Job 15 - Introduction

TODAY'S ENGLISH VERSION

The Second Dialogue (Job 15:1 to Job 21:34)

Eliphaz

1-2 Empty words, Job! Empty words I

3 No wise man would talk the way you do,

or defend himself with such meaningless words.

4 You discourage people from fearing God;

you keep them from praying to him.

5 Your guilty conscience is speaking now;

you are trying to hide behind clever words.

6 There is no need for me to condemn you;

you are condemned by every word you speak.

7 Do you think you were the first man born?

Were you there when God made the mountains?

8 Did you overhear the plans God made?

Does human wisdom belong to you alone?

9 There is nothing you know that we don-'t know.
10 We learned our wisdom from gray-headed men

men born before your father was.

11 God offers you comfort; why still reject it?

We have spoken for him with calm, even words.

12 But you are excited and glare at us in anger.
13 You are angry with God and denounce him.
14 Can any man be really pure?

Can anyone be right with God?

15 Why, God does not even trust his angels;

even they are not pure in his sight.

16 And man drinks evil as if it were water;

yes, man is corrupt; man is worthless.

17 Now listen, Job, to what I know.
18 Wise men have taught me truths

which they learned from their fathers,
and they kept no secrets hidden.

19 Since their land was free from foreigners,

there was no one to lead them away from God.

20 A wicked man who oppresses others

will be in trouble as long as he lives.

21 Voices of terror will scream in his ears,

and robbers attack when he thinks he is safe.

22 He has no hope of escaping from darkness,

for somewhere a sword is waiting to kill him,

23 and vultures are waiting to eat his body.
He knows his future is dark;
24 disaster, like a powerful king,
is waiting to attack him.

25 That is the fate of the man

who shakes his fist at God,
and defies the Almighty.

2627 That man is proud and rebellious;

he stubbornly holds up his shield
and rushes to fight against God.

28 That is the man who captured cities

and seized houses whose owners had fled,
but war will destroy those cities and houses.

29 He will not be rich long;

nothing he owns will last.
Even his shadow will vanish,

30 and he will not escape from darkness.

He will be like a tree
whose branches are burned by fire,
whose blossoms are blown away by the wind.

31 If he is foolish enough to trust in wickedness

then wickedness will be all he gets.

32 Before his time is up he will wither,

wither like a branch and never be green again.

33 He will be like a vine that loses its grapes before they are ripe;

like an olive tree that never bears fruit.

34 There will be no descendants for godless men,

and fire will destroy the homes built by bribery.

35 These are the men who plan trouble and do evil;

their hearts are always full of deceit.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 15:1-35

287.

There is a real difference in the two speeches of Eliphaz. What is the basic difference?

288.

Eliphaz calls Job wise but it is not a compliment. What does he mean?

289.

Job's speeches did not reach the conscience of his friends. Why?

290.

Job is irreverent, presumptive, and wicked. How does Eliphaz arrive at this conclusion?

291.

Why say Job is full of hot air?

292.

Eliphaz tries to condemn Job with Job's own words. How?

293.

Job's words if followed could destroy the faith of others. How is this strange conclusion made?

294.

Discuss the principle here used and used again in Matthew 26:65 and today.

295.

Job's arguments are not answered. What has happened? Is such happening now?

296.

In what way is Job supposed to have condemned himself?

297.

Verse seven is supposed to contain a reference to a Jewish myth. What is it? How answered? What is the point of the verse?

298.

Are the words of Jeremiah relevant here? Cf. Jeremiah 23:18; Jeremiah 23:22.

299.

Who has claimed superior knowledge? Are age and wisdom causally related? Discuss.

300.

Who is supposed to have offered the consolations of God? Has anyone dealt gently with Job?

301.

Job's eyes have flashed in what way? For what reason?

302.

Job is supposed to have attacked God. How?

303.

What is the meaning of the term man in Job 15:14? What opinion of woman is inferred?

304.

Even the angels are not without fault. How can Job claim to be righteous. Is this a fair argument?

305.

Job is characterized as sinning as a man drinking water. Explain this figure.

306.

Eliphaz is very confident of the truthfulness of his advice. To what does he appeal for support?

307.

What help is tradition in establishing the truthfulness of any claim?

308.

According to Eliphaz what nation was the depository of pure wisdom? Why make this claim?

309.

Job had said that robbers prosper (Job 12:6). Eliphaz violently disagrees. Who is right? Discuss.

310.

Are the psychological problems of Job 15:21 really with the wicked or is this only bigoted imagination? Cf. Job 15:22.

311.

Is destruction built in to the life of the wicked man?

312.

Much that Eliphaz has to say is very true. What is the basic mistake he has made? Is this mistake repeated today? Where? Why?

313.

Job attacks God. What are the thick bosses of his bucklers? See Job 15:25-26.

314.

Job is a fat insensitive glutton. What a figure of speech to apply to a man in Job's condition! How did Eliphaz's image of Job have any meaning?

315.

Of what is darkness a symbol. Cf. Job 15:30.