In the book of Job, after Job experiences immense suffering and loss, his friends come to visit and comfort him. However, instead of providing genuine comfort, Job feels that his friends actually accuse him and do more harm than good. This leads Job to refer to them as “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2 ESV).
To understand why Job called his friends miserable comforters, we first need to look at the background of Job’s suffering. Job was a righteous man who feared God and turned away from evil (Job 1:1). Yet God allowed Satan to test Job by taking away his health, wealth, and children (Job 1-2). After this, three of Job’s friends – Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar – come to visit him and sit with him in silence for seven days (Job 2:11-13).
After the seven days, Job speaks up and begins to lament his circumstances. He wishes he had never been born and complains about the agony he is undergoing (Job 3). In response to this, each of the three friends takes turns speaking to Job, attempting to explain why he is suffering and urging him to repent of whatever sins he must have committed to bring this calamity upon himself.
Eliphaz is the first to respond. He tells Job that the innocent do not perish, so Job must have done something to deserve God’s punishment (Job 4:7-8). Bildad and Zophar echo similar sentiments – that Job should seek God and repent of his sins so that his fortunes might be restored (Job 8:5-6, Job 11:13-15).
The core of their argument is that suffering only comes to those who sin against God. They believe in a simplistic view of retribution – that God always blesses the good and punishes the wicked. Therefore, they see Job’s suffering as evidence that he must have committed some great sin and has fallen out of God’s favor.
However, from the very beginning of the book we as readers know that God considers Job blameless (Job 1:8, Job 2:3). His suffering is not the result of sin, but rather a test allowed by God. Thus, the friends’ accusations only add more pain to Job’s anguish.
Throughout their various speeches, the three friends become increasingly forceful in their accusations. At first, Eliphaz politely assumes Job must have sinned even if he does not know it (Job 4:7-8). By the third cycle of speeches, they openly accuse him of specific injustices and urge him to repent before it is too late (Job 22:4-11).
Despite their claims to wisdom and piety, the friends have a limited understanding of God’s workings. They represent an overly simplistic theology that tries to reduce suffering into a strict system of reward and punishment.
In response to their accusations, Job insists on his innocence and increasingly becomes angry at the friends (Job 6:24-30, Job 12:2-3). He recognizes the flaws in their theological arguments and maintains steadfastly that he does not deserve what has happened to him.
Job accuses them of offering false comfort and empty condolences (Job 21:34). Instead of genuinely comforting him, they sit in judgment and accuse him of wrongdoing. Their words provide no relief for his pain and suffering.
Job goes so far as to say it would have been better if his friends had just kept silent rather than accusing him (Job 13:5). At one point, he states that his friends “have dealt deceitfully like a brook, like the torrents of wadis that pass away, that are dark with ice, turbid with melting snow” (Job 6:15-16 ESV). Just as an empty brook bed disappoints a thirsty traveler, so too have his friends failed to offer true refreshment.
We see Job’s growing frustration when he exclaims, “How long will you torment me and break me in pieces with words?” (Job 19:2 ESV). He feels shattered rather than comforted by their counsel.
As the debate continues and the friends remain committed to their position, Job accuses them of defending God wrongly and offering meaningless arguments (Job 13:7-8). He believes they do not really understand God’s righteousness or his ways.
Finally, in Job 16, Job directly calls his friends “miserable comforters” (Job 16:2 ESV). He compares them to deceitful brooks again, indicating the falseness of their consolation. He calls them “forgers of lies” and states that if he were in their place, he “could join words together against you and shake my head at you” (Job 16:3-4 ESV).
However, Job maintains that even if positions were reversed, he would still speak honestly rather than offering false comfort as they have. He staunchly defends his integrity and insists that his friends have completely failed to understand his situation or offer any meaningful support.
Job goes on to lament that God has afflicted and abased him, leaving him weary and devastated (Job 16:6-17). In this condition, the accusatory words of his friends are like arrows that pierce him even further rather than comforting him (Job 16:12-14). Their philosophical arguments seem meaningless in the face of real life anguish.
