Page 84 - Reading Job to Know God

heart. He said let me tell you an experience I had and how I was
convinced of how wicked man is – mankind in general. And then he tells
of this vision and contrasts God’s holiness with all of God’s creatures. He
said even the holy angels in the sky are dirty. How can you say you are
not dirty? God is so Holy compared to Him even perfection is unclean. Of
course, he suggests to Job that the cause of his suffering is sin, but he does
it in an inoffensive way. He says, Job, I believed like you did one time,
but then I had this vision and God showed me my heart, and it was dirty.
And even the angels are dirty. How much more man? You see, he had
truth. And then in chapter 5:1-7, he warns Job against his murmuring.
Only the wicked, he says, resent the afflictions of God. Verse 2 and 3,

“For anger slays the foolish man, and jealousy kills the simple. I have
seen the foolish taking root, and I cursed his abode immediately.”
Then he describes what happens to the wicked.

“His sons are far from safety, they are even oppressed in the gate, and
there is no deliverer. His harvest the hungry devour and take it to a
place of thorns.”
Of course, his description is strikingly like the experience Job just had.
And of course he is insinuating that this is what has happened to you Job.
And then he concludes logically from his premise. Verse 6
“For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble sprout
from the ground.”

What he means by that is trouble is not accidental or spontaneous. There
is a reason for it. There has to be a cause and effect. Trouble did not just
happen, Job. Something must have happened in your life. Then he says,
“Man is born for trouble, as sparks fly upward.”
What he means by that is this. Because of sin, trouble is as natural to man
as it is for sparks to come out of the fire. Job, you are denying that? It is
logical. Since that is true, Job, and since only the wicked despair and only
the wicked murmur, why not admit it? You have sinned. And then in
chapter 5, verse 8, through the end, he said give God the benefit of the
doubt and repent!

I do not see the pride that many commentators see in verse 8 “But as for
me, I would seek God.” I do not think it is pride. Have you ever said
something like this or heard something like this? “If I were you, here is
what I would do”. I think that is what Eliphaz is saying. He is giving
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