151 And Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2 Should a wise man answer with windy knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind, 3 Reasoning with unprofitable talk, and with speeches which do no good? 4 Yea, thou makest piety of none effect, and restrainest meditation before God. 5 For thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity, and thou hast chosen the tongue of the crafty. 6 Thine own mouth condemneth thee, and not I; and thy lips testify against thee. 7 Art thou the first man that was born? and wast thou brought forth before the hills? 8 Hast thou listened in the secret council of +God? And hast thou absorbed wisdom for thyself? 9 What knowest thou that we know not? [what] understandest thou which is not in us? 10 Both the greyheaded and the aged are with us, older than thy father. 11 Are the consolations of God too small for thee? and the word gently spoken to thee? 12 Why doth thy heart carry thee away? and why do thine eyes wink? 13 That thou turnest thy spirit against God, and lettest words go out of thy mouth? 14 What is man, that he should be pure? and he that is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15 Behold, he putteth no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight: 16 How much less the abominable and corrupt,—man, that drinketh unrighteousness like water!
17 I will shew thee, listen to me; and what I have seen I will declare; 18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hidden; 19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. 20 All his days the wicked man is tormented, and numbered years are allotted to the violent. 21 The sound of terrors is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer cometh upon him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 15:1-21
Commentary on Job 15:1-16
(Read Job 15:1-16)
Eliphaz begins a second attack upon Job, instead of being softened by his complaints. He unjustly charges Job with casting off the fear of God, and all regard to him, and restraining prayer. See in what religion is summed up, fearing God, and praying to him; the former the most needful principle, the latter the most needful practice. Eliphaz charges Job with self-conceit. He charges him with contempt of the counsels and comforts given him by his friends. We are apt to think that which we ourselves say is important, when others, with reason, think little of it. He charges him with opposition to God. Eliphaz ought not to have put harsh constructions upon the words of one well known for piety, and now in temptation. It is plain that these disputants were deeply convinced of the doctrine of original sin, and the total depravity of human nature. Shall we not admire the patience of God in bearing with us? and still more his love to us in the redemption of Christ Jesus his beloved Son?
Commentary on Job 15:17-35
(Read Job 15:17-35)
Eliphaz maintains that the wicked are certainly miserable: whence he would infer, that the miserable are certainly wicked, and therefore Job was so. But because many of God's people have prospered in this world, it does not therefore follow that those who are crossed and made poor, as Job, are not God's people. Eliphaz shows also that wicked people, particularly oppressors, are subject to continual terror, live very uncomfortably, and perish very miserably. Will the prosperity of presumptuous sinners end miserably as here described? Then let the mischiefs which befal others, be our warnings. Though no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. No calamity, no trouble, however heavy, however severe, can rob a follower of the Lord of his favour. What shall separate him from the love of Christ?