The Third Cycle of Speeches
Introduction
The debate reached its pinnacle in the second cycle. The
first cycle was characterised by generalities, much like verbal shadow boxing.
The second cycle sees attempted solid body blows from the friends deftly
sidestepped by Job and answered with his clean, crisp counter-punches. In the
third cycle, the fight in the friends has evaporated.
Eliphaz cannot comprehend the persistence of Job. Surely Job
would be staggering, weary from a philosophy that rejected the concept of a good
man suffering. Tradition and the theology of the day had to prevail. Yet
remarkably, Job was invigorated, firing out his combinations with an energy that
was absent at the outset.
Bildad stammers out a lethargic, nondescript challenge that
peters out in six verses while Zophar wisely decides that discretion is the
better part of valour and refrains from entering the battle a third time. His
earlier fearful beating was sufficient to dissuade any further heroics on his
part.
Job reigns supreme. His foes now vanquished, he has the arena
to himself so he utters a series of lengthy monologues. He has won the battle
but he has not won the war. Nor will he by his own power.
