Job 6

“But what Satan could not do with all his Sabeans, and all his Chaldeans, and all his winds from the wilderness to help him, that he soon did with the debating approaches and the controversial assaults of Eliphaz, and Zophar, and Bildad, and Elihu. Oh, the unmitigable curse of controversy!” —A W

The three friends were silent for seven days (Job 2:13), and Job later wished they had stayed that way (13:5). “Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered [Job].” But what did he answer? The pain in Job’s heart? No, he answered the words from Job’s lips; and this was a mistake. A wise counselor and comforter must listen with the heart and respond to feelings as well as to words. You do not heal a broken heart with logic; you heal a broken heart with love. Yes, you must speak the truth; but be sure to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15).

Job responded with two passionate appeals. First, he appealed to his three friends that they might show more understanding and sympathy (Job 6). Then he appealed to God, that He would consider his plight and lighten his sufferings before he died (Job 7).

Job’s appeal to his friends (Job 6). Only Eliphaz had spoken so far, but Job could tell that Bildad and Zophar agreed with him. Not one of his friends identified with what Job was going through physically and emotionally. It was one thing for them to sit where he sat and quite something else for them to feel what he felt (Ezek. 3:15). The child who defined “sympathy” as “your pain in my heart” knew more about giving comfort than did these three.

To begin with, they didn’t feel the heaviness of his suffering (Job 6:1–3). No wonder Job had spoken so impetuously! His friends would have done the same thing if they carried the load that he carried. Job didn’t have the full revelation of heaven that believers have today, so his future was dim. We can read 2 Corinthians 4:16–18 and take heart.

Nor did his friends understand the bitterness of his suffering (Job 6:4–7). Job felt like a target at which God was shooting poisoned arrows, and the poison was making Job’s spirit bitter. God had His army in array, shooting at one weak man; and Job’s friends were adding to the poison. What Job needed were words of encouragement that would feed his spirit and give him strength, but all his friends fed him were words that were useless and tasteless. If his complaint sounded like the braying of a donkey or the lowing of an ox, it was because, like a starving animal, he was hungry for love and understanding.

Job tried to get them to feel the hopelessness of his situation (vv. 8–13). Prolonged and intense suffering can make a person feel powerless to handle life, and this can lead to hopelessness. If you can’t control some of the elements that make up life, how can you plan for the future? Job asked, “What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient?” (v. 11 niv). In other words, “What am I waiting for? Life is only getting worse!”

Hopelessness can lead to a feeling of uselessness; and when you feel useless, you don’t want to live. This explains why Job wanted God to take his life (3:20–23; 6:8–9; 7:15–16; 10:18–19; 14:13). Job didn’t attempt this himself, for he knew that suicide was wrong; but he prayed that God might take him out of his misery. Job’s friends were healthy and comfortable and didn’t know the burden of waking up each morning to another day of suffering. Job’s strength was gone, and he felt useless (6:12–13).

Courageously, Job pointed out the ineffectiveness of their ministry to him (vv. 14–30). They didn’t pity him or try to meet his needs. They were like a dry brook in the desert that disappoints thirsty travelers. They were his “friends” as long as he was prosperous; but when trouble came, they turned against him.

Job made two requests of his friends: “Teach me” (v. 24) and “Look upon me” (v. 28). He didn’t need accusation; he needed illumination! But they wouldn’t even look him in the face and behold his plight. Physically, the three men were sitting with Job on the ash heap; but emotionally, they were like the priest and Levite, passing by “on the other side” (Luke 10:30–37).

In my pastoral ministry, I can recall visiting hospital patients who were difficult to look at because of disease, accident, or surgery; and sometimes they were difficult to listen to because they had become bitter. From my eye contact and my responses to their words, they could detect whether or not I really cared. It did little good for me to quote Scripture and pray unless we had first built a bridge between our hearts. Then we could minister to each other.

Job closed his address to his friends with a passionate appeal for them to reconsider his situation and take a more loving approach. “Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake” (Job 6: niv). The three men were so intent on defending themselves that they forgot to comfort their friend!

Job’s appeal to the Lord (Job 7). Job used several vivid pictures to describe the futility of life. He felt like a man who had been conscripted into the army against his will (v. 1a, “appointed time” in kjv), and like a laborer (v. 1b) or a hired man waiting for sunset and his daily wages (v. 2). At least these men had something to look forward to, but Job’s future was hopeless. His nights were sleepless, his days were futile (Deut. 28:67), and the Lord didn’t seem to care.

He then focused on the brevity of life. Time was passing swiftly; so, if God were going to do anything, He had better hurry! Job’s life was like the weaver’s shuttle (Job 7:6), moving swiftly with the thread running out. (The phrase “cut me off” in 6: means “to cut a weaving from the loom.” See Isa. 38:12.) Life is like a weaving, and only God can see the total pattern and when the work is finished.

Job also saw his life as a breath or a cloud, here for a brief time and then gone forever, never to return (Job 7:7–10; James 4:14). God was treating him like a dangerous monster that had to be watched every minute (Job 7:11–12). No wonder Job was bitter against God for guarding him constantly. The fact that Job referred to Yam (“the sea”) and Tammin (“a whale”), two mythological characters, didn’t mean he was giving his approval to the teachings of Eastern myths. He used these well-known characters only to illustrate his point.

There was no way Job could escape God, the “watcher of men” (v. 20 niv, nkjv). If Job went to sleep, God frightened him in his dreams. If he was awake, he knew God’s eye was upon him (10:14; 13:27; 31:4). He couldn’t even swallow his spittle without God knowing about it! Why would God pay so much attention to one man (7:17–18; Ps. 8:4)?

Job closed his appeal with a request for forgiveness (Job 7:20–21). “If I have sinned, then forgive me. Why should I be a burden to You and to myself? Time is flying by swiftly, so let’s settle things as soon as possible!” It was not a confession of sin, for Job still maintained his integrity; but it was an opportunity for God to deal with areas in Job’s life that he knew nothing about (Ps. 19:12–14).

Then Job was silent. He had vented his pain and frustration and appealed to his friends for understanding and encouragement. Would he receive it?

Let’s listen next to Bildad the Shuhite who gives a brief theological lecture on the justice of God.