Job 15:1-35 - The Foolishness of Wisdom

Job 15:1-35

Eliphaz Accuses Job of Folly

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 “Should a wise man answer with empty knowledge,
And fill himself with the east wind?
3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk,
Or by speeches with which he can do no good?
4 Yes, you cast off fear,
And restrain prayer before God.

5 For your iniquity teaches your mouth,
And you choose the tongue of the crafty.
6 Your own mouth condemns you, and not I;
Yes, your own lips testify against you.

7 ”Are you the first man who was born?
Or were you made before the hills?
8 Have you heard the counsel of God?
Do you limit wisdom to yourself?
9 What do you know that we do not know?
What do you understand that is not in us?
10 Both the gray-haired and the aged are among us,
Much older than your father.
11 Are the consolations of God too small for you,
And the word spoken gently with you?

12 Why does your heart carry you away,
And what do your eyes wink at,
13 That you turn your spirit against God,
And let such words go out of your mouth?

14 “What is man, that he could be pure?
And he who is born of a woman, that he could be righteous?
15 If God puts no trust in His saints,
And the heavens are not pure in His sight,
16 How much less man, who is abominable and filthy,
Who drinks iniquity like water!

17 “I will tell you, hear me;
What I have seen I will declare,
18 What wise men have told,
Not hiding anything received from their fathers,
19 To whom alone the land was given,
And no alien passed among them:

20 The wicked man writhes with pain all his days,
And the number of years is hidden from the oppressor.
21 Dreadful sounds are in his ears;
In prosperity the destroyer comes upon him.
22 He does not believe that he will return from darkness,
For a sword is waiting for him.

23 He wanders about for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’
He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand.
24 Trouble and anguish make him afraid;
They overpower him, like a king ready for battle.
25 For he stretches out his hand against God,
And acts defiantly against the Almighty,
26 Running stubbornly against Him
With his strong, embossed shield.

27 “Though he has covered his face with his fatness,
And made his waist heavy with fat,
28 He dwells in desolate cities,
In houses which no one inhabits,
Which are destined to become ruins.

29 He will not be rich,
Nor will his wealth continue,
Nor will his possessions overspread the earth.
30 He will not depart from darkness;
The flame will dry out his branches,
And by the breath of His mouth he will go away.

31 Let him not trust in futile things, deceiving himself,
For futility will be his reward.
32 It will be accomplished before his time,
And his branch will not be green.
33 He will shake off his unripe grape like a vine,
And cast off his blossom like an olive tree.

34 For the company of hypocrites will be barren,
And fire will consume the tents of bribery.
35 They conceive trouble and bring forth futility;
Their womb prepares deceit.”

Eliphaz called Job foolish for trusting in God and his own righteousness in His eyes, seeing Job as having foolish wisdom.  We who are in Christ and possess the gospel truth can relate to being accused of foolishness when presenting the wisdom and power (1 Corinthians 1:18, 20-21, 22-23, 24-25) of the Lord to the accusers and mockers of every generation.  This friend Eliphaz answered the speech and sincere prayer of Job with accusations of folly in his words, telling Job that he must not really fear God as he said since he gave unprofitable words, empty of true knowledge and merely dry wind out of the east that can do no good for anyone.  He told Job that sin must be driving his mouth with craftiness and so Job’s words condemned him the the estimation of Eliphaz as he sat in judgment on Job.  He did not like what Job was saying and so accused him of ignoring the counsel of the LORD and presumptuously assuming his wisdom exceeded that of the elders of the people.  He told Job that he must have turned from God to say such things, because no man can be pure or righteous before Him as Job appeared to him to be saying.  He also told Job that God certainly puts no trust in His saints and so he could not have such wisdom as he just claimed in word and prayer recorded for us in the previous chapter.  Then Eliphaz began telling Job what he had been told by older and wiser men in his view.  He said that wicked men suffer pain in their lives, that destruction and death come on those who prosper, and that starvation and want accompany this kind of person as he obtusely described Job to be.  Such men are overpowered by God as they contend with Him in defiance against Him.  That is what Job’s friend accused him of in this harsh and unfounded judgment.  He said such men who suffer must do so for their sins against the Almighty in rebellion and would lose all their possessions as a result just as Job had lost everything.  He accused Job of being deceived and would only earn futility and unfruitfulness as a result of his hypocrisy and sin.  This Eliphaz imagined that guilt and punishment were the cause of Job’s suffering in the loss of (Job 1:9, 11, 2:4-5) his family, possessions, standing, and health.  He could not see from God’s perspective in heaven how these things were not earned, but were attacks of Satan to turn Job from trusting God even if he would be stripped of all he had and then slayed, but Job (Job 13:15-16) held in faith to the goodness of God as he wondered what he might actually have done to deserve these trials and tribulations of loss.  This patter of the accuser using the friends of Job declared righteous in God’s eyes (Job 1:8, 2:3) continues throughout this book until the truth comes out in the end, just as we cannot judge ourselves (1 Corinthians 4:3) until we face Him and the secrets of our hearts are revealed to all.  We must also hold to our own integrity like Job in our trials and tribulations as we likewise trust that we are seen by the Lord as righteous in Christ and mortify our real sins to prove the accuser wrong and the Lord right in these hidden secrets of the heart and mind and will.  This is the foolishness of wisdom in Christ.  Though He slay me, I will trust in Him.