Today’s passage: Job 4
Helpful thoughts:
- The rebuke from Eliphaz is this: Job instructed others to endure suffering in the past, and now that he was suffering himself, he was personally unwilling to endure.
- As Eliphaz develops his argument in chapter 4, he makes these arguments:
- Bad things always happen to bad people (Verse 7).
- Asaph might have another opinion concerning this matter (Psalm 73:4-12).
- Everyone has sinned (There is no one who is truly righteous before God) (Verses 12-21).
- Bad things always happen to bad people (Verse 7).
- In order to speak with authority, Eliphaz claims to have received these statements in a vision (Verses 12-16).
Questions to consider:
- What has Eliphaz said so far that is correct? What has he said that seems short-sighted, like there is more to the topic than what he is allowing for?
- Where does it sound like his argument is going? On what or whom do you think Eliphaz is going to blame Job’s suffering?
- Why does Eliphaz think everyone should listen to him and quickly agree? How is he utilizing this idea of having a vision? Why is that so dangerous? How could that method be abused and misused today in religious contexts? From where do we get authoritative truth (2 Timothy 3:16-17)?