Job CXXXVIII

Job 12:1-6, “Then Job answered and said: ‘No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you! But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these? I am one mocked by his friends, who called on God, and He answered him, the just and blameless who is ridiculed. A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; it is made ready for those whose feet slip. The tents of robbers prosper, and those who provoke God are secure – in what God provides by His hand.” 

As was expected from the previous two interactions with his friends, it was Job’s turn to respond and mount a defense, or in the least show Zophar that not everything is so black and white, cut and dry, and without nuance or distinction. 

By his opening salvo, Job, too, was running out of patience if he hadn’t done so already, and there was no olive branch extended to Zophar, but rather the first words to come from his mouth were tinged with sarcasm so thick as to make due as an entire snack. Although he was responding to Zophar’s accusations, Job included all three of his friends in his acidic response, insisting that when they three went the way of all flesh, wisdom itself would die alongside them. Tongue in cheek as his response was, it likely stung all three of the men who were waiting for him to break and confess the sin they were certain he was guilty of.

I’ve heard what you had to say, but you forget that I, too, am privy to the things you’ve enumerated. I have understanding as well as you, and I am not inferior to you. This wasn’t an overreaction because Job had an inferiority complex, but given his friends’ words, it’s undeniable that they believed themselves intellectually superior and more knowledgeable about the things of God than him.

Perhaps they’d always harbored these feelings and kept them well hidden, but now the time had come, and each one was attempting to teach Job something they thought to be illuminating and earth shattering, while Job’s response to them was, who does not know such things as these?

What you deemed superior intellect is basic on its best day, and there’s nothing you’ve said that I don’t already know. If Job’s plan had been to hit them where it hurts, then he was over the target and connecting with each turn of phrase.

He’d been condescended to, talked down to, demeaned, and falsely accused while carrying the burden of watching his flesh being covered in worms and painful boils, and whether he tried to hold his tongue or not, we will never know, but what is clear is that he’d had enough. Yes, you can push a decent, soft-spoken, calm and collected person too far, and when you do, you’d better strap in because you’re about to get it in spades.

It is said it’s the quiet ones you have to look out for, and generally speaking, barring a handful of exceptions, it’s true. When someone who is mild-mannered, quiet, and not given to bouts of contention can no longer hold his tongue, you know you’ve gone too far.

Few things in life are more offputting than hearing someone you call a friend talk down to you, condescend, and belittle you for something you didn’t do. If a stranger were to say the same thing it would be a small matter, because they’re strangers, and they don’t know you as your friends should, but this was someone whom Job knew, and who in turn knew Job, and as he pointed out they were aware of his relationship with God, and that when he’d called out, God had answered.

There is no person, situation, or circumstance the enemy won’t use to try and get the upper hand. Nothing is beneath him, and there’s no shame in his plots and schemes, because as has become customary in our day and age, especially among those of political leanings, the ends justify the means, and if we achieved our end nothing we did in order to achieve it can be considered too slimy, or out of pocket.

It’s all about applying pressure and finding the precise point where pressure can be applied. Job had nothing left but his integrity, his steadfastness, and faithfulness to the God he served, and that was the target the enemy focused on with glee and abandon.

We’re all quite good at evaluating our strengths, and even overestimating and foolishly magnifying them at times, but not so when it comes to our weaknesses. Sometimes, we even like to talk ourselves into believing that a weakness is a strength, even though we know deep down that it’s not. When it comes to resisting vegetables, my self-control is impeccable. No crown of broccoli has tempted me to the point of surrender! The same can’t be said for warm peach cobbler with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, though. We like to pretend that we’re all strength, no weakness, and there’s nothing that can happen or anything anyone can say that will get to us or raise our hackles and make us react in the moment.

I am a rock; I am an island; I am what Stonewall Jackson wished he had been, and there’s nothing that will scar me. We can talk ourselves into believing it until the fateful moment when it’s proven a lie. We all have something that’s more likely to get a rise out of us than anything else, whether it’s a stutter, our hairline, crow’s feet, or a few extra pounds. For Job, that one thing was being accused of sin he knew himself not to have committed.

Throughout his ordeal, through all the pain and grief and loss, Job had clung to his integrity; he’d remained steadfast in His worship of God, and here were his friends insisting it was not so. You may think it, you may even believe it, but we know better, and you just need to admit that we do.

It seems as though it’s not just Job’s friends who’d decided to give him a piece of their mind, but Job also decided it was time to point out their inconsistencies and perceived wisdom that wasn’t so much wisdom as common knowledge.

It’s easy to pontificate and wax poetic when you’re not the one sitting in the dirt covered in worms having just buried your ten children. When it’s light out, what need have you for a lamp? Therefore, you despise it, but not so when the darkness comes, and you pray for a flicker, hoping it will light your way.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.