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!