Wadi Woes: When Friends Fail (Job 6:14-30)

In church today we sang the chorus, “You are Good.” One of the stanzas goes, “You are good all the time, and all the time You are good!” I believe that. I think Job did too. And maybe, before those ash heap days, Job used to sing that in the front row at church with his family around him, his eyes closed and his hands raised in worship to God.

But now he is desperately struggling with the “goodness of God” concept.

If I can back up to three verses from last week, notice again what Job says (from the New Living Translation):
6:11 But I don’t have the strength to endure. I have nothing to live for.
6:12 Do I have the strength of a stone? Is my body made of bronze?
6:13 No, I am utterly helpless, without any chance of success.

I have nothing to live for…I don’t have any chance of success. Eliphaz had used the same word “success” in 5:12 in perhaps an envious sideswipe at Job’s great wealth and success: "He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, so that their hands cannot attain success.”

His friends had promised so much, but had become woeful wadis. I will explain that in a moment.

The rest of the passage from verses 15-30 will be from the New Living Translation (NLT). But I grabbed verse 14 from 3 other versions: The New American Standard reads, “For the despairing man there should be kindness from his friend: lest he forsake the fear of the Almighty.” The New International Version goes like this, “A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the almighty.” And The Message reads, “When desperate people give up on God Almighty, their friends, at least, should stick with them.”

Take a minute or two to read through this definition of “despair” and its synonyms (from www.dictionary.com): A sense of gloom, despondency, hopelessness; a state of mind caused by circumstances that seem too much to cope with; despair suggests total loss of hope, the abandonment of hope; it is a state of deep gloom and disheartenment; the loss of courage, hope, and ambition because of frustrations; hopelessness is a loss of hope so complete as to result in a more or less permanent state of passive despair.

Read that last line again…”hopelessness is a loss of hope so complete as to result in a more or less permanent state of passive despair!”

Job’s despair is hard to articulate. Words fail to grasp the depth of his gloom. But notice a little twist on what Job might be saying. Verse 14 is either saying that for a despairing man there should be a tenacious love and loyalty and kindness from his friends or HE WILL FORSAKE the Almighty. Or Job could be saying…for a despairing man there should be kindness from his friends even though he HAS ALREADY FORSAKEN God! If a friend gives up on God, his friends shouldn’t give up on him! Even though he isn’t devoted, they should be!

6:15 My brothers, you have proved as unreliable as a seasonal brook (Wadis) that overflows its banks in the spring 16 when it is swollen with ice and melting snow. 17 But when the hot weather arrives, the water disappears. The brook vanishes in the heat. 18 The caravans turn aside to be refreshed, but there is nothing to drink, so they die. 19 The caravans from Tema search for this water; the travelers from Sheba hope to find it. 20 They count on it but are disappointed. When they arrive, their hopes are dashed. 21 You, too, have given no help. You have seen my calamity, and you are afraid.

Wadis are defined as dry channels lying in desert or semi-arid lands that are subject to flash flooding during seasonal or irregular rainstorms. They are transitory and fleeting streams. Hartley writes, “No doubt there is a double image here: both friends and wadis overflow and then run dry…During the hottest days of summer when the traveler desperately needs water, these streams have completely vanished. This analogy claims that the friends overflow with loyal kindness during the good times, but when the heat of trials comes, they dry up; they turn out to be undependable.” Entire caravans have been known to perish when wadis proved undependable. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar were three such undependable wadis.

6:22 But why? Have I ever asked you for a gift? Have I begged for anything of yours for myself? 23 Have I asked you to rescue me from my enemies, or to save me from ruthless people? 24 Teach me, and I will keep quiet. Show me what I have done wrong.

In verse 24 there seems to be a dramatic change in mood. Job appears to be pleading for some gentle and sympathetic guidance from his friends instead of the lawyerlike language of a prosecutor!

6:25 Honest words can be painful, but what do your criticisms amount to? 26 Do you think your words are convincing when you disregard my cry of desperation? 27 You would even send an orphan into slavery or sell a friend.

The King James puts the second half of verse 27, “…and ye dig a pit for your friend.” Job is in the pit (and can’t see bottom), and the words of Eliphaz (and the other two) only served to dig a deeper pit!

6:28 Look at me! Would I lie to your face? 29 Stop assuming my guilt, for I have done no wrong. 30 Do you think I am lying? Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong?

