After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth. And Job spoke, and said: “May the day perish on which I was born, And the night in which it was said, ‘A male child is conceived.’ May that day be darkness; May God above not seek it, Nor the light shine upon it. May darkness and the shadow of death claim it; May a cloud settle on it; May the blackness of the day terrify it” (Job 3:1-5).
Heavenly Father, here we are once again, grateful that we have the aid of the Holy Spirit to guide us through the study of Your word. We stand in awe of Your thoughtfulness toward Your children. May we, follow in Your footsteps as we deal with each other in every situation. This we ask in the blessed name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
In this devotional Job will begin to speak in the presence of his friends. Having read Job’s story, and the way Scripture describes his dealings with others, it seems to me, that Job was well known, and well liked, by the people in his community, and most likely had a fairly good number of people he could call his friends. For that reason, before we make any comments regarding this conversation, let us take a look at what Scripture has to say about friends, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).
As I contemplated this Bible verse, for some reason, the word “But” seemed out of place. So I looked at other versions for clarification.
“There are companions who harm one another, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (New English Treanslation)
“There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother” (New Living Translation).
“A person of too many friends comes to ruin, But there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (New American Standard Bible).
“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother” (King James Version).
Next, I decided to look up the literal meaning of the word friend, in the verse, in order to understand the diversity of translations. And this is what I discovered:
“rêa‘, or rêya‘, an associate (more or less close):—brother, companion, fellow, friend, husband, lover, neighbor, × (an-) other. . . . A masculine noun meaning another person. Most frequently this term is used to refer to the second party in a personal interaction without indicating any particular relationship . . . It is extremely broad, covering everyone from a lover (Hos. 3:1); a close friend (Job 2:11); an acquaintance (Pr. 3:1); an advversary in court (Ex. 18:16); an enemy in combat (2 Sa. 2:16). Thus this word is well suited for its widely inclusive use in the Ten Commandments (see Ex. 20:16, 17; Dt. 5:20, 21; cf. Lk. 10:29-37)” (Hebrew-Greek KEY WORD STUDY BIBLE, KJV, Old Testament Dictionary).
According to this definition of the word friend, there are friends, and there are friends. Therefore, a person that has friends, plural, is likely to have all kinds of people within the group, but, there is, somewhere, at least one, who is a true friend, who will stick with you through “thick and thin,” as the saying goes.
I believe a true friend is someone who will not judge us. One who knows when and how, to tell us some truths that might be hard to listen to. One, who, even if we are found to be wrong, will help us admit our wrong, and deal with it; and will be willing to stand by us, regardless of what we may have to suffer, and hold our hands during the suffering.*
Such friends may be hard to find, but the Bible assures us that they exist. And, if there is no one in our lives that we have found to be such a friend, remember, Jesus calls us friends, “ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you” (John 15:15, emphasis supplied).
And Jesus is truly the Friend that is closer than any friend, or any family member, in spite of the true love he or she may have for us.
We will be looking at the reaction of Job’s friends to his words, in several devotionals in the days ahead.
*Note: This devotional has been updated. A second reading of the paragraph with an asterick is recommended.