1392. Job's False Friends

Job's False Friends

"Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place" (Job_2:11).

The story of the visit of the three so-called friends of Job takes a great part of the Book; it would be more than interesting to follow step by step the speeches of these men and Job's replies. We can but sum up the whole with this one statement: Job's three friends utterly misunderstood God; they unjustly maligned Job, and, instead of being a comfort and a consolation to Job, they filled his heart with grief.

We know how the Lord Jesus Christ was misunderstood, misrepresented and maligned. Christ seldom preached excepting there were those present seeking to pick Him up in His words. They said that He was a glutton; they denied His Virgin Birth; they refused Him as equal with God; there was nothing they could do against the Lord Jesus Christ that was left undone.

The leaders of the people never accepted Christ's claims, nor did they understand His parables. They went about to slay Him.

They thought of Christ, as He hung upon the Cross, just what the three friends of Job had thought of him: They esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

The people wagged their heads as they passed by the foot of the Cross, saying: "He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him: for He said, I am the Son of God" (Mat_27:43).

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR