Here in chapter 15 we begin the second round of speeches by Job’s friends. The speeches have been progressing to a much more confrontational tone. Eliphaz may be like a friend you have or like the critical voice in your own head. As a situation in our lives continues on and on, it is hard for others and even ourselves to maintain sympathy. We are often both Job and his friends for ourselves.
In this passage, Job is being accused of being arrogant in the midst of his suffering. Is he arrogant or being confident in his sinlessness (not perfection- just that he didn’t cause his own suffering through sin) ?
1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
2 Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
Eliphaz is telling Job that he is long winded or giving a “song and dance.” After giving a thought out, nuanced answer, Job probably felt this response like a slap in the face.
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
As a blogger, this statement is often given to me as ”to long to read.” Eliphaz is saying that Job is using too many words to get his point across. Yet, when a person is trying to convey a more specific idea, it is very difficult to use fewer words and still be accurate.
4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.
5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.
6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I: yea, thine own lips testify against thee.
We often accuse politicians of this same thing. It is arguing against someone who keeps changing their position and can never be wrong. Eliphaz is telling Job that he is not honoring God but trying to justify himself and so displaying his guilt. When a person is presumed guilty, everything they do just reinforces that perception, even the methods they use to defend themselves.
7 Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?
8 Hast thou heard the secret of God? and dost thou restrain wisdom to thyself?
9 What knowest thou, that we know not? what understandest thou, which is not in us?
10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
Throughout history, people believed a person became wiser with age. Without much formal education, life experience was the main source of wisdom. Today we give a lot of weight to formal education so that it is common for young adults to believe that they are much wiser than their parents. Yet, life experience does still teach us much that a person can’t get in school. I would argue that we would do well to listen to older adults more. Still, we all have known older people who were as foolish as any teenager, and so age is not a sure source of wisdom. Job is being accused of saying he is wiser than even Adam, the first and oldest human. Job had never claimed wisdom, but was just arguing for what he knows to be true. Eliphaz is trying to shut down Job’s argument, not by arguing Job’s point, but arguing against Job’s right to argue.
11 Are the consolations of God small with thee? is there any secret thing with thee?
12 Why doth thine heart carry thee away? and what do thy eyes wink at,
13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
Eliphaz is now saying that Job thinks he knows all secrets including God’s. If Job did think he knew more than God, then Eliphaz conclusion that Job was working against God would be correct. The problem with Eliphaz’s accusation is that Job never claimed to know more than God. Job was saying he knew his own heart better than his friends know him. Eliphaz is not intending to equate his opinions as being to same as God’s, but that is what he is doing in this accusation against Job.
14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight.
16 How much more abominable and filthy is man, which drinketh iniquity like water?
I have heard this line a reasoning in the church my whole life, and it is a sly misunderstanding of human nature. Scripture says that we have all sinned and none of us are perfect before God. This is true. We are all prone to various evil deeds, but you can’t just accuse a person of constant sinning just because of this. Not all people do all the same sins and people don’t sin with every breath they take. Only God knows what sins an individual has done. We can’t just accuse random people of being worse sinners than others.
17 I will shew thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare;
18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:
19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.
I find it remarkable the Eliphaz accuses Job of being arrogant and knowing all secrets, and now claims to know wisdom and secrets himself.
20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor.
21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword.
23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.
26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers:
27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks.
28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps.
29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth.
30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away.
31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence.
32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green.
33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery.
35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.
Eliphaz presumes Jobs guilt and tells Job what happens to the wicked. Likeprevious discussions from Job’s friends, he isn’t wrong in his description, just his generalization and sumptuous about Job. Eliphaz describes in detail how the wicked cannot escape the judgement of God and how ruin will eventually come to evil doers. This is a true observation, but anyone who studies logic should be able to see the fallacy here. Just because God uses a person’s ruin as judgment for evil does not mean that a person who experiences ruin is evil.
In logic, we would say that just because A always causes B does not mean B is always caused by A. If you haven’t studied logic this may not make sense. So I will give a simple example of the logical fallacy in another context. I can say that every time I stop watering my potted flowers they die, but just because my potted flowers are dead does not mean I forgot to water them. My potted flower could have due from the cat eating them, the kids pouring juice in them, the sun not shining on them, and even because a disease attacked them. So just having dead flowers does not tell me what caused them to die.
This is the same logical fallacy Eliphaz is showing. Just because a person experiences ruin and hardships does not tell us what caused it.
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