Smoodock's Blog

In the days prior to when the word of God was written down, how was truth communicated or revealed to mankind? If we allow for the Book of Job to be written prior to the Prophets, prior to the history of Israel (Joshua, Samuel, Kings etc.), even prior to the books of Moses (Torah), if Job was written before all these books, how would God’s truth have been revealed? Is it possible for the mind of man to envision what God is like or must God reveal himself to mankind, if accurate understanding is desired? If knowing and understanding truth wasn’t possible, why would the Lord judge man for his ignorance?

If man is flesh, and he is flesh, how would he be able to uncover the things of the spirit, without the help of the Spirit of God (cp. 1Corinthians 2:6-14). Before the scriptures were written, the Lord would reveal himself and/or his will to men through visions and dreams. For example, God visited Laban in a dream, telling him not to harm Jacob, his brother (Genesis 31:24). Prior to this, the Lord made Abimelech aware of his folly, and that kept him from harming Abraham (Genesis 20:6). Abraham, also, received several visions from God, and in Genesis 15:12, where a deep sleep fell over Abraham, God revealed his secrets to him, while Abraham was in a dream-like trance. I believe it is in this context that Eliphaz claimed he had come to know truth, and he describes it to Job and his two other friends, who were present with them.

What, then, are we able to say about the vision or dream, which Eliphaz describes? He mentions that a spirit appeared to him, and it whispered something, which Eliphaz was barely able to discern (Job 4:12). It seems a spirit came to Eliphaz during the night, when everyone was in a deep sleep. In the silence he felt something like the wind pass over him, and then he saw it, but not clearly. The spirit had no observable shape and wasn’t very clearly discerned, but something was there. It frightened him and made the hairs of his flesh seem to stand erect over his entire body (Job 4:13-16). Was he dreaming or was he in a trance? The Hebrew word for deep sleep (H8639) is the same in Genesis 2:21; 15:12 and 1Samuel 26:12, but what exactly occurred isn’t clear.

Scholars are undecided, as to where or even if the spirit leaves off speaking and Eliphaz offers his understanding. The spirit said:

“Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure[1] than his Maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly” (Job 4:17-18).

If this is all the spirit said, it is fully supported with scripture that was written later. It is true that God is just, and he who judges God’s work commits folly. No one has complete knowledge, so man’s judgment will always be incomplete at best, and can often be outright erroneous. The fact that the angels err is understood from Daniel, where one messenger from God was detained by another spirit who seemed to have been put in charge of Persia (Daniel 10:13). Only when the archangel, Michael, appeared was the controversy solved and the first messenger of God permitted to go to Daniel. So, there is nothing in Eliphaz’s vision, vis-à-vis what the spirit said to Eliphaz, that we could say was wrong. Rather, it was the manner in which Eliphaz used or interpreted the truth he received that was in error.

Assuming Eliphaz begins his interpretation in verse-19, what he claims is equally true. How can man be trusted, he is so transient, made of the dust of the ground (Job 4:19; Genesis 2:7; 3:19)? Jesus said that anyone who builds his house upon his words (meaning the word of God) is likened to a man who builds his house upon the Rock. However, the man, who hears the sayings of Jesus but rejects them, is the man who builds his house upon the sand or the dust of the ground (Matthew 7:24-27). In other words, when we claim we are standing on the shoulders of them who have gone before us, we are saying we place our trust in sand or houses of clay. Usually, when we phrase ourselves in this manner, we speak of false science that rejects the word of God or of false religions. However, the same holds true for our religion. It is called tradition. In reality, we know only in part (1Corinthians 13:9), and when we specialize only in the part of the part, which we know, we are really investing our wisdom in a very small portion of available knowledge. Understood this way, it is very foolish to use that special, but partial, knowledge to judge others.

Eliphaz goes on to say that men are destroyed before the moth, which is put for God (Hosea 5:12). He deals with men’s sins, correcting them through corruption of one’s health or wealth (Psalm 39:11). In other words, just as a moth destroys a garment, so the Lord destroys those who reject his word or refuse to repent (Matthew 6:19). Men’s clay houses decay from morning to night. In other words, their strength is glorious in the beginning of life, but decays steadily throughout life, until the night, when they’re put in the grave. Yet, no one ever notices the daily changes or corruption taking place (Job 4:20; cp. Isaiah 38:12). Finally, their tent collapses, and they depart this life, and they do so without ever attaining to the wisdom experience could have taught them (Job 4:21).

Eliphaz’s point seems to be that Job is placing his trust in himself, but the spirit said he isn’t qualified to judge God. A mortal man could never be as pure as his Creator. His knowledge and understanding is partial, at best, so yield to the discipline of the Lord, confess your sin and you’ll be restored (cp. Job 4:7).

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[1] God in his essence is pure. However, the Hebrew word here is taher (H2891). The idea is to be cleansed from an unclean state. Man can never cleanse himself to the degree that God is pure, let alone be purer that the essential purity of God. I believe this is the sense Eliphaz is arguing his point.