Exegesis on Job 4

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Job 4: 7-21 is taken from Eliphaz’s speech to Job. After undergoing immense suffering for no apparent reason, Job curses his life and birth and seeks comfort from his friends. Although Job is a good and holy man, Eliphaz states that suffering is the result of sin. He is implying that Job’s suffering is a result of a sinful life, although we already know the true reason for his pains. In verse 7, “Think now, who that was innocent ever perished, or were the upright cut off?”, Eliphaz basically says that the good do not suffer. We can interpret the meaning of this in two ways. One, heaven and hell. He could be trying to say that those who are innocent, good, and faithful to God will not perish and shall be rewarded in heaven, while those who sin will be damned. If this was the intended meaning behind Eliphaz’s words then he was indeed correct, but more than likely he was talking about earthly punishment. The second interpretation of his words could be that righteous people are rewarded on earth and evil people are punished. The belief that good people will flourish and sinners will be punished is not necessarily true. What happens to people in this life is not solely dependent on whether they sin or not, and often times bad things happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. Job is an excellent example of this as he was a very good man yet was afflicted with much pain and suffering throughout his life. We can even compare his life to the life of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived the holiest, most perfect and sinless life, yet he was tortured and put to death. If Eliphaz’s argument is correct then that would imply that Jesus was not sinless, which we know to be an incorrect teaching. Jesus was the most perfect man to ever walk the earth and, as we well know, went straight to heaven. Verse 10, “The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce
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