Job 18:1–21 Bildad's Denunciation of Job

 ¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“How long till you put an end to words?

Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.

³Why are we counted as beasts,

And regarded as stupid in your sight?

⁴You who tear yourself in anger,

Shall the earth be forsaken for you?

Or shall the rock be removed from its place?

⁵“The light of the wicked indeed goes out,

And the flame of his fire does not shine.

⁶The light is dark in his tent,

And his lamp beside him is put out.

⁷The steps of his strength are shortened,

And his own counsel casts him down.

⁸For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

And he walks into a snare.

⁹The net takes him by the heel,

And a snare lays hold of him.

¹⁰A noose is hidden for him on the ground,

And a trap for him in the road.

¹¹Terrors frighten him on every side,

And drive him to his feet.

¹²His strength is starved,

And destruction is ready at his side.

¹³It devours patches of his skin; 

The firstborn of death devours his limbs.

¹⁴He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent,

And they parade him before the king of terrors.

¹⁵They dwell in his tent who are none of his;

Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling.

¹⁶His roots are dried out below,

And his branch withers above.

¹⁷The memory of him perishes from the earth,

And he has no name among the renowned.

¹⁸He is driven from light into darkness,

And chased out of the world.

¹⁹He has neither son nor posterity among his people,

Nor any remaining in his dwellings.

²⁰Those in the west are astonished at his day,

As those in the east are frightened.

²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,

And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

Preamble: Bildad now responds to Job by even strengthening his denunciations of the wicked man, and thus Job. Now this will be Bildad’s strongest denunciation of Job, even going so for as to say of Job that he does not know God!

Commentary

Vs. 1-2 ¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“How long till you put an end to words?

Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.

Bildad’s impatience with Job now peaks as he aggressively sets into his rebuking of Job, telling him to put an end to his words and gain understanding (and thus agree with them) rather than question the “justice” of his own suffering. But Job’s suffering is not a matter of justice, as his friends continually and so wrongly assume and assert. Rather it a matter between God in heaven and Satan on earth to bring about change not only to Job. but also too his friends.

Vs. 3-4 ³Why are we counted as beasts,

And regarded as stupid in your sight?

⁴You who tear yourself in anger,

Shall the earth be forsaken for you?

Or shall the rock be removed from its place?

Bildad now expresses his deep annoyance with Job for having belittled them (vs. 3) however Job did not do that as he express it here. Bildad then looks down on Job with some real cruelty no mocking him as one who tears himself in his anger. Now remember Job’s body is covered in boils which scab over and then break open when he moves himself; thus Bildad by really disdains and disregards Job in his affliction, for to him it is proof of Job's guilt. Bildad then (like his friends) once again refuses to accept that there is any validity in Job questioning all that is happening to him, indeed Bildad's understanding of the wicked mans plight he believes as being established long ago with the earth. Thus, in Bildad’s eyes should they then change their understanding simply because Job is now questioning it? Verses five to twenty one then will be his reiterating his beliefs on the wicked mans just plight and sufferings.

Vs. 5-6 ⁵“The light of the wicked indeed goes out,

And the flame of his fire does not shine.

⁶The light is dark in his tent,

And his lamp beside him is put out.

All of Job’s words about darkness and despair (of feeling so hopeless) once again find their rebuttal with another strong rebuke. Bildad then is unrelenting in his assessment of Job’s plight, saying that “The light of the wicked indeed goes out, and the flame of his fire does not shine”, that “The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp beside him is put out.” This though is not applicable to Job and thus if not to him others as well. 

Vs. 7-10 ⁷The steps of his strength are shortened,

And his own counsel casts him down.

⁸For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

And he walks into a snare.

⁹The net takes him by the heel,

And a snare lays hold of him.

¹⁰A noose is hidden for him on the ground,

And a trap for him in the road.

Bildad now accuses Job of being the author of his own demise, basically saying that his lifestyle and his own counsel have brought about his own ruin (vs. 7); which can be true for some, but this is not true in Job’s case. He then goes on to make it seem like every step the wicked take in this life is only marked by a trap or snare that is then laid before them to take them away (vs. 8-10). This though is not true as many wicked people prosper and are at ease in this life. 

Vs. 11 “Terrors frighten him on every side,

And drive him to his feet.”

Previously Job pleaded with God not to frighten him any longer (Job 7:14; Job 13:25); which was something that Satan was doing to him, not God; and so now Bildad takes up on Job's previous plea and uses it against him as more "evidence" against him, as more evidence of his assessment of Job as having been wicked.

Vs. 12-13 ¹²His strength is starved,

And destruction is ready at his side.

¹³It devours patches of his skin; The firstborn of death devours his limbs.

