1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2“Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?
3Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or by speeches with which he can do no good?
4Yes, you cast off fear,
And restrain prayer before God.
5For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.
7“Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you made before the
hills?
8Have you heard the counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to
yourself?
9What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that
is not in us?
10Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Much older than your father.
11Are the consolations of God too small for you,
And the word spoken gently
with you?
12Why does your heart carry you away,
And what do your eyes wink
at,
13That you turn your spirit against God,
And let such words go out of
your mouth?
14“What is man, that he could be pure?
And he who is born of a
woman, that he could be righteous?
15If God puts no trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure
in His sight,
16How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
Who drinks iniquity like
water!
17“I will tell you, hear me;
What I have seen I will
declare,
18What wise men have told,
Not hiding anything received
from their fathers,
19To whom alone the land was given,
And no alien passed among
them:
20The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
And the number of years is
hidden from the oppressor.
21Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer
comes upon him.
22He does not believe that he will return from darkness,
For a sword is waiting for
him.
23He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of
darkness is ready at his hand.
24Trouble and anguish make him afraid;
They overpower him, like a
king ready for battle.
25For he stretches out his hand against God,
And acts defiantly against
the Almighty,
26Running stubbornly against Him
With his strong, embossed
shield.
27“Though he has covered his face with his fatness,
And made his waist heavy
with fat,
28He dwells in desolate cities,
In houses which no one
inhabits,
Which are destined to become
ruins.
29He will not be rich,
Nor will his wealth
continue,
Nor will his possessions
overspread the earth.
30He will not depart from darkness;
The flame will dry out his
branches,
And by the breath of His
mouth he will go away.
31Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself,
For futility will be his
reward.
32It will be accomplished before his time,
And his branch will not be
green.
33He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine,
And cast off his blossom
like an olive tree.
34For the company of hypocrites will be barren,
And fire will consume the
tents of bribery.
35They conceive trouble and bring forth futility;
Their womb prepares deceit.”
Commentary
Vs. 1-6 1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2“Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge,
And fill himself with the
east wind?
3Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or by speeches with which he
can do no good?
4Yes, you cast off fear,
And restrain prayer before
God.
5For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of
the crafty.
6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify
against you.
Eliphaz now speaks for the second time; and this time seemingly even more annoyed at Job; saying to Job, should a wise man fill himself with the east wind? (hot air, inflammatory speech), and answer with empty knowledge. He then goes on to mock Job as a “wise man” whose questions and reasonings are nothing more than unprofitable talk and whose speech does no good (vs. 3). Eliphaz then accuses Job of casting off fear by brazenly asking such questions of God, of basically calling all of their long-held beliefs about the righteous always being rewarded, guarded, and secure, and the wicked always being given over to afflictions, troubles, and evil into question (vs. 4). Eliphaz then sees this as Job’s “apostasy”, that Job is now speaking with the tongue of the crafty, that his words and reasonings are being forwarded by his own iniquities, (instead of by his pain, hurt and looses), basically saying that evil is now guiding his words and thoughts, Eliphaz then steps back of Job and says, “Your own mouth condemns you, and not I; Yes, your own lips testify against you.” And yet it has been Eliphaz from the get go that has been relegating Job to the realm of the condemned.
Vs. 7-10 7“Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you made before the
hills?
8Have you heard the counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to
yourself?
9What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that
is not in us?
10Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Much older than your father.
Previously Job made much of wisdom being with aged, that understanding comes with long life, Job then went on to expound that this comes from God Himself who is the Most Aged and Wise. And so Eliphaz now seeks to cut Job down by using his reasoning against him, accusing Job of limiting wisdom to himself, asking him if he was the first man born, or if he was around before the hills (mountains) existed (vs. 7-8). His point is that the generations long before Job have acquired the wisdom and knowledge and understanding that Eliphaz and his friends have been expounding to him. And so just as Job said to them that he knows what they know (12:3; 13:2) so now Eliphaz refutes back to Job with the same reasoning, charging Job with adding nothing to them, then citing their own agedness, as well as the agedness of their wisdom and knowledge as surpassing even that of Jobs father (vs. 9-10).
