Job 15

15:1–21:34 In this second round of speeches, Job’s friends focus on the fate of the wicked and imply that Job’s condition shows he has sinned.

15:2-3 You are nothing but a windbag (literally You fill your belly with the east wind): Since the east wind was hot, it might represent heated (Exod 14:21; Hos 13:15; Jon 4:8) or violent (Job 27:21; Jer 18:17) speech.

15:6 Your own mouth condemns you: Job feared that this would happen (9:20; see Matt 26:65).

15:7-8 When the Lord himself later issued a similar challenge, Job found it convicting (38:1-11).

15:8 The book’s readers know about God’s secret council (1:6-12; 2:1-6; see 1 Kgs 22:19-20; Ps 89:5-7), but Job and his company did not.

15:9-10 Aged, gray-haired men claim a monopoly on wisdom (8:8-10; 12:20; see 12:2).

15:12 What has weakened your vision (literally Why do your eyes blink): This sentence might be a metaphor for unbelief, or it could indicate winking like a schemer or blinking in disbelief.

15:14 Can any mortal be pure? Eliphaz repeated himself (4:17-19) and Job (7:17; 14:4). • anyone born of a woman: Both “mortal” and “born of woman” imply weakness.

15:15 The heavens, traditionally associated with purity (Exod 24:10), were not absolutely pure; they had been defiled, perhaps by rebellious angels (Job 1:6-7).

15:17-19 before any foreigners arrived: Eliphaz’s contempt for foreign ideas is ironic because wisdom literature has a more international flavor than is characteristic of other Old Testament writings.

15:20-35 The wicked also suffer everything that happened to Job (see 1:16-19)—attacks by marauders (15:21), loss of possessions (15:29), crumbled houses (15:28), and fire (15:30, 34).

15:21 Although Eliphaz generalized the terror that the wicked experience, Job had undergone similar experiences (3:25; 6:4; 9:34; 13:11, 21; 23:15; 27:20; 30:15). Bildad (18:11, 14) and Zophar (20:25) spoke of more terror to come. • The Sabeans and Chaldeans were examples of the destroyer (1:13-17), but this could refer to any destructive agent (1:18-19). Destroyers might be agents of Satan (1 Cor 10:10; Rev 9:11) or divine agents that punish wickedness (Exod 12:23; 2 Sam 24:16; 2 Chr 32:21; Acts 12:23; Heb 11:28). Eliphaz meant the latter.

15:22 for fear they will be murdered (literally he is marked for the sword): The wicked might be killed by murder or by the sword of God’s wrath.

15:23 They wander around, saying, “Where can I find bread?”: Like the wicked (15:20), Job either experienced hunger (see 15:27) or (following the Greek Old Testament) had been “appointed to be food for a vulture,” which would parallel “marked for the sword” (15:22).

15:25 Job had complained earlier that God was treating him like a formidable foe (7:19-21; 13:24).

15:30 The burning sun (literally The flame) might be the scorching sun or a flame of judgment from God (15:34, see Num 16:31-35; Ps 106:17-18; Ezek 20:47). • The breath of God might be a desert wind or a more direct theophany (a manifestation of God’s presence) that caused the burning of Job 15:34.

15:34 The flame of judgment (15:30) will burn the unjust gain of the godless.