Job 4 - 7
First of all, notice that Job 4 – 5 is Eliphaz’s response to Job’s complaint in chapter 3. In his desperation, Job said several things that worry Eliphaz, and the latter feels the obligation to console and correct his friend: “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking” (Job 4:2).
He begins by criticizing his desperate words in chapter 3: “Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed” (Job 4:3-5). He calls Job’s attention to his fear of Yahweh that motivated him in chapters 1 and 2: “Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?” (Job 4:6) And from here Eliphaz launches into the theology that will motivate both his and his friends’ counsel in the rest of their conversations: “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed” (Job 4:7-9). In other words, according to Eliphaz, Job is suffering because he has sinned against God; he has compromised his integrity.
But Eliphaz the spiritual doctor has not left his patient without a prescription: “As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number” (Job 5:8-9). He encourages him through his suffering to seek forgiveness of the God who has punished him: “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal” (Job 5:17-18). Eliphaz guarantees him a restored prosperity (Job 5:19-26). All Job has to do is repent: “Hear, and know it for your good” (Job 5:27).
But Job firmly rejects Eliphaz’s words. He insists that he has not sinned to deserve God’s punishment. “But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face. Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake. Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?” (Job 6:28-30). Therefore, he sees in God, not in himself, the cause of his suffering: “For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me” (Job 6:4). And his friends, by accusing him unjustly of evil while he is under torment, only add to his affliction (Job 6:14-21).
Therefore, Job rejects his friends’ words and brings his complaint directly to God: “If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?” (Job 7:20) He seeks relief, not in the words of his friends who falsely accuse him of evil but in a divine response that reveals why he has to suffer like this. And the dynamic among Job, his friends and God moves the dialogue forward in the entire book.
Don’t think that Eliphaz’s poor application of theology doesn’t happen today. I can’t count the number of people who have described to me how in the middle of sickness, during a tragedy or in the midst of a life-threatening illness of a beloved one, suddenly Eliphaz appeared in the hospital room or at the front door with a Bible in hand, abusing the sacred book and accusing them by saying, “What have you done to deserve God’s punishment?” On top of their suffering, these modern-day incarnations of Eliphaz add insecurity, forcing their hurting listeners to question, “Is God punishing me? But, what have I done? How do I identify my sin?” And they are warned and manipulated into fulfilling all kinds of prayers, fasts, cleansings, spiritual adjustments and demonstrations of repentance to earn God’s forgiveness somehow for a sin they can’t quite identify. They feel guilty for the lack of healing or prosperity that they’ve been told that God is willing to give them, but only if they have sufficient faith or show genuine repentance. Eliphaz’s theology sounds logical, but it is blind and poorly applied. It is ignorant of the first two chapters of Job where Yahweh exercises sovereignty without informing Job and his friends.
What do we do when we are confronted by Eliphaz and his blind and poorly applied theology? We will see as we continue to read the book of Job. For now, notice that Job does not fall into Eliphaz’s blind and rigid theology. He does not reduce his relationship with Yahweh into a spiritual formula to get blessings out of the Almighty.
He begins by criticizing his desperate words in chapter 3: “Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed” (Job 4:3-5). He calls Job’s attention to his fear of Yahweh that motivated him in chapters 1 and 2: “Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?” (Job 4:6) And from here Eliphaz launches into the theology that will motivate both his and his friends’ counsel in the rest of their conversations: “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed” (Job 4:7-9). In other words, according to Eliphaz, Job is suffering because he has sinned against God; he has compromised his integrity.
But Eliphaz the spiritual doctor has not left his patient without a prescription: “As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause, who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number” (Job 5:8-9). He encourages him through his suffering to seek forgiveness of the God who has punished him: “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal” (Job 5:17-18). Eliphaz guarantees him a restored prosperity (Job 5:19-26). All Job has to do is repent: “Hear, and know it for your good” (Job 5:27).
But Job firmly rejects Eliphaz’s words. He insists that he has not sinned to deserve God’s punishment. “But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face. Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake. Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?” (Job 6:28-30). Therefore, he sees in God, not in himself, the cause of his suffering: “For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me” (Job 6:4). And his friends, by accusing him unjustly of evil while he is under torment, only add to his affliction (Job 6:14-21).
Therefore, Job rejects his friends’ words and brings his complaint directly to God: “If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you?” (Job 7:20) He seeks relief, not in the words of his friends who falsely accuse him of evil but in a divine response that reveals why he has to suffer like this. And the dynamic among Job, his friends and God moves the dialogue forward in the entire book.
Don’t think that Eliphaz’s poor application of theology doesn’t happen today. I can’t count the number of people who have described to me how in the middle of sickness, during a tragedy or in the midst of a life-threatening illness of a beloved one, suddenly Eliphaz appeared in the hospital room or at the front door with a Bible in hand, abusing the sacred book and accusing them by saying, “What have you done to deserve God’s punishment?” On top of their suffering, these modern-day incarnations of Eliphaz add insecurity, forcing their hurting listeners to question, “Is God punishing me? But, what have I done? How do I identify my sin?” And they are warned and manipulated into fulfilling all kinds of prayers, fasts, cleansings, spiritual adjustments and demonstrations of repentance to earn God’s forgiveness somehow for a sin they can’t quite identify. They feel guilty for the lack of healing or prosperity that they’ve been told that God is willing to give them, but only if they have sufficient faith or show genuine repentance. Eliphaz’s theology sounds logical, but it is blind and poorly applied. It is ignorant of the first two chapters of Job where Yahweh exercises sovereignty without informing Job and his friends.
What do we do when we are confronted by Eliphaz and his blind and poorly applied theology? We will see as we continue to read the book of Job. For now, notice that Job does not fall into Eliphaz’s blind and rigid theology. He does not reduce his relationship with Yahweh into a spiritual formula to get blessings out of the Almighty.
