Job 15:1-16

II.

CRISIS IN COMMUNICATION OR THE MIRACLE OF DIALOGUE? (Job 15:1, Job 21:34).

A.

THE GOODNESS OF GOD AND THE FATE OF THE WICKEDELIPHAZ'S REBUTTAL (Job 15:1-35).

1.

Job's speech and conduct are perverted and show that he is guilty. (Job 15:1-16)

TEXT 15:1-16

Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

2 Should a wise man make answer with vain knowledge,

And fill himself with the east wind?

3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk,

Or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?

4 Yea, thou doest away with fear,

And hindered devotion before God.

5 For thine iniquity teacheth thy mouth,

And thou choosest the tongue of the crafty.

6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I;

Yea, thine own lips testify against thee.

7 Art thou the first man that was born?

Or wast thou brought forth before the hills?

8 Hast thou heard the secret counsel of God?

And dost thou limit wisdom to thyself?

9 What knowest thou, that we know not?

What understandest thou, which to not in us?

10 With us are both the grayheaded and the very aged men,

Much elder than thy father.

11 Are the consolations of God too small for thee,

Even the word that is gentle toward thee?

12 Why doth thy heart carry thee away?

And why do thine eyes flash,

13 That against God thou turnest thy spirit,

And lettest words go out of thy mouth?

14 What to man, that he should be clean?

And he that to born of a woman, that he should be righteous?

15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones;

Yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight:

16 How much less one that is abominable and corrupt,

A man that drinketh iniquity like water!

COMMENT 15:1-16

Every man is a potential adversary, even those whom we love, Reuel L. Howe
In times of crisis people tend to withdraw timidly. We do not want anything to happen. Seven years we-'ve lived quietly, succeeded in avoiding notice, living and partly living. but now a great fear is on us, Chorus in T. S. Eliot's Murder in The Cathedral

Men are mesmerized by the magic of media in our global village, yet Thy hand, great Anarch! lets the curtain fall; and Universal Darkness buries All, J. Joyce, Finnegan's Wake

God's implicated in that cruelty if He has the power to control it, Ivan in Dostoevsky's The Brothers Karamazov.

Job 15:1The second cycle of speeches now begins. Eliphaz's second speechJob 15:1-35has an entirely different ring to it than his first speechChapter s 45. In his first speech he looked on Job as a wise, God-fearing manJob 4:3-6. Now after hearing Job deny his guilt, reject the thesis that his suffering is the inevitable result of his sins, and challenge God to explain his existential situation to him, Eliphaz's deep insecurity finds expression in his attack on the person of Job. The encouraging tone of the first speechreward to the righteoushas escaped from his consoling heart, and now the negative and menacing onepunishment of the unrighteouscontrols the speech. He accuses Job with being a windbag, full of hot air. The word wise is emphatic in the text and means a truly wise man. Job's claim to wisdom, which is in complete opposition to the wisdom of the ancients, is adjudged to be sheer arrogance. Job is now presented as a rebel without a cause; whereas Eliphaz in his first speech asserted Job's essential piety, now he is hardened against the sovereign creator of heaven and earth. God's moral perfection has been set forth in Eliphaz's first speech, while Bildad eloquently presents His unchanging justice, and Zophar His omniscience (all knowing). Job's responses have thus far failed to prick either their conscious or God's concern for his suffering. Now in Eliphaz's second speech, the irreligious and impious Job is confronted with his inevitable fate: (1) Job is rebuked for his irreverent rashnessJob 15:2-6; (2) Denounced for his presumptive confidence in his superior wisdomJob 15:7-16; and (3) The doctrine of the fate of the wickedJob 15:17-35.

Job 15:2Job has claimed that his wisdom is not inferior to that of his friendsJob 8:2; Job 11:2; Job 12:3; and Job 13:2. This stance receives Eliphaz's blistering denunciationit's all empty (ruah and hebet) knowledge. The parallel between Job's words and the dreaded, hot violent searing sirocco winds is self-evident. If Job were truly wise, he would have better arguments.

Job 15:3Eliphaz picks up a Jobian word from Job 13:3; Job 13:6, and deduces that Job's arguments are profitless (lit. which does not profit, used five times in Job in this sense). The words are useless; they neither convince nor convict.

Job 15:4Job's words bring only pain and spiritual suffocation to man. His speech does away with reverence (sihahmeditationPsalms 119:97-99, fear) of GodJob 4:6. In fact, Job's words, if taken seriously, would destroy his religion, and impair the faith of others. The verb employed here means to violate the covenant or vow. This meaning of the first line of the verse is confirmed by the second line, as Eliphaz asserts that Job's words are hinderinglit. diminishingdevotions in others. Eliphaz's orthodoxy is both threatened and challenged. But Job remains a seeker after Truth who is still deeply pious. Still we hear their outcryWhat further need have we of witnesses? Matthew 26:65.

Job 15:5Job's blasphemous utterances are too grounded in his diabolical desire to conceal his own evil heart. Job is, like the crafty (used here and Job 5:12) serpent of Genesis 3:1 ff, attempting to misrepresent God. The Hebrew can be translated several ways, but your guilt teaches your mouth is, in accordance with the parallelism of Job 15:5 b, to be preferred. Eliphaz, like his many contemporary counterparts, seeks to psychoanalyze Job, rather than answer his arguments.[170] Job's attempts to express his innocence, Eliphaz insinuates, are really efforts to hide his guilt (cf. Freudian rationalization).[171]

[170] Certainly since Herder, Schelling, Dilthey, Nietzsche, and Freud hermeneutics (literary Criticism) has become psychologized. (Interpreters ask Why anyone declares what he does, instead of asking whether what anyone declares is true or false.)
[171] M. Dahood, Biblica, 44, 1963, 204, for technical analysis of the grammar of this verse.

