Eliphaz Reveals Hidden Pain

Eliphaz is the first of Job's friend to speak to him.  He really sets the tone for the other 2 friends.  The summary of his message to Job in so many words is "you have sinned . . . how could you?!"  The underlying message, or I should say "emotion," that I perceive on this reading of Job is sort of a sense of disappointment and disillusionment from Eliphaz.  It seems to me that Job's condition is far and away worse than Eliphaz even imagined.  Remember they sat with him for 7 days and were silent. 

"So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spake a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great." -- Job 2:13

They were able to fully take in his woeful state.  I don't get the sense that they physically ministered unto job during this time.  I think they used this time to speculate as to how in the world this righteous man could come into such utter misfortune.  They had plenty of time to ponder this before any of them spoke a word and it is Elephaz we hear from first.  I think these words summarize the opinions of the group and also show a bit of a let down for them because it seems they took Job to be the perfect model of a strong man.  He clearly had a history of leadership and was viewed as a example to follow:

"Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.  Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees." -- Job 4:3-4

In this chapter you hear a little bit of anger coming from Eliphaz because I believe for him Job was his Superman and now he appears to have been somewhat of a charlatan and a hypocrate.  This all appears to be based on a strong belief that God would never only allow such tradgedy to come to a righeous man -- therefore Job was really NOT righteous.  These things only happen to the wicked!

"who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?  Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same." -- Job 4:7-8

Therefore, and here's the ire for Eliphaz, Job must have been faking it all along.  How could he!  Who did he think he was kidding?!  How could I have put this man so high on a pedestal!  This causes, I think, some psychological pain for Eliphaz (for Bildad and Zophar as well).  They wanted Job to be real.  They couldn't stomach him as they now say him.  Could it be that they fail to truely minister to their friend because they were so let down by him?

Exquisite Poetry

This chapter captures the aguish of Job.  It is commonly thought of as Job's lament or sorrow.  It is the monolog of his pain after having endured unspeakable misfortune.  Here Job famously curses his day.

Let the day perish wherein I was born -- Job 3:3

 



After having read and heard these words multiple times over the years I am struck today by not so much the pain they convey, but the artistry of words used to express this pain.  This is really an incredible piece of poetry.  Many scholars believe that Job represents the first recorded words of the Bible and Hebrew Torah.  As such this book represents one of the oldest pieces of literature in human history.  Just to read these words of Job in chapter 3 as he lays out his heart in pain and torment.  It is pure poetry more exquisite than any of Shakespeare, Keats, Tennyson, Kipling, Browning, or Whitman, Yet these were written thousands of years before! 

I'm tempted here to cite an example from this chapter, but where do I begin?  You have to consider the whole text.  Here are the entire words of Job from chapter 3 taken from the King James Version.  Read them aloud and take in all in.

 

Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the night in which it was said, There is a man child conceived.
Let that day be darkness; let not God regard it from above, neither let the light shine upon it.
Let darkness and the shadow of death stain it; let a cloud dwell upon it; let the blackness of the day terrify it.
As for that night, let darkness seize upon it; let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not come into the number of the months.
Lo, let that night be solitary, let no joyful voice come therein.
Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
Let the stars of the twilight thereof be dark; let it look for light, but have none; neither let it see the dawning of the day:
Because it shut not up the doors of my mother's womb, nor hid sorrow from mine eyes.
Why died I not from the womb? why did I not give up the ghost when I came out of the belly?
Why did the knees prevent me? or why the breasts that I should suck?
For now should I have lain still and been quiet, I should have slept: then had I been at rest,
With kings and counsellors of the earth, which build desolate places for themselves;
Or with princes that had gold, who filled their houses with silver:
Or as an hidden untimely birth I had not been; as infants which never saw light.
There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary be at rest.
There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.
The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master.
Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;
Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
Which rejoice exceedingly, and are glad, when they can find the grave?
Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?
For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.

Job 3:3-26

What poetry!