In religion we often come across folks with preconceived ideas, or ideas so bigoted that they simply refuse to entertain a point of view that opposes their own. The statement: “God (or the Bible) says it; I believe it; that settles it!” is difficult to penetrate and often proves impossible. Nevertheless, it isn’t the Lord or the Bible that these folks think to defend. Rather it is their own interpretation of the word of God (or that which a **man** has given them) that they choose to defend. Job’s three friends had come to him, thinking to comfort and advise him (Job 2:11-13), but in reality, they attacked him, showing little mercy in their offerings. Job had replied to each of their attacks hoping to convince them of his innocence, if not to silence their judgment of his condition. Failing in his efforts, a second round of condemnation was begun, and this by Eliphaz, who had opened the first round of the colloquy (Job 15:1).
Often when religious folks disagree, and especially if one party has taken the position that he has the truth and offers it to a second party, if the second party doesn’t agree with and applaud the position of the first party, the discussion can get quite ugly. I know, because I’ve been on both sides of that kind of discussion. Eliphaz seems to have become quite offended in the fact that Job simply brushed off his and the other two friends’ advice. While, during the first round of the debate, Eliphaz had been quite cordial and purposeful in his offering, he takes the lead in the second round by using insults and put-downs. He begins by asking Job: should a wise man (using irony in saying Job was a wise man) use boisterous or forceful speech? Thus, accusing Job of being a bully. Should a wise man fill his belly with the east wind? So, not only was Job a bully, he was also a dangerous bully, filling his belly (mind) with unsubstantiated thoughts and regurgitating it in speech like the east wind! The east wind in the Middle East was very destructive (Genesis 41:6, 23; Jeremiah 18:17; Ezekiel 17:10; 19:12; 27:26). Thus, if Job were to be believed, his advice would have a catastrophic effect upon the lives of his listeners (Job 15:1-2).
In other words, everything Job had to say was unprofitable and absurd (Job 15:3), and he had forfeited his right to be called a wise man. According to Eliphaz, Job discouraged folks of having a healthy fear of the Lord and rejected offering prayer to God (Job 15:4). Instead, Job had accused God of not only bringing calamity down upon him (judgment, according to the friends), but to have done so unjustly. Who would ever pray to such a god? Thus, wholly discouraging religious devotion. In other words, Job’s devotion to God is false and nothing but pretense. His own tongue utters his iniquity (cp. Job 13:11-13; 21-22, taken out of context), and he had chosen the position of those who are subtle (Job 15:5; cp. Genesis 3:1). He was the proverbial blind man leading the blind, deluded, himself, and was thereby unable to offer wisdom to others.
“Your own mouth condemns you… your own lips testify against you!” (Job 15:6; cp. Matthew 26:65-66). They are your judge, not me! Seeking to justify his own position, Eliphaz blames Job of wickedness, while excusing his own subtility in the process. Make no mistake, the friends were not behaving as comforters, which was their first intention (Job 2:11). Rather, the position they came to embrace was that of an enemy, not a friend, hostility and not comfort. Moreover, a hostile attitude takes joy in misunderstanding and taking the words of the righteous out of context, which is something all three friends are guilty of doing!
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