Proverbs of Ash
Introduction: The Sin of Pious Fraud
We come now to a pivotal moment in the book of Job. The initial shock of his calamity has passed, and the well-meaning but utterly wrong-headed counsel of his friends has been dispensed. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar have taken their turns, and their collective wisdom amounts to this: God is just, you are suffering, therefore you must be a secret and spectacular sinner. Repent of this unknown sin, and God will restore you. It is a neat, tidy, and thoroughly brutal piece of systematic theology that has no room for the raw, bleeding facts of Job's life.
In this chapter, Job turns the tables. He is not just defending his own integrity against their accusations; he is defending the very integrity of God against their slanderous defense of Him. This is a crucial distinction. Job's friends believe they are God's legal team, His faithful defenders. But Job accuses them of a high crime, a kind of theological malpractice. He accuses them of pious fraud. They are lying for God. They are speaking unrighteously on behalf of the Righteous One. They are showing partiality to the Impartial Judge.
This is a temptation that has beset the well-intentioned and the orthodox in every generation. It is the temptation to defend God with arguments that are not true, to smooth over the hard providences with slick platitudes, to make God more manageable, more predictable, and more like us. It is the temptation to become "worthless physicians" who apply the poultice of our tidy systems to the gaping wounds that God Himself has inflicted. Job will have none of it. He would rather argue his case before the Almighty Himself than listen to one more word from His incompetent attorneys.
What we are about to witness is a master class in discerning the difference between true defense of the faith and a carnal attempt to manage God's reputation. Job teaches us that God has no need of our spin. He is not a politician who needs a public relations team to cover His gaffes. He is the sovereign Lord of heaven and earth, and the truest way to honor Him is to speak the truth, even when that truth is hard and cuts against the grain of our comfortable pieties.
The Text
"Behold, my eye has seen all this; My ear has heard and understood it. What you know I also know; I have not fallen short of you. But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God. But you cover me with lies; You are all worthless physicians. O that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom! Please hear my argument And give heed to the contentions of my lips. Will you speak what is unrighteous for God, And speak what is deceitful for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God? Will it be well when He examines you? Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man? He will surely reprove you If you secretly show partiality. Will not His exaltedness terrify you, And the dread of Him fall on you? Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes; Your defenses are defenses of clay."
(Job 13:1-12 LSB)
An Appeal to a Higher Court (vv. 1-3)
Job begins by establishing that he is their peer. He is not some theological novice who needs their remedial instruction.
"Behold, my eye has seen all this; My ear has heard and understood it. What you know I also know; I have not fallen short of you." (Job 13:1-2)
Job is saying, "I have been around. I have seen the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer. I have heard all the standard theological explanations you are offering. I know the catechism. You are not telling me anything new." They are treating him as though he has forgotten the first day of Sunday School, that God punishes the wicked. Job's point is that his present reality is a glaring exception to their simplistic rule. He is not inferior to them in wisdom or experience. This is not arrogance; it is a necessary preface to what he is about to say. He is rejecting their condescension in order to reject their counsel.
Having dismissed their authority, he appeals to a higher one.
"But I would speak to the Almighty, And I desire to argue with God." (Job 13:3)
This is a staggering statement of faith. It is not the cry of a man who has lost his faith, but of a man who is desperately clinging to it. He believes that God is a God of justice, a God who hears, a God before whom a case can be made. He wants to bypass the unhelpful middlemen and go straight to the top. He wants to get God on the witness stand. He is not shaking his fist at a blind, impersonal cosmos. He is demanding an audience with a personal, covenant-keeping God. He believes God's character is better than the caricature his friends are presenting, and he is willing to stake his life on it. He wants a real trial, not a sham proceeding run by incompetent paralegals.
A Scathing Diagnosis (vv. 4-5)
Job now turns from his desire to speak to God to a direct and brutal assessment of his friends.
"But you cover me with lies; You are all worthless physicians." (Job 13:4)
The Hebrew for "cover me with lies" can also be translated as "plasterers of lies." They are not just telling lies; they are using lies as a kind of cheap plaster to cover over the cracks in their theology and the gaping wound of Job's life. They are spiritual quacks. A physician is meant to diagnose the actual ailment and apply the correct remedy. These men have misdiagnosed the problem, calling it unrepentant sin, and have applied the wrong remedy, a call for blind repentance. They are worthless because their medicine only makes the patient sicker. Their comfort is affliction.
