The Man Who Sued God 2

4 min readOct 5, 2024

Part 2: Job & Friends

Where two or three fools are gathered destruction is ticking.

Imagine for a moment that Africa’s richest man suddenly lost his wealth, was incarcerated for some shady crime, and lost all his assets. That would be the biggest story of the decade, with economic experts running countless hours of news cycles on the downfall of a business mogul. Time magazine and Forbes would do an exclusive documentary, while CNN’s Richard Quest would join the media space to feast on the biggest story out of Africa.

This was the story of Job. He was the wealthiest in all of the East, and his ordeal would have made front-page news.

1,000 ACCUSERS, ZERO FRIENDS

His friends (also wealthy men in their own right), travelled great distances in their caravans to pay him a condolence visit. Unfortunately, they had nothing better to offer than to say, “You crazy guilty man, look what you’ve done to yourself.”

If this was what Job’s closest friends had to say about him, you can imagine what the general public whispered. Imagine what people were saying on social media. His children and fortune were gone in one day, and even his wife left him, which seemed to confirm that Job was the problem.

Or was he?

The worst part is — these were the friends who stayed. Little wonder Job begged to die.

Job speaks to the level of alienation and desertion he experienced in this season, saying, “Everyone who knows me avoids me; relatives and guests all gone.” (Job 19:13–16). He would also report that his servants who used to bow to serve him now treated him like they had never seen him before. His paid staff ignored him when he called out to them. Even children began to speak against him.

We do not know how long Job’s predicament lasted, but we know that it was a long time. His friends had travelled miles by road (a journey which took months in ancient times), and they sat in the mud with him for seven days before speaking.

THE ACCUSATIONS

Eliphaz makes it clear that suffering is the consequence of sin, and since God is just, Job must be the culprit. He is clear that God is holy and he must be chastising Job for wrongdoing. Eliphaz admonishes his friend to repent.

Bildad also insists that this is divine justice for Job’s sins. The Shuhite even insinuates that Job’s children might have sinned against God, so God decided to kill them. He sounds like one of those “you know children of nowadays” people. He also ends with a call for repentance.

Zophar explicitly says that he doesn’t know Job well enough to absolve him of iniquity. He is even upset that Job would claim innocence when all men are prone to corruption. In more ways than one, he tells Job to be more humble and repent before more calamity befalls him.

THEIR BIG MISTAKE

Interestingly, all three friends recognized that God is a just God who will not punish the innocent. They also erroneously believed that nothing bad could ever happen to a just man.

This is where they make their greatest mistake. Just like as the sun and rain that falls, all men face adversity. And although God is not responsible for the bad, He is with the just man in the midst of the bad.

This means that if you look closely enough, you’ll find God in your storms. Job later says in verse 42:5, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.” That is the difference between a man who walks with God through the storm and a man who goes in alone. Like the three Hebrew boys in the fire (Dan 3:23–25), like Paul and the thorn in his flesh (2 Cor 12:7–9), like Jesus on Mount Olives (Luke 41–43).

ZERO MEDIATOR

If there ever was a man in the Bible who needed a mediator to plead his case in the heavens, it was Job. In chapter 16, Job begs for a mediator but finds none. His friends had sided with the accuser. No wonder he called God to the stand, hoping that he could plead his case in person.

INNOCENT UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY

One cannot imagine Job’s relief when God came to His defence. It is quite rare for God to speak from heaven just to vouch for a man. Only two people come to mind — Jesus and Job.

God rebukes Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar for their careless talk and accusations. His reprimand was not because they didn’t believe in God, but because they made themselves vassals to be used by the accuser himself.

In Job’s life, we see the need for friendships and the importance of quality friends. We all need friends who can stay when life gets rough. People who can tell us the truth when we’re wrong, not clobber us to death with accusations and blame.

This brings to mind Proverbs 13:20: He who walks with wise men will be wise, But the companion of fools will be destroyed. This means that a fool — when left alone — could stumble into the company of the wise and save himself, but where two or three fools are gathered destruction is ticking.

Many times, we think of Job as a mere character in a story, but we are more like him than we realise.