From Job's tormented mind, to now Job’s ravished body, even it becomes the object of Bildad’s wrath and scorn, for when he looks at Job all Bildad sees is a man being devoured by his own sins and transgressions, none of which is true of Job. And even if it were true, how does that then justify his speaking to him like that?

Vs. 14-15 ¹⁴He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent,

And they parade him before the king of terrors.

¹⁵They dwell in his tent who are none of his;

Brimstone is scattered on his dwelling.

Job's being cast out is now most coldly used against him by Bildad who takes great liberties in describing Job's looses and ruin. Now describing him as only being paraded before the king of terrors (which is the closest reference to Satan in this book by Job and his friends). And so that the wicked are uprooted from homes and that they are then paraded before the “king of terrors” is just another denunciation of Job. Thus, Job’s losing his dwelling place and suffering great horrors at the hand of Satan is now portrayed as an act of "justice", that God Himself has put him out of his home, and He will now turn it over to others.

Vs. 16-21 ¹⁶His roots are dried out below,

And his branch withers above.

¹⁷The memory of him perishes from the earth,

And he has no name among the renowned.

¹⁸He is driven from light into darkness,

And chased out of the world.

¹⁹He has neither son nor posterity among his people,

Nor any remaining in his dwellings.

²⁰Those in the west are astonished at his day,

As those in the east are frightened.

²¹Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,

And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

Bildad not content with that, now goes on to describe Job’s loss of health and vitality as that of the roots and branches of a dying tree, that cannot regenerate itself, that there is no hope for it (vs. 16). He then says that the memory of him (i.e. the wicked man) will soon perish from the earth and he will never be named among the renowned (vs. 17). Seems plausible until you consider some of this worlds wicked leaders down through the ages whose names and legacies have long survived them. Bildad then goes onto to say that the wicked man is driven from light into darkness, before he is chased out of the world (vs. 18). Bildad then goes onto say that God will leave him no legacy, no children to live on after him, nor will anyone remain in his dwellings (vs. 19). People then from all over are astonished at him and frightened by what they see happing to him (vs. 20). Now as good as all of this may sound when not applied to Job, this simply is not case with every wicked person everywhere and everyplace in this world. Bildad then concludes his denunciation of Job by saying: “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, And this is the place of him who does not know God.” ^{Vs. 21}

Bildad's final statement though is the most serious, for to denounce a man  whose whole life was dedicated to fearing God, and whose behavior was called blameless by Him, as one who does not know God is a very serious matter! Something that you cannot justify to God. 

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.

 

 

Job 16:1–17:16 Job's Bitter Reply to His Friends

 ¹Then Job answered and said:

²“I have heard many such things;

Miserable comforters are you all!

³Shall words of wind have an end?

Or what provokes you that you answer?

⁴I also could speak as you do,

If your soul were in my soul’s place.

I could heap up words against you,

And shake my head at you;

⁵But I would strengthen you with my mouth,

And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

⁶“Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;

And if I remain silent, how am I eased?

⁷But now He has worn me out;

You have made desolate all my company.

⁸You have shriveled me up,

And it is a witness against me;

My leanness rises up against me

And bears witness to my face.

⁹He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;

He gnashes at me with His teeth;

My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.

¹⁰They gape at me with their mouth,

They strike me reproachfully on the cheek,

They gather together against me.

¹¹God has delivered me to the ungodly,

And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.

¹²I was at ease, but He has shattered me;

He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;

He has set me up for His target,

¹³His archers surround me.

He pierces my heart and does not pity;

He pours out my gall on the ground.

¹⁴He breaks me with wound upon wound;

He runs at me like a warrior.

¹⁵“I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,

And laid my head in the dust.

¹⁶My face is flushed from weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

¹⁷Although no violence is in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸“O earth, do not cover my blood,

And let my cry have no resting place!

¹⁹Surely even now my witness is in heaven,

And my evidence is on high.

²⁰My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God.

²¹Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,

As a man pleads for his neighbor!

²²For when a few years are finished,

I shall go the way of no return.

¹“My spirit is broken,

My days are extinguished,

The grave is ready for me.

²Are not mockers with me?

And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?

³“Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.

Who is he who will shake hands with me?

⁴For You have hidden their heart from understanding;

Therefore You will not exalt them.

⁵He who speaks flattery to his friends,

Even the eyes of his children will fail.

⁶“But He has made me a byword of the people,

And I have become one in whose face men spit.

⁷My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow,

And all my members are like shadows.

⁸Upright men are astonished at this,

And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.

⁹Yet the righteous will hold to his way,

And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

¹⁰“But please, come back again, all of you,

For I shall not find one wise man among you.

¹¹My days are past,

My purposes are broken off,

Even the thoughts of my heart.

¹²They change the night into day;

‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.

¹³If I wait for the grave as my house,

If I make my bed in the darkness,

¹⁴If I say to corruption,

‘You are my father,’

And to the worm,

You are my mother and my sister,’

¹⁵Where then is my hope?

