Job's Answer to Eliphaz's First Discourse
Chapter 6 and 7
Job shows that he has reason to complain
Job expresses a lot of negative and awful thoughts when he speaks, no doubt because of his great suffering and disappointment with the calamities which have come over him, yet they are beautifully worded, adorned with literary figures.
He admits that he had been impetuous in his opening speech, but says it was caused by the exceeding weight of his anguish and misery, and by the terror of God because his spirit was being poisoned by His attacks. He found it difficult to explain this to them. But he wouldn't be crying out if he had been satisfied that all this were part of the normal course of life (as had been implied in Eliphaz's words).
So Eliphaz's advice to him was repulsive like eating tasteless food. When people are going through severe trials, ill-advised counsel is distasteful. They may listen politely, but inside they are deeply upset. We ought to be slow to give advice to those who are hurting. They often need compassion more than they need advice.
Eliphaz had misunderstood Job's problem completely. Even though to the best of his knowledge he had said a lot of wise things, he hadn't helped Job. It is like quoting Scripture verses in the hope of providing an answer to someone's problems without first finding out what the question is.
Job explains why he wants to die
Job declared that he wanted to give in and to die to be freed from his discomfort. His only consolation was that he had not denied God's words and had been faithful in spite of all the calamity he was going through. But he felt that he had no more strength, or hope, or prospects left, for him to continue suffering patiently.
When the going gets rough our tendency, like Job's, is to want to give up and get away from it all. To trust God in the good times is commendable, but to trust him during the difficult times tests us to our limits and exercises our faith. In our struggles, large or small, we should trust that God is in control and that he will take care of us (Romans 8:28).
Job reproves his friends for unkindness
Job's friends, or brothers as he calls them, ought to have given him sympathy even if they thought he no longer feared the Almighty. But he didn't get any pity from them. Like the streams of the desert, which swell with the melting of the snow and dry up in the hot season, they were inconstant and could not be depended on.
Like the caravans and travelling merchants who anxiously looked forward to these streams but are disappointed because they found no water in them, Job had been hoping to find comfort from the presence of his friends, but they did not bring him any help at all. Job had demanded no great sacrifice from them, but they saw his dreadful plight and were afraid.
Job said that he was willing to learn from them if they could show him where he had been wrong. Without being able to diagnose the cause of his affliction they were criticising him with honest but painful words and arguments which proved nothing.
He maintained his integrity in spite of the implication that he must be a secret sinner suggested in the speech made by Eliphaz, and they thought little of what he himself had said in desperation. As a righteous man they knew he would speak no wickedness or malice.
Job asks for explanation from God
Job has had no relief from his sorrow or from his pain. He is a very sick man, and his friends seem to ignore that. They had not offered him any comfort. Even his wife, his helpmeet, has suggested suicide to him. When his world caved in, he became a distraught and frustrated man to be pitied.
Job now addressed God directly. He apparently felt he had an incurable disease and that it would eventually take him to the grave. He was now leading an empty life, full of misery, longing for the day when he would leave it all, like a servant longs to rest after a hard day's work.
He asks God to remember that his life is very short, like a breath, and now it has no more happiness in store for him, the days succeed each other, wearily like a weaver's shuttle, and soon he is to disappear from earth completely in death, like a cloud which vanishes from sight.
He asks God why therefore should He pay so much attention to an insignificant human being, hemming him in, terrifying him with nightmares, until he would rather be strangled?
In effect, he wished he could just die in peace. He wished that God would leave him alone. He sensed that he was being tried, but he had no idea of the reason why. Many people say like he did, "Just leave me alone in my misery."
Job asked God whether a man could be so important as to need to be watched and tested continually by Him? Was God never looking away from Job or leaving him alone for an instant? Only a very hurt and disappointed person like Job would have such a poor regard for God's attention.
When he said this he didn't consider that God is love, that "the gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him" (Ezra 8:22). He may have known it before disaster struck, but now he resented the suffering he had been submitted to, and thought it would be better if God hadn't been with him, after all.
He could not imagine where he had gone wrong, but he enquired whether, if in fact he had sinned, what had he done to God to deserve being God's target? Could he possibly have become a burden to God? He clearly felt that he was too small to deserve such attention from the great God and that it was inconceivable that he could have become a burden to Him.
Continuing to suppose that he had indeed sinned, why didn't God pardon his offences and forgive his sins? We know that he used to dutifully offer sacrifices for the possible sins of his children, before they died, so presumably he was aware that God was able to forgive sins upon suitable sin-offerings. So why didn't God forgive him now?
Poor Job! He thought that the wrath of God was poured upon him and he had no idea of the reason why. He asked God to let him die quietly, to let him lie down in the dust where he would be found no more. He was entirely confused.
R David Jones
Chapter 5
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 "Oh, that my grief were fully weighed, and my calamity laid with it on the scales!
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 within me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
5 Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, or does the ox low over its fodder?
6 Can flavourless food be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?
7 My soul refuses to touch them; they are as loathsome food to me.
8 "Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant me the thing that I long for!
9 That it would please God to crush me, that He would loose His hand and cut me off!
10 Then I would still have comfort; though in anguish, I would exult, he will not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
11 "What strength do I have, that I should hope? And what is my end, that I should prolong my life?
12 Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh bronze?
13 Is my help not within me? And is success driven from me?
14 "To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
15 My brothers have dealt deceitfully like a brook, like the streams of the brooks that pass away,
16 Which are dark because of the ice, and into which the snow vanishes.
17 When it is warm, they cease to flow; when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
18 The paths of their way turn aside, they go nowhere and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look, the travellers of Sheba hope for them.
20 They are disappointed because they were confident; they come there and are confused.
21 For now you are nothing, you see terror and are afraid.
22 Did I ever say, 'Bring something to me'? Or, 'Offer a bribe for me from your wealth'?
23 Or, 'Deliver me from the enemy's hand'? Or, 'Redeem me from the hand of oppressors'?
24 "Teach me, and I will hold my tongue; cause me to understand wherein I have erred.
25 How forceful are right words! But what does your arguing prove?
26 Do you intend to rebuke my words, and the speeches of a desperate one, which are as wind?
27 Yes, you overwhelm the fatherless, and you undermine your friend.
28 Now therefore, be pleased to look at me; for I would never lie to your face.
29 Yield now, let there be no injustice! Yes, concede, my righteousness still stands!
30 Is there injustice on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern the unsavoury?
Chapter 6
1 "Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?
2 Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, and like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages,
3 So I have been allotted months of futility, and wearisome nights have been appointed to me.
4 When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I arise, and the night be ended?' For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.
5 My flesh is caked with worms and dust, my skin is cracked and breaks out afresh.
6 "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope.
7 Oh, remember that my life is a breath! My eye will never again see good.
8 The eye of him who sees me will see me no more; while your eyes are upon me, I shall no longer be.
9 As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up.
10 He shall never return to his house, nor shall his place know him anymore.
11 "Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, that You set a guard over me?
13 When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'
14 Then You scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 So that my soul chooses strangling and death rather than my body.
16 I loathe my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone, for my days are but a breath.
17 "What is man, that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart on him,
18 That You should visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
19 How long? Will You not look away from me, and let me alone till I swallow my saliva?
20 Have I sinned? What have I done to You, O watcher of men? Why have You set me as Your target, so that I am a burden to myself?
21 Why then do You not pardon my transgression, and take away my iniquity? For now I will lie down in the dust, and You will seek me diligently, but I will no longer be."