Bible Commentaries

Here the second cycle of argument begins, and again Eliphaz is the first speaker. It is at once evident that Job's answers had wounded him.

He first criticized Job's manner, charging him with using mere words as arguments. His manner, moreover, had been characterized by unwarranted boldness, and by absence of reverence in the presence of God. In the second place, he criticized Job's claim to wisdom, and, in so doing, he compelled satire to answer satire (cf. verse Job 15:7 with Job 12:2). Finally, he formally criticized Job's attitude toward God. How dare he turn his spirit against God, in whose sight the very heavens are unclean?

Turning from his rebuke of Job's attitude, Eliphaz again declared his view of the meaning of his affliction, first arguing the truth of what he said from its antiquity. The whole of what follows may be summarized as a declaration that the wicked suffer. The reason for the suffering is next set forth as rebellion against God (Job 15:25-28). Apart from the fact that these words did not fit the case of Job, they constitute a magnificent description of the unutterable folly of the man who rebels:

He runneth upon Him with a stiff neck, Upon the thick bosses of His bucklers.

Finally, Eliphaz declared the punishment of such (Job 15:29-35). The sharpness of this passage will be detected by noticing how the punishment of the wicked, as Eliphaz described it, was a description of the condition to which Job had come. There is a great change in tone between this address of Eliphaz and the first. There is no tenderness here. The philosophy of life is stated wholly on the negative side, and it was impossible for Job to misunderstand the meaning.