The Gloves Come Off

Job 12

If Job had a theme for this chapter, it would probably "The Fighting Side of Me". Job's emotions are easy to read in this chapter. At best, he is annoyed. At worst, he is furious. Honestly though, who can blame him. His "friends" have all three attacked him now. He must truly feel all alone in the world. With the barrage of attacks that Job has received from his friends, Job takes enough. When we read the first three verses of his response, they are dripping with sarcasm.

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And Job answered and said,

2 No doubt but ye are the people,

And wisdom shall die with you.

3 But I have understanding as well as you;

I am not inferior to you:

Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

Job 12:1-3

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Verse two loses something in our modern English, but it is extremely sarcastic, and I can almost see Job's friends turning red when they heard it. In this one statement, Job essentially tells them that they think they know it all and they are full of themselves. While it certainly did not win them over, his words were true. Job's friends would not listen to his side. Their minds were made up and that tainted anything true they might have said.

In verse 3, Job tells his friends that he has understanding like them. In other words, he tells them he is not an idiot. He also says that he is not inferior to them, or beneath them. It would appear that Job is the oldest of the group from other verses, and yet his friends are talking to him like he is a child. His final words of this verse are to put their speech into perspective, "who doesn't know these things that you have said?" Job tells them that they have not told him anything profound.

I don't believe Job is wrong here. He did not say anything overly harsh. He did not call names. He spoke truth. while demonstrating to his friends that he was beyond frustrated with them. When we look at what Jesus said to the Pharisees, this is pretty mild. He called them vipers, which spoke of both the poison that came from their mouths and the serpent was an "unclean" animal, revealing the condition of their hearts. He also called them whitewashed tombs. The outside looked good, their religious practices, but inside they were dead. For people that worked really hard to not be "unclean", this was highly insulting, but true.

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I am as one mocked of his neighbour,

Who calleth upon God, and he answereth him:

The just upright man is laughed to scorn.

Job 12:4

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Job shifts from pointing out his friends absurdity to stating his defense again. He tells that his friends are mocking him. He says that he calls upon God and God does answer him. Then he says something important for us to remember, "the upright man is laughed to scorn". Job could have been writing an Old Testament precursor to II Timothy 3:12, "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution".

I have said for years that Job's biggest problem was that he talked too much. He spoke truth but he began to justify himself, even against God. Through his excessive defense, he began to reveal that there was a deeply hidden part of him that thought God was unfair. God used this situation to draw that out of Job. It was like a splinter that slowly festers it's way to the surface. Once the splinter was removed, Job was better. God knew what it would take to further sanctify Job. However, splinters hurt, even more so when infection sets in. Removing a splinter is not fun, but it is necessary for healing.

I have tried to remove splinters from my nieces and nephews when they were young. They were scared of the needle. They tried to refuse to let me remove the splinter. They did not realize that a little discomfort was necessary for a lot of relief. Job was much like my nieces and nephews. He did not understand what God was doing. Yet, like a patient adult, God stayed with Job. Eventually he would reassure Job that he was not going to kill him with the needle of suffering to remove the splinter of sin.

Father, I know there is a time to be angry. There is much in this world that should cause us to be angry. Yet, your word tells us to be angry and sin not. Help me to do just that. May the things that anger you anger me but help me to not sin in my anger, just as you do not sin when you are angry.