Job 5

¹ “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? ² Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple. ³ I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. ⁴ His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. ⁵ The hungry eat his harvest, and he takes it even out of thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth. ⁶ For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, ⁷ but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. ⁸ “As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, ⁹ who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: ¹⁰ he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; ¹¹ he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. ¹² He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. ¹³ He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. ¹⁴ They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night. ¹⁵ But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. ¹⁶ So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. ¹⁷ “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. ¹⁸ For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal. ¹⁹ He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you. ²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. ²¹ You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. ²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. ²³ For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. ²⁴ You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. ²⁵ You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth. ²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season. ²⁷ Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.”

Job 6

¹ Then Job answered and said: ² “Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! ³ For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. ⁴ For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me. ⁵ Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder? ⁶ Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow? ⁷ My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me. ⁸ “Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, ⁹ that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! ¹⁰ This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. ¹¹ What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? ¹² Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? ¹³ Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me? ¹⁴ “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. ¹⁵ My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away, ¹⁶ which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself. ¹⁷ When they melt, they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place. ¹⁸ The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste and perish. ¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope. ²⁰ They are ashamed because they were confident; they come there and are disappointed. ²¹ For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid. ²² Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’? Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’? ²³ Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless’? ²⁴ “Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray. ²⁵ How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove? ²⁶ Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind? ²⁷ You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend. ²⁸ “But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face. ²⁹ Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake. ³⁰ Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

In the 1919 book The Undying Fire, written by H.G. Wells, Wells envisions Eliphaz the Temanite as saying this to Job:

I want you to get my view that if an enterprise, even though it is fair and honest-seeking…begins to crumble and wilt, it means that somehow, somewhere you must have been putting the wrong sort of clay into it. It means not that God is wrong and going back on you, but that you are wrong.[1]

That phrase, “somewhere you must have been putting the wrong sort of clay into it,” is as good a summary of what Eliphaz is saying in chapters 4 and 5 as you are likely to find. This was, in essence, his argument: that Job simply must have been doing something wrong. Given Eliphaz’s assumptions about the way the world works, it was a reasonable assumption. He had no category for suffering that was not rooted in sin. As such, Eliphaz’s approach to Job was formulaic, discouraging, and profoundly unfortunate.

Eliphaz adds insult to injury by calling Job a fool and, even worse, by grounding the truthfulness of his words in his own alleged wisdom.

Stephen Lawson writes that, “Eliphaz was a dangerous man because he only spoke part of the truth.”[2] That is true, and you can see it in the second part of Eliphaz’s speech to Job.

¹ “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

This is a telling thing for Eliphaz to say. It gives us a glimpse into the Jewish theology of the main characters and the audience. Eliphaz was saying to Job that there was nobody between him and God to hear his complaint, not even one of “the holy ones,” which is likely a reference to angels.

This lack of a mediator would seem to be a common belief in Judaism. Francis Andersen, in order to demonstrate “the great difference between Jewish and Christian faith at this point,” quotes Milton Steinberg’s 1947 book Basic Judaism to the effect that:

Between God and man stands no one – not God-man, not angel, not advocate. Nor is intercession or intervention required…In sum, there is and can be no vicarious salvation. Each man must redeem his own soul.[3]

This seems to be the theology behind Eliphaz’s tragic statement. It is a hard thing for a Christian to hear, for our faith is grounded in the sufficiency of the mediator Jesus Christ. Paul put it like this in 1 Timothy 2:

⁵ For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶ who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

But Eliphaz had no concept of this. For him, Job was lamenting into the darkness. He continues:

² Surely vexation kills the fool, and jealousy slays the simple. ³ I have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his dwelling. ⁴ His children are far from safety; they are crushed in the gate, and there is no one to deliver them. ⁵ The hungry eat his harvest, and he takes it even out of thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth. ⁶ For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout from the ground, ⁷ but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.

Eliphaz tells Job how he called down curses on a fool. Is he talking about Job or somebody else? It really does not matter, for, in either scenario, he was talking about Job! Eliphaz further explains that when he cursed the fool, the fool’s children were endangered and the fool was crushed. This is a profoundly hurtful thing for Eliphaz to say. It is not only hurtful because of its insensitivity, especially in the light of the death of Job’s children. It is most hurtful and, frankly, frightening, because immediately on the heels of proclaiming that there was no mediator of mercy or understanding between Job and God, Eliphaz tells a story in which he was a mediator between God and a fool, but a mediator of wrath and judgment. This is chilling!

