Job 15 Study Notes: Eliphaz Speaks a Second Time
Eliphaz the Temanite answers Job again, saying Job’s own words prove his guilt and mocking him as though he claimed all wisdom. He argues that no human can be pure before God and describes the dread, loss, and ruin that he says always come upon the wicked.
General
In 15:7-10, what is Eliphaz implying when he asks whether Job was born before the hills or listened in on God’s council?
Answer: Job is acting as though he alone has God’s wisdom
Eliphaz mocks Job with questions: was Job the first human ever born, older than the hills, and does he sit in on God’s council or keep wisdom to himself (15:7-8)? What does Job know that the friends do not (15:9)? Eliphaz adds that gray-haired, aged men, older even than Job’s father, are on the friends’ side (15:10). He is accusing Job of pride, as if Job had a private claim on wisdom. Job had in fact claimed only that he was not inferior to them (12:3). Later Elihu says that wisdom does not belong to the old alone (32:9). And when the LORD speaks to Job, He asks him where he was when the earth was founded (38:4), a question that humbles Job.
- Job 15:7-10 (BSB)“Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us? Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.”Eliphaz asks whether Job was the first man born and appeals to the wisdom of the aged.
- Job 12:3 (BSB)“But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?”Job had said that he was not inferior to the friends.
- Job 32:9 (BSB)“It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice.”Elihu later says it is not only the old who are wise.
- Job 38:4 (BSB)“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”The LORD asks Job where he was when the earth was founded.
Theological
What is the point of Eliphaz’s sarcastic questions in 15:7-10?
Answer: Job is acting as though he alone has God’s wisdom
Eliphaz’s rhetorical questions, whether Job was the first man born, born ahead of the hills, privy to God’s council, or the sole possessor of wisdom (15:7-9), accuse Job of presumptuous pride. He then appeals to the authority of age: the gray-headed and the elderly, older than Job’s father, stand with the friends (15:10). Job had claimed only parity with them (12:3). Elihu will later deny that wisdom belongs to the aged alone (32:9), and the LORD’s own question to Job about where he was at the founding of the earth (38:4) humbles Job’s claim to understanding.
- Job 15:7-10 (BSB)“Were you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself? What do you know that we do not? What do you understand that is not clear to us? Both the gray-haired and the aged are on our side—men much older than your father.”Eliphaz asks whether Job was the first man born and appeals to the wisdom of the aged.
- Job 12:3 (BSB)“But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?”Job had said that he was not inferior to the friends.
- Job 32:9 (BSB)“It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice.”Elihu later says it is not only the old who are wise.
- Job 38:4 (BSB)“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.”The LORD asks Job where he was when the earth was founded.
General
How does Eliphaz describe the friends’ speeches in 15:11?
Answer: As God’s own comfort, spoken to Job gently
Eliphaz asks whether God’s consolations, words gently spoken to Job, are not enough for him (15:11). He presents the friends’ speeches as comfort from God Himself. Then he asks why Job’s heart has carried him away, why his eyes flash, and why he turns his spirit against God (15:12-13). The friends had come to sympathize and comfort Job (2:11), but Job experienced their words very differently, calling them miserable comforters (16:2) and their comfort empty words full of falsehood (21:34).
- Job 15:11-13 (BSB)“Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you? Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, so that you turn your spirit against God and pour such words from your mouth?”Eliphaz calls the friends’ words God’s consolations and accuses Job of turning against God.
- Job 2:11 (BSB)“Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.”The friends came to sympathize with Job and comfort him.
- Job 16:2 (BSB)““I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.”Job calls them miserable comforters.
- Job 21:34 (BSB)“So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.””Job says their comfort is empty and their answers false.
Theological
How does Eliphaz characterize the friends’ words in 15:11?
Answer: As God’s own comfort, spoken to Job gently
Eliphaz represents the friends’ counsel as God’s consolations, gently spoken (15:11), and then rebukes Job’s heart, flashing eyes, and turning of his spirit against God (15:12-13). The friends had indeed come to console (2:11), but Job receives their speeches as the work of miserable comforters (16:2) whose answers are empty and false (21:34). Eliphaz identifies his own theology with God’s comfort, a claim the book’s ending does not support.
- Job 15:11-13 (BSB)“Are the consolations of God not enough for you, even words spoken gently to you? Why has your heart carried you away, and why do your eyes flash, so that you turn your spirit against God and pour such words from your mouth?”Eliphaz calls the friends’ words God’s consolations and accuses Job of turning against God.
