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Job
Chapter
04
{Chapters
4-14: The First Debate}
{Chapters
4-7: Debate with Eliphaz}
{Verses
1-6: Past Victory No Indication of Future Success}
1-2~~Then
Eliphaz the Temanite replied and said, 2~~
"If
someone ventures/attempt/test/assay {nacah}
a
word {dabar} with you,
will
you be impatient?"
{all 'councilors' like to 'start sweet'}
"But
who can keep himself from speaking?"
{'I am burdened for you brother' oh boy}
3~~"Think
how you have instructed many,
and
you have strengthened feeble hands.
{Job was a great teacher of Doctrine}"
4~~"Your
words/'doctrinal communications' {dabar}
have
supported those who have stumbled."
"And you have strengthened faltering knees."
5~~"But
{ever hear - 'You are great . . . BUT' . . .
'You are a great teacher of doctrine . . . BUT'}
now
it {trouble} comes to you, and you are discouraged."
{Eliphaz is 'talking down' to Job - no way to counsel}
"It strikes you, and you are dismayed."
6~~"Should not your piety be your confidence?"
"And your blameless/upright ways be your hope?"
{Verses
7-11: Eliphaz Makes a Wrong Judgment
from a Wrong Assumption}
7~~"Consider
now, please/'I pray you',
who
being innocent ever perished?"
"Or
where were the upright/righteous ever destroyed?"
{sloppy thinking - Job is still alive - just under severe evidence
testing for advancement}
{Note: Eliphaz assumes Job was not innocent in this 'punishment' from God - a wrong assumption.}
8~~"As
I {Eliphaz} have observed,
those
who plow evil, and those who sow trouble,
reap
the same."
{Eliphaz is the 'great observer of God's plan' and is saying 'the
trouble with you Job is you are reaping what you sowed -
he is judging and doing so incorrectly}
9~~"At
the breath of 'Elohiym/Godhead,they are destroyed . . .
at
the blast of His anger they perish."
{saying you are in for it Job - you failed - more wrong judging/
slander - mental attitude sins}
{Illustration}
10-11~~"The
lions may roar and grunt.
Yet
the teeth of the great lion are broken.
{great illustration but does not apply to Job. With all of its power,
without the use of its jaws and teeth the lion will die} 11~~
The
old lion perishes for lack of prey,
and
the cubs of the lioness are scattered abroad."
{Eliphaz is judging Job that Job is the cause of his children's
deaths}
{Spiritual
Sounding Judging}
12~~"A
word was secretly brought to me,
and
my ears caught a whisper of it."
{Note: People tend to become vague when they are not quite sure of their ground. Here Eliphaz is receiving and spreading rumors and gossip - more sinning.}
13-14~~"Amid
disquieting dreams of the night,
when
deep sleep falls on man, 14~~
fear
and trembling seized me
and
made all my bones shake."
15~~"A
spirit/breath passed before my face . . .
the
hair of my body stood on end."
{Verses
16-17: Misstatements Often Include Much Correct Doctrine -
Correct Doctrines Wrongly Applied}
16-17~~"It
stopped but I could not tell what it was.
A
form stood before my eyes,
and
I heard a hushed voice, saying, 17~~
'Can
a mortal man be more righteous than 'Elohiym/Godhead?
Can
a man be more pure than his Maker?"
{Note: Eliphaz is saying he is a prophet and received a revelation from God. We know that this is not truly a message from God however. So, we also know Eliphaz is mixing in a lot of accurate doctrine with an inaccurate application. Only a person with ALL the facts should judge - i.e. only God should judge.}
18-19~~"Behold,
if He {God} put no trust in His servants;
and
if He charges his angels with error, 19~~
{Eliphaz is assuming God has no trust in Job}
how
much less in them who dwell in houses of clay,
whose
foundation is in the dust,
which
are crushed more readily than a moth?"
{saying Job you are just a moth about to be crushed by God}
20~~"Between
dawn and dusk
they
are broken to pieces -
unnoticed,
they perish forever."
21~~"Are
not the cords of their tent pulled up
so
that they die without wisdom?"
{Note: The sin unto death is a true doctrine, but it does not apply to Job. Eliphaz has set himself up as the great spiritual leader of Job - his personal spiritual advisor - and could not be more wrong.}
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