Job 15:6Eliphaz is arguing that Job's own protestation of innocence is his own condemnationJob 9:20. Thus far Job has admitted only of youthful sinsJob 13:26, but he has asserted that God could coerce him into a false confession of guiltJob 9:20. Is not Job's protest against God tantamount to self-incrimination? Job is convicted out of his own mouth.

Job 15:7Eliphaz here questions Job with a blistering series of interrogations. Though we can often encounter the claims that this verse has reference to the Jewish myth of primeval man (-adam haq-quadmon), there is neither need nor proof that this is the case here. Simply, the verse declares that if you were the first man (-adam) you might be wise enough to say what you-'re saying, but you are not. The first man did not steal God's wisdom as Prometheus stole fire from the godsProverbs 7:25 and Psalms 90:2.

Job 15:8Jeremiah derides the false prophets who talk like they have stood in God's council room and heard Him speak directly to themJeremiah 23:18; Jeremiah 23:22. Jeremiah chides them by declaring that they have neither divine word nor mission. The word council (sodmeaning intimate and confidential) is one of the designations of the assembly of the gods. The usage of the council of the gods is at least as old as Mesopotamian and Canaanite antecedents. Eliphaz is asking Job whether or not he has a monopoly on wisdomEzekiel 28:11-19; Proverbs 8:22; Proverbs 8:26.

Job 15:9-10Here we encounter questions which assume that Job is claiming the possession of superior knowledge. This is minimally odd in that he has never made such claims. He has only criticized their claims to superior knowledge of God's will and purposeJob 12:3; Job 13:3. His friends are actually the ones who are claiming superior knowledge, not Job. Wisdom[172] is a virtue of seniority acclaims Eliphaz's theme. Job has already rejected the thesis that wisdom is a necessary result of old ageJob 12:12. Senility and sagacity are not necessarily causally relatedWisdom of Solomon, Job 4:8-9.

[172] For exhaustive analysis of the wisdom concept, see A. Feuillet, Le Christ Sagesse de Deus (Paris: 1966), and articles in both Kittel, TWNT, and Botterweck and Ringgren, TDOT.

Job 15:11Eliphaz is claiming that the consolation of Job's three friends is from God. Yet Job dismisses his friends as miserable comfortersJob 16:2. Perhaps the deals gently does apply to Eliphaz's initial speech, but certainly not his second. His words (dabarmeans creative and often relevatory. This is the Hebrew word for the Genesis creation account and the Ten Words or commandments) are scarcely to be termed consolation, unless his doctrine of suffering is always merited is to be understood as consolation. His words are identical with God'S, according to Eliphaz.

Job 15:12Why do you allow your heart (feelings) to carry you away.[173] The verb r-z-m is here translated flash in A. V.[174] The word means to wink or flash, perhaps in rage, not weakness as some suggest. Job is being rebuked for his uncontrolled passion, not his helplessness.

[173] See for technical analysis of grammatical possibilities, G. R. Driver, Die Welt des Orients I, 1947-52, 235.

[174] The Jewish scholar Rashi suggests that the verb is the same as ramaz (Aramaic root) to flash in anger. This is most likely as R.S.V. translates.

Job 15:13Job is rebuked for his anger against God. Your spirit refers to Job's anger. In anger you attack God by letting such words out of your mouth.

Job 15:14The theme from Job 4:17 ff reoccurs hereJob 9:2 and Job 24:4. Eliphaz also quotes Job's phraseJob 14:1. A man, not the genus but a particular individual, whom Eliphaz need not name. The image suggests impurity not finitude. The Near Eastern negative attitude toward women is here apparent.

Job 15:15Eliphaz returns to his thoughts expressed in Job 4:18; Job 25:5-6; Job 38:7; and Isaiah 40:25-26. The holy ones, perhaps angels, are not without fault before God2 Peter 2:4.-'[175]

[175] On heaven and the power of evil, see Calvin R. Schoonhoven, The Wrath of Heaven (Eerdmans, pb., 1966). See also eschatology of Isaiah 60-66; 1 Peter 3; and Revelation 21 ff. The imagery of a new heaven as well as a new earthwhy a new heaven? P. Volz, Die Eschatologie der judischen Gemeinde in neutestanmentliche Zeitalter (Tubingen, 1934; and D. H. Odendaal, The Eschatological Expectation of Isaiah 40-66 (Presb. and Reformed Pub. Co., 1970).

Job 15:16The word translated corrupt (foul) appears in the Old Testament only in a moral sensealso Psalms 14:3; Psalms 53:3. Perhaps a proverbial sayinga man sins like drinking water presents Eliphaz's judgment on Job. One is abominable,[176] i.e., disgusting, revolting, loathed as R. S. V.also Psalms 107:15; Psalms 119:163.

[176] For analysis of this word root, see Paul Humbert, Zeitschrift fur die alttestamenttiche Wissenschaft, N. F. XXXI, 1960, 217ff.