Job gets it just as wrong as his friends, but in a different
way. The friends claim that Job's troubles must have been caused by his own
wrongdoing and God's just punishment of the same. Job, on the other hand,
apparently claims complete innocence and also claims that God is the sole cause
of Job's troubles.
According to Job 1:12 and Job 2:6, Satan, not God, is the direct cause of Job's troubles, although it is a mystery why God allows Satan to oppress Job.
By the way: I want to know how these views of God in heaven (Job 1 and 2) were given to humankind. Who reported on the conversations between God and Satan? Who saw? Who heard? How were those scenes recorded and by whom?
Still I admire this about Job: He has confidence in God--a confidence that foreshadows God's redemption and humanity's resurrection. Look at Job 19:25-27. "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes--I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!"
In Job 20 Zophar repeats proverbial wisdom: God judges and punishes the wicked while they live.
In Job 21 Job describes his experience: The wicked often live to escape both judgment and punishment.
In my experience life is more complicated than both Zophar and Job declare it to be.
And where is mercy? What are You telling me, God?
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