Vs. 11 11Are the consolations of God too small for you,
And the word spoken gently
with you?
Eliphaz’s statement here to Job must’ve seemed like a slap in the face after all he has been through, and all that they have already so coldly and harshly said to him, about him and his children all being cast away by God.
Vs. 12-13 12Why does your heart carry you away,
And what do your eyes wink
at,
13That you turn your spirit against God,
And let such words go out of
your mouth?
Eliphaz now questions Job in a very condescending manner; like an arrogant elder looking down upon a foolish and reckless youth, asking him why does he let his heart carry him away, that his eyes should wink upon folly (vs. 12), so that he turns his spirit against God and lets such words come out of his mouth (vs. 13). There are so many implications here, that we will not digress into them now.
Vs. 14-16 14“What is man, that he could be pure?
And he who is born of a
woman, that he could be righteous?
15If God puts no trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure
in His sight,
16How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
Who drinks iniquity like
water!
Eliphaz returns to his opening theme that man is incapable of being pure and righteous in the sight of God (vs. 14); and yet that is what they keep telling Job to do, purify his life and live righteously before Him so that his sufferings will end, and yet Job is the only one of them that God ever said was blameless in His sight. And so Eliphaz’s words here are far more condemning of himself and his friends than he realizes. Eliphaz then returns to his “vision” where a spirit terribly misinformed him of Job and even of God’s dealings with man. And yet by it Eliphaz’s now sees mankind only as filthy trash before God, and about as much loved, trusted, and valued as a snake! All which is wrong! Now as to humanities sinful state, we are all defiled by sin, we are all born into sin from Adam, but we are not all totally depraved, for if all of humanity was totally depraved, how could Job have been called blameless by God. Total Depravity of all of humanity then is not an absolute given in every generation, rather it is a progression of God in dealing with those who reject Him and His Word (Rom. 1:18-36), something which Job has not done. But now as the ends draws near humanity is doing such things as sinners reach their fullness, before the end comes.
Vs. 17-19 17“I will tell you, hear me;
What I have seen I will
declare,
18What wise men have told,
Not hiding anything received
from their fathers,
19To whom alone the land was given,
And no alien passed among
them:
Eliphaz now expounds his ancestors understanding and wisdom as the basis for his own, by which he implicates Job. And unlike Job’s, Eliphaz says he and his friends have kept their wisdom pure and untainted. Now this he does before reasserting his and his comrade’s belief that the wicked are always in state of dread and terror and troubles from God, which sounds all good and plausible until one looks at the reality all around them, that injustices abound everywhere. Verse 20-33 then is Eliphaz’s long winded discourse on the wicked persons plight, which is in effect only given to condemn Job as such.
Vs. 20-22 The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
And the number of years is
hidden from the oppressor.
21Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer
comes upon him.
Does the wicked man really writhe with pain all his days? Now consider that there are wicked men from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high in echelons of power, prestige, wealth and privilege who as dictators and tyrants rule nations, or run criminal or terrorist organizations, who do not writhe in pain all their days, in fact you do not have to look far to find people in all walks of life who live wicked lives with seemingly impunity while doing so. Eliphaz’s assertion here then is false and misleading (vs. 20). Nonetheless he goes on to say that dreadful sounds are in their ears and that in their prosperity the destroyer comes upon them, again this can happen to them (and God's Judgment will find them if they die in their sins) but it is not a give all of time, wicked people are not always in a state of being mentally tormented all of the time, nor are they always destroyed in their prosperity. But again, these things are only being to said against Job; who though righteous and blameless; has experienced such things.
Vs. 22-23 22He does not believe that he will return from darkness,
For a sword is waiting for
him.
23He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of
darkness is ready at his hand.
