Scripture Thought (What I Learned):
Chapter 5: Happy is the Man that God
Corrects
“Call
now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of
the saints wilt thou turn? For wrath killeth the foolish man, and
envy slayeth the silly one…” (Job 5:1-3)
Eliphaz (friend of Job) begged his
friend to listen to reason and agree with common wisdom.
“I have seen the foolish taking
root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation. His children are far from safety,
and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to
deliver them. Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out
of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance. Although
affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the
ground; Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:3-7)
Eliphaz
tells Job that he had to have sinned for such things to have happened to him,
it proves that they were foolish.
“I would seek unto God, and
unto God would I commit my cause: Which doeth great things and unsearchable;
marvellous things without number: Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth
waters upon the fields: To set up on high those that be low; that those
which mourn may be exalted to safety. He disappointeth the devices of the crafty,
so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. He taketh the
wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried
headlong. They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as
in the night. But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from
the hand of the mighty. So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her
mouth.” (Job 5:8-16)
Although Eliphaz said it tactfully,
he still said that Job was not seeking God, and because of that he was in affliction.
Eliphaz essentially calls Job out and tells him that he needs to repent and
maybe the afflictions would go away. He doesn’t recognize that Job has done
nothing wrong.
“Behold, happy is the
man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of
the Almighty: For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his
hands make whole. He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there
shall no evil touch thee. In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war
from the power of the sword.
Thou
shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of
destruction when it cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither
shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. For thou shalt be in
league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be
at peace with thee. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in
peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.
Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine
offspring as the grass of the earth. Thou shalt come to thy grave
in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. Lo this,
we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou itfor thy
good.” (Job 5:17-26)
Eliphaz tells Job that the reason
God is correcting him/punishing him is because he corrects His sinful children.
Again, Eliphaz is telling Job that he is a sinner.
Chapter 6: The Right Words
“But Job answered and said, Oh
that my grief were throughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the
balances together! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea:
therefore my words are swallowed up. For the arrows of the Almighty are within
me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set
themselves in array against me. Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or
loweth the ox over his fodder? Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without
salt? or is thereany taste in the white of an egg? The things that my
soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. (Job 6:1-7)
Job’s
friends were kind enough to sit with him in sympathetic silence for some seven
days (Job 2:13). Job broke his silence with a rant (Job 3), and
Eliphaz responded with a poetic call to repentance (Job 4-5). Now Job answered
the words of Eliphaz the Temanite.
Job’s first response to the words
of Eliphaz were to complain about the greatness of his suffering, because
Eliphaz only made his suffering worse, with his well-intentioned but wrong
analysis of Job’s problem.
“Oh
that I might have my request; and that God would grant methe thing that I
long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose
his hand, and cut me off! Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden
myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the
Holy One.” (Job 6:8-10)
Job returns to the theme of his
complaint from Job 3, where he mourned the day of his birth and believed he would
be better off dead, though Job never seems to have contemplated suicide, he
wished God Himself would end his life.
“What is my strength, that I
should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? Is my
strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? Is not
my help in me? and is wisdom driven quite from me?” (Job 6:11-13)
Job reflected the sense of
hopelessness of the severe and chronic sufferer. Sensing no
inner strength to meet the present and future challenges, he felt
no hope at all
“To him that is afflicted pity should
be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. My
brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of
brooks they pass away; Which are blackish by reason of the ice, and wherein
the snow is hid: What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are
consumed out of their place. The paths of their way are turned aside; they go
to nothing, and perish. The troops of Tema looked, the companies of
Sheba waited for them. They were confounded because they had hoped; they came
thither, and were ashamed. For now ye are nothing; ye see my casting
down, and are afraid. Did I say, Bring unto me? or, Give a reward for
me of your substance? Or, Deliver me from the enemy’s hand? or, Redeem me from
the hand of the mighty? (Job 6:14-23)
Job makes his most basic accusation
against Eliphaz, that he should have shown him kindness even if he had forsaken
the Lord by sinning.
“Teach me, and I will hold my
tongue: and cause me to understand wherein I have erred. How forcible are right
words! but what doth your arguing reprove? Do ye imagine to reprove words, and
the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind? Yea, ye
overwhelm the fatherless, and ye dig a pit for your friend. Now
therefore be content, look upon me; for it is evident unto you if I
lie. Return, I pray you, let it not be iniquity; yea, return again, my
righteousness is in it. Is there iniquity in my tongue? cannot my
taste discern perverse things?” (Job 6:24-30)
Job believed that Eliphaz was harsh
in his reply and failed to see that his Job’s rant recorded in chapter 3 was
made up only of words from a desperate one.
Essentially Eliphaz (a friend) did
not support Job in his time of trial. Instead he ridiculed him and told him
that he was a sinner. We can learn from this; when we or someone we know is
faced with sin, we can lend and hand and help them get back up, instead of
pushing them down for something that had already done and was in the past. We
can also learn that often times we pass judgement without truly knowing what
has happened or what is happening.
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