Now we get the first of Job's friends offering his advice. Elpihaz came from Teman, this was an Edomite town. This town was noted for its wisdom (Jer 49:7). All the advice offered by his friends was not so much wrong in its content, it was not heretical, but it failed to understand what God was doing in Job's life. In fact no one but God knew what He was doing! We need to bear this in mind when we try to help each other through tough times. It does not mean we never offer any advice, but we should always be aware that God may well be doing something much deeper than we are aware of.
Eliphaz reminds Job of how he has been a support to many people in the past. We can probably all identify with this. We have helped others in various situations, then something hits us and we feel at a complete loss. Eliphaz urges Job to rely on his piety and devotion to God (v6). This is where he goes wrong, up to a point. The way that we live does matter, but it cannot be our ultimate confidence.
Eliphaz also goes on to say that the wicked will perish. Now this is ultimately true, but they can seem to live at ease for an awful long time.
The latter half of this chapter contains some truth in stressing the superiority of the Lord (v17-21).
No comments:
Post a Comment