Job 11:1-20
11:1-6 Job's friends remained unhelpful. It seems their single determination was to convince Job that he was a bad person. We all need people in our lives who are not afraid to compassionately provide constructive criticism. But when we are hurt and confused, it is not helpful to have our imperfection targeted and relentlessly pressed. Job was not perfect but he was good. He did not deserve for his friends to be so cruel.
11:7-12 Zophar thought it was haughty of Job to profess innocence. Zophar felt that God was clearly announcing Job's sin... yet his interpretation was wrong. He did not listen to Job he merely waited until it was his turn to speak. Job did not pretend to be perfect; he was an honest man. If anything, Job was speaking as frankly as anyone ever had.
11:13-20 Job's friends' advice would have been constructive to an actually-wicked person. But as Job was not actually wicked, they were pointless to him. In the start of the book we learned that Job was righteous. He was joyful. Fair. Devout. Yet his friends seized the opportunity to pounce on their friend as if he were not so. They neglected to remember that he was a good man. They did not comfort him, they punished him. They insisted that God was against him, rather than for him. That drove a good man into depression.
