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Job's Reply to Eliphaz
I Have Often Heard This
1Job said:
2I have often heard this,
and it offers no comfort.
3So why don't you keep quiet?
What's bothering you?
4If I were in your place,
it would be easy to criticize
or to give advice.
5But I would offer hope
and comfort instead.
6If I speak, or if I don't,
I hurt all the same.
My torment continues.
7God has worn me down
and destroyed my family;
8my shriveled up skin proves
that I am his prisoner.
9God is my hateful enemy,
glaring at me and attacking
with his sharp teeth.
10Everyone is against me;
they sneer and slap my face.
11And God is the one
who handed me over
to this merciless mob.
Everything Was Going Well
12Everything was going well,
until God grabbed my neck
and shook me to pieces.
God set me up as the target
13for his arrows,
and without showing mercy,
he slashed my stomach open,
spilling out my insides.
14God never stops attacking,
15and so, in my sorrow
I dress in sackcloth
and sit in the dust.
16My face is red with tears,
and dark shadows
circle my eyes,
17though I am not violent,
and my prayers are sincere.
18If I should die,
I beg the earth not to cover
my cry for justice.
19 Even now, God in heaven
is both my witness
and my protector.
20My friends have rejected me,
but God is the one I beg
21to show that I am right,
just as a friend should.
22Because in only a few years,
I will be dead and gone.
Job Complains to God
My Hopes Have Died
1My hopes have died,
my time is up,
and the grave is ready.
2All I can see are angry crowds,
making fun of me.
3If you, Lord, don't help,
who will pay the price
for my release?
4My friends won't really listen,
all because of you,
and so you must be the one
to prove them wrong.
5They have condemned me,
just to benefit themselves;
now blind their children.
6You, God, are the reason
I am insulted and spit on.
7I am almost blind with grief;
my body is a mere shadow.
8People who are truly good
would feel so alarmed,
that they would become angry
with my worthless friends.
9They would do the right thing
and because they did,
they would grow stronger.
10But none of my friends
show any sense.
11My life is drawing to an end;
hope has disappeared.
12But all my friends can do
is offer empty hopes.
13I could tell the world below
to prepare me a bed.
14Then I could greet the grave
as my father
and say to the worms,
“Hello, mother and sisters!”
15But what kind of hope is that?
16Will it keep me company
in the world of the dead?
Reflect
After such a devastating attack it is amazing that Job can even lift his head for a response, can even open his mouth to defend himself.
But often the best defence is to go on the attack. So, yes, Eliphaz, you are a miserable comforter, a bag of wind yourself. And if I were in your shoes I too would find it just as easy to mount the attack, to gather the insults, to punch and pound an opponent.
But that’s as far as Job can go on attack. We can read the exhaustion in Job’s word, the painful and resigned despair: “It is God who has worn me out” (v 7). It is God who has torn his body, hated him, set him up for public humiliation. It is God who has given up on him.
The vividness of Job’s language shocks us: “I was at ease and he broke me in two…he slashes open my kidneys and shows no mercy…he bursts upon me again and again.” This is visceral despair.
Death is so close now and in a strange way attractive. “My spirit is broken and the grave is ready for me” (17:1). Did Job ever think of suicide, of taking his own life, because the hand of God was against him? We don’t know; but Job is certainly ready to die. (See 7:21 and 10:21-22.)
But that nagging thought about advocacy, justice, redemption will not die. Even in catastrophic lament, through clenched teeth, Job can find an affirmation about the righteous (vs 8-9). They do exist still: “and surely I am one of them!”
If Job ultimately and conclusively gives up, then all that tomorrow can bring is the sureness of death, Sheol and the Pit.
“Where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?” (17:15).
Is it simply futile for Job to keep on hoping? Is he victim of his own self-delusion?
Respond
Father God, there are times in our lives when we, like Job, are just about ready to die. Times when failures and treacheries, when sins and their consequences, when sickness and pain, make us almost want to die. Please help us to hang on to the hope that we have in Jesus Christ, hope for today and hope for tomorrow and hope for eternity.
Michael Pountney
From the Merchant Navy to Moldova, Michael’s career has had a transatlantic diversity. High School language teacher and youth leader in the UK; IVCF staff at universities in BC and Divisional Director in Ontario; Parish Priest in Montreal and Toronto; Principal of Wycliffe College at the U. of T; IFES staff working with leaders in the former Soviet Republic. Retired in Victoria, Michael continues to help plant Anglican Network churches and mentor young leaders. Publications: Bob Goethe and Michael Pountney: “Mars and Venus Go To Church” (2010: Faith Today); Michael Pountney, “At A Distance: Encouragement For Cautious Christians” (2006: Essence Publishing, Belleville, Ontario); “Searching For Home” (2003: GLIA Moldova); Don Posterski and Michael Pountney; “Reconciliation: Seeking Restored Relationships” 2000: Institute For Christian Leadership Formation, World Vision International, Monrovia, California); Michael Pountney, “Getting A Job” (1984: InterVarsity Press, Downers Grove, Illinois)