Eliphaz Speaks: The Innocent Prayer – Job 5
- Eliphaz continues, warning Job against appealing to "holy ones" or angels. His argument continues to be that Job's trouble didn't come from nowhere—he caused it. He tells Job to seek God, and to not despise what God is trying to teach him through trials. (Though God does sometimes discipline people for their sin through pain and suffering, Eliphaz was wrong to suggest this in Job's case.) Eliphaz then points out that God can heal the wounds he inflicted for discipline.
Job Replies: My Complaint Is Just – Job 6
- Job answers, but to all three friends instead of to just Eliphaz. He describes his suffering as caused by poison-tipped arrows sent by the Almighty. (Arrows are usually used to describe God's judgment or wrath, so Job seems to assume that the Lord was punishing him unjustly). His reply goes on to he would exult in pain rather than deny the words of God.
- Job calls his friends "my brothers," which indicates at one time he had a close relationship with them. But now he is disappointed in how they are treating him. Job had hoped to receive help from his friends, but they offer nothing, and he pleads with them to have understanding instead of an argumentative spirit.
Job Continues: My Life Has No Hope – Job 7
- Job argues that his situation is much worse than that of a slave. He uses the word "servant," which has some irony: Before he was God's servant, but now he feels like a mistreated servant or slave. Job believes his days are completely without hope. He speaks of the weaver's shuttle and not having a thread of hope; he could not see God's design for his life through his suffering (but sometimes we can't see the design until the weaver—or God—is finished).
- Job appeals to God to show him what he has done wrong.
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