Summary: THE FRIENDS of Job continue to accuse him of speaking rashly and insist that he must have committed some sin to provoke Yahweh’s punishment. Zophar the Naamathite, in particular, is almost devoid of sympathy. For his part, Job rebukes his friends, calling them “miserable comforters”, and longs for death. Yet, in his despair, Job has an understanding of the ways of God that, while not perfect, far surpasses that of his friends. We see references to the Divine Council (shown explicitly to us in the first two chapters of Job), an understanding of the afterlife (see Dr. Michael S. Heiser’s comments of Sheol here), and possibly even a glimpse of the Messiah in Job 16:19: Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high. And Derek was right–the Egyptian records he referred to are called the Execration Texts (although they refer to the Anakim rather than the Rephaim).
