Job 6:14-27 | KingComments | STEP | Job is in distress and has lost all courage. This is a situation in which he desperately needs the help of his friends. Compassion is an obligation to all those in need. He tells his friends that he is desperate and therefore expects mercy ( chased , faithfulness, loyalty) from them ( ). If they do not, they “forsake the fear of the Almighty”. He who does not help a brother in need actually despises him and sins (cf. ). There is no brotherly love in him, but also no reverence for God Almighty. You cannot even speak of a relationship with God (cf. ). In Job speaks of a “friend” and in of “my brothers” (cf. ). In Proverbs 17 these two names are also linked: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” ( ). Unfortunately, this does not apply to Job’s friends. Job finds himself at a time in his life when he can use cordial friendship more than ever. There is a bond of trust with a friend. You can share with a friend the deepest feelings of your heart, because he will understand you or at least not blame you for the things you share with him. Job is in great distress, but the friends show no sign of warm kinship with Job that is characteristic of brotherly love. They did make the effort to visit him ( ), and for a week they remained silent, impressed by the great suffering of Job. And yet Eliphaz shows little understanding for the suffering of Job in his speech. On the contrary, the three friends overload Job with heavy reproaches. This is because they attribute his suffering to sins he must have committed. They do not stand beside him, but opposite him. They leave him out in the cold in every way and add to his coldness by their cold-blooded assessment of his situation and their insensitive assumptions about his sins. The Lord Jesus has shown Himself the true Friend of His disciples. His love was always there. He loved them to the end ( ). He proved His great love for His friends by laying down His life for them ( ). He called them friends because He revealed to them everything He had heard from the Father ( ). He also calls His disciples His brethren ( ). We do not call Him ‘Brother’ – He is not mentioned like this anywhere in Scripture – but He is the true Brother Who was “made like His brethren in all things” in order to help them in their distress ( ). He has not acted as the friends of Job, but has participated in the affliction of His own ( ). Job speaks in the plural, “brothers”, although only Eliphaz has spoken, and he responds to what he has said. That Job speaks to the friends together will be because what Eliphaz said certainly happened in the name of the other friends as well ( ). Perhaps they have been nodding in agreement with their friend’s words, or they have made consensual noises. Job is deeply disappointed in his friends. He has expected some refreshment from them, as a weary and thirsty traveler expects from wadis in the desert, the running streams of rainwater or molten snow water ( ). But when he falls down exhausted to take that refreshment, they turn out to be dried out ( ). They have taken a different course and have gone all sides and perished there in the heat of the sun without leaving anything for the thirsty ( ). The caravans of Tema and the travelers of Sheba have had this disappointing experience ( ). With hope they went to the brooks, but how ashamed their trust has become. How disappointing is their finding when they come to the brook, that there is no water. The comparison with what he expected from his friends, his brothers, is clear. Their friendship in the days of his prosperity seemed promising, but now that he is in the heat of the affliction, they abandon him. He outbursts against his friends, saying that they have become to him like the dried-out brooks for the travelers ( ). He leaves no doubt as to how he sees them: “Indeed, you have now become such.” He tells them that they see his terror, but that they are afraid and don’t know what to do with it. We can certainly learn from this that we shouldn’t put even our best friend between ourselves and God. We may know that the Lord Jesus, as the High Priest, gives help at the right time ( ). Still, it is easy to talk when you yourself are not in need. Surely, the Lord has also given others around us just for the time when we cannot manage things by ourselves, hasn’t He? Is it always wrong to call on someone else’s help? No, it is not. What will disappoint us is that we expect the other person to help in a way only God is able to do. Nor is it right to demand help from others, to claim that help. Job hasn’t demanded help. He has not told them to give him anything, anything at all, to compensate for his loss, even if only minimally ( ). He makes no claim to a gift of their wealth. Nor has he asked for their help to escape from the hand of the adversary and the tyrant ( ). Here he seems to be referring to God. The only thing he expected was pity, and that did not come. This is very disappointing indeed. Ashamed of justified expectations causes much pain.

‏ Job 6:14-27

The Uselessness of His Friends

Job is in distress and has lost all courage. This is a situation in which he desperately needs the help of his friends. Compassion is an obligation to all those in need. He tells his friends that he is desperate and therefore expects mercy (chased, faithfulness, loyalty) from them (Job 6:14). If they do not, they “forsake the fear of the Almighty”. He who does not help a brother in need actually despises him and sins (cf. Pro 14:21a). There is no brotherly love in him, but also no reverence for God Almighty. You cannot even speak of a relationship with God (cf. 1Jn 3:17).

