Turnabout!

Job has been led on a long path toward conversion; he has realized that he himself was wrong. All of a sudden, however, and in a completely unexpected turn of events, God speaks once more to Job’s friends and confronts Eliphaz with this statement:

My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. (42:7)

This unreservedly positive evaluation of Job as the “servant of God” stands in glaring contradiction to all that has been said before: Job has been judged from all sides— the three friends, Elihu, God, and even by himself—only to have God pronounce him correct in the end? This phenomenon is difficult to comprehend; it is the biggest surprise in the book of Job and demands that the interpreter bring his entire exegetical virtuosity into play.— Job's Journey, page 85