Job Chapter 15
Please read: Job 15 –
Eliphaz began the next round of speeches made to their friend Job as he did before in chapters 4 and 5, but this time he was much more abrasive. Eliphaz, like Zophar, calls Job’s responses worthless wind. These men have made a judgmental decision against Job without knowing all the facts. They have based their judgement on their own understanding of God but not on the true character of God. Their summation is that if a man is suffering as Job was, then he must be guilty of some evil sin that he has not confessed. And the opposite belief is held by them as well. They believed that if a man is flourishing and doing well in his life it would mean that he is living upright and being blessed by God. With that kind of a belief system [religion], there is only one conclusion in their minds and that is that Job is lying. And since Job is lying to their faces Eliphaz calls him out for it.
Let's Reflect
1. Eliphaz began with the summation that if a man thinks he is a wise man [but he really is not] and he speaks words to others, his words are really just what?
2. In fact, those worthless words the “wise” man speaks are really words that are arguing with whom?
3. What do verses 5 and 6 describe about the way Eliphaz thinks about what Job has said?
4. When you read verses 7-16 do you hear the snobbish tones in Eliphaz’s voice? He accuses Job of saying words that are worthless when his friends are obviously much wiser than he is simply because of what fact? See verse 10.
5. According to verses 12-13, Eliphaz states that because Job is lying, he is also doing what?
6. In verse 15 Eliphaz may be referring to the angels who betrayed God and followed Lucifer. It is as if Eliphaz is saying if angelic being can fall out of God’s grace, then mankind who is sinful can definitely fall out of God’s grace. And since Eliphaz has already stated that Job has lied by saying he has no unconfessed sin, what conclusion does he draw about Job’s condition?
7. In verses 17 to the end of the chapter, a picture is painted of what a wicked man is like and what he experiences. It is obvious that Eliphaz’s intent was to make a comparison to Job and to call him a what?
Are you beginning to wonder why Job’s friends came to him in the first place? They came having heard about all that had happened to him, yet they seem to have been prepared to pass judgement on him before they ever arrived.