Our parents probably taught us that when we have an argument or intense discussion with someone, it’s a good idea to look them in the eye. In Job’s culture, for a person to turn their face away was a rather rude and offensive gesture. It signaled (as per Hartley) that not only were the words being rejected, but that the individual was being rejected as well. It seemed (to Job) that God wasn’t looking him in the eye anymore, so he sure didn’t want his friends to turn their faces away from him!

Spiritual Application: Perhaps you know someone who seems to be despairing and whose outlook appears to match the gloom that Job must have experienced. Perhaps its you.

I have always been intrigued by this haunting photograph by Dorothea Lange. Take a moment to read this paragraph from www.circleofblue.org/blog/category/poverty:


The photograph that has become known as “Migrant Mother” is one of a series of photographs that Dorothea Lange made of Florence Owens Thompson and her children in February or March of 1936 in Nipomo, California. Lange was concluding a month’s trip photographing migratory farm labor around the state for what was then the Resettlement Administration. In 1960, Lange gave this account of the experience: I saw and approached the hungry and desperate mother, as if drawn by a magnet. I do not remember how I explained my presence or my camera to her, but I do remember she asked me no questions. I made five exposures, working closer and closer from the same direction. I did not ask her name or her history. She told me her age, that she was thirty-two. She said that they had been living on frozen vegetables from the surrounding fields, and birds that the children killed. She had just sold the tires from her car to buy food. There she sat in that lean-to tent with her children huddled around her, and seemed to know that my pictures might help her, and so she helped me. There was a sort of equality about it. (From: Popular Photography, Feb. 1960)

I saw an interview of this lady (Florence Owens Thompson) that was done I believe sometime in the 1960’s or 70’s. Ms Thompson had survived her pit and despair and gloom and apparently had led a pretty happy life. But I am sure there were many desperate times where she wondered if brighter days would ever shine upon her.

They did. And they can for you also.

God loves you.

How Can I Pull Myself Up By My Bootstraps When I Don’t Even Have Any Boots?! (Job 6:1-13)

Eliphaz, look me in the eye! This is your friend Job! I am NOT SOME SORT OF THEOLOGICAL LAB RAT! I have lost my kids, my employees, my businesses, my health, the friendship of God, and now I seem to have lost the love and support of my friends!

Job 6:1-3 “Then Job answered, ‘Oh that my vexation (or anguish, grief, impatience, sadness) were actually weighed, and laid in the balances together with my calamity (or troubles, misery)! For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore my words have been rash.’”

Notice the little word "Oh" and the punctuation used at the end of the first sentence (!). You can sense Job’s passion and the turmoil of his heart. "LOOK AT ME ELIPHAZ! I may be repulsive to look at, but I am not a fool, I AM GRIEVING!" Throughout this passage (and actually throughout the entire book of Job) a lot of exclamation points will be used.

Calamity has engulfed Job. (But not just any calamity, the Hebrew word used here indicates a life-shattering catastrophe). In Eliphaz’s mind, suffering and sin are inexorably linked together. The ONLY explanation? “Job, there MUST be sin in your life!” In 5:2 Eliphaz had warned, “Only fools lose there temper.” Understandably, Job furiously objects and erupts with a very emotional defense. “Get a big scale,” Job instructs, “Hold it – get a really big scale. On one side pile up my grief and sorrow and everything that’s happened to me. Put my 10 kids’ names and the loss of fellowship with God on the very top. Now on the other side pile up all of the sand from a thousand beaches. My grief, my pain, my turmoil, my vexation would far outweigh it all!”


6:4 “For the arrows of the Almighty are within me; their poison my spirit drinks; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.”

The “terror of God” probably refers to the same sickening dread that the occupants of a besieged city would feel. In 5:17 Eliphaz had warned his friend Job not to “despise the discipline of the Almighty.” (As per Eliphaz: All of Job’s losses, problems and grief were the discipline of God). But Job replies to his friend, “What do you mean that I shouldn’t despise the discipline of the Almighty? The Divine Archer is riding by on his chariot and is pummeling me with poisonous arrows, and you call it discipline? Come on Eliphaz!”

Remember how the Shepherd’s Psalm reads in Psalm 23:5, “Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies”? That line is meant to bring comfort. But when Job says, “…the terrors of God are arrayed against me,” he could be saying that the Almighty has set a table before him, but its main dish is terror!