As for my hope, who can see it?

¹⁶Will they go down to the gates of Sheol?

Shall we have rest together in the dust?”

Commentary

16:1-5 ¹Then Job answered and said:

²“I have heard many such things;

Miserable comforters are you all!

³Shall words of wind have an end?

Or what provokes you that you answer?

⁴I also could speak as you do,

If your soul were in my soul’s place.

I could heap up words against you,

And shake my head at you;

⁵But I would strengthen you with my mouth,

And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.

Having heard the terrible charges laid against him by their counsels on the wicked mans plight, Job now in a broken bitterness tells them that they are nothing but miserable counselors, just a bunch of mean men without compassion, who seemingly care little about what Job is going through, but rather only getting him to confess his guilt when even he himself does not yet know what that is (vs. 1-2). Job then with a bit of sarcasm rebukes their words as nothing more than wind (i.e., meaningless words without substance), asking that they would end them just as they asked he end his. For what provokes them to respond to his questioning his plight (vs. 3), is it their concern for him? I think not, isn’t it just their refusing to believe that Job is innocent in all of this. Job then tells them it is easy to look down on another when one is at ease (vs. 4), but instead of doing that Job says if they were in his place he would comfort them and relieve their grief (vs. 5), not hold them in disdain and merciless guilt.

16:6-9 ⁶“Though I speak, my grief is not relieved;

And if I remain silent, how am I eased?

⁷But now He has worn me out;

You have made desolate all my company.

⁸You have shriveled me up,

And it is a witness against me;

My leanness rises up against me

And bears witness to my face.

⁹He tears me in His wrath, and hates me;

He gnashes at me with His teeth;

My adversary sharpens His gaze on me.

Job once again decries his plight, but this time to God directly. He then asks himself  if he speaks his grief is not relieved, (for his friends then only set themselves against him), and if he remains silent how does he find ease? For the pain of all his loses is to much to bear in silence. For remember Job already spent a week in absolute mourning silence and came away with no comfort and no probable answers (vs.6). Thus, Job says to God that He has worn him out, that He has taken away all his company (vs. 7), i.e. for all his friends and loved ones who would comfort him have now either perished or abandoned him (Job 16:20; 19:13-15). Job then decries his own health and vitality as being nothing more than shriveled up, as now bearing witness against him, so that even his leanness rises against him and bears witness to his face (vs. 8) so that even he cannot ignore it, and yet there is no explainable reason for it all. Verse nine then is one of the saddest verses in the Book of Job, for Job’s once reverent outlook of God as his friend has now been reduced to only seeing Him as His adversary, saying that in wrath and hatred He tears at him, saying that God hates him so much that He even gnashes at him with his teeth (like a wild animal intending to devour him), and that He sharpens His gaze upon him for harm. Now none of these are true of God, for all this evil that is happening to Job is coming to him from Satan, whom Job seemingly does not know exist. 

16:10-14 ¹⁰They gape at me with their mouth,

They strike me reproachfully on the cheek,

They gather together against me.

¹¹God has delivered me to the ungodly,

And turned me over to the hands of the wicked.

¹²I was at ease, but He has shattered me;

He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces;

He has set me up for His target,

¹³His archers surround me.

He pierces my heart and does not pity;

He pours out my gall on the ground.

¹⁴He breaks me with wound upon wound;

He runs at me like a warrior.

Job now decries that all who see him; (the once noble and revered Job); now only look at him with gaped mouths, (with a of look of fearful or scornful astonishment), that they even strike him reproachfully on the cheek, (as an act of fearless contempt for his person), even the wicked and the ungodly now gather against him, for he has been brought low before them all. Job then feels that it is God Himself who has turned him over to them (vs. 10-11). Verse ten and elven in many ways foretells then the Lord Jesus Christ’s Sufferings. Then in verses eleven and twelve Job points the blame for all of his miseries squarely on God, thus attributing what Satan has been doing to him to God, saying though he was at ease God shattered him, that He now takes him by the neck and shakes him to pieces, like an animal does to its prey, (vs. 11). Job then analogies even worse things about God, describing God as setting him up as His target and then sending His archers against him, saying that God even pierces his heart and does not pity him, that He pours all of his gall on the ground (vs. 12-13), saying that God breaks him with wound upon wound, and that is He is unrelenting in His assailing him, that He runs at him like a warrior, (what a fearful image that is) and thus of only having intentions of killing him (vs. 14). It’s bad, Job’s words here are really, really, bad, and completely unjustifiable, for him or anyone to describe God in such an evil manner. And yet Job is not alone in this, for many a saint first started out as a broken or embittered sinner, also thinking that God was their enemy, before embracing and experiencing the Grace of God through the Gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

16:15-22 ¹⁵“I have sewn sackcloth over my skin,

And laid my head in the dust.

