Clouds without Water

Job’s friends are THE WORST. If you want an example of false teachers and phony friends, look no further.

I mean, really, Eliphaz. Can you get more sanctimonious, more holier-than-thou. You’re that loveless lip-purser we’ve all come across (Proverbs 25:14). The one who is all like, how stupid are you, Job? I’m doing ok, so there must be something wrong with you. Can’t you just fix yourself? Come on, pull yourself up by the bootstraps (Job 22).

And oooof Zophar! Fake friend Zophar hits you straight in the gut with this gem: You deserve even worse than this, you idiot, so work harder and things will get better (11:6).

If it can get worse, it will. Here’s a summary of what Boofhead Bildad has to say: Guess what? All humans are guilty, and that makes you a maggot (25:1-6). Lovely.

These are the pernicious people Solomon talks about. Not the clouds heavy with rain and refreshment, weighty in their witness of God’s promises, full of presence, glowing with glory.

No, these are the ceremonious clouds and wind without rain. Those atmospheric cirrus clouds, wispy, detached, floating along, all high and mighty. So very religious.

“These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever” (2 Peter 2:17).

“These are the men who are hidden reefs in your love feasts when they feast with you without fear, caring for themselves; 
clouds without water, 
carried along by winds;
autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted;  
wild waves of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam;
wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever” (Jude 1:12-13).