6:5 “Does the wild donkey bray over {his} grass, or does the ox low over his fodder?”

“Eliphaz, if a donkey has a right to bray (a long, loud, irritating cry) and an ox has a right to low when they are in trouble, don’t I have a right to cry out loudly? The farmer or rancher doesn’t get mad at his animals when they do that – He understands them and knows how to interpret those cries. Job is saying to his friend, “God knows how to interpret my ‘braying!’ Eliphaz, you might be irritated by my cries, but God isn’t!” What is implied here is that if Eliphaz’s teaching was “good or worthwhile food,” Job wouldn’t be crying out so harshly!


6:6-7 “Can something tasteless be eaten without salt, or is there any taste in the white of an egg (or the slime of the purslane)? My soul refuses to touch them; they are like loathsome food to me.”

The Amplified Version puts verse 7 this way, “These afflictions my soul refuses to touch! Such things are like diseased food to me (sickening and repugnant)!” The version called The Message puts it, “Do you see what God has dished out for me? It’s enough to turn anyone’s stomach! Everything in me is repulsed by it – it makes me sick.” And the New Living Translation has it this way, “My appetite disappears when I look at it; I gag at the thought of eating it!”

The “white of the egg” (some versions have the “slime of the purslane”) probably refers to any sort of “Fear Factor” or “Survivor” type of food (like a handful of night crawlers or a 6” long African slug) that just about makes you hurl or gag even thinking about having to eat it. So I think what Job is saying here could be one of two things: Either that the argument of his friend Eliphaz is like some really nasty/disgusting food that just can’t be swallowed; or that his sufferings are so reprehensible they are like trying to eat a bowl of maggot-filled macaroni salad. (I know that’s pretty gross, but that’s exactly what Job is saying. And I hope you weren’t just then in the process of eating any macaroni salad :>).


6:8-9 "Oh that my request might come to pass, and that God would grant my longing! Would that God were willing to crush me; that He would loose His hand and cut me off!”

Job really anticipates that he will die at any time. The word “longing” is used in 4:6 but is translated “hope”: "Is not your fear {of God} your confidence and the integrity of your ways your hope?” I think what Job is saying to Eliphaz is this, “My friend, you say that IF I were a man of integrity I would have hope…but my only hope or longing right now is to die!”

One thing to remember throughout these discussions – Job never ever contemplates suicide (self-murder)! FIA writes: “So completely is God’s sole power over life and death recognized that the thought of suicide as a remedy for life’s ills never enters the book of Job.”


6:10 “But it is still my consolation, and I rejoice in unsparing pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.

“I rejoice in unsparing pain.” It’s easy to divorce a theological discussion from the reality of Job’s pain and suffering. We need to regularly remind ourselves that Job and the three comforters are not sitting in a Sunday School classroom or some pastors’ seminar. Job is sitting on a pile of rotting garbage racked with chronic, unbearable pain. Yet in the midst of that he can say, “God, I have not denied Your Word!” What a man of tremendous integrity. As I write this I have the TV on in the background and am halfway listening to one of the news channels about the vote on health care. Would that Congress was filled with people of Job’s character -- men and women that would hold fast to their integrity despite the greatest of pressures! (Unlike Bart Stupak, who seems to have just folded like a tent on his staunch Pro-Life stance.)

FIA writes concerning verse 10, “Job is not aware of any failure on his part. If so, God owes it to Job to release him from his agony as a tribute to his faithfulness…Job sees death as his hope and the only escape from excruciating pain."


6:11-13 “What is my strength, that I should wait? And what is my end, that I should endure? Is my strength the strength of stones, or is my flesh bronze? Is it that my help is not within me, and that deliverance is driven from me?”

Eliphaz urged Job to repent and hold out for the renewal that would come (5:17-27). Job’s reply? “I AM NOT MADE OUT OF STONE! I AM NOT MADE OUT OF BRONZE! I can’t hold out that long! I am spent!”

The version called The Message puts it this way, “Do you think I can pull myself up by my bootstraps? Why, I don’t even have any boots!”


