Is there any hermeneutical principle that would determine how much of Job's friends' speeches should be taken as divine instruction?

Question

"Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place: Eliphaz...Bildad...Zophar, for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him." (Job 2:11)

"So these three men ceased to answer Job...then was the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite...against Job...also against his three friends was his wrath kindled because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job."..."Great men are not always wise, neither do the aged understand judgment. Therefore I said, 'hearken unto me; I also will show my opinion." (Job 32:1-3,9)

"And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz..., 'My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends, for you have not spoken of Me the thing that is right...Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering, and my servant Job shall pray for you...lest I deal with you after your folly in that you have not spoken of Me the thing which is right...'" (Job 42:7-8)

The three counselors incurred the wrath of Elihu and of God for their speeches. And yet there seems to be a lot of adages, proverbs, and wise sayings spaced throughout their speeches. And many pastors have quoted them to present "biblical truths" to their congregations!

Therefore, it is important to ask, "Are there any hermeneutical principles that would govern how much of these accursed speeches are still valid and applicable for spiritual application today?" Can they guide the homiletics of the pastor in choosing the right and only truthful sayings of these men?

Answer 1

The whole purpose of the masterful work of the book of Job is to contrast limited human understanding with the divine purpose. Human understand can never understand the purpose of God.

Therefore, the speeches of the Job's three friends (or four if Elihu is included) simply show how limited human knowledge is.

Thus, the book of Job shows us how NOT to think about divine purpose. To that extent, it is all useful. (A useful analogy is Edison's 4000 experiments that failed to produce a light bulb - he claimed these as successful because he had found 4000 things that do not work!)

Answer 2

You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me. Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy, he puts my feet in the stocks and watches all my paths.’  “Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man. Job 33:9-12

Job's three "friends" essentially drew out of Job something that was deeply embedded and unseen previously. As the dialogues progress Job begins to justify himself more and more to the point of attributing God with iniquity. I believe these three friends were the continuance of Satan's persecutions, which God allowed (as He always does) as testings for our purification.

Elihu comes, sent by God I believe, and defends God; chastising Job for defending his own righteousness while defaming God. Job is convicted by Elihu's speech and then God steps in and confronts Job: "Put on your big boy pants and let me ask you some questions!" This whole process leads to Job abhorring himself and repenting in dust and ashes, whereupon God blesses and restores him.

The overarching theme of Job is self-righteousness lodged deep in the fiber of humanity. "You will be like God, knowing good and evil." was the temptation. Adam bit and we are all in him. God allowed Satan to go after Job, not for his destruction but for his good. In effect, God stepped in at the eleventh hour and rescued Job from what was the actual problem: Sin.

Whatever is pulled from the speeches of the three friends and expounded in a sermon or teaching should be fine so long as this overarching theme is kept in view: No man, not even blameless, upright Job, should reckon their righteousness on the basis of their behavior alone. It is God who judges and justifies.

Answer 3

If we take the epilog of Job as inspired scripture, then the book clearly supports Job's outlook and not those of his friends:

Job:42

The Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

This begs the question as to why Elihu is not mentioned. As I read it, his viewpoint is not substantially different from those of Job's other friends. It is Job who had done right be wrestling with the fact that he has not sinned and yet was seemingly punished by God. The viewpoint of the author is that God wants us to ask the hard questions, not merely affirm the formulaic faith of Job's friends, who insisted that Job must have sinned even though we are told that God himself declared Job to be "blameless and upright" (1:8).

Another way of approaching the problem is taken by source critics, who see more than one hand at work in the Book of Job as we have it now. One hypothesis is that the the work was originally just the dialog between Job and his friends, with the prolog and epilog added later. Many critics also see the speech of Elihu as a later addition, since he appears rather suddenly near the end and serves to compensate for any weaknesses in the friends' argument that Job has sinned.

Personally I think the disapproval expressed by Elihu against the friends' arguments is opposite to God's disapproval of them. Elihu is basically saying the same thing as Job's other friends, but he says it more eloquently. God supports Job's viewpoint, not Elihu's: Job is right to affirm that he had not sinned and yet suffers, while the friends (including Elihu) are wrong to arguing that Job's suffering resulted from his sin.