Job’s previous hopeless declarations of darkness and the grave are now once again recalled by Eliphaz to use them as "evidence" against him. Eliphaz then emphasizes Job’s previously very hopeless sounding words (see chapter three, or 6:8-10) as only being born out of Job’s believing that there is no escape for him from justice, that the sword now awaits for him. Eliphaz then describes the wicked person as being completely cast off, a person without any hope, whose life consists of only wandering around looking for a piece of bread to eat, before the mallet of justice comes down on them. Such words and thoughts though deny the very reconciliation Nature of God towards people, even while we were in dead in our sins and transgressions (Ezekiel 18:30-32; Rom. 5:8 etc.).
Vs. 24 “Trouble and anguish make him afraid;
They overpower him, like a king ready for battle.”
Eliphaz goes on saying that the wicked person is constantly troubled and afraid, that these things don’t just visit them, but they overpower them, “like a king ready for battle”, driving them into a state of complete despair is the implication. Now if that were so why do I see the wicked laughing and boosting.
Vs. 25-26 25For he stretches out his hand against God,
And acts defiantly against
the Almighty,
26Running stubbornly against Him
With his strong, embossed
shield.
And now the reason is given for their suffering such things; for Job suffering such things is the implication; because he has stretched out his hand against God and he acts defiantly against the Almighty (vs. 25). Indeed, Eliphaz says he even makes open war with God stubbornly running against Him, charging at Him with his strong embossed shield (vs. 26). Powerful and very colorful language for sure but none of it is true of Job, and even those who do, do not always experience the wrath of God as being described here in this life.
Vs. 27-28 27“Though he has covered his face with his fatness,
And made his waist heavy
with fat,
28He dwells in desolate cities,
In houses which no one
inhabits,
Which are destined to become
ruins.
Eliphaz now sees the wicked man (all wicked men) as always being cast out of their dwelling places and made to wander and dwell in desolate cities and abandoned houses which are only destined to become ruins. The implication then is that anyone who dwells in palaces or mansions or rich neighborhoods is by default righteous and virtuous. But ask yourselves is that always the case?
Vs. 29-30 29He will not be rich,
Nor will his wealth
continue,
Nor will his possessions
overspread the earth.
30He will not depart from darkness;
The flame will dry out his
branches,
And by the breath of His
mouth he will go away.
Eliphaz now says that neither will the wicked person be rich, nor will their wealth continue, obviously he is saying these things to explain all of Job’s looses, but ask yourselves how many people with public profiles that your aware of who live wickedly and or corruptly and yet are not experiencing the things that Eliphaz is describing here. Verse thirty then is just more of Eliphaz’s colorful but empty language that describes them as only being locked up in darkness by God in this life (which is not always true, at least not until their judgement for all eternity), same with God’s flame always drying out their branch in this life, and thus their withering away. Nonetheless God does indeed deal with the wicked in this life, just not as Eliphaz says He always does.
Vs. 31-35 31Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself,
For futility will be his
reward.
32It will be accomplished before his time,
And his branch will not be
green.
33He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine,
And cast off his blossom
like an olive tree.
34For the company of hypocrites will be barren,
And fire will consume the
tents of bribery.
35They conceive trouble and bring forth futility;
Their womb prepares deceit.”
Confident in his conclusions about Job, Eliphaz in his arrogance once again confines Job to the condemned, telling him not to trust in futile things, that is living wickedly before God as with impunity, deceiving himself, for futility will be his reward (vs. 31). He then concludes by basically reaffirming all that he previously said that God’s Judgment comes swiftly and that when it does, He shakes off the wicked like an unripe grape on the vine, or a blossom off the olive tree (vs. 32-33). Eliphaz then ever so confident in his assessment of Job then condemns Job as a hypocrite who was only pretending to be righteous while secretly taking bribes, for which God has now judged him (vs. 34). He then concludes with some more empty talk, saying of the wicked that they “conceive trouble and bring forth futility; their womb prepares deceit.” Vs. 35 Thus making Job out to be some sort of scheming deceitful man, whose children were also born out of the same mold. None of which is true of Job, nor his children.
New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.
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