Eliphaz (from Ishmael's son Teman -- Gen. 25:15) said, "Who ever perished (like you Job) being innocent" (4:7)? "Are not thy wickedness great and thine iniquities infinite?" (22:5) Bildad (from Keturah's son Shuah -- Gen. 25:2) said, "God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evildoers" (8:20) (so you must be guilty of something). Zophar, king of the Minnaei, said, "God exacts of you less than your iniquity deserves" (11:6) (since you are being afflicted). Why were these three accusers incorrect (42:7)? Elihu the son of Barachel ha-Buzi (from Nahor's son Buz -- Gen. 22:21) apparently was innocent (Job 42:7) of slandering Job.

Job, the son of Esau (p.383 Eusebius Prep. For Gospel) responded sarcastically, "Yes, I realize you know everything! All wisdom will die with you" (12:2; Tay). "My righteousness will I hold fast. God forbid that I should justify you." (27:6). Job had no sin (Job 1:8). He was misrepresented by them (19:7). Job pointed out that life isn't fair. The wicked sometimes live long and prosper and die in peace (21:2-7), in health (21:9), with plenty of cattle (21:10), and numerous happy offspring (21:11-12), and an easy death (21:13) even though they reject true religion (21:14-15). Other times the wicked are punished (21:16-21). So life is random (21:22-26; Matt. 5:45; Heb. 11:37-39; 1 Tim. 6:5) -- until the Judgment Day (21:27). Therefore, no certain conclusion can be drawn regarding whether men are good or bad based on the amount of suffering they endure in this life. Good men are sometimes delivered; and the wicked are sometimes punished. Other times the wicked prosper and the good suffer. In Ecclesiastes 10:6, we read, "Folly is set in great dignity, and the rich sit in a low place. I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking like servants upon the earth" (10:6-7). In John 9:2 the disciples asked the Lord, "Who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?" His answer was, "Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be manifest in him."

Elihu condemned Job's friends for blaming him for crimes they couldn't prove. "They had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job" (32:3). He confirmed the truth that virtue is not uniformly rewarded, nor vice uniformly punished in this life (32:21). It is true that we do reap what we sow -- eventually (Ps. 1; Gal. 6:7). God can do no wrong, and will render to every man according to his work (34:11). And again, "For he will not lay upon man more than is right; that he should enter into judgment with God" (34:23). But God tries and tests good men like Job and proves them, seeing what they can do and what they can take (1 Pet. 1:7; Job 23:10). Job will come "forth as gold" (23:10). Suffering can occur for many reasons (John 9:1-7). Trials may come because God wants to know how a person will react (Gen. 22:1-12). Suffering helps us become spiritually strong (2 Cor. 12:7-10; Heb. 12:4-12; James 1:2-4; 1 Pet. 4:12-19). Does that make God unfair? God doesn't have an obligation to explain himself to man. Sometimes suffering is beneficial. No pain, no gain. (Gen. 18:25; Rom. 9:20; 11:33-34; 2 Cor. 4:17; Rom. 8:18; 1 Pet. 2:21-23; Job 23:3-4; 31:37-40; Job 1:21; 2:10; 13:15). Prosperity and success are not owed to the righteous immediately. Its not merely cause and effect right away. A future judgment will redress all these irregularities, when ultimately the righteous will be rewarded and the wicked punished. Even in this life, after the test, God gave Job twice as much as he had before (42:10).

"Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh. Blessed are ye, when men (Eliphaz, Bildad & Zophar) shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto the prophets" (Luke 6:21-23). "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matt. 7:13-14). "Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all" (Ps. 34:19). And "all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution" (2 Tim. 3:12). "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22). "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you" (1 Pet. 4:12).  Ecclesiastes 7:15 says: “In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these: a righteous man perishing in his righteouness, and a wicked man living long in his wickedness.” Cf. also b. Shabbat 33b, “The righteous are taken by the iniquity of the generation.”

"But ask now even the BEASTS - they shall teach it thee; And the BIRDS of heaven - they shall declare it to thee: Or look thoughtfully to the GROUND - it shall teach it thee; And the FISH of the sea shall tell it thee. Who would not recognise in all this That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this, In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?" (Job 12:7-9). Job may be here giving the proof that life isn't fair. It doesn't always goes well with good men, and badly with evil men. Instead, good men are afflicted, and wicked men prosper; something similar to the BEASTS. For instance those BEASTS that are the most harmless and innocent, and most useful and beneficial, are devoured by predators, as sheep and lambs are victims to lions, wolves, and bears. Regarding BIRDS, harmless doves and chickens are devoured by hawks and vultures; and the small FISH by larger predatory FISH (see Hab. 1:13). Moreover, the gold, silver, and diamonds mined from the GROUND are, generally speaking, the property of the evil worldly men who exploit the earth and farmer poison the GROUND with pesticides and herbicides and deplete the soil of nutrients.

Righteousness alone makes life a success. Without it, it is a miserable failure. Whatever wealth, fame, and pleasure are obtained, they mean nothing. Righteousness is its own glory and reward. "So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning." "Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace." "Godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come." "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." "Everyone that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My Name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit everlasting life."