Job replies to his friend Eliphaz’s speech by saying his grief can’t be measured/weighed: it’s too heavy. Then he cries:
Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
Job 6:8-9 (KJV)
He wishes God would kill him. Like, seriously, that’s what he wants!
He goes on to say that then he would be comforted knowing that never, in all of his pain, did he disobey God. So maybe he’s just wishing for death so that he wouldn’t sin. But still!
Then he laments, “Why should I patiently hope when my strength is gone?” (verse 11, CEV) “Why should I keep living? What’s the point? I can’t do this anymore.”
To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.
My friends, I am desperate, and you should help me, even if I no longer respect God All-Powerful [or and if you don’t help me, you no longer respect God All-Powerful].
Job 6:14 (KJV, CEV)
As you can see, this verse can be taken two different ways; Job could be saying, “You should help/pity me even if I don’t fear/respect God anymore” or “If you don’t help/pity me, you don’t fear/respect God anymore.” I think either way teaches a good lesson for us.
Job goes on to tell his friends that they’re traitors; “You’ve dealt deceitfully and treacherously with me,” he says. (I think that either Job was really ungrateful and dramatic, or his friends really were jerks.)
Then in verses 22 to 23, it sounds like Job’s saying, “Did I ask you guys to help me? Did I ask you to come, to try to comfort me?” Maybe he’s not, but that’s the way I read it.
He wonders, “What have I done wrong? Show me! Then I’ll shut up.” He continues, “The truth is always painful, but your arguments prove nothing” (verse 25, CEV).
“Your arguments prove nothing, Eliphaz! I still don’t understand why all this happened, why I have to go through this pain. You say God’s correcting me–correcting me for what? What I have done wrong; where have I sinned? Tell me, Eliphaz! Show me I’m wrong, and I’ll be quiet.”
Then he tells him, “You’d sell an orphan or your neighbor! You try to hurt your own friend!” Whoa. Like I said, either Job’s dramatic and ungrateful or his friend’s a jerk and Job’s right to be upset with him.
“Look at me, Eliphaz,” Job says. “Look me straight in the eye. You’ll know if I lie to you. Stop falsely accusing me; stop saying I sinned. I know what’s right and I know what’s wrong. I’m not telling lies!” (I guess he means lies about being innocent of having done anything to deserve this.)
That’s where the chapter ends; Job continues talking in the next one. So I guess I’ll end here! 🙂
P.S. I’m sorry this post is kind of rambling and unsure, but I’m sharing the way I read it, how it sounds/seems to me. I don’t know whether my opinions are right or wrong yet (and I might never know “for sure and for certain”), so I don’t want to make it sound like “This is how it is.” I’d like it if you all would tell me what you think, how you see it. 🙂
Job is a difficult book and it is great that you are willing to dig in and really think about what is being said and what is recorded in the book for us. I think often that the words of Job’s friends “sounds good” but if I think about it longer, I see that it is often tinted by man’s point of view which is filled with a lack of understanding of the Lord God and, ultimately, bad theology. It is not easy to consider deeply the words and full meaning to see how it might be incorrect when it… Read more »
Thank you for your thoughts! I do agree that Eliphaz seems to think that God is correcting Job or humbling him or something, while in reality, God is simply allowing Satan to test Job’s faith. But he does have some good points/thoughts and I admire his honesty and friendship to Job.
Thanks again for your encouragement! 🙂