Spiritual Application: First, we shouldn’t be surprised or taken aback when a friend (who perhaps feels like a cloud of poisonous arrows are raining down upon them) wants to vent. At those times we should listen long and talk short. Secondly, Job was suffering from chronic and unbearable pain. By every indication it didn’t seem like God cared or was even taking notice. But He did and He was! Perhaps you know of someone suffering from continuous pain or an unending illness. God cares for them! Take them to the Lord in prayer…

NASV = New American Standard Version
OT = Old Testament
K&D = Commentary by Keil and Delitzsch (from PC Bible Study)
JFB = Commentary by Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown (from PC Bible Study)
Adam Clarke = Adam Clarke Commentary (from PC Bible Study)
Barnes = Barnes Notes (from PC Bible Study)
Hartley = The New International Commentary on the Old Testament:
The Book of Job by John E. Hartley
Swindoll = Job, Profiles in Character from Charles R. Swindoll
FIA = Tyndale OT Commentaries: Job by Francis I. Anderson

Are You Serving the All-Mighty or the Kinda-Mighty God? (Job 5:1-27)

By the time we get to chapter six, Job will blow his stack. You will understand why when we get to the end of this week’s devotional.

5:1 "Call now, is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn?” Translation: “Job, what good will it do for you to pray? Complain as loud as you want, BUT NO ONE IS LISTENING!” FIA calls this statement a terrible blow to Job.

5:2 "For vexation slays the foolish man, and anger kills the simple.” Translation: “Job, your burning anger will lead you to volatile and unpredictable behavior. Hartley points out that “fool” and “simple” are placed first in their respective clauses for emphasis.

5:3 "I have seen the foolish taking root, and I cursed his abode immediately.” Eliphaz’s statement reveals his vanity; “I cursed…”

5:4 "His sons are far from safety, they are even oppressed (crushed) in the gate (or possibly “tempest”), neither is there a deliverer.” This is perhaps an oblique, tactless and cruel reference to the death of Job’s children and their being crushed beneath the stones of the collapsing house.

5:5 "His harvest the hungry devour, and take it to a {place of} thorns; and the schemer is eager for their wealth. 5:6 For affliction does not come from the dust, neither does trouble sprout from the ground, 5:7 For man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward.” Translation: “Job, what has happened to you is not random or reasonless or even caused by the Devil.” FIA states, “These verses imply that man’s troubles are innate and inevitable; if the familiar simile “as the sparks fly upward” simply describes something that happens unavoidably all the time, then Eliphaz has given up the attempt at a moral explanation, and offers dismal comfort to any sufferer.”

5:8 "But as for me, I would seek God, and I would place my cause before God;” Translation: (in a condescending tone) “If I were in your shoes…” I have to admit that a few times I have given such all-encompassing counsel (In essence: “If you would just seek the face of God, your problems would be over.”) It is definitely true that if we have a heart to pursue God, God will bless us. But it's not true to say that because someone is having a lousy month or year, they must not be seeking God! FIA writes, “The word ‘but’ is an emphatic contrast and gives to Eliphaz’s words a distant, judgmental tone.”

5:9 “Who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.” But apparently not too great or too unsearchable or too wonderful because Eliphaz has, in a way, flowcharted God. More on this verse (and flowcharting) when we get to the end of this chapter.

5:10 "He gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields, 5:11 So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. 5:12 He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, so that their hands cannot attain success. 5:13 He captures the wise by their own shrewdness and the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted. 5:14 "By day they meet with darkness, and grope at noon as in the night. (Is Eliphaz rebutting chapter three here? I think so) 5:15 But He saves from the sword of their mouth, and the poor from the hand of the mighty. 5:16 So the helpless has hope, and unrighteousness must shut its mouth.” Taken as a unit, there is nothing really wrong with what Eliphaz is saying. In fact, if you placed this section in Proverbs or Psalms, it would fit right in.

5:17 "Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.” Translation: “You Job, even though covered with a crust of worms and dirt, are in a rather enviable position. Your boils are a blessing!” FIA states, “The teaching that such experiences (as Job’s) are chastening was the staple curriculum of the Wisdom schools.” Eliphaz implies that Job was beginning to “despise the discipline of the Almighty.” (Something that both Proverbs and Hebrews admonishes us not to do.) But again, it wasn’t that Eliphaz’s theology was all wrong, it was just wrongly applied. He was trying to pound a square peg (Job’s experience) into a round hole (Eliphaz's theology).

