REPOST FROM AUGUST 15, 2026

 Mary Lynne Webb

August 14

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Job 5: 1-16

Eliphaz continues his monologue to Job. In verse 1 he tells Job to call out and asks Job who will answer him. “Which of the holy ones will you turn to? Will they really answer you?” (unless cited with a scripture reference and translation, all quotes are my own personal paraphrase of what is said.) (Another disclaimer: Job is a difficult book to understand so my thoughts are only to give you food for thought as you read and study for yourself.)  Then Eliphaz describes a foolish man. Again, he is basing what he says on what he has personally observed, and his own reaction to what he sees. “Foolish men are angry and jealous.” Look back at Job’s Lament in chapter 3. Is Eliphaz saying that Job is foolish, angry and jealous when he says it would have been better if he had never been born? Eliphaz continues to state the characteristics and circumstances of foolish men. “It looks like fools prosper, but they are really cursed. Their children are not safe. Their harvests are destroyed. Their wealth is lost. They are afflicted.” 

Job 1:13-19

Amplified Bible

13 Now there was a day when Job’s sons and daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 14 and a messenger came to Job and said, “The oxen were plowing and the donkeys were feeding beside them, 15 and the [a]Sabeans attacked and swooped down on them and took away the animals. They also killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 16 While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The fire of God (lightning) has fallen from the heavens and has burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 17 While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “The [b]Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and have taken them away and have killed the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.” 18 While he was still speaking, another [messenger] also came and said, “Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, 19 and suddenly, a great wind came from across the desert, and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you.”

Job 2:7-9

Amplified Bible

7 So Satan departed from the presence of the Lord and struck Job with loathsome boils and agonizingly painful sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And Job took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself, and he sat [down] among the ashes (rubbish heaps).

9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still cling to your integrity [and your faith and trust in God, without blaming Him]? Curse God and die!”

Does this sound like Eliphaz’s description of the foolish man and his families? I’m sure that these similarities were not lost on Job. How hurtful “friends” can be! 

In verse 8 Eliphaz makes a suggestion to Job. “If it were me, if I were in your circumstances, I would cry out to God. I could commit my situation to Him.” Obviously, Eliphaz did not know how God saw Job. 

Job 1:8

Amplified Bible

8 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered and reflected on My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God [with reverence] and abstains from and turns away from evil [because he honors God].”

Job 2:2-3

Amplified Bible

2 The Lord said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Then Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming around on the earth and from walking around on it.” 3 The Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered and reflected on My servant Job? For there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God [with reverence] and abstains from and turns away from evil [because he honors God]. And still he maintains and holds tightly to his integrity, although you incited Me against him to destroy him without cause.”

In verses 9-16 Eliphaz describes things God does. Which is more important, what God does for us or Who He Is, His character? Follow me here, because I know this sounds confusing. We surely are thankful for what God does for us. He sent His Son, God in human form, to be the propitiation for our sin. Because of what He did, we have forgiveness and salvation, an eternity in Heaven with Him. But it is His character that brought us redemption. He came because of His Love, His Mercy, His Compassion. We can trust without doubt everything He tells us in His Word because He IS Truth. He rescued us from His Justice and His Wrath because of Who He Is. If we look only at what God does, then His actions toward us mean very little. This is where Eliphaz missed the point. Don’t misunderstand. Scripture is full of examples of all that God does. I’m not discounting what He does or saying that we should not be thankful for His actions. Look at it this way. An ordinary person can do things that prompt others to say, “He is a great man.” He is an ordinary man who God has allowed to accomplish great things. Only God IS great. 

Eliphaz says, “God does great and unsearchable things, marvelous things. God gives rain and sends water. He sets the lowly on high. He lifts to safety those who mourn. He frustrates the crafty. He catches the so-called wise in their shrewdness. He saves the poor from the mighty.” Those things are true, but why does God do these things? 

God does great things because He IS Great.

Deuteronomy 7:21

Holman Christian Standard Bible

21 Don’t be terrified of them, for the Lord your God, a great and awesome God, is among you.

Deuteronomy 10:17

Holman Christian Standard Bible

17 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and taking no bribe.

Psalm 95:3

Holman Christian Standard Bible

3 For the Lord is a great God,

a great King above all gods.

God does unsearchably great things because His Greatness IS Unsearchable.

Psalm 145:3

Holman Christian Standard Bible

3 Yahweh is great and is highly praised;

His greatness is unsearchable.

Romans 11:33-34

Holman Christian Standard Bible

33 Oh, the depth of the riches

both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!

How unsearchable His judgments

and untraceable His ways!

34 For who has known the mind of the Lord?

Or who has been His counselor?

God catches the so-called wise in their shrewdness because He IS Wisdom.

1 Corinthians 1:19-30

Holman Christian Standard Bible

19 For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,

and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.[a]

20 Where is the philosopher?[b] Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish? 21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached. 22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.[c] 24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom, 25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.

26 Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective,[d] not many powerful, not many of noble birth. 27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong. 28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something, 29 so that no one[e] can boast in His presence. 30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,

These are a few examples of how God’s actions reflect Who He IS. His actions do not make Him God. He IS God and His actions are a result of His Character.

(We will continue to discuss chapter 5. I didn’t want to make this post too long.)