Job 4:1-11

TEXT 4:1-11

4 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

2 If one assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved?
But who can withhold himself from speaking?

3 Behold, thou hast instructed many,

And thou hast strengthened the weak hands.

4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling,

And thou hast made firm the feeble knees.

5 But now it is come unto thee, and thou faintest;

It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.

6 Is not thy fear of God thy confidence,

And the integrity of thy ways thy hope?

7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?

Or where were the upright cut off?

8 According as I have seen, they that plow iniquity,

And sow trouble, reap the same.

9 By the breath of God they perish,

And by the blast of his anger are they consumed.

10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion,

And the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

11 The old lion perisheth for lack of prey,

And the whelps of the lioness are scattered abroad.

COMMENT 4:1-11

Job 4:1Enters Eliphaz! Since Job has broken his silence, Eliphaz is now free to speak. He is presumably the oldest, thus the wisest, thus first speaker. He is also the most gracious and most eloquent. His deep esteem and profound sorrow for Job leaps from each phrase he utters. Eliphaz has been shocked at the fact that Job had wished death and has uttered no prayer for the recovery of prosperity and joi de vie (joy of life). Eliphaz asks Job, Could you bear it? (literally would you be weary?), i.e., Are you physically and psychologically able to hear my analysis of your condition? To Job, his misfortune was an enigmatic mystery; to Eliphaz the calamities have been sent to punish Job for some sin or sins (see John 9 and Jesus-' rejection of this standard Jewish, but not Old Testament, concept). Eliphaz has come to help Job examine his conscience.[61]

[61] Note this powerful insight into the relationship of truth, integrity, guilt, and healing, long before Freud's theory of repression was ever conceived. The scriptures sit in judgment on Freud's theory that all guilt is socially caused.

Job 4:2Eliphaz declares that if only Job would repent of his sins he could regain God's favor.[62] The speech regularly starts with a question and reference to Job's words. Eliphaz introduces the Doctrine of Retribution, i.e., Retributive Justice.

[62] See K. Fullerton, Journal Biblical Literature 49, 1930, 320-74; Psalms 32, 51 and see Chamberlain'S, Repentance (Joplin, MO: College Press reprint, 1972) with my bibliographical essay on repentance.

Job 4:3First he gently appeals to Job's own good advice to others in the past. But this type of counseling was already beside the point, because Job had already accepted the standard doctrine of retribution (Job 29:18-20), but now is beginning to challenge its adequacy simply because it does not explain his present existential situation. With great delicacy and consideration Eliphaz has now opened the first cycle of speeches.[63] The root of the word translated instructed (ysr) means discipline and in Job 5:17 the noun from this root means discipline by suffering (see Hebrews 12:3 ff). Job has instructed many. His instruction has strengthened them, i.e., from weak hands which hang down in helpless despair (Isaiah 35:3; Hebrews 12:12).[64]

[63] For relationship of Job and Wisdom Literature, see H. Ranston, The Old Testament Wisdom Books and Their Teaching, 1930, p. 139; S. Rankin, Israel's Wisdom Literature (T & T Clark, 1936); and G. van Rad's Wisdom in Israel (Nashville: Abingdon E. T., 1972).

[64] See the penetrating analysis by M. Dahood, Biblica, 48,1967, 425.

Job 4:4His words have also strengthened feeble knees (see same scriptures as above for imagery).

Job 4:5It is easy for a well man to give sound advice. Some commentators see sarcasm in Eliphaz's word; but the psychoanalysis of a dead author should capture only the absolute minimum of everyone's time, both authors and readers.

Job 4:6Literally, your fear of God should sustain you. He should have confidence in his past faithfulness to God. After all, Job's piety and integrity are not being questionedyet. Job is blamelessJob 1:1has confidence (keselconfidence, here the form is kislahJob 8:4; Ecclesiastes 7:25. This root has polarized meaning, i.e., opposite, eg. confidencefolly), and thus has integrity or consistency.

Job 4:7Is Job an exception to the rule? It is only casuistry to reply that Job is not in the category with the wicked because God has spared his life (Psalms 37:25; Proverbs 12:21; Ecclesiastes 2:10). Yet each of us can appreciate the dilemma of Job's comforters. Each comforter, in his own way, sought recovery for Job. There is still hope, since he is alive. If Job will only confess his guilt and seek God's grace, recovery would follow. Many of the modern specialists in healing are not radically different in their method than Job's friends. The power of confession (e.g. Jung, Modern Man in Search of a Soul) has long since been clinically proved. But the problem of theodicy is not thereby overcome. Why are some individuals signaled out for unbearably severe physical and spiritual torture? Suffering Servantwe turn to you! Help us to participate in the suffering of your fallen creation. Is suffering for discipline or destruction?[65]

[65] Concerning the problem of evil: For those philosophically inclined see the indispensable, though technical work, Alvin Plantinga, God and Other Minds (New York: Cornell University Press); C. S. Lewis, Problem of Pain for beginners; for those hostile to Christian theism, see E. H. Madden and P. H. Hare, Evil and the Concept of God (Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas, Publ.; for best single survey see John Hick, Evil and the God of Love (New York: Harper & Row), now also in paperback.

Job 4:8Those who plough iniquity are those persons who are wicked. They who cultivate sin and perform it with intentional glee, also reap the resultsHosea 10:13 and Galatians 6:7.

Job 4:9The wicked perish. This doctrine says that misfortune is divine retribution. This teaching is at the heart of America's Success Syndrome, i.e., if you are prospering, you are being blessed; if you are in destitute circumstances, it is God's way of expressing retributive justice. God's justice is likened to a scorching hot wind. Thanks be to God Jesus repudiates this blasphemous and heretical instruction, Luke 13:1-5. The cross, the ten official Roman persecutions, the martyrdom of thousands of the faithful, if not millions, both in the classical church history and in the twentieth century, all speak against this doctrine.

Job 4:10-11The image of the lion is common in Near Eastern Wisdom LiteraturePsalms 17:12; Psalms 22:14; Proverbs 28:15; and Isaiah 30:6. When the roar dies down and the teeth of the lion are broken, it is powerless and can no longer hold the prey.