Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Job's Friends Arrive


Listen to Job 2:11-13 out of The Message:

“Three of Job’s friends heard of all the trouble that had fallen on him. 
Each traveled from his own country--Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad 
from Shuhah, Zophar from Namath--and went together to Job to keep 
him company and comfort him. When they first caught sight of him, 
they could not believe what they saw--they hardly recognized him! 
They cried out in lament, ripped their robes, and dumped dirt on their 
heads as a sign of grief. Then they sat with him on the ground. Seven 
days and seven nights they sat there without saying a word. They could 
see how rotten he felt, how deeply he was suffering.”

What about those who lived nearby, like the elders of the city, close friends, 
family? Where WERE they? Did they all abandon Job? The friends of his who 
traveled from a distance said nothing until after Job revealed the anguish of his heart. 
But what were they thinking during the fourteen days of silence?  Soon their 
world view would emerge as they try to explain to Job “why "good" people suffer.”


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