Eliphaz Speaks:
Chapter 4 - The Concept of Divine Retribution
1.  Have you ever known an innocent person who perished?  How would you answer Eliphaz' question in 4:7?

2.  Are people always rewarded or punished appropriately?  If not why not?  Is God not just?  Is God powerful?  Is Job innocent or does he really have some sin for which he is being punished?

3.  What is the main point in the revelation in Ch. 4 beginning at verse 17?

4.  If human beings are imperfect, is anyone immune from suffering?  Can we distinguish between "good" and "bad" people if no mortal being can be righteous before God?

Chapter 5 - Suffering is the Chastening of God
5.  Does Job 5:8-16 sound like other passages you have read in the bible?  Hannah's song (1 Samuel 2:1-10 or the Magnificat Luke 1 46-55).  Can we expect that God will always eventually bring justice?

6.  Does God cause suffering to teach us?  What is your favorite explanation for suffering?  Why is there any suffering in a world made by a good and powerful God?  Why do some suffer and others not?

Ch. 6 - Job Answers "It's not fair or just!"
7.  In Job 6 Job accuses his friends of being afraid.  Have you ever been frightened by a friend or relative when something awful happened to him or her?  If so, why?

8.  What does Job mean in verse 6:24 when he asks for help in understanding how he has erred?  Is he asking for a list of sins because he wants Eliphaz to admit that he does not have evidence to support his theories?  Or does Job really want to know where he has gone wrong so that he can repent and have his troubles go away?

Ch. 13 - "Wait till it happens to you!"
9.  Job calls his friends "worthless physicians".  Why?  What kind of teachers, preachers, counselors and leaders do we prefer?  Do we look to those persons to give us answers to all our questions or troubles? - - or do we want them to join us in the search for truth?  What are your experiences?

10.  Should a teacher of religion be on "God's side" or the "side of human beings"?  If you were looking for comfort would you want someone whose main objective was to defend God?