Job 2:11-13 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come on him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite… We now enter on a new scene, one that prepares for the main action of the drama. Hitherto the court of heaven, the roving errands of Satan, the personal and domestic afflictions of Job, have engaged our attention. Now the light of the larger human world is let in on this scene. Job is not in purgatory, shut off from companionship of living men. Indeed, his greatest trouble is yet to come from the blundering conduct of that companionship. I. TROUBLE SHOULD COLLECT FRIENDS. We see very much of the faults of Job's three friends in the course of the poem. Let us be fair to them, and recognize their good points. They were true friends; they did honestly desire and attempt to render to Job all the consolation that was in their power. They aimed at being "friends in need." False friends fall off in the hour of trouble. Such a spectacle as that of Job on his dungheap would not invite the crowd of sycophants that swarms about the table of the great man. No doubt Job had been pestered with plenty of such pretended friends in the old days of his fame. Doubtless one blessing among his many calamities was that he was now relieved of their presence. But three genuine friends still hold to him and seek him out in the time of his deepest distress. It is well to go to the house of mourning. But few are they who know how to conduct themselves when them. II. SYMPATHY IS THE BEST COMFORT. The three friends were amazed at the sight which presented itself. They were prepared to see trouble) but no imagination could picture so huge a distress as that of Job. It needed to be witnessed to be believed. The sight of it calls forth natural sympathy. Although the decorous Orientals proceeded at once to adopt the conventional forms of mourning, there is every reason to believe that their sympathy was genuine and heartfelt. It is only the heart made callous by selfishness that is incapable of sympathy. In this most Divine attribute of human nature we may recognize the root of what is moot fruitful in good. Sympathy is the spring of all the most helpful service, and when the service is impossible, the sympathy itself is consoling; for it is much to know that friends feel with us in our trouble. III. SYMPATHY MAY BE SHOWN IN SILENCE. Those seven days sad seven nights of silence are a sublime spectacle. Job's comforters began well. It would have been good for their reputation if they had gone home at the end of the week. Then they would have been known as model comforters instead of becoming bywords for tormentors. We often make a mistake in thinking we ought "to say something." Great distress should hush hasty words. There are times when the gentlest words sound harsh on pained ears. What is wanted in trouble is not advice, but sympathy; and this is best shown by the unbidden tear, the silent pressure of the hand, the look of love. We feel a sad separation from one who is in great sorrow, for sorrow is naturally lonely. Only Christ can perfectly enter into it. He needs no words. - W.F.A. Parallel Verses KJV: Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came every one from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite: for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. |
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