⁸ “As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause, ⁹ who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: ¹⁰ he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; ¹¹ he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. ¹² He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. ¹³ He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. ¹⁴ They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night. ¹⁵ But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. ¹⁶ So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth. ¹⁷ “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.

Eliphaz now gives his personal advice. He advises Job to seek God and he reminds Job that God is merciful. Even here, though, there is a note of censure, a veiled allusion to what Eliphaz thinks must be Job’s wickedness. Is Job one of the “crafty” whom God frustrates? Is he one of the “wily” whom God brings to a quick end? Eliphaz’s words would appear to suggest precisely this. Regardless, Job is clearly also one of the needy whom the Lord saves. Eliphaz’s offering to Job is a mixed bag to be sure!

The name “the Almighty” that Eliphaz uses in verse 17 is the word Shaddai, a word that “occurs 31 times in Job and only 17 times in the rest of the OT.”[4] This is interesting because it is during times of intense suffering that we most yearn for some sort of stability, some sort of strength, something or someone that we can know is greater than the trial we face. For the people of God, this is, of course, God Himself! So the book of Job’s heavy usage of Shaddai is quite telling and understandable.

¹⁸ For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal. ¹⁹ He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you. ²⁰ In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. ²¹ You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. ²² At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth. ²³ For you shall be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you. ²⁴ You shall know that your tent is at peace, and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing. ²⁵ You shall know also that your offspring shall be many, and your descendants as the grass of the earth. ²⁶ You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season.

Here is where we can see how Eliphaz only spoke part of the truth. There was truth in what he was saying. It was not all a lie. The problem came in the words that framed the true parts of what Eliphaz said to job, how he gave with one hand while taking with the other, how these words of hope – true words, even beautiful words – were yet buttressed by words of judgment. Slapping good theology as a postscript on a speech of bad theology does not honor God. Yet this is what Eliphaz does.

But perhaps there is a better way to look at this. Even through the fallen lips of discouraging Eliphaz, the truth comes out. There is indeed hope for Job, as he has said, and that hope is rooted in the character of the God who created and loves him. Just as Eliphaz redeems his questionable speech a bit, here at the end he reveals his own presumptuousness yet again.

²⁷ Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.”

The “we” he speaks of in verse 27 refers to the wise who have searched out the deep things of God. Eliphaz punctuates his frustrating speech with a final note of self-congratulatory hubris that in effect dares Job to question what he has asserted. After all, who wants to speak against wisdom, especially wisdom that bears the weight of a supposed consensus among the wise.

Even so, Job is unimpressed!

Job rejects the careless words of a friend who lacks compassion.

As if Job and Eliphaz are locked in a verbal sparring match, Job now emerges from his corner and goes on the offensive against Eliphaz.

¹ Then Job answered and said: ² “Oh that my vexation were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! ³ For then it would be heavier than the sand of the sea; therefore my words have been rash. ⁴ For the arrows of the Almighty are in me; my spirit drinks their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me. ⁵ Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder? ⁶ Can that which is tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the juice of the mallow? ⁷ My appetite refuses to touch them; they are as food that is loathsome to me. ⁸ “Oh that I might have my request, and that God would fulfill my hope, ⁹ that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off! ¹⁰ This would be my comfort; I would even exult in pain unsparing, for I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

Job responds to Eliphaz out of the depths of his own pain. He asserts that his pain and burden is great, that his complaint is born out of actual agony (“Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass…”), that Eliphaz’s words offer him no consolation, that he wishes God would do what he asked for in his initial complaing (and kill him), and that, contrary to what Eliphaz may think of him, “I have not denied the words of the Holy One.”

Verse 10 is key for verse 10 goes to the heart of the matter: is Job’s suffering a result of Job’s sinfulness? Job appears to be pulling himself up from his ash pile and sick bed to deny the basic assumption of Eliphaz’s complaint. Job asserts that Job is innocent. He has not denied God or his words.

The reader might wonder if this is so. We might wonder if Job’s complaint constitutes a denial. I will appeal again to the truth that people often speak out of their pain with a lack of technical theological precision and even with a lack of genuine conviction. When the human heart seeks to verbalize words borne of human suffering, the agony oftentimes warps what we truly feel. Job’s complaint, in my estimation, is more of a cry, a plea for help, than anything approaching an actual denial. He wants to die not because he thinks God is cruel but because he feels that he cannot endure the pain anymore. We might question this from the vantage point of our own safety, but understanding should silence our tongues lest they condemn a man in pain.

