THROUGHOUT THE BOOK of Job, we find Job’s three friends spouting theology of greater or lesser accuracy and applicability to Job in the face of his adversity.
Their knowledge of God is praiseworthy, considering what little revelation of God’s character and plan would have been available by the date this book was presumably written.
However, approaching Job with great theological truths—“We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.” (Job 5:27)—was hardly what Job needed at this time.
He didn’t need rational arguments, no matter how well examined. He needed emotional support.
What had happened to Job was beyond anyone’s reasonable explanation. If Job’s friends had a minimal acquaintance with him, they would have known this. Instead, they hide behind surface proverbs and platitudes.
The first one of them says to him—as if Job’s calamity had just occurred—“take your case to God.” (Job 5:8) Obviously Job had already done that. But sometimes God just doesn’t answer the door, not even for theologians.
God will work out his will, but in no part of that will is there a requirement that he tell his children what he is doing—in their personal lives or in the world at large.
Eliphaz and his friends, failing to admit that they themselves ever have questions about God and what he is doing, are at best not helpful and at worst, deceptive and dishonest.
Job implies that he had looked forward to seeing these friends, likening them to an oasis in a desert land (Job 6:19). But as their conversation continues, he finds them to be dried-up streams that leave those who depended on them to perish in disappointment.
He then spoke of them as being worthless to him because they saw his calamity but were actually scared by it. (Job 6:21) They were like surgeons who faint at the sight of blood.
In one poignant interaction, Job challenges his friends. Apparently, his physical condition was so repulsive that his friends were averting their eyes, for he says to them, “be so kind as to look at me!” (Job 5:28). One can picture them sitting around a table with their noses hidden in their theology books, searching for just the right word to verbally “slay” Job with.
Not Either/Or But Both/And
In the New Testament, Jesus takes the Pharisees to task for a similar attitude. He accuses them of keeping the law meticulously but neglecting love and justice (Luke 11:42)
Elsewhere, the Apostle Paul says, “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, … I am nothing” (1 Corinthians 13:1,2)
Paul also uses the phrase “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). He warns that we must maintain proper doctrine, but must also speak that truth with love and good will for our hearers. Apparently, the attitude Job’s friends had was one of moral superiority instead of the sacrificial love that Paul calls for here.
So, to conclude, I would never say anything against the study of theology in and of itself, for it should be the foundation of all our thoughts and actions. But it has its time and place. As in Job’s predicament, times of suffering are times not for theological debate but for a sympathetic ear, eye, and hand.