Conclusion: The OP wonders at the fact that so many pastors speak approvingly of the friends' arguments, when in fact God is portrayed as rejecting them. Pointing these pastors to God's attitude in the final chapter may help them think more deeply, especially if one includes Elihu among the friends whose speeches God would reject.

Answer 4

"Is there any hermeneutical principle...?"

One principle of hermeneutics is to show a book's purpose and theme. We may be confident that the book of Job can be shown to have a purpose which runs throughout the whole book: 2 Timothy 3:16-17

"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness 17 that the man of God may be competent, equiped for every good work."

All of that applies to all of the book of Job and all his friends' speeches in that book. All his friends' speeches are held by that hermeneutical principle. Yes there is a hermeneutical principle.

All that the friends say can be used for divine instruction. Of course we can ask how this happens but firstly I emphasise that it does happen.

One of the ways in which we learn about God is shown in Job 8:2 where Bildad says,"Or does God subvert judgement?"

Bildad did not have the book of Job infront of him and he was confused. We do have it and can appreciate Bildad's confusion. Bildad's question is based on ignorance of God putting Job in Satan's power.[Job 1:12]. Bildad does not know that God will give grace to Job so that Job will continue to speak well of God despite this testing.

Job's situation is in Satan's power but Job says, "God is wise in heart and mighty in strength" Job 9:4. God's grace is more powerful than Satan's power. That is a wonderful lesson for the man of God to learn that he may be competent, equiped for every good work.

Answer 5

Pastoral Practice
There are several adages, aphorisms, sayings in the speeches of Job's friends that pastors are in habit of extracting out, and using them to emphasize practical applications in the Christian life. Some include the ideas that:

• Sin has definite consequences - (Job 4:8-9)
• Man is born into troublesome world - (5:7)
• God's correction is good - (5:17)
• Trust not in vanity - (15:31)
• The fallen nature of man - (25:4-6)
• The ear trieth words like the mouth tasteth food - (34:3)
• The great (aged) are not always wise - (32:9)
• Beware of multiplying words without knowledge - (35:16)
• God respects not any who are wise in heart (proud) - (37:24)

But is this an allowable practice since these responses of the "Friends" were rejected by God? Seeing as how their presumptuous speeches went astray, and were rejected by Go Himself? Can---and should---pastors and commentators draw out spiritual truths from these verses?

Hermeneutical Principles
Allow me to submit for your consideration an affirmative answer, drawing from some of the wisdom expressed by other commentators and astute expositors on this post, as well as from common principles of exegesis. This positive answer, though, has several caveats: a verse has a kernal of truth, but/and if it...

• Does not impugn God's character (Mike Borden)
• Doesn't subvert God's sense of justice...in the end.
• Doesn't promote the self-righteousness of man (35:2)
• Doesn't question God's methods of testing.
• Does not lose sight of the theme of the Book (C. Stroud)
• Does not promote the judging of another man's tragedy---or prosperity. (4:7, 11:4-5; recall Jesus's answer to the question, who sinned, this man or his parents?)
• and Does not underestimate the wisdom in God's will when accomplishing Divine purpose in the earth---and in one's individual life. (Dottard)

In Retrospect
Scanning the whole literary landscape of Job's predicament, we see a tremendous spiritual and existential presentation that describes the life---and plight---of many a human being on earth, not just Job's life. We can recognize several words of wisdom in the speeches of Job's counselors, but in the end, it is the dynamic, soul-searching Answer given by Jehovah God Himself that shines out as a guiding Light for our pathways! The other words are but shadows on the side.

Then Job answered the LORD, and said, "I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from Thee (No purpose of Thine can be restrained; R.V.)....Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes."

Answer 6

The words of all the friends of Job(including Elihu) are on human level ! So their words may infringe on spiritual aspects if anybody use them in their messages! They did not know that it was the work of God on Job to suffer thus. Then how anybody can utilise their words in explaining spiritual things/lessons? It is understood that God Himself did not accept their words and asked them to repent for their words!