- Job 2:11 (BSB)“Now when Job’s three friends—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite—heard about all this adversity that had come upon him, each of them came from his home, and they met together to go and sympathize with Job and comfort him.”The friends came to sympathize with Job and comfort him.
- Job 16:2 (BSB)““I have heard many things like these; miserable comforters are you all.”Job calls them miserable comforters.
- Job 21:34 (BSB)“So how can you comfort me with empty words? For your answers remain full of falsehood.””Job says their comfort is empty and their answers false.
General
What reason does Eliphaz give in 15:25-26 for the wicked man’s ruin?
Answer: He defied God, charging at the Almighty like a shielded soldier
Eliphaz says the wicked man is ruined because he shook his fist at God and set himself up against the Almighty, charging at Him behind a thick shield like a soldier in battle (15:25-26). Eliphaz goes on to say that such a man’s wealth will not last, darkness will hold him fast, he will resemble a vine losing its grapes or an olive tree dropping its blossoms, and the godless will end up barren (15:29-34). He sums up that they are pregnant with trouble and bring forth evil (15:35). A psalm uses the same picture of the wicked conceiving trouble (Psalm 7:14), and Bildad had said the godless have no lasting hope (8:13). But Eliphaz treats swift ruin as a fixed rule and hints that Job’s protests make him such a rebel, and the LORD later said the friends had not spoken rightly of Him (42:7).
- Job 15:25-26 (BSB)“For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty, rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield.”Eliphaz says the wicked man stretched out his hand against God and rushed at Him.
- Job 15:35 (BSB)“They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.””Eliphaz says the godless conceive trouble and give birth to evil.
- Psalm 7:14 (BSB)“Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.”The wicked man is pictured as conceiving trouble and birthing falsehood.
- Job 8:13 (BSB)“Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.”Bildad said the hope of the godless will perish.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the friends did not speak accurately about Him.
Theological
To what does Eliphaz attribute the downfall of the wicked in 15:25-26?
Answer: He defied God, charging at the Almighty like a shielded soldier
Eliphaz grounds the wicked man’s ruin in active rebellion: he lifted a hostile hand toward God and arrogantly opposed the Almighty, charging Him behind a heavy, studded shield (15:25-26). Consequently his riches will not last, darkness will hold him fast, he will resemble a vine shedding unripe grapes and an olive dropping its blossoms, and the godless as a group will be barren (15:29-34); the godless are pregnant with mischief and bring forth evil (15:35). A psalm uses the same image of the wicked man conceiving trouble (Psalm 7:14), and Bildad had likewise announced that the godless have no lasting hope (8:13). The error lies in turning swift ruin into a fixed rule and casting Job’s protest as such rebellion, and the LORD judges that the friends did not speak rightly of Him (42:7).
- Job 15:25-26 (BSB)“For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty, rushing headlong at Him with a thick, studded shield.”Eliphaz says the wicked man stretched out his hand against God and rushed at Him.
- Job 15:35 (BSB)“They conceive trouble and give birth to evil; their womb is pregnant with deceit.””Eliphaz says the godless conceive trouble and give birth to evil.
- Psalm 7:14 (BSB)“Behold, the wicked man travails with evil; he conceives trouble and births falsehood.”The wicked man is pictured as conceiving trouble and birthing falsehood.
- Job 8:13 (BSB)“Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.”Bildad said the hope of the godless will perish.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the friends did not speak accurately about Him.
General
True or False: In 15:6, Eliphaz says he does not need to condemn Job, because Job’s own words already testify against him.
Answer: True
This is true. Eliphaz says that Job’s sin is teaching his mouth what to say and that he has chosen the words of a schemer (15:5). It is Job’s own mouth, not Eliphaz, that condemns him (15:6). Job had feared something like this, saying that even if he were righteous his own mouth would declare him guilty (9:20). The LORD did later rebuke Job for speaking without knowledge (38:2), yet He said that the friends, not Job, had failed to speak rightly of Him (42:7). Eliphaz was wrong to treat Job’s words as proof of the hidden guilt he assumed.
- Job 15:5-6 (BSB)“For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty. Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.”Eliphaz says Job’s own mouth and lips testify against him.
- Job 9:20 (BSB)“Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.”Job had said that even if he were righteous his mouth would condemn him.
