Interpreting the book of Job

[athanasius]

Dr. Miller,

I understand that all of the words of The Bible are inspired, but with the realization that the counsel of Job's friends was not good counsel, does this mean that we should not see verses like:

"Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. (Job 5:17 NASB)

which was spoken by Eliphaz, as good advice?

[Mike Miller]

We should read narrative (including dialogue) as a factual report of what happened. However, we do not need to take words or actions as normative or doctrinally accurate. Job's friends gave him a lot of bad advice. That does not mean that everything they said was necessarily bad. Therefore, I would say that we would ask whether statements such as the one you cited align with the rest of Scripture. If so, then perhaps something true was uttered. Nevertheless, if I were going to give biblical advice, I would not use the words of Eliphaz (who also gave bad advice), but I would point to other passages of Scripture (such as Proverbs 3:12), which we can always take at face value.