Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
Job 15:2 opens Eliphaz's second speech, which presses fresh accusations against Job. It stands inside the long colloquy of chapters 3-31 between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering. Eliphaz speaks there out of his own wisdom and observation.
The word rendered wind denotes wind, and the east wind pictures something empty, worthless and insubstantial that a person takes in or speaks. To fill the belly with it is to take in or offer no real nourishment. The question therefore contrasts what a wise man should utter with uttering vain knowledge.
The inspiration of the book guarantees the truth that such words were spoken, not the truth of what was spoken. What the friends said was generally true but was misapplied to Job, because they had never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted and assumed adversity proved God's displeasure. The Lord Himself declared that those speeches did not tell the truth about Him or about Job, so their statements are not to be taken as reliable teaching unless other inspired Scripture supports them. Job himself judged to some extent from the same standpoint as his friends, yet knowing his own integrity he could not understand God's dealings with him while still not charging God foolishly. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself forever, bring comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones, and prove a blessing to Job. The empty image also fits negative teachings that offer nothing positive to sustain faith.
Job 15:2 opens Eliphaz's second speech, which presses fresh accusations against Job. It stands inside the long colloquy of chapters 3-31 between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions and the cause and object of human suffering. Eliphaz speaks there out of his own wisdom and observation.
The word rendered wind denotes wind, and the east wind pictures something empty, worthless and insubstantial that a person takes in or speaks. To fill the belly with it is to take in or offer no real nourishment. The question therefore contrasts what a wise man should utter with uttering vain knowledge.
The inspiration of the book guarantees the truth that such words were spoken, not the truth of what was spoken. What the friends said was generally true but was misapplied to Job, because they had never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted and assumed adversity proved God's displeasure. The Lord Himself declared that those speeches did not tell the truth about Him or about Job, so their statements are not to be taken as reliable teaching unless other inspired Scripture supports them. Job himself judged to some extent from the same standpoint as his friends, yet knowing his own integrity he could not understand God's dealings with him while still not charging God foolishly. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself forever, bring comfort and hope to thousands of suffering ones, and prove a blessing to Job. The empty image also fits negative teachings that offer nothing positive to sustain faith.