An Old Testament Book: JOB
A Story of Tremendous Human Suffering, that Many of Us Also Experience, and How We Should React and Respond to Them
Some people I’ve spoken with have had a hard time in the book of Job in the Old Testament (it’s pronounced ‘Jobe’, not like a job you go to work at). This is probably because the first 37 chapters of the book are an exchange of human reasoning between Job and four friends who are supposed to be comforting him in his misery of suffering. Job tells them they are ‘poor comforters.’
I See These Men as Being Counselors
I was a former counselor because I did so much ‘hip pocket counseling’ as a lawyer. Many people will talk to a lawyer about things they might never speak to anyone else about. So in addition to being a lawyer, I got licensed as a counselor with Christian Counselors Association.
Because of this, I might call these four guys ‘counselors.’ But as the story turns out they didn’t counsel right and were in error. God himself said so in the last chapters. In Chapters 1–37, the men state their own human reasoning, and then Job offers his rebuttal (as we say in law). Round and round they go for 37 chapters that you can lose interest in if you’re not careful.