¹⁶My face is flushed from weeping,

And on my eyelids is the shadow of death;

¹⁷Although no violence is in my hands,

And my prayer is pure.

¹⁸“O earth, do not cover my blood,

And let my cry have no resting place!

¹⁹Surely even now my witness is in heaven,

And my evidence is on high.

²⁰My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God.

²¹Oh, that one might plead for a man with God,

As a man pleads for his neighbor!

²²For when a few years are finished,

I shall go the way of no return.

Job now in saying that he has sown sackcloth over his skin is akin to his saying that his mourning and misery will never end (vs. 15 BBC). And so with his cheeks reddened from crying, and his eyes blackened from lack of sleep (vs. 16), Job says that he was deserving of none of this, that there was no violence in hands, and that his prayer was pure (vs. 17). Basically that he was not living wickedly, nor living a hypocritical life. Job then pleads for vindication, and asks that his sufferings not be forgotten, either on earth or in heaven (vs. 18-19), saying that his friends even scorn him while he pours out his tears to God (vs. 20). Once again Job desires a mediator who could plead for him before God (vs. 21), before his life that he believes will soon end (vs. 22).

17:1-2 ¹“My spirit is broken,

My days are extinguished,

The grave is ready for me.

²Are not mockers with me?

And does not my eye dwell on their provocation?

Job’s mourning continues with his declaring that he believes his life has come to its end. And yet he still has to endure the mocking of his “friends”, whom Job feels are only provoking him to respond the way he does by their callous and unjustified accusations against him. 

17:3-4 ³“Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself.

Who is he who will shake hands with me?

⁴For You have hidden their heart from understanding;

Therefore You will not exalt them.

Job now turns away from his friends and asks God Himself to act as His “guarantor”, since no one else will. Job then sees his friends ignorance as something God has done to them, therefore he believes that God will not exalt them. For they have only been condemning a just and righteous person.

17:5 “He who speaks flattery to his friends,

Even the eyes of his children will fail.”

Job does not look kindly on flattery, saying the one who does so even the eyes of his children will fail. Now his words here may vey well be an indictment of his friends.

17:6 “But He has made me a byword of the people,

And I have become one in whose face men spit.

Job now decries his now low standing amongst the people, as one whom people now openly hold in contempt, who even spit in his face to show their disdain of him. And this Job says the Lord has done to him. The many parallels with the Lord Jesus and Job are clear and obvious.

17:7 My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow,

And all my members are like shadows.

Job’s deep sadness has caused his eyes to grow dim, for hope is light, and yet in Job’s life light seems utterly out of his sight. Now its not just Job’s emotional state that has been damaged, but his body also has taken a deep toll in all of this.  

17:8-9 ⁸Upright men are astonished at this,

And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite.

⁹Yet the righteous will hold to his way,

And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger.

Once again Job, not giving up, reaches deep and sees that his vindication is coming. Therefore he says that upright men are astonished at this; at how he has been treated; for he believes that one day the innocent will rise up against the hypocrite and prevail (vs. 8). Job then cycles between great despair and hopelessness to wanting to prevail to prove his own innocence, basically saying that in no way will he submit to his friends’ charges and accusations against him, but he will stick to his way, for as he says he who has clean hands will get stronger and stronger (vs. 9).

17:10 “But please, come back again, all of you,

For I shall not find one wise man among you.”

With some sarcasm Job now releases his friends from their duty of "comforting" him, sarcastically saying to them all, please do come back again, for I shall not find one wise man among you. However they will not leave, for Job has challenged their cultures long standing held beliefs, and they will defend them. 

17:11-16 ¹¹My days are past,

My purposes are broken off,

Even the thoughts of my heart.

¹²They change the night into day;

‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness.

¹³If I wait for the grave as my house,

If I make my bed in the darkness,

¹⁴If I say to corruption,

‘You are my father,’

And to the worm,

You are my mother and my sister,’

¹⁵Where then is my hope?

As for my hope, who can see it?

¹⁶Will they go down to the gates of Sheol?

Shall we have rest together in the dust?”

Once again Job turns inward, decrying his life as being over, that his purposes in life have now all been lost, even the thoughts of his heart (i.e. all his dreams, desires, and plans) are no more, and will never be fulfilled (vs. 11). Job then decries his friends’ counsels by which they turn his very grievous state into something that he should be glad about or thankful for (vs. 12). Job now reasons against his own previous declarations of desiring the grave, for he now believes that even there he would find no rest nor peace nor consolation etc. Indeed Job asks himself, is there any hope there? Will he find any hope at the gates of Sheol, (i.e. the grave), or shall he find rest together in dust if he were to join his lost loved ones there? (vs. 13-16).

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.

Job 15:1–35 Eliphaz's Reply to Job

 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. 

 Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.