Job 16:1 - Meaning and Application

Both Job and his friends fell into a common habit of arguers, they began to think less of one another’s understanding, wisdom, and judgment. The longer a quarrel goes on, the hotter it usually becomes. The start of this kind of strife is like opening a flood of water, so it is best to stop it before it goes too far.

Eliphaz had described Job’s speeches as empty, useless, and off the point. Job now says the same of Eliphaz. Anyone who freely hands out harsh judgments should expect them to come back on him. It is easy to do, and it can go on forever, but what good does it do? It stirs up anger, but it does not persuade the mind or make truth clearer.

Job first reproves Eliphaz for repeating the same things again and again. “I have heard many such things,” he says, meaning, “You are not telling me anything new. You are only repeating what I already knew, or what you have already said before.” Job felt this was one of the hardest parts of his trial. Repeating the same warning can be annoying and tiresome when an enemy does it, but a teacher often must do it, and a learner should not mind it. We need many things heard again, so we may understand them better, remember them better, and feel them more deeply.

Second, Job reproves their poor way of applying truth to his case. They had come to comfort him, but they handled the matter badly and misunderstood his situation completely. “Miserable comforters are you all,” he says. Instead of easing his pain, they made it heavier. A patient is in a sad state when his medicine becomes poison and his doctors become part of his illness. What Job says of his friends is true of all creatures when compared with God. In time, we will all have to admit that only the blessed Spirit, the Holy Spirit, can comfort the conscience truly. Without him, others comfort badly, and their words are like songs to a heavy heart.

Third, Job reproves their endless, pointless talk. He wishes vain words would come to an end. If words are truly empty, it would be better if they had never begun, and better still if they stop quickly. Anyone wise enough to speak to the point should also know when enough has been said and when it is time to stop.

Fourth, he reproves their stubbornness without cause. “What makes you keep answering?” he asks. It is bold and unreasonable to accuse people of crimes we cannot prove, to judge their spiritual state from outward troubles, and to bring back objections that have already been answered again and again, as Eliphaz did.

Fifth, Job reproves them for breaking the basic law of friendship, that we should do to others as we would have them do to us. This rebuke is sharp and deeply moving. He asks them, in thought, to change places with him for a little while, to put their soul in his soul’s place, and imagine themselves in his misery while he enjoyed their comfort. That was not a strange or impossible thought, because human life changes quickly. The turns of life are sudden, and our places can shift before long. Whatever troubles our brothers and sisters have, we should feel them with sympathy, because we do not know how soon the same troubles may be ours.

Job also shows the harshness of their conduct by saying what he could do to them if he were in their place. “I could speak as you do.” It is easy to step on people who are already down and to criticize the words of someone in severe pain and suffering. “I could pile up words against you, as you do against me, and how would you like that?” But he goes farther and tells them what he would actually do: “I would strengthen you, and I would say all I could to relieve your grief, but nothing to increase it.”

That is the duty we owe our brothers and sisters in their affliction. We should say and do all we can to strengthen them, reminding them of truths that help them trust God and steady their weak spirits. Faith and patience are the strength of the afflicted, and anything that helps those graces helps their weak knees. We should also try to lessen their sorrow, if possible by removing what causes it, or at least by easing their bitterness over it.

Kind words cost nothing, yet they can greatly help those who are sad. They comfort people by showing real concern, and they may also remind them of things grief had pushed out of mind. Hard words may not break bones, as people say, but kind words can help broken bones rejoice. Those have the tongue of the learned who know how to speak a timely word to one who is weary.