That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest such words go out of thy mouth?
The verse stands in the long debate between Job and his three friends over his afflictions, a debate carried on through three rounds of speeches. More narrowly it stands in Eliphaz's second speech to Job, which presses fresh accusations against him, and it is answered when Job replies by protesting his innocence and desiring death.
In the verse Eliphaz charges Job with turning his spirit against God and letting rebellious words go out of his mouth. That charge belongs to the friends' broader charge that Job's suffering was caused by his sin. They framed that charge from their own wisdom and observation, because they had never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted.
That the book is inspired means Eliphaz truly spoke these words, not that what he said was true. His speeches in this chapter do not supply reliable teaching about Job or about God unless their claims are supported elsewhere in inspired Scripture, so they must be tested against the rest of the Bible. What the friends said was in general true, that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded, but it was misapplied in Job's case.
The charge wrongly misjudged Job, for though he knew his integrity and could not understand God's dealings with him, he did not turn his spirit against God and did not charge God foolishly. Adversity, affliction, and suffering do not prove a person is under God's displeasure, for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and Jesus the Son of God was the prince of sufferers. God saw the end from the beginning and was working through Job's suffering what would glorify Himself, bring comfort and hope to thousands of suffering people, and prove a blessing to Job.
The verse stands in the long debate between Job and his three friends over his afflictions, a debate carried on through three rounds of speeches. More narrowly it stands in Eliphaz's second speech to Job, which presses fresh accusations against him, and it is answered when Job replies by protesting his innocence and desiring death.
In the verse Eliphaz charges Job with turning his spirit against God and letting rebellious words go out of his mouth. That charge belongs to the friends' broader charge that Job's suffering was caused by his sin. They framed that charge from their own wisdom and observation, because they had never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted.
That the book is inspired means Eliphaz truly spoke these words, not that what he said was true. His speeches in this chapter do not supply reliable teaching about Job or about God unless their claims are supported elsewhere in inspired Scripture, so they must be tested against the rest of the Bible. What the friends said was in general true, that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded, but it was misapplied in Job's case.
The charge wrongly misjudged Job, for though he knew his integrity and could not understand God's dealings with him, he did not turn his spirit against God and did not charge God foolishly. Adversity, affliction, and suffering do not prove a person is under God's displeasure, for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and Jesus the Son of God was the prince of sufferers. God saw the end from the beginning and was working through Job's suffering what would glorify Himself, bring comfort and hope to thousands of suffering people, and prove a blessing to Job.