Pride and Right

Is Job too proud to be humble before God?

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: ‘Can a mortal be of use to God? Can even the wisest be of service to him? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are righteous, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? Is it for your piety that he reproves you, and enters into judgement with you? ‘Agree with God, and be at peace; in this way good will come to you. Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored, if you remove unrighteousness from your tents, if you treat gold like dust, and gold of Ophir like the stones of the torrent-bed, and if the Almighty is your gold and your precious silver, then you will delight in the Almighty, and lift up your face to God. You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. When others are humiliated, you say it is pride; for he saves the humble. He will deliver even those who are guilty; they will escape because of the cleanness of your hands.’

Then Job answered: ‘Today also my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy despite my groaning. O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his dwelling! I would lay my case before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me. Would he contend with me in the greatness of his power? No; but he would give heed to me. There an upright person could reason with him, and I should be acquitted for ever by my judge. -  Job 22:1-4, 21-23:7

Job's friend, Eliphaz, is telling him to humble himself before God and be at peace, but Job refuses.  He feels he is right and shouldn't admit to something he has not done just to gain peace.  He will fight for justice, demanding to make his case before God.

There is no compromise here.  Job wants to be acquitted before his judge, and that's that.

Eliphaz is trying to use logic against Job's emotion and it is not working.  Eliphaz knows that God is good and he will forgive anyone for anything, so why not just appeal to God and be over with this torment?

Job sees that as an admission of guilt and he won't have it.  He will stand his ground to the end, and while that is admirable, it will result in more pain than he should have had to suffer.

What would we do?

Would we choose to stand proud and demand justice or give in and be done with it?

These are the kinds of questions we face in these stories, and they are meant to give us pause.  We can put ourselves in Job's place to see one perspective and then go back and take Eliphaz's position.

It is like we are back in school on the debate team, having to argue for the position we don't support, and do it convincingly.  Maybe we need to do more of that now.

More to come...