He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive.
Job 15:33 stands in Eliphaz's second speech to Job, which presses fresh accusations against him and is answered by Job protesting his innocence and desiring death. That speech belongs to the extended debate between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions.
The figure of a vine shaking off its unripe grape and an olive casting off its flower portrays the loss of the wicked, whose promised fruit or increase is cut off before it can come to maturity. In its setting this figure serves Eliphaz's contention that evil is ultimately punished.
That general contention can be true, yet as used by Job's friends it was misapplied, since suffering does not prove that the sufferer lies under God's displeasure. For this reason the assertions of Eliphaz and the other friends about Job and about God are not automatically reliable, because they did not speak truthfully about them. Their speeches may therefore mingle truth with falsehood and must be tested against other Scripture.
Job 15:33 stands in Eliphaz's second speech to Job, which presses fresh accusations against him and is answered by Job protesting his innocence and desiring death. That speech belongs to the extended debate between Job and his three friends concerning his afflictions.
The figure of a vine shaking off its unripe grape and an olive casting off its flower portrays the loss of the wicked, whose promised fruit or increase is cut off before it can come to maturity. In its setting this figure serves Eliphaz's contention that evil is ultimately punished.
That general contention can be true, yet as used by Job's friends it was misapplied, since suffering does not prove that the sufferer lies under God's displeasure. For this reason the assertions of Eliphaz and the other friends about Job and about God are not automatically reliable, because they did not speak truthfully about them. Their speeches may therefore mingle truth with falsehood and must be tested against other Scripture.