After the LORD had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the LORD told them; and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.  After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD restored his fortunes and gave him twice as much as he had before.

–Job 42:7-10 (TNIV)

Here we see a poignant OT example of Jesus’ command for us to pray for our enemies (Matthew 5:44). Job’s advisors had frankly abused him in their haughty arrogance. They had presumed the catastrophes that had plagued him were caused by his sin. They stood aloof from him, so to speak, and offered him advise as armchair quarterbacks and here God takes them to task for their arrogance.

And what does Job do? He prays for those who had abused him and at this moment God restores his fortunes. Go and do likewise to those who abuse you.

More from MacDonald on forgiveness.

There are various kinds and degrees of wrongdoing, which need varying kinds and degrees of forgiveness. An outburst of anger in a child, for instance, scarcely wants forgiveness. The wrong in it may be so small, that the parent has only to influence the child for self-restraint, and the rousing of the will against the wrong. The father will not feel that such a fault has built up any wall between him and his child.

But suppose that he discovered in him a habit of sly cruelty towards his younger brothers, or the animals of house, how differently would he feel! Could his forgiveness be the same as in the former case? Would not the different evil require a different form of forgiveness? I mean, would not the forgiveness have to take the form of that kind of punishment fittest for restraining, in the hope of finally rooting out, the wickedness? Could there be true love in any other kind of forgiveness than this? A passingby of the offence might spring from a poor human kindness, but never from divine love. It would not be remission. Forgiveness can never be indifference. Forgiveness is love towards the unlovely.

—George MacDonald, Creation in Christ

I will let MacDonald’s writing stand on its own. It is one of the best pieces on forgiveness and the “unforgivable sin” that I have read. May you find it edifying too.

“Every sin and blasphemy,” the Lord said, “will be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.” God speaks, as it were, in this manner: “I forgive you everything, Not a word more shall be said about your sins—only come out of them; come out of the darkness of your exile; come into the light of your home, of your birthright, and do evil no more. Lie no more; cheat no more; oppress no more; slander no more; envy no more; be neither greedy nor vain; love your neighbor as I love you; be my good child; trust in your Father. I am light; come to me, and you shall see things as I see them, and hate the evil thing. I will make you love the thing which now you call good and love not. I forgive all the past.”

“I thank you, Lord, for forgiving me, but I prefer staying in the darkness: forgive me that too.”

“No; that cannot be. The one thing that cannot be forgiven is the sin of choosing to be evil, of refusing deliverance. It is impossible to forgive that sin. It would be to take part in it. To side with wrong against right, with murder against life, cannot be forgiven. The thing that is past I pass, but he who goes on doing the same, annihilates this my forgiveness, makes it of no effect.”

“Let a man have committed any sin whatever, I forgive him; but to choose to go on sinning—how can I forgive that? It would be to nourish and cherish evil! It would be to let my creation go to ruin. Shall I keep you alive to do things hateful in the sight of all true men? If a man refuse to come out of his sin, he must suffer the vengeance of a love that would be no love if it left him there. Shall I allow my creature to be the thing my soul hates?”

There is no excuse for this refusal. If we were punished for every fault, there would be no end, no respite; we should have no quiet wherein to repent; but God passes by all he can. He passes by and forgets a thousand sins, yea, tens of thousands, forgiving them all—only we must begin to be good, begin to do evil no more.

—George MacDonald, Creation in Christ

Listen to another testimony. All flesh had become corrupt because of its sins. God said: “My Spirit will not remain in human beings, for they are flesh.” God thus shows that spiritual grace is repelled by uncleanness of the flesh and by the stain of more serious sin. So God resolved to restore the gift he had given.

You see the water [of baptism], you see the wood [of the cross], you look on the dove [the Holy Spirit], and you hesitate to believe the mystery? The water is that in which the flesh is dipped, to wash away all its sin. In it all wickedness is buried. The wood is that to which the Lord Jesus was fastened when he suffered for us. The dove is the one in whose likeness the Holy Spirit descended , as you have learned from the New Testament: the Spirit who breathes into you peace of soul, tranquility of mind.

–Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, On the Mysteries 12-16

The teaching of the arrogant has this characteristic: they do not know how to introduce their teaching humbly and they cannot convey correctly to others the things they understand correctly themselves [as Job’s advisors did to him]. On the contrary true doctrine all the more effectively shuns the voice of arrogance through reflection. For true doctrine tries both to teach by words and to demonstrate by living example–humility, which is the mother and mistress of virtues. Its goal is to express humility among the disciples of truth more by deeds than by words.

Similarly, the apostle Peter enjoins: “Be prepared to satisfy everybody who asks a reason for the hope which is in you;” and by adding the words: “with a good conscience, speak gently and respectfully,” Peter draws attention to the manner in which sacred doctrine should be taught. When he tells his disciples: “These things command and teach with all power,” Paul really recommends the credibility that goes hand in hand with good behavior rather than the domineering exercise of power. When one practices first and preaches afterwards, one is really teaching with power. Doctrine loses credibility, if conscience doesn’t tether the tongue.

—Moral Reflections on Job