Job 4

Sometimes it can be hard to read Job specially the friends of Job for they might have some words of truth but it is mixed also with error. Example in chapter 4 is Eliphaz where he starts with his own assumptions about why Job is suffering and feels that Job most had sinned. He rebukes Job and says that he [ Job] helped others by instructing them and has strengthened the weak hands but is now mocking Job that he is faint. Eliphaz is what we would call a cold fish with no compassion for others but only lives in his own self righteousness. Such as the Pharisees of Jesus time. He believes that if bad things happen to someone it must be because of sin. This is starting with the wrong assumption. For bad things happen to everyone for we are in a fallen world because of sin. It says in a reference book of mine. [ All the Men of the Bible] That this Temanite descendant was a law unto himself. His name means refined gold but his fine gold was that of self glory and of self opinion from which he would not budge. As a wise man he gloried in his wisdom, and represented the orthodox wisdom of his day. Eliphaz was a religious dogmatist, basing all his deductions upon a solitary remarkable experience he had, namely that of a spirit passing before his face, causing his hair to stand up. As a result of this weird occasion he felt he had a message of divine justice to declare. Thus his speeches, delivered with a sacerdotal pathos are hard, cruel, and rigidly dogmatic. His folly was that he tried to press Job into the mold of his own experience. I think by also understanding who Eliphaz was it helps us understand better. I know it helped me understand. I hope this research helped others. God bless you all.