Job 4:1-6 Are You Weary?

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Transcript

Welcome to the InAllWisdom Podcast.
A weekly podcast dedicated to Wisdom for life. 
I am Jim Donnelly, your Host.

Today's podcast: Malicious Questions Are Coming 

Pain, not comfort, resulted from the question, “Have you become weary?”

A harsh interrogation of Job’s faith began on day 9. The tone was dark. 
Although comfort was the intention, the result was quite the opposite.

The time of these events was around 1400 BC. That’s over three thousand years ago. 

But malicious questioning happened yesterday, somewhere out there in our world. It will happen again today. Comforters will fail us; they will question our faith, causing pain; causing doubt; and tempting us to give up. It will happen again tomorrow. 

When the sun rises, you again put your faith in God despite the chaos and pain; but you find yourself not free from questioning. Endurance is needed. Another prayer: God help me! Has become your “daily request”. Here’s a good verse for continuing days of distress: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”   (Psalm 50:15, NASB). That is a promise; God will rescue you, he will deliver you from the temptations of evil, and the evil one. Look for it. Expect it. You will not be disappointed in lifting up your soul to the LORD. It is only a question of when, not if. 



Back to this true story

The place is Uz, somewhere on the high plains of Moab, East of the Dead Sea, Southeast of Jerusalem. That’s Israel. 

Now, it could be Indiana, Indonesia, Iceland, India, or Ireland. Or your state, or country, or village, small town, or city.

The occasion, a visitation of friends, with a man who had just lost everything. 


Job and his friends were silent for seven days and seven nights. Not a word, not a peep, they kept quiet. They were astonished at their friend Job; they witnessed a man devastated by a recent horrific tragedy. 

Since they last saw him. Tragedy visited his family. Horrendous events had taken place. And Job’s friends were on a mission of comfort. Together, they planned it. After making the appointment and preparations, they traveled great distances. They showed up. They sat in silence. 

Job had lost everything. His flocks of sheep, all of them. His herds of camels, all of them. All his teams of oxen. All his jennies, female donkeys, pack animals. 

They were all killed or stolen. All 12,000 livestock belonged to Job, and he lost them all. 
He also lost all his servants who worked on Job's massive ranch.

Then calamity directly struck his own family: ten children, seven sons and three daughters, died in one day. All were adults, killed in an instant when the house collapsed on them. 

I cannot imagine what Job and his wife were going through. Can you?
 
Job's friends may have arrived at his house after a month or so. Perhaps it took a little while before they heard the heart-breaking news. And it took a fair amount of time to make preparations, then travel the hundred miles, or more, to the region where Job lived. 

But they arrived and planned to stay a while.  

Again, they probably arrived in the first or second month after the tragedy. 

But on seeing Job’s horrific physical condition; darkened countenance; for they “did not recognize him, they raised their voices and wept. And each of them tore his robe, and they threw dust over their heads toward the sky.” (Job 2:12, NASB). 

“Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great.” (Job 2:13, NASB).   

After seven days of silence, Job opened his mouth and spoke. 

How did Job suddenly open his mouth? Was it of his own volition? Maybe. But as you read further in the book of Job, you realize he did not shut his mouth on his own, nor did he open his mouth on his own. In another article, I explain how that may have occurred. 
For now, I leave you with something to ponder: "I have become mute, I do not open my mouth, because it is You who have done it. (Psalm 39:9, NASB). 

Suddenly Job spoke. 

With his first words, he cursed the day of his birth. 
He had contempt and scorn for it. He despised his birthday. 

His speech was strong but brief, just twenty-six sentences. 

Then Eliphaz responded.

Some thoughts about the process before I continue.

With only 26 sentences, his speech would have ended in just five minutes. Eliphaz would then have immediately stepped up to the plate to bring his response.

I do not think that is what happened. 

First, we know that the dialogue, the conversations, the speeches back and forth are all Hebrew poetry of the highest form. 

Job was a rancher, not a poet. What he spoke were words that would have taken even the best poet on planet Earth a significant amount of time to arrange. Choosing words that are impeccably ordered; communicating knowledge and understanding with with utmost clarity does not happen without perfect wisdom. So how does that factor in there on the plains of Moab in 1400 BC?

Job spoke some of the most powerful words in all of Scripture. Some of the most profound, compact, compressed, connected words. Words supersaturated with understanding. 

I do not think he just spoke it all out in five minutes. He knew he had some time left. Job was one-hundred years old at this point in his life.  

A month had already passed. Now, his friends are there. All four had maintained silence for seven days and seven nights. I am sure he and they did plenty of thinking and wondering during that quiet time. 
Job spoke on day eight. That is how I would like to think about the speeches in the book of Job. 
Here is Job speaking on day eight with amazing words, poetic words, that to this day are most difficult to interpret, let alone understand. 

Some scholars think Job strongly urged God to reverse creation and take him and his family out of the picture. Out of the Family album of humanity. Remove me. Remove my family. May it never have occurred. May the sun never have risen on the day I was born. (see Job 3:2ff.).

