Eliphaz gets a bad rap for being one of Jobs miserable comforters. Although he certainly misjudged Job he nevertheless had some profound insights into the nature of both God and man. Eliphaz is the first of Job's friends to speak to him and his initial speech is recorded in chapters 4 and 5. His encouragement in 5:17 is taken to be good advice by the New Testament author of Hebrews who quotes Eliphaz: "do not despise the discipline of the Almighty." Eliphaz is often quoted for his saying in Job 5:7: "Yet man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward." He has a high view of God: "He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted" (5:9) He gives practical advice: "But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my case before him" (5:8), and "We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself."
Just as Eliphaz misjudged Job and failed to appreciate his integrity and uprightness so we may misjudge Eliphaz and fail to appreciate his wisdom and experience. We all make errors of judgment but no one deserves to be viewed entirely through the prism of their mistakes. Life is just not that simple.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Wednesday, January 03, 2007
"After this Job cursed the day of his birth..."
Reading Job 3
"After this , Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth...Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, to those who long for death that does not come..." (3:1, 20-21ff).
There have been many days in my life where I felt like this. The conclusions of these days are as real to me as any conclusions I have reached about my life on my best days. These conclusions are not more valid or more telling than those I draw on days when everything is going my way and I feel at peace. It is easy to allow the bad days to overrule the good. It is important to remember a few important truths around this story:
1. On either the good days or the bad days I am not in possession of all the facts.
2. My situation is never as simple as to be interpreted on the basis of a few principles and the deductions that can be drawn from them. This is the mistake Eliphaz makes in examining his friend's life when he says: "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it" (4:7-8). The principle is that trouble comes to us when we do evil. The deduction is, trouble has come to Job therefore Job must have done evil. The story and its ending bear out that this simple reasoning was well off the mark.
3. It is important to remind myself and others that I may be having "one of those days" or "periods" but this is not the only kind of day I have had or will have again. I may have to sit down in the ashes for a while but I will rise again.
4. I am continually coming across people who are feeling this way. Remember Job, be compassionate and don't judge!
"After this , Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth...Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul, to those who long for death that does not come..." (3:1, 20-21ff).
There have been many days in my life where I felt like this. The conclusions of these days are as real to me as any conclusions I have reached about my life on my best days. These conclusions are not more valid or more telling than those I draw on days when everything is going my way and I feel at peace. It is easy to allow the bad days to overrule the good. It is important to remember a few important truths around this story:
1. On either the good days or the bad days I am not in possession of all the facts.
2. My situation is never as simple as to be interpreted on the basis of a few principles and the deductions that can be drawn from them. This is the mistake Eliphaz makes in examining his friend's life when he says: "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it" (4:7-8). The principle is that trouble comes to us when we do evil. The deduction is, trouble has come to Job therefore Job must have done evil. The story and its ending bear out that this simple reasoning was well off the mark.
3. It is important to remind myself and others that I may be having "one of those days" or "periods" but this is not the only kind of day I have had or will have again. I may have to sit down in the ashes for a while but I will rise again.
4. I am continually coming across people who are feeling this way. Remember Job, be compassionate and don't judge!
Monday, January 01, 2007
"...pleasing to the eye..."
"And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground - trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil." (Genesis 2:9)
With the start of a new year I've decided to do a read through the Bible in a year plan. I have always paused at this verse to reflect on the fact that God intentionally created things that were both useful and beautiful. There is really no need for beauty or aesthetics in a purely naturalistic world. The survival of the fittest does not require an aesthetic appreciation of the creation. God created us in his image, we reflect his love of all things good and beautiful. This aesthetic sense is as much an argument for the existence of God as any of the other rational arguments. Our appreciation of a beautiful landscape, the wonder of a dragonfly, Glen Gould playing the Goldbergs, Mozart's Requiem Mass, the poetry of a Dylan Thomas or a T.S. Eliot, all these things reveal that the world is about much more than mere survival of the genetic material of life.
With the start of a new year I've decided to do a read through the Bible in a year plan. I have always paused at this verse to reflect on the fact that God intentionally created things that were both useful and beautiful. There is really no need for beauty or aesthetics in a purely naturalistic world. The survival of the fittest does not require an aesthetic appreciation of the creation. God created us in his image, we reflect his love of all things good and beautiful. This aesthetic sense is as much an argument for the existence of God as any of the other rational arguments. Our appreciation of a beautiful landscape, the wonder of a dragonfly, Glen Gould playing the Goldbergs, Mozart's Requiem Mass, the poetry of a Dylan Thomas or a T.S. Eliot, all these things reveal that the world is about much more than mere survival of the genetic material of life.
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