Based on this background, we can identify several key reasons why Job referred to his friends as “miserable comforters”:
1. They blamed Job instead of comforting him
The main reason Job felt his friends offered miserable comfort is because they turned on him with accusations and blame instead of empathy. Even if they thought he had sinned, heaping accusations on top of his suffering was unkind. Their words added more pain instead of relief.
Proverbs 17:17 says that a true friend loves at all times. Yet instead of loving Job in his darkest hour, the three friends compounded his misery by declaring his suffering must be his own fault. Their arguments were more focused on defending God’s justice than compassionately listening to their friend.
Job rightly discerned that real comfort requires empathy, not judgment. As he cried out in pain, he needed friends willing to weep with him (Romans 12:15), not rigorously interrogate his potential sins.
2. They clung to simplistic theology instead of wisdom
The friends were committed to defending a formulaic, predictable view of God’s justice. They allowed this theological position to prevent them from offering any words of true comfort, wisdom, or insight to Job.
Their doctrine was limited to the idea that good people always prosper while the wicked are punished. This did not allow any room for the complex purposes of God amid suffering. Their insistence on this simplistic explanation blinded them to genuine wisdom, preventing them from accurately reflecting God’s character.
Proverbs 1:5 says that a wise person will gain greater understanding and insight. Yet the friends clung tightly to their own limited ideas instead of having open minds to gain wisdom. Their narrow thinking made them miserable comforters.
3. They were arrogant and self-righteous
At several points during the debate, Job accused his friends of self-righteous arrogance in the way they pontificated against him. They spoke as if they had greater wisdom and insight into God’s workings than he did.
Yet as Job identified, there were serious flaws and limitations in their philosophical positions. Their arguments directly condemned Job without extending grace or acknowledging the bigger picture of God’s sovereignty.
The friends’ self-assured, prideful attitudes prevented them from offering genuine empathy and care. Their arrogance led them to merely lecture rather than comfort their suffering friend.
Proverbs 18:12 wisely states that pride leads to destruction. The friends’ arrogant belief in their own righteousness caused them to badly mistreat Job in his suffering.
4. They were hypocrites
Job also accuses the friends of being hypocrites who do not practice what they preach. For example, in Job 13:7-8, Job charges them with uttering lies and partiality all while claiming to speak on God’s behalf. They pretend to know God’s mind but in reality defend Him with falsehood.
Additionally, Job accuses them of secretly being guilty of the very sins they condemn him for. In Job 22, Eliphaz unfairly accuses Job of taking advantage of widows and orphans. Job flips this by charging that Eliphaz is actually describing himself, as he is the one guilty of exploiting the vulnerable (Job 22:5-11).
According to Jesus, hypocrisy and pride were common sins among the religious leaders of His day (Matthew 23:13-36). Job discerned similar moral flaws among those claiming to correct and lecture him.
Proverbs 11:9 states that hypocrites destroy a neighbor with their speech. Eliphaz and the others destroyed Job with hypocritical words rather than genuinely comforting him.
5. They were futile philosophers rather than fellow sufferers
Throughout his replies, Job charges that his friends offer useless philosophical arguments that do nothing to address his very real pain. They treat the situation as an abstract theological debate removed from human suffering.
Job specifically calls their arguments “proverbs of ashes” (Job 13:12 ESV). Their empty words crumble away just like ashes in the wind when applied to Job’s messy real-life situation.
Additionally, Job says his friends are “worthless physicians” (Job 13:4 ESV). Just as a sick person needs medicine that works, not empty theories, Job needed effective comfort from friends who could relate to his affliction.
Yet his friends approached his situation as removed debaters arguing over doctrine. They sought to intellectually solve the issue of Job’s guilt rather than crying with their suffering friend. Their hearts were closed off to genuinely encountering his pain.