5:18 "For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands {also} heal. 5:19 From six troubles He will deliver you, even in seven evil will not touch you.” Pay attention to the pronouns used throughout this chapter. In the middle (verses 12-19) the pronoun “He” (referring to God) is used extensively. But in verses 19-26 the pronoun “you” is used frequently. Verse 19 contains both – it signals the shift in Eliphaz's message to Job and, as Hartley points out in the next section, tempts Job to serve God simply for the benefits He can gain.

5:20 "In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. 5:21 You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, neither will you be afraid of violence when it comes. 5:22 You will laugh at violence and famine, neither will you be afraid of wild beasts. 5:23 For you will be in league with the stones of the field; and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. 5:24 And you will know that your tent is secure, for you will visit your abode and fear no loss. 5:25 You will know also that your descendants will be many, and your offspring as the grass of the earth. (Can you imagine saying this to someone who has just lost all of his kids?!) 5:26 You will come to the grave in full vigor, like the stacking of grain in its season.” Translation: “Job if you take my advice in verses 8 and 17, all of these blessings will begin to flow to you!” Hartley rightly says, “Unfortunately, and obviously without realizing it, Eliphaz sides with the Satan against God in offering this counsel, for he seeks to motivate Job to serve God for the benefits that piety brings. His error is not in his doctrine, but in his inability to counsel Job rightly…Eliphaz by his counsel tempts Job to seek God for personal gain, not for God himself.”

5:27 "Behold this, we have investigated it, thus it is; hear it, and know for yourself." This is an amazing statement. When tied together with Job 4:8, "According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it,” you realize that in Eliphaz’s theology there is NO “Job-Experience” loophole! The word “searched” in this verse and the word “unsearchable” in verse 9 come from the same root. By comparing those two verses you begin to think that Eliphaz has “searched out the unsearchable” and has “figured out the unfigureoutable.” Eliphaz hands Job his gift wrapped “This-Is-Why” theological box – he has packed it up, wrapped it up, put a bow on it, and the little note on top says, “THUS IT IS!” I love what FIA has to say in conclusion, “Eliphaz’s fault is not that his doctrine is unsound; it is his ineptness as a counselor…Eliphaz thinks he knows how to get along with a predictable and a manageable God.”

Spiritual Application: As I went through this chapter, there was one word from verse 17 that really caught my eye. It is a name for God – “Almighty.” In Hebrew it is "Shaddai." "El-Shaddai" would be translated "God Almighty." (And is also the name of a well-known song by Amy Grant). This name for God is used 49 times in the Old Testament, but 31 of those are in Job! And the New Testament equivalent (Pantokrator) is used 10 times in the NT, but 9 of those are in the book of Revelation. Both basically mean “all powerful.”

What does that say to us? First, do we have a picture of God as the “All-Mighty God” or as the “Kinda-Mighty God?” I think Eliphaz had the latter in view. The Living Bible puts verse 27 this way, "I have found from experience that all of this is true. For your own good, listen to my counsel." Eliphaz's theology extended just to his horizon, but no further! But God is in the business of doing things that will boggle our minds and cause us to stand in awe of Him!

Secondly, as I mentioned the word "Shaddai" is used more frequently in Job than any other OT book; and in the NT Pantokrator is used nine out of ten times in the book of Revelation -- a book that records the shaking of all that we think is unshakeable! The conclusion? When it is the darkest in our lives, when times are the most difficult, when the very foundations of society seem to be crumbling, and when it seems impossible to figure out what is happening to us or why it is happening to us – God reveals Himself as the SHADDAI! THE ALMIGHTY is able to keep us from harm, able to figure out our unsolvable problems and is able to deliver us when there seems to be no deliverer!

A Really Spooky Encounter (Job 4:12-21)

From 1977-1981 we lived in Ellendale, North Dakota where I attended Bible College. Needing some exercise (and needing to get away from studying) one evening I decided to go for a run. By the time I had jogged out to the small airport it was totally dark. I continued my run up to the hangar and then turned around to go back to the house. As I was jogging back to the highway the rotating airport beacon flashed my shadow every few seconds across the field. The unfamiliar surroundings, the darkness, the flashing beacon created a little bit of a spooky atmosphere. With the rotating beacon casting my lengthened shadow on my right every few seconds, I began to think, “What if the next time that beacon hits me and casts my shadow, there are TWO shadowy figures jogging next to me! MUST RUN FASTER! NOW!

This second half of Job chapter 4 presents a rather spooky encounter. It seems that Eliphaz wants to validate his theology by means of this phantom/spirit encounter.

