Job chapter 4
After Job broke his week-long silence, Eliphaz feels compelled to speak. He attacks Job. He asserts that people suffer because they have sinned.
ELIPHAZ ASSERTS HIS THEORY OF SUFFERING
VERSE 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
Eliphaz … answered. After Job broke the week-long silence, Eliphaz feels compelled to speak.
VERSE 2. “If someone ventures to talk with you, will you be grieved? But who can withhold himself from speaking?
VERSE 3. Behold, you have instructed many, you have strengthened the weak hands.
you have instructed many. Job had gone out of his way to build other people up in their faith. He encouraged, strengthened and supported lots of people.
VERSE 4. Your words have supported him who was falling, You have made firm the feeble knees.
supported him who was falling. Job had supported people who were in trouble. Now he is the one in trouble. Will his friends support him?
VERSE 5. But now it has come to you, and you faint. It touches you, and you are troubled.
you faint. Job’s friends do not support him. Instead, Eliphaz attacks him.
The last thing a suffering person needs is scolding.
Mother Theresa of Calcutta responded to suffering people by loving them unconditionally.
VERSE 6. Isn’t your piety your confidence? Isn’t the integrity of your ways your hope?
VERSE 7. “Remember, now, whoever perished, being innocent? Or where were the upright cut off?
whoever perished, being innocent. Eliphaz believes that sinless people never suffer.
This is not empirically true. It is demonstrably false.
Eliphaz believes in falsehoods.
VERSE 8. According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity, and sow trouble, reap the same.
those who plow iniquity. That is, sinners. Eliphaz believes people suffer because they have sinned.
VERSE 9. By the breath of God they perish. By the blast of his anger are they consumed.
VERSE 10. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, the teeth of the young lions, are broken.
VERSE 11. The old lion perishes for lack of prey. The cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad.
VERSE 12. “Now a thing was secretly brought to me. My ear received a whisper of it.
VERSE 13. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
VERSE 14. fear came on me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
VERSE 15. Then a spirit passed before my face. The hair of my flesh stood up.
a spirit passed before my face. Job is in a state of combat. He’s under demonic attack.
VERSE 16. It stood still, but I couldn’t discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes. Silence, then I heard a voice, saying,
I heard a voice. In the days of Moses, the LORD God spoke with a mighty blast. But centuries later, the prophet Elijah encountered the voice of the LORD as a still small voice. Read more »
VERSE 17. ‘Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?
VERSE 18. Behold, he puts no trust in his servants. He charges his angels with error.
VERSE 19. How much more, those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth!
VERSE 20. Between morning and evening they are destroyed. They perish forever without any regarding it.
VERSE 21. Isn’t their tent cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.’
JOB
CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42
RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, Memorize, Job’s Dark Night
Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.