Job Job 12:2 “Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you!
Sometimes people in the middle of suffering have insights that we who are not in suffering just don’t have. Suffering has a way of both clarifying and complicating our thinking and feeling at the same time. And it is the BIG questions of life that get examined in these times.
We often hear people say after they have come through a very difficult, perhaps even life and death situation, that the event changed their life, that they now know what truly matters, that they have a new direction to travel. They begin to value family and friends more that career and material possessions. Decorating and Pinterest posts don’t seem to matter. They now sit and color with the kids.
Job’s friends are turning out to be not so helpful. They come to comfort and console, but instead they end up criticizing and condemning. They get so caught up in solving the theological problem that the miss their friend right in front of them.
Zophar, the third of Job’s friends, has just blasted Job with accusations. He thinks Job has been trying to justify himself and condemn God. He has listened to the words spoken in deep pain and sorry, and he hears Job declaring himself faultless. In every word he has heard Job spout self-righteous justifications.
And at the same time Zophar has heard Job’s cry and has responded by calling him a deceiver and a witless wild animal. Now that is a friend! Zophar’s offers Job a trite solution to his complex problem: just repent!
Don’t you just love simple solutions to complex problems! “Let go and let God!” “One day at a time.” “God never gives you more than you can handle.” And even “God is in control.”
You see each contains a partial truth, but not a complete truth. Job wants a complete truth. He is wrestling with the same theological tensions that his friends are, only he is living through them while he wrestles. Job’s friends sit comfortably outside looking in.
So when Zophar is finished talking, Job has had enough. He answers sarcastically. His answer has been so shallow, so off the mark that he hits him right between the eyes. Listen to his words. Hear his voice tone.”
“Doubtless you are the only people who matter, and wisdom will die with you!”
Job is saying, “Hey, guys, I’m right here in front of you. I’m hurting. Stop twisting the knife blade.” They are only thinking about themselves and Job pokes them in the eye.
Job spends this entire chapter declaring the greatness of the LORD and the way He deals with humanity. Example after example of His way of doing justice. He exalts the ways and means that the LORD uses to accomplish His purposes. What a series of lessons applicable to our times.
Notice that 12:3 and 13:2 both “I am not inferior to you.” Zophar, and the other two friends, have missed Job entirely. And Job tries to bring them back to his side. They have missed what he is saying, and Job tries to correct them. He does this not to win the argument, but to not be alone in his suffering. In 13:4 Job calls his friends “worthless physicians.”
They came stating they wanted to help bring healing to Job, but they are failing. Job just wants his friends back.
The Arnold Journey 