As you read through verses 12-16 pay attention to the words that illustrate this goose-bump-creating atmosphere.

"Now a word was brought to me stealthily, and my ear received a whisper of it. 13 "Amid disquieting thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, 14 Dread came upon me, and trembling, and made all my bones shake. 15 “Then a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up. 16 “It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form {was} before my eyes; {there was} silence, then I heard a voice.”

When I was in the Army, a Mormon friend of mine told me about a visitation that he had from an angel. I can’t quite remember, but this angelic encounter either led to his becoming a Mormon or solidified the decision he had already made about that religion. But the Bible talks about Satan and his evil forces disguising themselves as “angels of light.” (II Corinthians 11:14). Just because someone has a meeting with the supernatural, it doesn’t automatically mean that it is a divine encounter. Hartley states, “No prophet ever mentions hearing a word from “a spirit.” Some commentators refer to this as a Godly visitation, but I am not convinced of that; both the circumstances of the encounter and the actual message don’t quite have that “This is God!” feel to it.

This eerie atmosphere of the vision sent chills through Eliphaz’s spine. It was night, he fell into a very, very deep sleep, dread and trembling suddenly came upon Eliphaz. His bones began to shake! His hair stood on end! Some sort of ethereal phantom was before his eyes – the wispy ghostlike figure stopped before him! It spoke in a whisper -- Eliphaz had to listen hard and strain his hearing.

The encounter is further described in verse 16, "It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance; a form {was} before my eyes; {there was} silence, then I heard a voice.” FIA writes, “The eerie effect is continued by describing a visible shape which cannot be discerned, and an audible voice which was silence.”

Eliphaz continues with his very uplifting and encouraging message (insert “Dan’s being sarcastic” right about now): 17 ‘Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his maker? 18 ‘He puts no trust even in His servants; and against His angels He charges error.”

Verse 17 is literally this, “Is mortal man than God more righteous? Than his Maker is a man more clean?” The thing is, Job wasn’t claiming that! FIA states, “This is quite unfair; for Job has not questioned the ways of God, let alone claimed to be better than God. All he has done so far is to say how miserable he feels, how he wishes he were dead.” Eliphaz is reading far too much into Job’s lament in chapter three. Eliphaz’s line of argument (God is infinitely more pure and just than you are) leaves little room, in fact leaves no room, for Job to cry out, “WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?”

JFB points out that there are two different Hebrew words for “man” in this verse: the first implies feebleness, and the second strength – implying that whether feeble or strong man is not righteous before God.

In verse 18 Eliphaz continues, “He puts no trust even in His servants; and against His angels He charges error.” I disagree and look at it from the other direction: God in a certain sense trusts us – these mortal vessels of clay – to carry out his mission; if he trusts us I kinda sorta think He trusts His angels.

Eliphaz continues in verses 19-21, “How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth! Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; unobserved, they perish forever. Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, yet without wisdom.”

Clay and dust signify the limitations and the frailty of the human body, and in the OT the moth is viewed as an instrument of destruction. The Moth??? As per Eliphaz, human beings are so frail that they are shattered sometime between morning and evening. (In Job, not everything that Job says is correct, nor is everything that the three comforters state incorrect).

Eliphaz is saying, “Job, you weaker than the mighty moth, you are made out of dust, and to dust you are returning!” I think Eliphaz should stay off the motivational speaker circuit.

This first of Job’s comforters to speak seems to be emphasizing first, that God is far more righteous and far more just, and much, much bigger than you are Job! Secondly he focuses upon the frailty and fragility of the human race. “Job, you are dust, you are a tent that is about to collapse, you are feeble house of clay, and if you got in the boxing ring with the moth, the moth would knock you out in the first round!”

Hartley notes, “Here Eliphaz is discounting the possibility that anyone who experiences sudden tragedy can understand the reasons for his own ruin.” And FIA writes, “Job will not be silenced by reminders that it is not for puny man to question the ways of the Almighty!”

In closing, I would like to point out one phrase in verse 20 that I vehemently disagree with. Eliphaz tells Job, “Between morning and evening they are destroyed; without anyone noticing it they perish forever.” “…without anyone noticing it…” My Bible states that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without our heavenly Father noticing it (Matthew 10); how much more when people are struggling and hurting? God cares about you and knows what you are going through!