Lecture 1 — Job’s pride and presumption

^15:1^ Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, saying:

^15:2^ Will the wise man answer as though he were speaking to the wind, and will he free his stomach from heat?

^15:3^ You blame with your words one who is not equal to you, and you say what is not profitable to you.

^15:4^ As for what is in you, you have rejected fear and you have borne away prayers from the presence of God.

^15:5^ For your wickedness taught your tongue and you imitate the tongue of blasphemers.

^15:6^ Your mouth will condemn you and not I, and your lips will answer you.

^15:7^ Were you born the first man and formed before the hills?

^15:8^ Have you been a party to the counsel of God, so that his wisdom is beneath you?

^15:9^ What do you know that we do not know? What do you understand that we will not know?

^15:10^ Both the old men and the elders are older in age among us than your fathers.

^15:11^ Is it a great thing for God to console you? For your evil words prohibit this.

^15:12^ What puffs up your heart and as you were thinking great things has opened your eyes wide in astonishment?

^15:13^ What causes your spirit to burst out against God so that you speak words like this from your mouth?

249. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered. After hearing Job’s response, Eliphaz does not answer the depth of his reasoning, but tries to calumniously misrepresent certain words Job has spoken and interpret them according to their superficial meaning, not their true and deep meaning. He first takes up Job’s statement in the beginning of his discourse when he said, I too have a heart as do you and this heart is not less than yours (Job 12:3).

In this Eliphaz cites him for two things.

First, he says he is guilty of vainglory because he commended himself, and he speaks to this theme, saying, will the wise man answer as though he were speaking to the wind? This is because someone seem to speak to the wind when he composes a speech to obtain glory.

Second, Eliphaz cites him for being prone to anger because he had begun to speak by reproaching them, saying, so you think only you are men (Job 12:2). Therefore he says, and will he fill his stomach with heat? that is, his stomach with anger.

250. He next reproves him for saying, I want to dispute with God (Job 13:3), and again, spare me in only two things and then I will not hide myself from your face (Job 13:20).

In these speeches he cites him for many things.

First, for pride, because he contends against someone who is greater than he is. He speaks to this theme, saying, you blame with your words one who is not equal to you.

Second, for foolishness, because Eliphaz thought this dispute was harmful, and so he says, you say what is not profitable for you, by arguing with God.

He shows why it is not advantageous to argue with God, because this sort of dispute excludes two necessary things.

The first of these is the fear of God. For he who fears someone does not presume to discuss with him. Job had also expressed the same thing already, saying, and let your power terrify me (Job 13:21). Therefore Eliphaz says here, as for what is in you, you have rejected fear. You have rejected fear because you tried to exclude the fear of God from yourself.

The second is prayer to God. For arguing with someone and entreating them are two different sorts of things. So he then says, you have borne away, taken away, prayers from the presence of God. This goes against what Eliphaz had said, this is why I entreat the Lord (Job 5:8). Job had not disputed with God from pride, but out of confidence in the truth. But Eliphaz rashly judged this to flow from wickedness, and so he then says, for your wickedness taught your tongue. Because you blaspheme, it is apparent in the effect, and so he then says, and you imitate the tongue of blasphemers. In reality, the man who blasphemes denies the justice of God. But one who disputes with God about his justice imitates the tongue of the blasphemers. For one who argues about something seems to doubt it; and one who doubts it is close to denying.

251. So Eliphaz wishes to condemn Job for arguing, and he first says that Job had spoken such manifest evil that no other reproof is necessary. His very words themselves show his evil intent. He expresses this, saying, your mouth will condemn you and not I, and your lips will answer you, for your words need no other answer, but they themselves convict you.

Still, he shows that the argument he used was unfitting in many ways.

First, by comparison to all creatures. For if any creature could argue with God, this would be really fitting only for the first and most excellent of creatures. Job could not be first and most excellent and so he says, were you born the first man and formed before the hills, so that you would have the competence to argue with God on behalf of the whole human race and every creature?

Second, by comparison with God. For one can dispute with someone about his deeds fittingly only when he knows the reason why the one with whom he is arguing acts.

He can know this in two ways.

First, by learning from him.

In another way, by judging the deeds of the other from a higher wisdom.

Neither of these ways is fitting to Job in the comparison of man to God. So he says, have you been a party to the counsel of God? to express the first theme of learning from him, and so that his wisdom is beneath you, to express the second theme.

Third, he could argue with God if he seemed wiser in comparison to other men. But Job does not in fact seem to be any wiser than others from confidence in the possession of a higher knowledge by which he can dispute with God. So he then says, what do you know, from faith or revelation, that we do not know?* *What do you understand, by natural knowledge, that we will not know? But since Job could increase his knowledge by listening to others, he then says, both old men, worthy in dignity and life, and the elders, in time, are older in age among us than your fathers, than your teachers from whom you received knowledge, or according to the literal sense, your ancestors. He wants to convey a greater knowledge from a greater length of age, because a man is made wiser by long experience in years.

Fourth, on the part of Job himself, he shows his dispute with God has not been fitting.

First, because it was harmful to him, expanding what he had already said, you say what is not profitable for you (Job 15:3). He then says, is it not a great thing for God to console you? He means here, “It is easy for God to lead you back to a state of prosperity, for he wounds, but he binds up, as was already said (Job 5:18). But your evil words prohibit this, for by them you provoke more the anger of God against you.”

Second, he shows that he was vain and proud, expanding something he had said already, will the wise man answer as though he were speaking to the wind? (Job 15:2). So he then says, what puffs up your heart, in pride, to make you presume so much on the power of your own wisdom. He tries to demonstrate a sign of pride, saying, and as you were thinking great things, what has opened your eyes wide in astonishment? For when someone thinks about great, wonderful things, he is entranced, and he opens his eyes wide in astonishment.

Third, he shows that this dispute was presumptuous and impious, also explaining a previous statement, you discuss with someone who is not your equal (Job 15:3). Here then he says, what causes your spirit to burst out against God so that you speak words like this from your mouth, with which you start an argument with God?