Eliphaz Second Speech. Job 15:1-35

Transcription

1 1 Eliphaz Second Speech Job 15:1-35

2 2 Text: Eliphaz Second Speech (wherein he charges Job with serious sin!) Job 15:1-35, 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: 2. Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, or fill his belly with the east wind? 3. Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them? 4. But you even break off piety, and hinder meditation before God. 5. Your sin inspires your mouth; you choose the language of the crafty. 6. Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you. 7. Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? 8. Do you listen in on God s secret council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? 9. What do you know that we don t know? What do you understand that we don t understand? 10. The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men far older than your father. 11. Are God s consolations too trivial for you; or a word spoken in gentleness to you? 12. Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash,

3 when you turn your rage against God and allow such words to escape from your mouth? 14. What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? 15. If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, 16. how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water! 17. I will explain to you; listen to me, and what I have seen, I will declare, 18. what wise men declare, hiding nothing, from the tradition of their ancestors, 19. to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them. 20. All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant. 21. Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him. 22. He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword; 23. he wanders about food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. 24. Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, 25. for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty, 26. defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield! 27. Because he covered his face with fat, and made his hips bulge with fat,

4 he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps. 29. He will not grow rich, and his wealth will not endure, nor will his possessions spread over the land. 30. He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots and he will depart by the breath of God s mouth. 31. Let him not trust in what is worthless, deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward. 32. Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. 33. Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms. 34. For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. 35. They conceive trouble and bring forth evil; their belly prepares deception. (NET) Introduction: I. Chapters 15:1-21:34 contain a second cycle of discourses between Job and his three friends. Commentary: Job 15:1-6, Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered: Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, or fill his belly with the east wind? Does he argue with useless talk, with words that have no value in them? But you even break off piety, and hinder meditation before God. Your sin inspires your mouth; you choose the language of the crafty. Your

5 5 own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you. (NET) Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite and said, Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge, And fill himself with the east wind? Should he reason with unprofitable talk, Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good? Yea, thou doest away with fear, And hinderest devotion before God. For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth, And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty. Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; Yea, thine own lips testify against thee (15:1-6). Having observed Job through the first cycle of speeches and having listened to his efforts to declare his innocence, Eliphaz choler is now boiling. All pretense of friendship and compassion are cast aside. His one mission now is to convict Job of terrible sins. That Job would reject the counsel of his wise friends and that he would dare to claim a greater wisdom than theirs is an insult that he must answer. With great sarcasm he refers to Job as wise man whose answers are vanity; i.e., worthless. He accuses Job of being filled with the east wind or as we would say, Full of hot air. The east wind is the hot scorching wind that blew from the desert. He says Job s defense was unprofitable talk that failed to make his case (15:2-3). He charges Job with doing away with fear and hindering devotion to God (15:4). By this, he speaks of appropriate reverence and devotion toward God. Rather than godly fear and reverence, Eliphaz tells Job his words are motivated by his iniquity. He accuses him of speaking like a crafty, deceitful man (15:5). Eliphaz then, with great emotion, tells Job that his own

6 6 words condemn him, thus he (Eliphaz) did not need to do so! (15:6). Job 15:7-10, Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? Do you listen in on God s secret council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know that we don t know? What do you understand that we don t understand? The gray-haired and the aged are on our side, men far older than your father. (NET) Eliphaz then demands of Job, How dare you reject our words of wisdom! Art thou the first man that was born? Or wast thou brought forth before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God? And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself? What knowest thou, that we know not? What understandest thou, which is not in us With us are both the grayheaded and the very aged men, Much elder than thy father (15:7-10). Try to visualize the old man, with his face flushed, his eyes blazing and his voice rising as he chastises Job for refusing to submit to their accusations. Being younger than the three friends, Job should listen to and accept their judgments. He then sarcastically asks, Do you have some special illumination from God? Do you, Job, think you are the only wise man among us? He then reminds Job that they are older than he, even older than his father... probably an exaggeration. He should respect their age and accept their conclusions. Job 15:11-13, Are God s consolations too trivial for you; or a word spoken in gentleness to you? Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, when

7 7 you turn your rage against God and allow such words to escape from your mouth? (NET) Eliphaz then asks, Are the consolations of God too small for thee, Even the word that is gentle toward thee? Why doth thy heart carry thee away and why do thine eyes flash, That against God thou turnest thy spirit, And lettest words go out of thy mouth? (15:11-13). As is common with those who consider themselves to be especially wise, Eliphaz falsely assumed that he knew things beyond his sphere of knowledge. Although he and the others had absolutely no convicting knowledge about Job s private life and they were totally oblivious about the spiritual battle being waged for the soul of Job, still he pressed his case. By the consolations of God Eliphaz is referring to the counsel of himself and his two associates. He is saying God sent them to help rescue Job from his misery. He wants Job to know that they had been gentle in dealing with him. Which implies that he deserved even more and stronger condemnations than they had given him. By saying Job s heart was carrying him away, he meant Job s mind, i.e., his imagination was running wild! He condemns Job for being angry with God and speaking disrespectfully to him. He is suggesting that Job has lost control of his senses by daring to speak to God with such irreverence. Job 15:14-16, What is man that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? If God places no trust in his holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in his eyes, how much less man, who is abominable and corrupt, who drinks in evil like water! (NET)