- Job 38:2 (BSB)““Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?”The LORD rebukes Job for words without knowledge.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the friends, not Job, failed to speak accurately about Him.
Theological
True or False: Eliphaz claims in 15:5-6 that Job’s own speech is the witness that convicts him.
Answer: True
This is true. Eliphaz alleges that Job’s iniquity instructs his mouth and that he adopts crafty speech (15:5), so that Job’s own lips, not Eliphaz, bear witness against him (15:6). Job had anticipated such a reversal, lamenting that even if righteous his mouth would condemn him (9:20). The LORD does rebuke Job for obscuring His counsel without knowledge (38:2), yet His verdict on the friends is that they, not Job, failed to speak rightly of Him (42:7). Eliphaz wrongly reads Job’s protests as evidence of the hidden guilt he presupposes.
- Job 15:5-6 (BSB)“For your iniquity instructs your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty. Your own mouth, not mine, condemns you; your own lips testify against you.”Eliphaz says Job’s own mouth and lips testify against him.
- Job 9:20 (BSB)“Even if I were righteous, my mouth would condemn me; if I were blameless, it would declare me guilty.”Job had said that even if he were righteous his mouth would condemn him.
- Job 38:2 (BSB)““Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?”The LORD rebukes Job for words without knowledge.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says the friends, not Job, failed to speak accurately about Him.
General
According to Eliphaz in 15:20-24, what is the life of a wicked man like?
Answer: He lives in constant dread, and ruin strikes even as he thrives
Eliphaz says he will tell Job what he has seen and what wise men handed down from their fathers (15:17-19). The wicked man, he says, is in anguish all his days; frightening sounds fill his ears, and a destroyer attacks him even when he is prospering (15:20-21). He expects darkness and the sword, and distress overwhelms him (15:22-24). The picture of terror, losses, and sudden ruin sounds very much like what has happened to Job, so Eliphaz is hinting that Job is the wicked man. He had argued earlier that people reap the trouble they sow (4:8). Job will answer that the wicked often live long and grow powerful (21:7), and Asaph also admitted seeing the wicked prosper (Psalm 73:3).
- Job 15:20-21 (BSB)“A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless. Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.”Eliphaz says the wicked man writhes in pain all his days and is attacked in his prosperity.
- Job 4:8 (BSB)“As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.”Eliphaz earlier said that those who sow trouble reap it.
- Job 21:7 (BSB)“Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?”Job answers that the wicked often live on and grow powerful.
- Psalm 73:3 (BSB)“For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”Asaph saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Theological
How does Eliphaz portray the wicked man’s experience in 15:20-24?
Answer: He lives in constant dread, and ruin strikes even as he thrives
Appealing to his own observation and the tradition of the wise (15:17-19), Eliphaz depicts the wicked man as tormented all his days, haunted by terrors, and assailed by the destroyer in his prosperity (15:20-21), destined for darkness and the sword and overwhelmed by distress (15:22-24). The portrait mirrors Job’s calamities and functions as an implied indictment, restating Eliphaz’s earlier principle that the sower of trouble reaps it (4:8). Job will counter that the wicked frequently live long and gain power (21:7), an observation Asaph also confesses (Psalm 73:3); a rigid rule of immediate retribution does not fit the facts.
- Job 15:20-21 (BSB)“A wicked man writhes in pain all his days; only a few years are reserved for the ruthless. Sounds of terror fill his ears; in his prosperity the destroyer attacks him.”Eliphaz says the wicked man writhes in pain all his days and is attacked in his prosperity.
- Job 4:8 (BSB)“As I have observed, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble reap the same.”Eliphaz earlier said that those who sow trouble reap it.
- Job 21:7 (BSB)“Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?”Job answers that the wicked often live on and grow powerful.
- Psalm 73:3 (BSB)“For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”Asaph saw the prosperity of the wicked.
General
In 15:4, what does Eliphaz accuse Job of doing?
Answer: Weakening reverence for God and hindering devotion to Him
Eliphaz the Temanite begins his second speech by saying a wise man would not answer with windy, useless talk (15:2-3). Then he charges that Job is undermining reverence for God (deep respect and awe toward Him) and hindering quiet devotion before Him (15:4). The charge is ironic, because God Himself had called Job a man who reveres God and turns from evil (1:8), and Eliphaz himself had once said that Job’s reverence was his confidence (4:6). At the end of the book the LORD says that Eliphaz and his friends, not Job, failed to speak rightly of Him (42:7).