Given their incompetence, Job offers them the best piece of advice they will ever receive.
"O that you would be completely silent, And that it would become your wisdom!" (Job 13:5)
This is a profound truth. For these men, at this moment, the wisest, most spiritual, and most helpful thing they could possibly do is shut their mouths. Their speech is a torrent of falsehood, and silence would be a blessed relief. It would at least stop the damage. There are times when we do not know what to say in the face of immense suffering, and in those moments, a silent, compassionate presence is infinitely more godly than a stream of ill-fitting platitudes. The friends' wisdom would consist in recognizing their own ignorance.
Lying for God (vv. 6-8)
Job now puts his friends on trial. He asks them to listen to his argument, and his argument is a cross-examination of their motives and methods.
"Please hear my argument And give heed to the contentions of my lips. Will you speak what is unrighteous for God, And speak what is deceitful for Him? Will you show partiality for Him? Will you contend for God?" (Job 13:6-8)
This is the central charge. Job accuses them of fighting for God with unrighteous weapons. They are so committed to their premise, that God always punishes sin in this life, that they are willing to speak deceitfully to uphold it. They are willing to invent sins for Job to make their system work. They are showing "partiality" for God, as a corrupt judge might show partiality to a friend in court. They are rigging the case in God's favor.
But God does not need to be defended by lies. He is the truth. To speak deceitfully for Him is a profound insult. It assumes that the truth is not strong enough to stand on its own. It assumes God is a weak defendant who needs His lawyers to tamper with the evidence. This is a constant temptation for us. When we encounter a hard providence, a difficult passage of Scripture, or a hostile question from a skeptic, we can be tempted to fudge the details, to offer a simplistic answer that we know is not quite right, all in the name of "defending God." Job says this is not a defense of God; it is an attack on His character.
The Divine Scrutiny (vv. 9-12)
Job warns them that their pious fraud will not go unnoticed. There is a higher court, and the Judge sees everything.
"Will it be well when He examines you? Or will you deceive Him as one deceives a man? He will surely reprove you If you secretly show partiality." (Job 13:9-10)
You may be able to fool other men, Job says, but you cannot fool God. He will examine your arguments, and He will examine your hearts. Your secret partiality, your willingness to bend the truth to protect your theological system, will be exposed. And God will not thank you for it. He will "surely reprove you." God is more offended by the lies of His defenders than by the confused cries of His suffering saints. God can handle Job's raw, honest questions. He cannot abide the dishonest, flattering answers of his friends.
Job reminds them of the very God they claim to be defending.
"Will not His exaltedness terrify you, And the dread of Him fall on you?" (Job 13:11)
If you truly understood the majesty and holiness of God, you would be terrified to attach His name to your deceitful words. A true fear of the Lord leads to careful, honest speech. Their glibness is a sign that they have a small and manageable god, not the terrifying and exalted Lord of heaven and earth. The dread of Him should make them tremble before they dare to speak so presumptuously on His behalf.
He concludes his indictment with two powerful metaphors.
"Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes; Your defenses are defenses of clay." (Job 13:12)
All their cherished wisdom, their "memorable sayings" passed down through generations, are nothing but ash. They look like something substantial, but touch them and they crumble into dust. They are weightless, useless, the burnt-out residue of true wisdom. And their arguments, their "defenses" of God, are like fortifications made of clay. They look imposing, but they are brittle and will shatter at the first blow. They cannot stand up to the reality of Job's suffering, and they will certainly not stand up to the judgment of God.
Conclusion
The message of this passage is a bracing and necessary corrective for the church in every age. God's truth must be defended with God's truth. We are forbidden from employing the devil's methods, the methods of deceit, spin, and partiality, in our defense of the gospel.
When we encounter suffering that we cannot explain, the right answer is not to invent an explanation that makes us feel comfortable. The right answer is to be silent, to weep with those who weep, and to trust in the hidden wisdom of a sovereign God. When we are pressed by the world, the answer is not to water down the hard truths of Scripture to make them more palatable. The answer is to speak the truth in love, with courage and with humility.
Job's friends were more concerned with maintaining their theological system than with ministering to their friend or honoring their God. They preferred proverbs of ash and defenses of clay to the messy, difficult, and glorious truth. Let us learn from their failure. Let us be a people who are not afraid to say "I don't know." Let us be a people who would rather wrestle honestly with God, as Job did, than offer Him the filthy rags of our pious lies. For our God is a God of truth, and He will be served by truth alone.