Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
The words are Eliphaz's accusation against Job, truly preserved as what was spoken yet false in its application to him. The accusation is that he failed to provide drink for the exhausted and kept back food from the starving. That charge is disproved by Job's own life of delivering the poor and the fatherless, looking after the widow, and aiding the poor and needy. It arose from the friends reasoning from their own wisdom and observation, since they had never seen a thoroughly upright person suffer so severely. In common with their reasonings generally, it assumes wrongdoing is punished and rightdoing is rewarded, and wrongly forces that pattern onto Job's case.
Against that misjudgment Job held fast to awareness of his own integrity and refused to accuse God without cause, even while God was bringing about an outcome that would honor himself and yield comfort, hope and blessing. The behavior named — denying water to the weary and bread to the hungry — is heartless injustice. It stands as part of the indictment of those who chase riches while withholding elementary relief from the destitute.
The words are Eliphaz's accusation against Job, truly preserved as what was spoken yet false in its application to him. The accusation is that he failed to provide drink for the exhausted and kept back food from the starving. That charge is disproved by Job's own life of delivering the poor and the fatherless, looking after the widow, and aiding the poor and needy. It arose from the friends reasoning from their own wisdom and observation, since they had never seen a thoroughly upright person suffer so severely. In common with their reasonings generally, it assumes wrongdoing is punished and rightdoing is rewarded, and wrongly forces that pattern onto Job's case.
Against that misjudgment Job held fast to awareness of his own integrity and refused to accuse God without cause, even while God was bringing about an outcome that would honor himself and yield comfort, hope and blessing. The behavior named — denying water to the weary and bread to the hungry — is heartless injustice. It stands as part of the indictment of those who chase riches while withholding elementary relief from the destitute.