2. Job (6:1-7:21)

That Job is irritated by Eliphaz’s presentation is evident from his emotional defense. If the hungry donkey and ass can instinctively bray and bellow (6:5), Job argues that he has the right to give verbal expression to his anguish. Even though Eliphaz warned Job about the futile consequences of resentment (5:2), he insists that his anguish (same Hebrew word) is immeasurable and justifies his outburst (6:1ff.). He traces his sufferings to God (v.4), bewildered at such treatment. Before praying Job states that Eliphaz’s consolations are insipid and nauseating (vv.6-7).

Job now prays (6:8-13). While the comforters talk about God, Job talks to God. As he requested God to remove the protective hedge from about him (3:23), so here he prays that God will loose his hand (6:9) and allow him to die. Being flesh and not stone or bronze, he has reached the limits of his tolerance (vv.11-12).

Following the prayer, Job issues a stinging indictment of the comforters' friendship. What he expected from them was loyalty (a covenant term) even if, as Eliphaz had insinuated, he had turned from God (6:14). But instead of loyalty he experienced betrayal. His friends failed him as wadis that gush with water in the rainy season but become bone dry in the heat of summer (vv.15-17) and fail the thirsty and expectant desert caravans (vv.18-21).

The friends' failure to be loyal and sympathetic was due to Job’s frightening physical condition. They could neither cope with the sight of it (6:28) nor reconcile their prepackaged theology with what they knew of Job. Further, if they sided with Job, they might incur the wrath of God (v.21). As the drama unfolds they clearly opt for their theology and allow Job to be expendable. No wonder Job begs them to concentrate on him, not on their theology (v.28), and to give up their unfair assumption that he must be guilty and hence deserving of his suffering (v.29).

The balance of Job’s first presentation amounts to soliloquy in which he renews his complaint against God and his appeal to God. Life was such now that he felt that he had been conscripted and employed but without benefits of wages or rest (7:1-2). Instead he receives “months of futility, and nights of misery.” He suffers from insomnia, perhaps due to mental anguish and physical pain (vv.4-5).

Given the brevity of life (7:6) and the finality of death (vv.7-10), Job urges God to remember him, to restore the previous fellowship between them. The characteristic of Sheol emphasized here is that it is a place from which there is no return (vv.9, 21; 10:21).

After begging God to remember him, Job urges God to leave him alone (7:16-17). These sudden changes are due in part to Job’s duress and in part to his perplexity and confusion about God. While the psalmist is pleased with God’s attention (Ps 8:4), Job is distressed with it. He insists that he is no threat to God and hence does not need to be treated like the primeval chaos (7:12) that was restrained by God.

Does Job acknowledge sin here? Possibly, but not sins of such a magnitude to warrant his present sufferings (7:20). His attitude appears to be somewhat insolent. So what if he has sinned? He has not hurt God. God should forgive him now before it is too late (v.21) and should desist from attacking him (v.20).