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JOB: LESSON FIVE

INTRODUCTION

The arguments tend to drag on, partly because each person wants to have the last word. Job’s friends are relentless in their charges while his agony continues unabated. No wonder he cries out at one point, “Have pity upon me, have pity on me, O ye my friends…” (19:21).

V. THE SECOND TRIAD OF SPEECHES (chapters 15-21).

A. Eliphaz’s second speech (chapter 15)

1. Charges Job with presumptuous words and pretentious claims (v. 1-9).

2. Returns to his theology: Job must be guilty of some terrible sin (v. 14-15)

B. Job’s reply to Eliphaz (chapters 16-17)

1. Job rebukes friends for their misunderstanding (16:1-5).

2. Job’s conclusion: “God must hate me” (16:7-9).

3. Protest of innocence and waiting for God to supply answer (16:18-22)

4. Job prays that God will set him free (v. 17:1-16)

C. Bildad’s second speech (chapter 18)

1. Presents defensive retort (v. 1-3)

2. Presents narrow and rigid dogma: “If you are suffering, you must have sinned” (v. 4-21).

D. Job’s piteous plea (chapter 19)

1. Feelings about his friends (v. 1-6)

2. Bafflement at what is happening to him (v. 7-12).

3. Feeling of isolation coming from the hand of God (v. 13-19)

4. A ray of hope (v. 23-27)

5. Warning to friends to be careful in judging him (v. 28-29)

E. Zophar’s second speech (chapter 20)

1. Triumph of wicked is short (v. 1-11).

2. Punishment of wicked is certain (v. 12-18)

3. Evil comes out into the open (v. 19-22).

4. Terrible fate of wicked (v. 23-29)

F. Job’s reasoned reply (chapter 21)

1. Appeal to the facts that contradict the friends’ theories (v. 1-13)

2. Some defy God and still prosper (v. 14-16).

3. Feelings about God’s judgments in time (v. 17-26)

4. The falseness of their friendship (v. 27-34)

QUESTIONS:

1. Describe Eliphaz’s attitude toward Job as revealed in the opening lines (15: 1-6).

2. What does he charge in (15:13)?

      3. What do you learn from Job’s three friend in 15:9-10?

4. List Eliphaz’s description of the wicked man in 15:20-35?

5. What is Job’s blunt reply in 16:1-5?

6. What do you observe in Job’s speech in chapters 16 & 17 about:

a. His agony –

b. His testimony-

c. His waning hope-

      7. What was Job resting on in 16:19-20?

8. What is Bildad’s attitude toward Job in 18:2-4?

9. What is Bildad’s dark description of the “wicked” man?

10. What does Bildad imply in addressing these words to Job?

11. In 19:1-6, what does Job say about his friends, himself, and God?

12. What is so pitiable about Job’s plight in 19:13-22?

13. Is Job’s conviction about life after death more firm in chapter 19 than in 14:13-15?

14. Compare Zophar’s charges against Job with Bildad’s accusations?

15. How should believers respond to people who express such scorn as found in 21:15?

16. Does evil ever find retribution in this life?

17. What have your learned about comforting others from the study of his lesson?