Bible in one year 7/26/2022 Job Chapter 5-7 Elipha’s comfort and Job’s reply By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce

Bible in one year 7/26/2022  Job Chapter 5-7 Elipha’s first speech and Job’s reply

By Rev.Katherine Liu Bruce                                                                                                          

Christian Arts Ministries : Biblical precepts & Gospel music; Pastoral ministry & Counseling

 

 Chapter 5 Eliphaz’s First Speech

 Eliphaz warns Job against appealing his case to angels. And cites from personal experience (the basis of all his pronouncements) the case of a foolish man who began to prosper and was then cursed. Trouble, he concludes, comes from a man himself. (vv.1-7) Eliphaz urges Job to submit to God, who would bless him if he would repent. He said,

“ Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed. His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender…

He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted. He bestows rain on the earth; he sends water upon the countryside. The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away. Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night. He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth. Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the disciple of the Almighty.(vv.1-17)      

For he wounds, but he also binds up; he injures, but his hands also heal. From six calamities he will rescue you; in seven no harm will befall you. If famine he will ransom you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword. You will be protected from the lash of the tongue, and need not fear when destruction comes. You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth. For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you. You will know that your tent is secure; you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing. You will know that your children will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth. You will come to the grace in full vigor, like sheaves gathered in season. We have examined this, and it is true. So hear it and apply it to yourself.(vv.18-27)

 Chapter 6 Job’s reply to Eliphaz

            Job pleads that the impatience with which he has been charged be weighed against the calamity he has experienced. (vv.1-4) Just as animals do not complain without adequate cause, so Job has not (v.5). Job has lost his taste for life.(vv.6-7). Job expresses how deeply he has been hurt by his friends’ unkindness, though he is unmoved by their arguments. (vv.14-30). He replied,

            “ If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas- no wonder my words have been impetuous. The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me. Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder? Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the white of an egg? I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill. Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be wiling to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut me off! Then I would still have this consolation- my joy in unrelenting pain- that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.(vv.2-10).

            What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself? Now that success has been driven from me? A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty. But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams, as the streams that overflow when darkened by thawing ice and swollen with melting snow, but that cease to flow in the dry season, and in the heat vanish from their channels.…(vv.11-18)

            Now you too have proved to be of no help; you see something dreadful and are afraid. Have I ever said, “Give something on my behalf, pay a ransom for me from your wealth, deliver me from the hand of the enemy, ransom me from the clutches of the ruthless?” Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong. How painful are honest words! But what do your arguments prove? Do you mean to correct what I say, and treat the words of a despairing man as wind? You would even cast lost for the fatherless and barter away your friend. But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face? Relent, do not be unjust; reconsider, for my integrity is at stake. Is there any wickedness on my lips? Can my mouth not discern malice?  (vv.21-30)

 Job expressed, relent.(v.29), change your course; seek some other explanation of my troubles rather than the unfair presupposition that I am guilty. 

 

Chapter 7 Job complains the restraint being placed on him

            Job likens his existence to the weary grind of a hired laborer. (vv.1-6). The meaning is that, after death, there is no return to the familiar scenes of earth. (vv.9-10) Job complains about the restraint being placed on him as if he were upsetting the stability of the universe. (v.12). He debated,

“ Does not man have hard service on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired man? Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired man waiting eagerly for his wages, so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me. When I lie down I think, ‘ How long before I get up? ’the night drags on, and I toss till dawn. My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering. “ My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope. Remember, O God, that my life is but a breath; my eyes will never see happiness again. The eye that now sees me will see me no longer; you will look for me, but I will be no more. As a cloud vanishes and is gone, so he who goes down to the grave does not return. He will never come to his house again; his place will know him no more.(vv.1-10)

Therefore, I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul…Even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions; so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine. I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning. What is man that you make so much of him, that you give him so much attention, that you examine him every morning and test him every moment? (vv.17-18) Will you never look away from me, or let me alone even for an instant? If I have sinned, what have I done to you, O watcher of men? Why have you made me your target?  Have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my offenses and forgive my sins? For I will soon lie down in the dust; you will search for me, but I will be no more.”(vv.11-21).

Bibliography,

 Ryrie, Charles C. The Ryrie study Bible (NIV).Chicago, IL: The Moody Bible Institute, 1986