“does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill himself with the hot east wind? Should he argue with useless talk or with words that serve no good purpose? But you undermine the fear of God” (Job 15:2).
And so Eliphaz opens his next round of verbal barrage against Job. Like the others, he says Job’s voicing of his agonies are dust in the wind.
Eliphaz is not the bitter and arrogant Zophar but more of the less sure of himself. But he pulls an age-old classic by appealing to authority to prove he is right.
“Both the gray-haired and the elderly are with us, men older than your father” (Job 15:10).
Basically he is trying to pull the authority and leadership card. The aged were revered and their wisdom and understanding thought to be top. So by Eliphaz saying that are with us, it means they are not with Job. Job is clearly, in all of their perspectives, in error.
“Why has your heart misled you, and why do your eyes flash as you turn your anger against God and allow such words to leave your mouth?” (Job 15:12-13).
And now Eliphaz will use another tactic. Instead of talking to the person directly, he will talk about another person and describe their demise. In this situation, he is talking about a “wicked” man. And while he describes him, we all know that he is implying that Job is this man.
“A wicked man writes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless” (Job 15:20).
“He doesn’t believe he will return from darkness; he is destined for the sword” (Job 15:22).
“For he has stretched out his hand against God and has arrogantly opposed the Almighty” (Job 15:25).
“He will not escape from the darkness” (Job 15:30).
For a full chapter Eliphaz describes the misery of the wicked man and implies Job is this man. It’s the same thinking through all of his friends.
Good life = You are living righteously
Bad life = You have sinned.
Job is having a bad life which therefore means he sins.
But such math is not God’s math. We know this because at the end of Job God will need to rebuke his friends because they haven’t represented him fairly.
But do we not still think this way? When we suffer, do we not ask what we have done wrong? Why God is against us? And in terror, do we not bargain with God?
