Eliphaz gets downright rude with Job. He says Job is a blustery fool, referring to his defense as the harsh hot wind from the eastern deserts. He accuses Job of encouraging blasphemy from irreverent folks. Eliphaz feels Job’s sin is self-evident from the way he talks.
Eliphaz gives us the impression that he is older than Job’s parents. To him, Job is insulting his elders. Discounting entirely the possibility of revelation, Eliphaz insists Job is just a mouthy punk. He alleges Job is all worked up and angry with God, but nothing Job says implies anger. This is the whole point. Eliphaz clings so tightly to his broken orthodoxy that he has to make stuff up to maintain his position. He offers the same tired mythology, half truths that miss the point.
Once again Eliphaz asserts that his many years of observation plus human tradition outweigh revelation. Everyone knows, he insists, that only the evil suffer misfortune. It’s the same old dark visions of a guilty conscience everyone simply assumes must be there. In the process of weaving this image, he hints that Job is boldly defiant against God. He simply cannot imagine how God could let anyone wicked prosper, nor anyone righteous suffer. However, the whole way through, he is led by the same failed logic assumed by most of humanity. People who are happy and prosperous simply must be living right, and folks who suffer must be evil. If God doesn’t make sense, why, He simply can’t be God!
It never occurs to these men that God is beyond their pitiful logic.
