31:11–13 Why this aversion to him? Perhaps his illness has made him physically repulsive. Or is his affliction viewed as punishment from God for some great sin? In any case, the physical agony he endures is aggravated by the rejection he suffers from his friends and neighbors. Abandoned, forsaken, there is no one to whom he can turn for help but to the Lord. As Weiser has observed, “Thus his suffering drives him directly into the arms of God.”6 31:14–18 Another strong