He goes on and on. What Job says is deep, deep. When you stop to consider what he was saying, you realize his words may not only be profound, but you also wonder, could they be prophetic? 
Job admits to that wonder; he said to the LORD: "Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know."(Job 42:3, NASB). 
Because of the degree of difficulty that poetry brings to these speeches, I am inclined to think that Job parceled out words that came to him, as he waited on the LORD to establish his thoughts (see Proverbs 16:1-4). 
Perhaps he spoke a few words early in the morning, resuming his speech mid-morning or at noon. Pausing. Then, continuing in mid-afternoon. Ending his speech for that day early in the evening. 
Did something like this not happen a thousand years later; just North of the Dead Sea;  near the Sea of Galilee? In Israel. When the people surrounded a man called Jesus in the early evening, who were hungry after being there all day listening, pondering and responding to all his different words of wisdom.

Further, I think the poetic structure of every speech in the book of Job provides sufficient evidence for many, many turns of thought, turns in the conversations. 
There are one-hundred-sixty-three stanzas (like a paragraph) in the book of Job. 
 
For example, the first speech in Job chapter three contains three major sections of thought. That allows the reader to ponder many wonderful things.

Now, back to today's podcast.

Today we are going to look at the second speech by Eliphaz. He was probably the oldest among the friends. He spoke next. Age honored him. And he took the position of honor each time. 

So Eliphaz is up, and he speaks a lot. All of chapter four, then all of chapter five. 

Perhaps he spoke for two straight days and said much that is hard to this day to comprehend. This is 2026. Scholars are still trying to figure out what Job and his friends said. 
Also, what Elihu and the LORD said continues to challenge the minds and hearts of all Biblical scholars.
Some questions keep surfacing: Was Job Jewish? Was Job an Israelite? If Job was an Israelite; then what tribe was he from? One could also ask the same questions about his wife. 
I think Job was a Jew and an Israelite, from the tribe of Reuben. 

In future blog posts and podcasts, I will share my views on the background of Job and his wife.

Moving on: 

This actual story of Job occurred between the 1500s and 1400s BC, during the time the tribes of Israel were being assigned their territories. 
The tribes of Israel received allotments of land. In the land of Canaan; and also in the Transjordan region, across the River, opposite Jericho and Galilee. 

If Job was from the tribe of Reuben, he would have lived in the allotted land, East of the Dead Sea. A perfect place to establish a large ranch and raise a family. 
Here’s a map that shows that region of Israel:




Now, Eliphaz is questioning Job's endurance. 

It is a session of probing into Job's inner life. He is interrogating Job, questioning his ability to gather his composure and carry on with life.  

Allow me to read this first section of Eliphaz's speech:

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, 
2 "If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient? 
But who can refrain from speaking? 
3 "Behold you have admonished many, 
And you have strengthened weak hands. 
4 "Your words have helped the tottering to stand, 
And you have strengthened feeble knees. 
5 "But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; 
It touches you, and you are dismayed. 
6 "Is not your fear of God your confidence, 
And the integrity of your ways your hope? (Job 4:1-6, NASB). 

So he's questioning Job's endurance.

Job, are you impatient? Are you losing ground? Are you weary? Are you worn out? Where's your faith? 

Then Eliphaz asks a question of himself: "Who can refrain from speaking? 
Eliphaz is just chomping at the bit to say something. 

His question to Job is hard-hitting: If one tries a word with you, will you become weary? 
That is a reference to Job's statement that he would rather die; he preferred to be lowered into a grave; because there, exhausted by oppression, he will find rest. (see Job 3:17). 
Eliphaz was on that right away: Are you exhausted by oppression? Did you run out of strength? 
These were dark questions for Job to hear. Because he was weary. He was totally exhausted by violence against him and his family.
Job was a victim of the evil power of oppression. I have written about this in my comments on the book of Ecclesiastes, Chapter 4, verse 1, “that power is in the hand of their oppressors.” 

Against Job, his household, and all he possessed; oppressors simultaneously performed executions: 1) The Sabeans attacked. 2) Lightning came down from the sky. 3) The Chaldeans conducted a raid with three formations of soldiers. 4) A great East wind came in from across the desert. 
Someone, not God, had the power to do all that at one time. Yes, the LORD permitted these evil actions. 

However, the LORD did something similar in the time of Joseph, when his brothers threw him into a pit and left him to die; compounded by a famine intended to wipe out Israel, along with millions of people in Egypt. But the LORD permitted both for good, which in the end saved many lives (see Genesis 41).  

There are evil beings out there in our world, planet Earth. Evil beings are also in the heavens above. These created beings were good, but became evil. These were the evil actors orchestrating the horrific actions against Job. 
These were the beings, the fallen sons of God, who came to the council of God and stood against the LORD (see Genesis 6:1-8; Job 1:6ff). 
These beings are still active today. They are behind the scenes of tragedy all across the globe. We cannot see them. Most people do not believe in them. Because there are no other gods. Or are there other gods? Isn’t that the point of the first commandment: 
1 Then God spoke all these words, saying, 
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 
3 “You shall have no other gods before Me. 
4 “You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. (Exodus 20:1–4, NASB). 


We have come to the end of this week’s In All Wisdom podcast,
A weekly podcast dedicated to wisdom for life.

Until we “…see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  (Luke 21:27, NASB).  
I leave you with these words of comfort:

13 “But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. 
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. 
15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. 
16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ [Messiah (mašīḥ), the Son of God (see Daniel 9:24-27], will rise first. 
17 Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. 
18 Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, NASB).   


24 The LORD bless you, and keep you; 
25 The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; 
26 The LORD lift up His countenance on you,  And give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26, NASB).