8 8 What is man, that he should be clean? And he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? Behold he putteth no trust in his holy ones; Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight: How much less one that is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water! (15:14-16). Remember that all of these cutting words are directed at Job. Eliphaz is asking, Who do you think you are, claiming to be innocent and righteous? He then reminds Job that God puts no trust in the angels of heaven. He has no basis for saying this, save his own speculation. His point is, Job, if God does not consider his angels trustworthy, why do you think He would trust you? Since the old man s premise is false, so is his conclusion. This brings Eliphaz to what he really thinks of Job. He thinks Job is abominable and corrupt, A man that drinketh iniquity like water! (15:16). Job 15:17-19, I will explain to you; listen to me, and what I have seen, I will declare, what wise men declare, hiding nothing, from the tradition of their ancestors, to whom alone the land was given when no foreigner passed among them. (NET) I will show thee, hear thou me: And that which I have seen I will declare Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it. Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them: (15:17-19). Eliphaz s trust is in his human wisdom and that which other wise men had passed down to him. He thus reinforces his judgements by appealing to the teachings of other wise men of the past. Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them refers to the founding fathers of their people, men who lived and gained their wisdom before

9 9 foreigners (strangers) had come among them to corrupt those rich tribal traditions with their faulty ideas. Job 15:20-24, All his days the wicked man suffers torment, throughout the number of the years that are stored up for the tyrant. Terrifying sounds fill his ears; in a time of peace marauders attack him. He does not expect to escape from darkness; he is marked for the sword; he wanders about food for vultures; he knows that the day of darkness is at hand. Distress and anguish terrify him; they prevail against him like a king ready to launch an attack, (NET) Here is what the ancient wise men taught, The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him: He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waited for of the sword: He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand: Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him as a king ready to the battle (15:20-24). While much of what Eliphaz had learned from the ancient fathers was true, his application of it to Job was based on the false assumption that Job was a wicked man being pursued and punished by God. He had no idea that the suffering was imposed on Job by Satan in an attempt to turn him against God. By mentioning pain he is referring to Job s suffering. By saying, He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, he refers to Job s previous statement that he had no hope of surviving (14:7,12). By wandering abroad for bread he

10 10 describes a man reduced to such poverty that he is forced to beg for food from his neighbors. Job 15:25-27, for he stretches out his hand against God, and vaunts himself against the Almighty, defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield! Because he covered his face with fat, and made his hips bulge with fat, (NET) Why do such disasters befall a man like Job? Eliphaz says, Because he hath stretched out his hand against God, And behaveth himself proudly against the Almighty; He runneth upon him with a stiff neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers; Because he hath covered his face with his fatness, And gathered fat upon his loins; (15:25-27). Eliphaz is certain Job has been like a rebel fighting against God. He describes Job with his clenched fist in God s face. He depicts him like an armed soldier moving into attack with his shield (his buckler) on his arm. The bosses were reenforcements or decorations on the front of the shield. He then adds to his insult by describing Job as an arrogant fat man who had lived a selfish, indulgent life. (15:27). Job 15:28-30, he lived in ruined towns and in houses where no one lives, where they are ready to crumble into heaps. He will not grow rich, and his wealth will not endure, or will his possessions spread over the land. He will not escape the darkness; a flame will wither his shoots and he will depart by the breath of God s mouth. (NET)

11 11 Now says Eliphaz, look at him. Job hath dwelt in desolate cities, In houses which no man inhabited, Which were ready to become heaps; He shall not be rich; neither shall his substance continue, Neither shall their possessions be extended on the earth. He shall not depart out of darkness; The flame shall dry up his branches, And by the breath of God s mouth shall he go away (15:28-30). The point he makes to Job is, You cannot win in your rebellion toward God. He will bring you down and destroy you! All your riches and possessions are already gone. You are standing at death s door and soon you will depart into the land of unknown darkness! Job 15:31-35, Let him not trust in what is worthless, deceiving himself; for worthlessness will be his reward. Before his time he will be paid in full, and his branches will not flourish. Like a vine he will let his sour grapes fall, and like an olive tree he will shed his blossoms. For the company of the godless is barren, and fire consumes the tents of those who accept bribes. They conceive trouble and bring forth evil; their belly prepares deception. (NET) In 15:31-35 Eliphaz sums up his recommendation to Job. Let him not trust in vanity, deceiving himself; For vanity shall be his recompense. It shall be accomplished before his time, And his branch shall not be green. He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, And shall cast off his flower as the olive-tree. For the company of the godless shall be barren, And fire shall consume the tents of bribery. They conceive mischief, and bring forth iniquity, And their heart prepareth deceit. By vanity he refers to Job s insistence that he is innocent. Vanity means emptiness or

12 12 nothingness. The fruit or reward of his claim will be that he will die young, before his time, like a tree that dies while its branches are yet green. Eliphaz then uses additional similes to illustrate his point. Job is like a vine whose unripe grapes drop off; like an olive tree whose blossoms fall before their fruit is formed. For his closing onslaught he accuses Job of being godless, guilty of bribery; and deceit; a man who had brought forth iniquity. If Eliphaz would treat his old friend Job in this harsh, hateful manner, think what he was capable of doing to a stranger, or an enemy!

13 13 Questions on Job 15: What is Eliphaz chief mission at this point of their discussion?_ 2. Why was Eliphaz so offended and harsh in responding to Job? (15:7-10). 3. Who are the holy ones whom Elizphaz asserts God will not trust? (15:15).

14 What is Eliphaz meaning when he mentions wise men Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them? (15:18-19). 5. Who is the wicked man to whom Eliphaz refers in 15:20? 6. What are the bosses of his buckler (15:26)? 7. What is Eliphaz s meaning when he says, he hath covered his face with his fatness... (15:27)