AS WE STUDY the interactions between Job and his friends, we notice that their emphasis on age as a source of wisdom stands out prominently. Job’s three friends—Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar—wield their advanced years like credentials, assuming age automatically confers deeper understanding. This pattern emerges first with Eliphaz the Temanite, who opens with subtle condescension:…
Tag: Advice
When Good Advice is Bad for You
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN a friend’s advice is actually the devil talking? Maybe what a friend says sounds right, but (1) it either doesn’t fit you, (2) it doesn’t fit the circumstances, (3) it comes from bad theology, and/or (4) it comes from bad motives. After Job loses everything, his friend Eliphaz leads off the barrage of…