Yesterday we heard Job curse the day of his birth. Up to this point, his three friends who came to console him have been sitting with him silently. But now they start talking at him.

This is the start of a long argument between Job and his friends. When Job’s friends speak, you’ll notice that they say a lot of things that are true and sound biblical. But the judgments they make about Job are completely wrong.

We’re going to read two whole chapters today, to hear all of Eliphaz’s first speech.

4:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered:
2 “If someone should attempt a word with you,
will you be impatient?
But who can refrain from speaking?
3 Look, you have instructed many;
you have strengthened feeble hands.
4 Your words have supported those
who stumbled,
and you have strengthened the knees
that gave way.
5 But now the same thing comes to you,
and you are discouraged;
it strikes you,
and you are terrified.
6 Is not your piety your confidence,
and your blameless ways your hope?
7 Call to mind now:
Who, being innocent, ever perished?
And where were upright people ever destroyed?
8 Even as I have seen, those who plow iniquity
and those who sow trouble reap the same.
9 By the breath of God they perish,
and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.
10 There is the roaring of the lion
and the growling of the young lion,
but the teeth of the young lions are broken.
11 The mighty lion perishes for lack of prey,
and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

12 “Now a word was stealthily brought to me,
and my ear caught a whisper of it.
13 In the troubling thoughts of the dreams in the night
when a deep sleep falls on men,
14 dread gripped me and trembling,
which made all my bones shake.
15 Then a breath of air passes by my face;
it makes the hair of my flesh stand up.
16 It stands still,
but I cannot recognize its appearance;
an image is before my eyes,
and I hear a murmuring voice:
17 ‘Is a mortal man righteous before God?
Or a man pure before his Creator?
18 If God puts no trust in his servants
and attributes folly to his angels,
19 how much more to those who live in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like a moth?
20 They are destroyed between morning and evening;
they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
21 Is not their excess wealth taken away from them?
They die, yet without attaining wisdom.’

5:1 “Call now! Is there anyone who will answer you?
To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 For wrath kills the foolish person,
and anger slays the silly one.
3 I myself have seen the fool taking root,
but suddenly I cursed his place of residence.
4 His children are far from safety,
and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered,
nor is there anyone to deliver them.
5 The hungry eat up his harvest,
and take it even from behind the thorns,
and the thirsty pant for their wealth.
6 For evil does not come up from the dust,
nor does trouble spring up from the ground,
7 but people are born to trouble,
as surely as the sparks fly upward.

8 “But as for me, I would seek God,
and to God I would set forth my case.
9 He does great and unsearchable things,
marvelous things without number;
10 he gives rain on the earth,
and sends water on the fields;
11 he sets the lowly on high,
that those who mourn are raised to safety.
12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty
so that their hands cannot accomplish
what they had planned.
13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness,
and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end.
14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,
and grope about in the noontime as if it were night.
15 So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth,
even the poor from the hand of the powerful.
16 Thus the poor have hope,
and iniquity shuts its mouth.

17 “Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects,
so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
18 For he wounds, but he also bandages;
he strikes, but his hands also heal.
19 He will deliver you from six calamities;
yes, in seven no evil will touch you.
20 In time of famine he will redeem you from death,
and in time of war from the power of the sword.
21 You will be protected from malicious gossip
and will not be afraid of the destruction when it comes.
22 You will laugh at destruction and famine
and need not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23 For you will have a pact with the stones of the field,
and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
24 And you will know that your home will be secure,
and when you inspect your domains,
you will not be missing anything.
25 You will also know that your children will be numerous
and your descendants like the grass of the earth.
26 You will come to your grave in a full age,
As stacks of grain are harvested in their season.
27 Look, we have investigated this, so it is true.
Hear it, and apply it for your own good.”

REFLECTIONS

In Job 5:7, Eliphaz asks: “Who, being innocent, ever perished?” In Eliphaz’s mind, the answer is, “No one, of course!” As you mull over Eliphaz’s answer to Job, remember that Jesus is the shining example of how wrong Eliphaz was.