Judging the Externals

Reconsider; don't be unjust. Reconsider; my righteousness is still the issue. Am I lying, or can I not recognize lies? - Job 6:29-30 HCSB

When seeking to understand a passage, it is important (among other things) to know who is speaking to whom. In this case, Job[1] is answering someone. Job was a man who held the position of elder. If we consider the New Covenant characteristics of an elder[2] and compare them to Job’s life, we quickly determine that the man was supremely qualified![3]

Because the person Job was answering was long-winded, we must turn back several chapters to see that the last speaker was Eliphaz the Temanite.[4]

So Elder Job was answering some guy by the name of Eliphaz the Temanite. However, there were two other gentlemen present, one named Bildad and another named Zophar.[5]

It’s interesting that only three showed up. If we examine the passages that refer to Job’s righteous life spent serving others, we wonder where were all those people he had helped? Why only these three so-called “friends”?

In the biblical culture and in the church I pastor, at least three elders must be assembled before making any major decision. We do this simply because the Lord told us to.[6] When two or three elders have gathered together to render a judgment on a matter, this group is called a beit din. I believe that was what was happening with Job. Job referred to the other three as “witnesses” that God was bringing against him[7] and as “worthless doctors”, implying their supposed role as spiritual healers.

Unfortunately, even though God Himself repeatedly described Job as unique in his status as a man of perfect integrity, who feared God and turned away from evil,[8] that beit din looked at Job’s circumstances and judged him to be a sinner under the wrath of God.

This is a common error. The disciples made the same mistake when they thought that a man who had been born blind must have been under God’s judgment for either his own or his parent’s sin. They were quickly disabused of that error by the Master who said that the handicapped man had been designed for the glory of God just like the rest of us.[9]

So Job was defending himself against the erroneous criticism of three friends who were judging a matter based solely on circumstantial evidence and a shallow understanding of the God who said, “I form light and create darkness, I make success and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things."[10]

What should we learn from this? Among many possible lessons, we should understand that we must not judge matters quickly,[11] that just because we are righteous does not mean that we can have “Your Best Life Now”, and that Kadosh Yisra’el, the Holy One of Israel,[12] will always do what’s right.

[1] Job 6:1
[2] 1 Timothy 3:2-7; Titus 1:6-9; 1 Peter 5:1-3
[3] Job 1:1, 4-5; 4:1-4; 23:11-12; 29:7-8, 12-17, 21; 30:25; 31:1, 24-34
[4] Job 4:1
[5] Job 2:11
[6] Numbers 35:30; Deuteronomy 17:6; 19:15; Matthew 18:16; 2 Corinthians 13:1
[7] Job 10:17
[8] Job 1:1, 8; 2:3
[9] John 9:1-3
[10] Isaiah 45:7
[11] Proverbs 18:13; 1 Corinthians 4:5; 1 Timothy 5:22
[12] 2 Kings 19:22; Psalm 71:22; 78:41; 89:18; Isaiah 1:4; 5:19; 5:24; 10:20; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30:11-12, 15; 31:1; 37:23; 41:14, 16, 20; 43:3, 14; 48:17