The Dialogs

The Dialogs

Counting Job’s opening speech, the Dialog consists of seventeen parts; three arguments for Eliphaz; three for Bildad; two for Zophar and an initial statement and eight rebuttals by Job. As the discussion progresses between Job and his comforters, there is a classic example of the “wedge” theory of argumentation. The more insistent the three friends get in their accusations, the more defensive Job becomes. Job, in fact moves from a position where “he sins not with his lips” to actual accusations against God for the injustice of his situation.

While the points made by the three visitors are very similar, there are subtle differences. Eliphaz, as the oldest, speaks first in each of the trilogies. Perhaps, tempered by age, his voice is the softest of the three. His central argument, fitting to the definition of his name, “my god is gold,” is that one can measure his relationship with his God by the quantity of his possessions. There is a tone of crass materialism in his remarks. Yet, they are not totally without merit, for God would shortly announce to the nation of Israel that their obedience would be blessed “in basket and in store” (Deut. 28:1-5). His message is parallel to that of didactic materialism, which holds that the change in either personal or national forms of behavior is driven by economic goals.

Bildad, somewhat harsher, uses a questioning approach, challenging Job to investigate his past life for sins against God. His foundation points, as borne out by his name meaning either “confused love” or “loved by Bel,” show the influence of paganism on his thought pattern. His approach is the classical Socratic approach of the advancement of these by a series of increasingly challenging the integrity of his subject. In that respect, his approach befits the other suggested meaning of his name, “disputant, or son of contention.”

Zophar, the youngest of the trio, is also the most cutting in his criticisms of Job. Perhaps is was defensive of Job’s rebuttal to his grandfather, Eliphaz. His main contribution to the dialog is his constant resorting to theme, “Who are you to question God?” From the probable connection of his name to the word “sparrow,” some expositors have drawn the extension of his name to mean “twitterer,” or “vain babbler,” from the repetitiveness of the sparrow’s song. His refusal to seek for a meaning to Job’s dilemma other than stating the superiority of God to man amounts to a failure to “reason together” with the Almighty (Isa. 1:26). Zophar is the only one of the friends who does not speak in the third round of the dialog, as though he is put to silence and has no further answers to offer. Some have taken from his speeches a representation of the clergy of Christendom with their escape from reason into their unwillingness to seek a more definitive answer to such questions as the permission of evil.|

The Speeches of Job

An outline of the rebuttals of Job can be seen from the following chart:

JOB	Opening Speech	Chapter 3
ELIPHAZ	Speech – Chapters 4, 5	Job’s Rebuttal – Chapters 6, 7
BILDAD	Speech – Chapter 8	Job’s Rebuttal – Chapters 9-10
ZOPHAR	Speech – Chapter 11	Job’s Rebuttal – Chapters 12-14
ELIPHAZ	Speech – Chapter 15	Job’s Rebuttal – Chapters 16, 17
BILDAD	Speech – Chapter 18	Job’s Rebuttal – Chapter 19
ZOPHAR	Speech – Chapter 20	Job’s Rebuttal – Chapter 21
ELIPHAZ	Speech – Chapter 22	Job’s Rebuttal – Chapters 23, 24
BILDAD	Speech – Chapter 25	Job’s Rebuttal – Chapters 27-31

 

Job's First Speech—Chapter 3

The sorrows of the afflicted pour out in a steady stream from his mouth. He regrets the fact that he was born. He desires death. Apparently he feared such calamities even in the heights of his prosperity and health (v. 25, 26). Despite his negative feelings, there is no thought of a lack of a resurrection hope. Later comments show his belief in an after-life. Here he utters the fact that if he had been as "an untimely birth" or "an infant that had not seen life"—a stillborn—he would go to a place of rest and would sleep together with both "the small and the great."