Two important issues are the cause and effect of suffering and the justice and care of God. Job begins by accepting suffering as a part of human life to be endured through trust in God in good and bad times. He begins to question, facing the theological issues head on. He illustrates human frustration with problems for which we cannot find answers

Two important issues are the cause and effect of suffering and the justice and care of God. Job begins by accepting suffering as a part of human life to be endured through trust in God in good and bad times. He begins to question, facing the theological issues head on. He illustrates human frustration with problems for which we cannot find answers.

Thus, it is best to simply take the book as a unique work depicting the life of one man and his efforts to understand his God and his own situation in life.

On learning of Job’s affliction, three beloved friends (Heb. rēaʿ), Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, agreed together to travel to Uz in order to console Job. The term for friends has a wide range of meanings, including an intimate counselor (1 Chr. 27:33), a close friend (Deut. 13:7 [Eng. 6]), a party in a legal dispute (Exod. 22:8 [Eng. 9]). Friends often solemnized their relationship with a covenant, promising to care for each other under all kinds of circumstances. The relationship between Job and his three friends gives every evidence of being based on a covenant (6:14–15, 21–23, 27). Such a relationship was characterized by loyal love (ḥeseḏ; e.g., Jonathan and David, 1 Sam. 20:14–15). Motivated by love and their commitment, these men came to console and to comfort Job. The word to console (Heb. nûḏ) means literally “to shake the head or to rock the body back and forth” as a sign of shared grief. To comfort (Heb. niḥam) is to attempt to ease the deepest pain caused by a tragedy or death (e.g., 2 Sam. 12:24; Isa. 66:13). With the noblest intentions, these three earnestly desired to help Job bear his sorrow.

When these friends caught their first glimpse of Job from afar, they were aghast. All of Job’s former estate, which once dominated the landscape, had been devastated, and Job himself was scarcely recognizable, his body being so disfigured. Overcome with grief, they wept aloud and rent their mantles. They threw dust, symbolic of disease and death, into the air. The Hebrew expression is curious; literally, “they threw dust on their heads heavenward.” This gesture expressed the depth of their sorrow at such horrifying affliction. Then they sat in silence for seven days and seven nights.11 This length of time signified the intensity, of their sorrow, for such was the period of mourning at the death of a most notable figure (cf. Gen. 50:10; 1 Sam. 31:13).

The seven-day period functions as a turning point in the dramatic action of the account. The atmosphere was tense. Nobody spoke. Job’s pain was visibly unbearable. Then like a thunderclap Job’s lament broke the silence.

Yet he refuses to accept his wife’s perspective of giving up on God and life. Rather, he constantly confronts God with cries for help and for answers. He shows faith can be more than simple acceptance. Faith can be struggling in the dark for answers but struggling with God, not with other people.

Eliphaz notes that suffering will not last forever, especially for the innocent

Bildad notes that Job’s punishment is not as bad as it could have been; after all, his children died. Being alive means Job’s sin is not unforgivable and his suffering can be endured.

Zophar emphasizes Job’s sin but notes that he could suffer even more. He should give God credit for mercy in not making him endure all the pain his sin deserves.

Elihu pleaded for Job to listen to God’s word in the experience, for his suffering should become a means of seeing God’s will and God’s way in the situation. This should lead Job to confess his sin and praise God.

Job’s complaint is that he cannot find God. He wants to present his case to God but cannot do so, for he is unequal to God. He cannot present his claims of innocence and get his name cleared and his body healed.

God’s appearance shows that God cares, that He still controls the world, even a world with unexplainable suffering, and that His creative acts and the mysterious creatures He has created only prove that humans must live under God’s control.

Job’s complaint is that he cannot find God. He wants to present his case to God but cannot do so, for he is unequal to God. He cannot present his claims of innocence and get his name cleared and his body healed.

On learning of Job’s affliction, three beloved friends (Heb. rēaʿ), Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, agreed together to travel to Uz in order to console Job. The term for friends has a wide range of meanings, including an intimate counselor (1 Chr. 27:33), a close friend (Deut. 13:7 [Eng. 6]), a party in a legal dispute (Exod. 22:8 [Eng. 9]). Friends often solemnized their relationship with a covenant, promising to care for each other under all kinds of circumstances. The relationship between Job and his three friends gives every evidence of being based on a covenant (6:14–15, 21–23, 27). Such a relationship was characterized by loyal love (ḥeseḏ; e.g., Jonathan and David, 1 Sam. 20:14–15). Motivated by love and their commitment, these men came to console and to comfort Job. The word to console (Heb. nûḏ) means literally “to shake the head or to rock the body back and forth” as a sign of shared grief. To comfort (Heb. niḥam) is to attempt to ease the deepest pain caused by a tragedy or death (e.g., 2 Sam. 12:24; Isa. 66:13). With the noblest intentions, these three earnestly desired to help Job bear his sorrow.

Yahweh is angry with the friends because they have not spoken of him what is right [nəḵônâ] as Job had. Whereas Yahweh has accused Job of darkening knowledge (38:2), his charge against the friends is much stronger. Job has been genuinely groping for the truth, but the friends have spoken falsely in their attempt to defend God. More than failing to comfort Job, they have tempted him to take the wrong course out of his affliction.