Physicians of No Value
An article from the Spring 2007 Current Blessing Magazine

By Eugene Smith, Itinerant Missionary
   Word and Worship Global Outreach
                 Belleville, Ontario Canada
 

‘Worthless physicians’! ‘Miserable comforters’! ‘Consoling with nonsense’! Such is Job’s estimation of his three ‘friends’ (Job 13:4; 16:2; 21:34). They had truly failed to bring relief to an exhausted, grief-torn, sick and suffering Job. Surely with friends such as these, who needs enemies?

Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are still alive and well today. When you are engulfed in severe trial, these men are never far away. They have the answers to your problems: you don’t have faith; there is sin in your life. People talk to one another about your problems, and their well-worked and rehearsed doctrines hold the key to your dilemma (Job 2:11).

Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar provide interesting insight regarding the many believers today who do the same. All three had wrongly diagnosed the real issue at stake in Job’s trials. In contradiction to the wisdom of these three men, God Himself had declared that Job was righteous, and that the trial came upon Job without cause (Job 2:3). In other words, the suffering had nothing to do with lack of faith or sin.

Job and his three friends had an insufficient theology. Their whole concept of truth, revealed by their ministry to Job, declared: “If I am righteous, God will bless me; if I sin, God will punish me.” To them this was the ultimate reality that governed all things spiritual. But they, including Job, were wrong! Yes, God blesses righteousness and punishes sin, but that by itself is not the whole truth. Scripture is more encompassing than that!

Many blame Job for his confession of fear (Job 3:25). Job’s fear was rooted in the idea that he could not live the perfect life, even though he sincerely tried to do so, and one day he would not live up to the sinless perfection for which he aimed. His fear was that God would punish him before he could make a sacrifice.

Where did Job’s friends get their supposed authority to decimate a righteous man? Apparently they judged every circumstance through the prism of their self-taught doctrines.

Eliphaz, the first to respond, was the ‘charismatic’ believer. He claimed the ‘spirit world’ as his authority. He had an ‘experience’ with visions in the night. A spirit passed by and gave him ‘goose bumps’ (Job 4:12-21). The spirit taught him that not even angels are pure: how much less wholesome is man? Therefore Job must have sinned to receive such retribution. Moreover, judging by the enormity of the trial, Job’s sin must have been a whopper! Now, who can argue with charismatic experience?

Bildad’s approach was different. His authority to lay waste a righteous man was rooted in ‘tradition.’ He appealed to the teachings inherited from the fathers of the former generations (Job 8:8-10). Traditional faith passed down through the ages can’t be wrong! However, tradition often denies and contradicts what God is actually saying. Bildad took a position completely opposite to God’s own testimony of Job (Job 8:6; 1:8).

Zophar was the independent, self-assertive and dogmatic believer. He does not reveal where his authority is rooted other than in the force of his own overwhelming personality. He is persuaded that his broad sweeping outbursts are established facts. For Zophar, the recognition of his brand of theology was far more important than his assistance to the saint in time of suffering (Job 11:1-8).

All three approaches proved to be wrong. Truth is not located in charismatic experience, tradition or self-assertiveness. It is located in the Word of God. The difficulty is that all three comforters did hear something from God, but each one allowed God’s input to be distorted by his charismatic experience, tradition or dogmatism.

All three were convinced Job had sinned; therefore he was not righteous. However, each one had his own particular question on the issue of righteousness. The mystical Eliphaz wanted to know ‘shall’ or ‘can’ a man be justified (Job 4:17). The spirit told him that no man could claim to be righteous, so Job could not defend himself with his integrity. Bildad’s concern was ‘how’ a man could be righteous (Job 9:2; 25:4). Zophar’s approach was to ask whether such a man full of talk ‘should’ be vindicated (Job 11:2). Interestingly, Eliphaz succeeded in stirring Job’s emotions into a tailspin. Bildad gave Job a headache on top of everything else. The rude Zophar agitated Job’s will. Emotions, mind and will were all affected to a fever pitch, but nothing was decided. Charismatic experience, tradition and dogmatism failed to resolve the issue, or to bring any resolution to an innocent suffering servant.

Eliphaz did hear a word from the Lord concerning the Lord’s ‘purity.’ However, since prophetic words flow through errant human vessels, the word of the Lord will become distorted by the prejudice of the speaker. Eliphaz’s message of God’s purity (e.g. 5:17-18; 22:21-30) was filtered through his charismatic concern of ‘shall a man be justified’ and brought condemnation instead of reprieve. Instead of emphasizing God’s purity, verifying that God cannot have ulterior or evil motives during His saint’s dark days of trial and declaring the great blessing at the end, Eliphaz stresses the impurity of man. He makes altar calls for Job to respond to and holds out the blessings as incentives to repent.

Small-minded traditionalist Bildad had a word concerning God’s justice. Since God is just, he cannot be accused of wrongdoing even when His beloved suffers. However, this is not how the prophetic word came out. Bildad distorts his word by filtering it through his traditional inheritance and says that since God is just, He must punish your sin (Job 8:6-7,20-22; 25:1-6).

Arrogant Zophar totally abuses his revelation of God’s ‘wisdom’ (Job 11:6-8). He informs Job that because of God’s wisdom, he is actually only suffering half of what he really deserves. This is quite opposite of the truth that God is wise and knows what He is doing in spite of the many perplexing questions of the bewildered saint.

The truth is that neither powerful charismatic experiences, traditionalism, nor independent dogmatism are indicators of truth. All three fall short of the full revelation of God. Even righteous Job was confused in his pain and dared to charge God with injustice in his dealings with men.

After charismatic experience, traditionalism and dogmatism failed to enlighten Job, but only condemned him, a much younger voice appears on the scene. Elihu brings a completely different approach to the whole subject. God is not punishing for any sin committed, but instead, through trial, He is delivering a righteous man from pride and self-sufficiency in order to fit him for a double portion to be received at the end of the story. Elihu appeals to the breath of the Almighty as his inspiration (Job 33:4).

However, Elihu is a young man, full of knowledge but short on wisdom. When Job refuses to respond to Elihu’s diagnosis, he becomes angry and proves to be no different in character than the other three misguided guides.

Truth does prepare the way for the revelation of God. Not mental apprehension of truth but a direct encounter with God is required. Truth is to lead to God. In spite of all the suffering Job has endured, it is out of the midst of the storm that God ultimately speaks.

The many questions God directed to Job indicate that He has been listening to everything that Job had ill advisedly said. Many questions refer back to some of Job’s comments. Eventually Job comes into a submissive attitude towards the Lord and qualifies for a double portion.

However, the story of Job is not complete without seeing what God has to say about the charismatic, the traditionalist and the dogmatic. They have wrongfully dared to destroy a just man. None of them checked to see if their positions were correct or not. Rather than doing the hard work of research and study, many today are like Job’s friends and root their authority and faith in things other than God’s Word.

These men were brought into account for their actions, words and attitudes. God said they were wrong – dead wrong in their assessments and accusations (Job 42:7). Not only did they have to repent before God, but also before the very one they had overwhelmed and destroyed. This would serve as a final test to Job’s faith. Could Job, from his heart, forgive and pray for those who accused his children of so much sin that God had to kill them; indeed, could he forgive and pray for those who had accused him of secret heinous sins? When Job had done so, he entered the double portion, the eldest son’s inheritance (Deut. 21:17).

Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are still around today. They have condemned many innocent believers who did not conform to their narrow doctrinal stances or experiences. Rather let us methodically and diligently search the Scriptures to ensure that our charismatic experiences, traditions and opinions conform to the larger picture of God’s truth.