With a Friend like Eliphaz...

Job 3-4

Eliphaz decided to grace his friend Job with his wisdom. Pearls like...

• Do the innocent die?
• When have the upright been destroyed?

Surely Job was thankful when Eliphaz advised that...

A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice: "Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?"

Here was Job, he had lost all of his livestock and all of his children and he was covered from head to toe with boils, and now his friend Eliphaz informs him that "a spirit glided past my face..." About this time Job has to be wondering how much wine his friend has been drinking.

What kind of friend am I? The kind that that insists on putting someone down to lift another up... the kind that speaks fuzzy words of meaninglessness enthralled more by the sound of my voice... or... what?