For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage:  Job 4:1-11

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:

2 ‘If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient?
    But who can keep from speaking?
3 Think how you have instructed many,
    how you have strengthened feeble hands.
4 Your words have supported those who stumbled;
    you have strengthened faltering knees.
5 But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged;
    it strikes you, and you are dismayed.
6 Should not your piety be your confidence
    and your blameless ways your hope?

7 ‘Consider now: who, being innocent, has ever perished?
    Where were the upright ever destroyed?
8 As I have observed, those who plough evil
    and those who sow trouble reap it.
9 At the breath of God they perish;
    at the blast of his anger they are no more.
10 The lions may roar and growl,
    yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.
11 The lion perishes for lack of prey,
    and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.

A. Find Out

1. What does Eliphaz ask to start his discourse? v.2
2. Of what does he remind Job he has done in the past? v.3,4
3. What does he say ought to be happening? v.5,6
4. What does he ask about the innocent and upright? v.7
5. Who is it, he says, who are destroyed? v.8,9
6. Where also is this seen? v.10,11

B. Think:

1. What is he saying in verses 3 to 6?
2. What theological point is he making in verses 7 to 9?

C. Comment:

Eliphaz is the first of the three friends to speak out in answer to Job (v.1), and challenges Job not to be impatient with him (v.2a) for he’s just got to speak (v.2b). Look Job, you’ve been on the other side of the fence, he starts, having instructed, strengthened, and supported others (v.3,4) but it seems now you’re allowing yourself to be pulled down (v.5). Shouldn’t all of your experience bring you confidence? (v.6)

Then he moves into the argument proper, implying certain things about Job. Look, he goes on, the innocent or upright never perish (v.7), it’s only the wicked who get trouble and are destroyed (v.8,9). You can appear as strong as a lion (v.10,11 implied) but even they suffer in their wild lifestyle.

In the first part (v.3-6) we find Eliphaz basically saying, pull yourself together, you should know better, think what you’ve taught others in the past. The trouble is that sometimes our past knowledge gets overshadowed by the awfulness of the present and we too need others to come and encourage us in our anguish.  

In the second part (v.7-11) he seeks to make the theological point that bad only comes to sinners. The only problem with that argument is that we know from what gone before that Job isn’t unrighteous. Living in a Fallen World we sometimes suffer from the works of the enemy. It isn’t necessarily our sin!

D. Application:

1. Learn to understand the plight of the suffering.
2. Be careful not to wrongly judge others.

Passage:  Job 4:12-21 

12 ‘A word was secretly brought to me,
    my ears caught a whisper of it.
13 Amid disquieting dreams in the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people,
14 fear and trembling seized me
    and made all my bones shake.
15 A spirit glided past my face,
    and the hair on my body stood on end.
16 It stopped,
    but I could not tell what it was.
A form stood before my eyes,
    and I heard a hushed voice:
17 “Can a mortal be more righteous than God?
    Can even a strong man be more pure than his Maker?
18 If God places no trust in his servants,
    if he charges his angels with error,
19 how much more those who live in houses of clay,
    whose foundations are in the dust,
    who are crushed more readily than a moth!
20 Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces;
    unnoticed, they perish for ever.
21 Are not the cords of their tent pulled up,
    so that they die without wisdom?”

A. Find Out

1. What does Eliphaz claimed happened? v.12
2. How did it happen? v.13,14
3. What did he claim he saw? v.15,16
4. What teaching did he claim he received? v.17
5. What conclusion did he draw about mankind? v.18,19
6. What is their end? v.20,21

B. Think:

1. Why does Eliphaz put himself forward as a spiritual counsellor?
2. What were the characteristics of that?
3. Do you know what the Bible teaches about such things?

C. Comment:

Eliphaz has previously made the point that only the wicked get punished. Now he goes on to maintain that God doesn’t trust or enter into close relationships (implied) with mankind and, further implied, Job is wrong to suggest he has something special going with God. Actually so far, all Job has spoken of is his deep anguish in pain.

Eliphaz bases this on a special word that was brought to him (v.12) in the middle of the night (v.13) that brought him fear (v.14). He actually saw a ghostly type creature float past him (v.15) and it spoke to him (v.16). This ‘thing’ challenged whether mankind can compete with God for righteousness (v.17). God, after all, says the ‘thing’, He doesn’t esteem angels who can fall and get it wrong (v.18) so why should He esteem mankind who are but dust (v.19) and who die so easily (v.20,21).

The challenge must come, is this a genuine revelation? The apostle John wrote, “test the spirits to see whether they are from God, (1 Jn 4:1). This ‘revelation’ came to a disquieted mind (v.13a) and brought a feeling of dread (v.14) which was different from ‘the fear of the Lord’. This was a scary experience (v.15), different from when angels appear in Scripture with God’s word. And the word itself? Does any man claim what it says in verse 17? No! Everything about this word is a put-down whereas in fact we know God loves repentant mankind (Jn 3:16). Reject this!

D. Application:

1. Don’t accept everything you experience. Check it with God.
2. Check what you hear against the overall teaching of the Bible.