Blame The Victim...

Their answer ? Job obviously must have sinned grieviously against God.
Yes, that it --- Job's sins are the cause of his suffering. God is off the hook.

The friends put forth the old if - you - are -suffering- you -must -be -sinning-answer to suffering....
It is blame the victim time...

They who come to console Job, attack him relentlesly as a sinner.
Eliphaz pontificates: Is not your wickedness great ? Are not your sins endless ? ( Job 22:5)

He and the other two friends completely misread Job's spiritual condition and God's purpose.
They, too, try to find the perpertrator of the crime- the cause of Job's suffering.
But they accuse the wrong man-- innocent Job.

Of course , what the friends say about the relationship of sin and cursing, virtue and reward is, in a sense, true......
Sin does have a penalty ( Romans 6:23 ),
we do reap what we sow. ( Psalms 1: Galatians 6:7 )

But Job's friends misapply their remarks in Job's case.
They take a general principle and nail it to a specific person-- Job-- and the singular trail he is undergoing.

They will soon be shocked to discover how wrong they actually are. ( Job 42:7-8 )
On the ash heap , all the drama's actors, Job especially , have been asking questions of God and imputing motives to him.

Job, as district attorney , has allready prosecuted God...
The friends have been , let us say, perjured witnesses against Job....