Job 4:1 - Meaning and Application

Eliphaz starts by softening the blow of what he is about to say to Job. He asks, in effect, “If we speak a word of correction and advice to you, will you be upset?” He knows Job may take it badly, but he feels pressed to speak anyway, because he cannot hold his tongue.

He speaks with some humility about himself. He does not claim to handle the matter alone, but says, “We will talk with you,” bringing his friends into it. He does not promise a full answer, only an attempt to say something fitting for Job’s case. In hard matters, it is wise to admit that we are only trying to help, not pretending to have everything settled.

Eliphaz also speaks with some tenderness toward Job’s pain. He does not want his words to make Job feel more hurt, as if his friends were being cruel. We should fear adding grief to someone already in grief, especially since even God, though He disciplines rightly, does not afflict willingly (Lamentations 3:33). It is better to be careful with words that we know may sting, even when they are needed.

At the same time, Eliphaz speaks as if he is sure his words are both true and necessary. He says, “Who can keep from speaking?” He believes he must defend God’s honor and care for Job’s soul. But we should not let concern for truth become an excuse for careless correction. Even when we must reprove a friend, we should do it with wisdom and gentleness.

Then Eliphaz turns to a charge against Job’s behavior in suffering. He says Job is showing weakness and discouragement, and in this there was some basis for his complaint. He begins by recalling Job’s former usefulness to others, which is meant both as praise and as a setup for rebuke. Job had taught many people, encouraged the discouraged, and helped the weak stand firm.

This says much about Job’s character before his trouble. He did not only care for his own house, but also for his neighbors and friends. Though he was a great man, he did not think it beneath him to teach others about the things of God. He found time for good counsel, and he knew how to say the right word to those who were weary.

Eliphaz says Job strengthened weak hands and steady knees. That is, he helped people keep going in duty, in spiritual struggle, and in sorrow. We too should do that for one another. A wise and kind word can do more good than we often realize.

Eliphaz may mention this for several reasons. He may be praising Job first so his rebuke would be easier to hear. He may be reminding Job that, since he had helped others, he ought to receive help himself, even if that help must begin with correction. Or he may be speaking with pity, as if to say that Job cannot now use for himself the comfort he once gave to others.

But many think Eliphaz meant this as a sharp rebuke. In that view, he is saying, “You taught others, so why do you not teach yourself now?” That would make Job’s struggle look like hypocrisy, as if he failed to live by his own counsel. People who rebuke others should expect to hear about it if they later need rebuke themselves.

Then Eliphaz presses his point about Job’s present distress. He says that now, when trouble has come to Job, he is faint and disturbed. Yet he speaks too lightly of Job’s suffering, calling it only something that “touches” him. That was the same kind of language Satan had used earlier (Job 1:11, Job 2:5). If Eliphaz had felt even a portion of Job’s pain, he would have spoken more carefully.

He also speaks too harshly about Job’s reaction. He treats Job’s grief as if it were loss of reason or wild speech. But people in deep pain need some allowance and a fair hearing. If we judge every word in the worst possible way, we are not treating others as we would want to be treated.

Eliphaz charges Job with wickedness and a false heart, and that charge was completely unfounded and unfair. He speaks to Job harshly, almost mocking him for the large claims of religion he had made, as if all of it had now come to nothing and proved false (Job 4:6). His meaning seems to be, “Is this your fear of God, your confidence, your hope, and the uprightness of your life? Does it now look like nothing more than a pretense? If you had truly been sincere, God would not have afflicted you like this, and you would not be reacting this way under the suffering.”

This was exactly what Satan wanted all along, to prove Job a hypocrite and to overturn the good character God had given him. When Satan could not do that directly before God, who still said Job was perfect and upright, he tried to do it through Job’s friends, hoping they would push Job to admit he was a hypocrite. If Satan had succeeded in getting that confession, he would have celebrated. But by God’s grace, Job held on to his integrity and would not speak falsely against himself.

We should notice how dangerous it is when people make quick, unkind judgments about their brothers and sisters and condemn them as hypocrites. In doing so, they serve Satan’s purpose more than they realize. The wording of this verse is read a little differently in some English Bibles, but the main sense is the same. The older versions and the original text place Job’s hope before the phrase about the uprightness of his ways.

That reading can be understood this way: “Is this your fear, your confidence, your hope, and the uprightness of your ways?” Or, “Was your religion only a hope of getting rich? Was all your devotion and conduct really just driven by that expectation?” That is the very suspicion Satan raised. Or it may mean, “Did you think your religion would protect you, but now you have been disappointed?” Or, “Would not sincere religion have kept you from sinking into this despair?”

It is true that if a person grows weak in a time of trouble, their strength and grace are small (Proverbs 24:10). But that does not prove they have no grace at all. A person’s true character should not be judged by one act.