFUL MEDICINE, a very wrong diagnosis of Job’s spiritual state had been made and therefore the good medicine was  WRONGLY APPLIED!

It was for this reason that the anger of Elihu, of whom we know little except that he was more wise than both Job and his three friends, was raised against the four men. “Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job,” Job 32:3. The anger of Elihu was also directed at Job. “Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God,” Job 32:2.

3. I said earlier that Job sadly had not continued in the spirit he manifested in chapter 1:20-22 and 2:10. No, he in turn misjudged the Lord and adopted too high a view of himself.

If you look at the many questions the Lord directed at him, recorded in chapters 38 to 41, it can be seen from the tenor of them that what Job had said in his defence against the accusations of his friends, was deemed by the Lord as an elevating of himself too highly. Job 40:9-10 clearly indicates that this was Job’s folly.

“Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.”

Humility restored

Job’s response to the Lord’s rebukes shows that he had been graciously restored to the spirit he showed at the beginning of this book.

“Then Job answered the LORD, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech thee, and I will speak: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,” Job 42:1-6.

4. How wonderfully Job was restored. “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him: every man also gave him a piece of money, and every one an earring of gold. So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses. He had also seven sons and three daughters. And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch. And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren. After this lived Job an hundred and forty years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, even four generations. So Job died, being old and full of days,” Job 42:10-17.

It also shows the great mercy of God. “And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before,” verse 10.

No man or woman or girl or boy was ever the poorer from obeying the Lord!

“The blessing of the LORD, it maketh rich, and he addeth no sorrow with it,” Proverbs 10:22.

I do not think that can be said of any enrichment that comes of any earthly endowment or bequest!

Dear reader, for this reason heed this sage advice from the Saviour!:

“Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof,” Matthew 6:31-34.

Rev Ivan Foster (Rtd)
1st March 2026