6. They diminished Job’s dignity
On top of the physical pain he bore, Job also agonized over the loss of his wealth, reputation, and the tragic death of his children. The immense grief, shame, and upheaval he faced left his dignity shattered.
Yet his friends’ accusations and arguments only served to drag Job lower rather than uplifting him. Their statements portray Job as a hypocrite under God’s judgment, heightening his shame and indignity.
Rather than showing honor and respect for their friend, they diminished him by their careless words and arguments. Their false theories crushed Job’s spirit and dignity even further.
In contrast, Proverbs 11:12 says that a person who has understanding holds their tongue to spare a neighbor shame. The friends should have humbly remained silent rather than dishonoring Job.
7. They never admitted they were wrong
To the very end, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar clung to their conviction that Job must be guilty. Despite Job’s insistence on his innocence, they never acknowledged that their theological position might be flawed.
In Job 32, Elihu arrives and also harshly condemns Job. Yet at the end of the book, only Elihu’s words are vindicated. God declares that Elihu spoke correctly about His sovereignty and justice (Job 42:7-8).
In contrast, God states that Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did not speak rightly about Him as Job did (Job 42:7-8). However, the three friends never repent of their wrong perspective and harmful words toward Job.
A wise person listens to correction and instruction (Proverbs 15:31-32). Yet the friends rejected the truth to the end. Their hardened resistance to admitting error was a key factor that made their words so hurtful rather than comforting.
8. They valued religious tradition over relationship
The friends seem most concerned with rigidly defending the religious tradition they were accustomed to. Their rigid theology led them to prioritize abstract ideals of retribution over the very real relationship before them.
Rather than humbly listening and coming alongside Job in his agony, they lectured him from a distance. Their cold, arrogant commitment to tradition caused them to miss the pain of their suffering friend.
In Matthew 23:23, Jesus criticized the Pharisees for pursuing religious rituals while neglecting deeper matters like justice, mercy, and faithfulness. Similar to this, Job’s friends valued defending tradition more than extending sacrificial love.
Their hypocrisy and lack of genuine connection made their words empty chatter rather than authentic comfort.
9. They spoke presumptuously about God
Job also charges his friends with presuming to speak for God and make definitive statements about how He works. Yet as finite, limited humans they were actually misrepresenting God and putting words in His mouth.
Job recognizes the friends’ arguments as flawed human reasoning masquerading as divine truth. He exposes the inaccuracies in their simplistic representations of God’s justice and sovereign workings.
The prophet Ezekiel notes this same problem among the religious leaders of his day. God declares that they have misled people by presenting their own faulty opinions as if they were the word of the Lord (Ezekiel 13:3-7). The friends were guilty of the same deception.
Their arrogant claims to speak for God actually diminished His wisdom, compassion, and comfort. In his suffering, Job needed friends who humbly pointed him to the perfect righteousness and tenderness of God rather than presumptuously lecturing about Him.
In summary, Job called his friends miserable comforters because of the following factors:
- They condemned Job instead of showing empathy for his suffering
- They clung to rigid theological arguments instead of wisdom
- They were arrogant, self-righteous, and hypocritical
- They functioned as debaters rather than fellow sufferers
- They diminished Job’s dignity instead of honoring him
- They never admitted they were wrong
- They valued religious tradition over real relationship
- They spoke presumptuously about God’s character
The flaws of Job’s friends highlight key principles for how to effectively comfort those undergoing suffering and grief. Their negative example teaches important lessons on how not to counsel someone enduring loss or hardship.
True comfort requires empathy, sincerity, humility, and willingness to mourn alongside someone in their pain. Judging others, forcing simplistic perspectives, and clinging to tradition only isolates struggling people. We must avoid friendship that destroys like Job’s companions.
Proverbs 17:17 declares, “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity.” May we aim to be faithful comforters who selflessly love and bear one another’s burdens even in the most bitter storms of life.