- Job 15:2-4 (BSB)““Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind? Should he argue with useless words or speeches that serve no purpose? But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.”Eliphaz calls Job’s words empty and accuses him of undermining the fear of God.
- Job 1:8 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.””The LORD calls Job a man who fears God and shuns evil.
- Job 4:6 (BSB)“Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope?”Eliphaz earlier spoke of Job’s reverence as his confidence.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says Eliphaz and his friends did not speak accurately about Him.
Theological
What charge does Eliphaz bring against Job in 15:4?
Answer: Weakening reverence for God and hindering devotion to Him
Eliphaz opens his second speech by dismissing Job’s words as windy and unprofitable (15:2-3) and then accuses him of undermining reverence for God and hindering meditation before Him (15:4). The accusation is ironic: the LORD Himself had commended Job as one who reveres God and turns from evil (1:8), and Eliphaz had earlier acknowledged Job’s reverence as his confidence (4:6). The LORD’s final verdict falls on Eliphaz and his companions, not on Job, for failing to speak rightly of Him (42:7).
- Job 15:2-4 (BSB)““Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind? Should he argue with useless words or speeches that serve no purpose? But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.”Eliphaz calls Job’s words empty and accuses him of undermining the fear of God.
- Job 1:8 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.””The LORD calls Job a man who fears God and shuns evil.
- Job 4:6 (BSB)“Is your reverence not your confidence, and the uprightness of your ways your hope?”Eliphaz earlier spoke of Job’s reverence as his confidence.
- Job 42:7 (BSB)“After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, He said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and your two friends. For you have not spoken about Me accurately, as My servant Job has.”The LORD says Eliphaz and his friends did not speak accurately about Him.
General
What argument does Eliphaz make in 15:14-16?
Answer: If even heaven is not pure to God, sinful man is far less so
Eliphaz asks what man is, that he could be pure, or anyone born of a woman, that he could be righteous (15:14). If God does not trust His holy ones and even the heavens fall short of purity in His sight, how much less a human being, who is corrupt and drinks in wrongdoing like water (15:15-16). He made a similar argument in his first speech, repeating words he said a voice spoke to him in a night vision (4:17-18). As a general statement, Scripture agrees that no living person stands righteous before God (Psalm 143:2), and Job himself said no one can bring clean out of unclean (14:4). But Eliphaz uses this truth to suggest that Job’s suffering must be punishment for his own guilt, while God had called Job blameless and upright (1:8).
- Job 15:14-16 (BSB)“What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?”Eliphaz argues that if even the heavens are not pure before God, man is far less so.
- Job 4:17-18 (BSB)“‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker? If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,”In his first speech Eliphaz reported a voice in a night vision making a similar argument.
- Psalm 143:2 (BSB)“Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.”No one alive is righteous before God.
- Job 1:8 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.””The LORD called Job blameless and upright.
Theological
What line of reasoning does Eliphaz pursue in 15:14-16?
Answer: If even heaven is not pure to God, sinful man is far less so
Eliphaz argues from the greater to the lesser: if God does not rely even on His holy ones and the heavens are unclean in His sight, how far less can man be pure, abominable and corrupt, drinking iniquity like water (15:14-16). He repeats the substance of the words he reported hearing from a voice in a night vision in his first speech (4:17-18). The premise of universal human sinfulness is affirmed elsewhere, for no one living is righteous before God (Psalm 143:2), and Job himself conceded it (14:4). Eliphaz’s error is in the application, treating Job’s calamities as proof of particular guilt, when the LORD Himself had pronounced Job blameless and upright (1:8).
- Job 15:14-16 (BSB)“What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous? If God puts no trust in His holy ones, if even the heavens are not pure in His eyes, how much less man, who is vile and corrupt, who drinks injustice like water?”Eliphaz argues that if even the heavens are not pure before God, man is far less so.
- Job 4:17-18 (BSB)“‘Can a mortal be more righteous than God, or a man more pure than his Maker? If God puts no trust in His servants, and He charges His angels with error,”In his first speech Eliphaz reported a voice in a night vision making a similar argument.
- Psalm 143:2 (BSB)“Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.”No one alive is righteous before God.
- Job 1:8 (BSB)“Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one on earth like him, a man who is blameless and upright, who fears God and shuns evil.””The LORD called Job blameless and upright.