Job 6:1-7

C.

SEARCH FOR COMFORT AND JOB'S CONFRONTATION WITH GOD (Job 6:1, Job 7:21)

1. There is adequate reason for his complaint. (Job 6:1-7)

TEXT 6:1-7

6 Then Job answered and said,

2 Oh that my vexation were but weighed,
And all my calamity laid in the balances!

3 For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas:

Therefore have my words been rash.

4 For the arrows of the Almighty are within me,

The poison whereof my spirit drinketh up:
The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me.

5 Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass?

Or loweth the ox over his fodder?

6 Can that which hath no savor be eaten without salt?

Or is there any taste in the white of an egg?

7 My soul refuseth to touch them;

They are as loathsome food to me.

COMMENT 6:1-7
Dachau: Eine Welt-Ohne Gnade
(Dachaua world without grace)

Job 6:1Job now replies to Eliphaz's first speech. Job is responding to the three friends (Job 6:2-30; plurals in Job 6:24-29) rather than Eliphaz alone. First Job defends his first soliloquy (chp. 3), for which Eliphaz had rebuked him. Because of his suffering (Job 6:2-7) he desires to die (Job 6:8-10). Being without hope and sympathy from his friends, Job seeks the friendship of death. Why is life so difficult (Job 7:1 ff), especially since he is innocent? Receiving no comfort from the three wise men, Job turns to God (probably from Job 7:1, certainly from Job 7:7as remember is second singular). After an appeal to God's compassion (Job 6:7-10), without restraint (Job 6:11) he asks why He plagues Job with impossible suffering (Job 6:12-21).[81] Job's three friends are bound to him by a covenant of friendship (hesed).[82] Thus, they should not assume that Job is guilty of sin because of his suffering. Since they fail to express covenant concern and sympathy, Job turns to God. The speech falls into three parts: (1) Affirmation of his bitterness, (2) Disappointment in his friends (Job 6:14-30); and (3) Intensification of his complaint at his lot, and more open appeal against God's treatment of him (Job 7:1-21).

[81] See the excellent exposition of three kinds of suffering which the scriptures carefully distinguish in Delitzsch, Job, Vol. I, 105ff. (1) Suffering of the godless; (2) Suffering of the righteous to intensify trust as fidelity; and (3) Suffering for witness. Compare this with the experience of a recent Job, C. S. Lewis, A Grief Observed (Seabury, 1963).

[82] See Nelson Glueck's exhaustive study, The Word hesed in Old Testament Usage, 1927, reprinted.

Job 6:2Job's anguish (ha-asA. V. as vexationtranslated as impatience in Job 5:2 and displeasure in Job 10:17. The basic sense of the root is happen, hence accident, misfortune) is heavier than the sands of the seas. Job's theme is not God's indignation but his own undeserved suffering.

Job 6:3Job's anguish and calamity correspond in parallelism; either of them would outweigh the sand. Job admits (therefore) that his words have been wild but not unjustified. His speech has been rash.[83]

[83] E. F. Sutcliffe, Biblica, XXI, 1950, 367ff, renders the Hebrew charged with grief.

Job 6:4Job now names God (Shaddaithe Almighty, used by Eliphaz Job 5:17) as the author of his misery. Job, no less than Eliphaz, believes the suffering comes from God; but rejects Eliphaz's claim that Job is unrighteous, thus deserving of his plight. Why is the pain harder to bear merely because he believes in God? The imagery of God as an archer appears frequently in the Old TestamentDeuteronomy 32:23; Ezekiel 5:16; Psalms 7:13; Psalms 38:2; Psalms 64:7. The poisoned arrows mentioned here are not referred to elsewhere in the Old Testament. The word translated poisonvenomis the same word as that used of the deaf adder in Psalms 58:4. Oil-soaked materials covering arrowheads were used in war. The terrors of God assault Job's very existence; they wear me down (A. V. array against me),[84] he boldly asserts. Paul uses the imagery of the flaming darts of Satan in Ephesians 6:16.

[84] G. R. Driver, Vetus Testamentum Supplement III, 1955, 73; also Saydon, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, XXIII, 1961, 252.

Job 6:5Using powerful distress imagery (wild ass in distress for a lack of foodJeremiah 14:6). Job suggests that it would be better to identify the cause of his suffering rather than explain it. The wild ass brays is used only here and Job 30:7, where it describes the agonizing cries of social outcasts. The second descriptive word is the verb translated loweth in A. V. It is used only here and in 1 Samuel 6:12, where it is used of cows deprived of their calves. Even the animals understand what Eliphaz fails to comprehend.

Job 6:6-7Though the text is difficult in these uncertain verses, something nauseating is implied. Eliphaz's counsel is tasteless; it lacks the salt of sympathy. The A. V.'S phrase the white of an egg might better be understood as the slime of purslane (so R. S. V., Rowley, Driver and Gray). The purslane is a leguminous plant which secretes mucilaginous jelly. Job rejects Eliphaz's explanation as he (nepheshsoul) would reject tasteless food. In Hebrew psychology, nephesh (soul) is the seat of desireDeuteronomy 24:15; Hosea 4:8; and, in particularof appetiteDeuteronomy 14:26; Deuteronomy 23:25; Isaiah 29:8; Micah 7:1; and Proverbs 23:2. The condition of Job's flesh[85] (lehem literally bread but here is flesh or meat), like Eliphaz's comfort, is sickeningJob 7:5; Job 18:13; Job 30:30.

[85] There is no need to emend the text as does Kissane et al. The they refers to Eliphaz's arguments. Words and lehem in its present parallel structure means Job's flesh or body.