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Job's Reply to Zophar
You Think
* 1Job said to his friends:
2You think you are so great,
with all the answers.
3But I know as much as you do,
and so does everyone else.
4I have always lived right,
and God answered my prayers;
now friends make fun of me.
5It's easy to condemn
those who are suffering,
when you have no troubles.
6Robbers and other godless people
live safely at home and say,
“God is in our hands!”
If You Want To Learn
7If you want to learn,
then go and ask
the wild animals and the birds,
8the flowers and the fish.
9Any of them can tell you
what the Lord has done.
10Every living creature
is in the hands of God.
11We hear with our ears,
taste with our tongues,
12and gain some wisdom from those
who have lived a long time.
13But God is the real source
of wisdom and strength.
14No one can rebuild
what he destroys, or release
those he has imprisoned.
15God can hold back the rain
or send a flood,
16just as he rules over liars
and those they lie to.
17God shames counselors,
turns judges into fools,
18and makes slaves of kings.
19God removes priests and others
who have great power—
20he confuses wise,
experienced advisors,
21puts mighty kings to shame,
and takes away their power.
22God turns darkness to light;
23he makes nations strong,
then shatters their strength.
24God strikes their rulers senseless,
then leaves them to roam
through barren deserts,
25lost in the dark, staggering
like someone drunk.
Reflect
Job fires back. “I’m as good as you are, better even” (vs 1-2). But that doesn’t seem to do Job any good at all. He is still in deep trouble. People have nothing but contempt for him.
We rarely get ourselves out of trouble by claiming that we are better than others—or even by being better than others.
But there’s more to Job than personal pique. He has some profound theological understandings about the sovereignty of God. If it were possible, he says, you could even ask the animals, birds, plants and fish – they know that God is in charge (v 7). They know that it is God’s hand that has brought Job to this place of desolation.
Then follows a magnificent speech, a powerful poem about God’s authority, his wisdom and strength. From the personal to the cosmic, God manages – indeed, controls – all things. But it is with his wisdom and strength that he rules, not with caprice or temper or vengeance.
God will not allow rivals. He “makes fools of judges and looses the sash of kings” (vs 17-21). He puts people in their place. The high and the mighty, political and religious leaders, royalty and the kings of commerce, all are reduced to their base humanity by the God who rules over all, who overthrows his rivals.
How can a single man, broken and beaten by what we might call the vicissitudes of life, by sickness and poverty, write such a stunning declaration of faith? How can Job understand divine sovereignty and still accept his fate and fortune? Isn’t he the victim of that same sovereignty that he champions in his speech?
That is surely the enigma of the man and the irony of the chapter.
Respond
Father God, this is a strange and alarming world, full of wars and uprisings, terrors and nightmares. How we long for you to reveal yourself as the One who raises and puts down, the One whose wisdom and strength subdue the violent and evil. Grant us faith to believe in your sovereign purpose for all humankind.
Michael Pountney
From the Merchant Navy to Moldova, Michael’s career has had a transatlantic diversity. High School language teacher and youth leader in the UK; IVCF staff at universities in BC and Divisional Director in Ontario; Parish Priest in Montreal and Toronto; Principal of Wycliffe College at the U. of T; IFES staff working with leaders in the former Soviet Republic. Retired in Victoria, Michael continues to help plant Anglican Network churches and mentor young leaders. Publications: Bob Goethe and Michael Pountney: “Mars and Venus Go To Church” (2010: Faith Today); Michael Pountney, “At A Distance: Encouragement For Cautious Christians” (2006: Essence Publishing, Belleville, Ontario); “Searching For Home” (2003: GLIA Moldova); Don Posterski and Michael Pountney; “Reconciliation: Seeking Restored Relationships” 2000: Institute For Christian Leadership Formation, World Vision International, Monrovia, California); Michael Pountney, “Getting A Job” (1984: InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois)