Job

            Loyalty and Suffering: The Question of the Loyalty of Friends .
            
             The idea of justice and good people suffering is a point first brought up in the Old Testament in the Book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah is the first author in the Bible to question God's allowance of good people to suffer and bad people to prosper. Jeremiah was punished for speaking the word of Yahweh. The people of Judah hated him and punished him as a traitor to his country. He questions why Yahweh would let this punishment, not only of himself, but of his people, to occur. The Book of Job re-asks this question, for Job is a loyal man of Yahweh, who is put "on trial" because of a bet between God and Satan, who sits on his council. Job has everything taken away from him, is persecuted by his friends, takes his case to a "trail-like" atmosphere and is rewarded for his loyalty to Yahweh in the end.
             This book brings to light a few questions that need to be answered: 1. Are the arguments presented for Job's suffering satisfactory? 2. Where does Job's friends" loyalty lie, with him, Yahweh or elsewhere? 3. Was Job's "reward" for being loyal just, or was it just compensation for being accused for something he did not do? .
             In chapter three the following chapters, Job's friends interpret his suffering but do so falsely. These false accusations lead the friends to become more and more estranged from Job on the ash heap. Eliphaz, the oldest and thus the wisest friend, speaks first. He says he speaks from experience. He says suffering results from human activity and it is divine punishment for wicked living (4:8-9). He says he has had a dream (4:12) in which a voice questioned if anyone could be sinless before God. It is Eliphaz" way to get Job to admit his sinfulness. Evidently Eliphaz was troubled that Job had not repented. It could also be a divine discipline for which Job should be grateful, but the audience knows he is wrong.