¹¹ What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should be patient? ¹² Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? ¹³ Have I any help in me, when resource is driven from me?

“I am just a man.” Perhaps that is a reasonable paraphrase of verses 11-13. Or, “If you cut me do I not bleed?” Who could fail to sympathize with such a cry from the heart? And now Job turns his attention to Eliphaz. His words positively drip with indignation.

¹⁴ “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. ¹⁵ My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away, ¹⁶ which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself. ¹⁷ When they melt, they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place. ¹⁸ The caravans turn aside from their course; they go up into the waste and perish. ¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look, the travelers of Sheba hope. ²⁰ They are ashamed because they were confident; they come there and are disappointed. ²¹ For you have now become nothing; you see my calamity and are afraid. ²² Have I said, ‘Make me a gift’? Or, ‘From your wealth offer a bribe for me’? ²³ Or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’? Or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the ruthless’? ²⁴ “Teach me, and I will be silent; make me understand how I have gone astray. ²⁵ How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove? ²⁶ Do you think that you can reprove words, when the speech of a despairing man is wind? ²⁷ You would even cast lots over the fatherless, and bargain over your friend. ²⁸ “But now, be pleased to look at me, for I will not lie to your face. ²⁹ Please turn; let no injustice be done. Turn now; my vindication is at stake. ³⁰ Is there any injustice on my tongue? Cannot my palate discern the cause of calamity?

Job likens Eliphaz, and, interestingly, the others to a mirage, an oasis that offers hope to the desert caravan from afar but only disappointment up close. He condemns them as those lacking fear of God! Most devastating of all, he condemns them as “nothing” (v.21).

Intriguingly, Job also claims in verse 21 that his friends are “afraid” of his calamity? But why would this be? Given the principle of retributive justice to which they adhere, they should have nothing to fear so long as they remain innocent. If Job’s calamity is a result of Job’s sin then there avoidance of sin should set them in an unassailable safe place.

But what if their fear is precisely on this point? What if deep down Job hears in Eliphaz’s strident assertion of Job’s guilt a note of fear about Eliphaz’s own assumptions? What if Job is detecting here a bit of uncertainty? What if Job knows that Eliphaz’s true fear is that Job might in fact be innocent? And why would Eliphaz fear Job’s innocence? He would fear it because, if Job is innocent, then Eliphaz’s entire theology of God and human suffering and human prospering is faulty and will have to be rejected and rethought.

If Job is innocent then Eliphaz is guilty…guilty of speaking untruthfully of God and guilty of adding a cruel burden to a friend’s suffering.

It is often the case that those who appear to be the most certain and who are the loudest about their opinions are, in fact, the most uncertain and the most afraid. This may be especially true in matters of theology. This is understandable, of course, for who wants to be wrong about God? Yet we must have the humility to state when we are wrong so that we might grow deeper in our faith and in the knowledge of God.

Job was suffering. J. Gerald Janzen sees in these words from Gerard Manley Hopkins an accurate depiction of Job’s state of mind:

I am heartburn; I am gall; God’s most deep decree

Bitter would have me taste – and the taste was me.[5]

What are we to say in the face of such agony? To answer this we must return to Eliphaz’s unfortunate rejection of a mediator in his rhetorical inquisition against Job.

¹ “Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

Followers of Jesus simply cannot let such a tragic statement stand.

“Is there anyone who will answer you?”

Yes. Yes there is. And His name is Jesus. And He too has suffered. And He has walked the valley of the shadow of death. He has drunk the cup and drained it dry…and He has returned! Christ has conquered death. This means not that suffering is now avoidable, but that suffering is now seen in the light of the victory of the One who suffered alongside us, the One who suffered for us.

“To which of the holy ones will you turn?”

There is One, Eliphaz. There is One! You did not know His name but you were yearning for Him whether you knew it or not. And this One has come. And this One is named Jesus.

Are you Job today?

You have One who hears when you cry…and He loves you so very, very much!

 

[1] Quoted in Steven Chase, Job. Belief. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2013), p.47.

[2] Steven J. Lawson, Job. Holman Old Testament Commentary. Vo.10 (Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2004), p.52.

[3] Francis I. Andersen, Job. Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries. 14 (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press Academic, 2008), p.97.

[4] John E. Hartley, The Book of Job. The New International Commentary on the Old Testament. (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdman’s Publishing Co., 1988), p. 123, n.1.

[5] J. Gerald Janzen, Job. Interpretation. (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1985), p.78.