…the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”
How do we know that what Job’s three friends offered in the way of counsel was not right? God said so. God’s silence regarding Job’s younger fourth friend allows us to surmise that his words were, though not perfect, more accurate.
Notice that God compares the first three counselors’ wrong words with Job’s right words. Which words of Job were right? Certainly his words in chapters 1 and 2 were right. He began to drift as his suffering lingered and as he had to endure bad counsel from his friends. God was not pleased with Job’s words during that period. How do we know? God called Job’s speech, “words without knowledge” (38:2). God accused Job of contending with, and even rebuking Him (40:2).
Once God spoke, however, Job regained proper perspective. He remembered God’s greatness and his own vileness (40:4) and need for humble repentance (42:5-6). These were the words of Job that God affirmed as being right — especially when compared to the utterances of Job’s three self-appointed therapists.
Why were Job’s words right and theirs wrong?
(1) Suffering. Job experienced it and they did not. Could it be that suffering is actually good for us? (See Psalm 119:67, 75)
(2) Humility. When God spoke, asking Job seventy questions designed to remind Job that he is not God and that challenging God is not wise, Job was sufficiently humbled that he said, “I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.”
Suffering and humility. Job’s friends knew neither. Job experienced both. I think that is the difference.
