A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him.
The utterance comes in Eliphaz's second speech, in which he levels fresh accusations against Job, and Job answers that charge by protesting his innocence and expressing a desire for death. It is the speech of one of Job's friends rather than a direct utterance of God. The inspiration that preserved the speech in Scripture does not establish as true in its application everything the speech asserts. The picture of a dreadful sound in the ears and of the destroyer coming in the midst of prosperity expresses the generally true principle that evil will ultimately be punished and good will ultimately be rewarded, yet in this place that principle was misapplied to Job. It belongs among Eliphaz's unreliable declarations concerning Job and concerning God, and is not to be taken as a true account except where inspired Scripture elsewhere supports it.
Adversity, affliction, or suffering is no proof that a man lies under God's displeasure and is no reason for discouragement. Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and Jesus the Son of God Himself was the prince of sufferers. Suffering borne for His sake glorifies Him, and whatever is for God's glory is for the sufferer's own best good when God is trusted. That trust is shown by rejoicing even in the midst of loss.
The utterance comes in Eliphaz's second speech, in which he levels fresh accusations against Job, and Job answers that charge by protesting his innocence and expressing a desire for death. It is the speech of one of Job's friends rather than a direct utterance of God. The inspiration that preserved the speech in Scripture does not establish as true in its application everything the speech asserts. The picture of a dreadful sound in the ears and of the destroyer coming in the midst of prosperity expresses the generally true principle that evil will ultimately be punished and good will ultimately be rewarded, yet in this place that principle was misapplied to Job. It belongs among Eliphaz's unreliable declarations concerning Job and concerning God, and is not to be taken as a true account except where inspired Scripture elsewhere supports it.
Adversity, affliction, or suffering is no proof that a man lies under God's displeasure and is no reason for discouragement. Whom the Lord loves He chastens, and Jesus the Son of God Himself was the prince of sufferers. Suffering borne for His sake glorifies Him, and whatever is for God's glory is for the sufferer's own best good when God is trusted. That trust is shown by rejoicing even in the midst of loss.