In Job 6:14 Job speaks of a “friend” and in Job 6:15 of “my brothers” (cf. 2Sam 1:26). In Proverbs 17 these two names are also linked: “A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity” (Pro 17:17). Unfortunately, this does not apply to Job’s friends. Job finds himself at a time in his life when he can use cordial friendship more than ever. There is a bond of trust with a friend. You can share with a friend the deepest feelings of your heart, because he will understand you or at least not blame you for the things you share with him.

Job is in great distress, but the friends show no sign of warm kinship with Job that is characteristic of brotherly love. They did make the effort to visit him (Job 2:11), and for a week they remained silent, impressed by the great suffering of Job. And yet Eliphaz shows little understanding for the suffering of Job in his speech. On the contrary, the three friends overload Job with heavy reproaches. This is because they attribute his suffering to sins he must have committed. They do not stand beside him, but opposite him. They leave him out in the cold in every way and add to his coldness by their cold-blooded assessment of his situation and their insensitive assumptions about his sins.

The Lord Jesus has shown Himself the true Friend of His disciples. His love was always there. He loved them to the end (Jn 13:1). He proved His great love for His friends by laying down His life for them (Jn 15:13). He called them friends because He revealed to them everything He had heard from the Father (Jn 15:15).

He also calls His disciples His brethren (Jn 20:17). We do not call Him ‘Brother’ – He is not mentioned like this anywhere in Scripture – but He is the true Brother Who was “made like His brethren in all things” in order to help them in their distress (Heb 2:17). He has not acted as the friends of Job, but has participated in the affliction of His own (Isa 63:9).

Job speaks in the plural, “brothers”, although only Eliphaz has spoken, and he responds to what he has said. That Job speaks to the friends together will be because what Eliphaz said certainly happened in the name of the other friends as well (Job 5:27). Perhaps they have been nodding in agreement with their friend’s words, or they have made consensual noises.

Job is deeply disappointed in his friends. He has expected some refreshment from them, as a weary and thirsty traveler expects from wadis in the desert, the running streams of rainwater or molten snow water (Job 6:16). But when he falls down exhausted to take that refreshment, they turn out to be dried out (Job 6:17). They have taken a different course and have gone all sides and perished there in the heat of the sun without leaving anything for the thirsty (Job 6:18). The caravans of Tema and the travelers of Sheba have had this disappointing experience (Job 6:19-20). With hope they went to the brooks, but how ashamed their trust has become. How disappointing is their finding when they come to the brook, that there is no water.

The comparison with what he expected from his friends, his brothers, is clear. Their friendship in the days of his prosperity seemed promising, but now that he is in the heat of the affliction, they abandon him. He outbursts against his friends, saying that they have become to him like the dried-out brooks for the travelers (Job 6:21). He leaves no doubt as to how he sees them: “Indeed, you have now become such.” He tells them that they see his terror, but that they are afraid and don’t know what to do with it.

We can certainly learn from this that we shouldn’t put even our best friend between ourselves and God. We may know that the Lord Jesus, as the High Priest, gives help at the right time (Heb 4:16). Still, it is easy to talk when you yourself are not in need. Surely, the Lord has also given others around us just for the time when we cannot manage things by ourselves, hasn’t He? Is it always wrong to call on someone else’s help? No, it is not. What will disappoint us is that we expect the other person to help in a way only God is able to do. Nor is it right to demand help from others, to claim that help.

Job hasn’t demanded help. He has not told them to give him anything, anything at all, to compensate for his loss, even if only minimally (Job 6:22). He makes no claim to a gift of their wealth. Nor has he asked for their help to escape from the hand of the adversary and the tyrant (Job 6:23). Here he seems to be referring to God. The only thing he expected was pity, and that did not come. This is very disappointing indeed. Ashamed of justified expectations causes much pain.

Job Challenges to Test Him

If only they could convince him of a sin he had committed (Job 6:24)! The only thing he wants to know from them is if he has committed an injustice in any way, and therefore, as they say, this mischief has come upon him. Job’s plea is that he has a clean conscience and therefore defends himself against the false accusations of his friends.

He asks them to make him understand where he has gone astray, for this is what they accuse him of. Job takes an open, transparent and vulnerable attitude here. In New Testament language, Job is open to a washing of his feet by the three friends. Eliphaz – and through him the other two friends – have made a number of accusations, but without proving anything. Let them do their best to substantiate their accusations.

Genuine friendship is also evidenced by the naming of sin, through which sin can be confessed and the way is free again for contact with God and with one another. Vaguely alluding to sin is a trick of the devil with which he creates much dissatisfaction. We should not accuse anyone of sin unless we can provide clear proof of guilt.

With some sarcasm Job says that the friends speak “honest words”, which he also calls “painful” (Job 6:25). That they are meant to be sarcastic is clear from the following line. There he says that their punitive words prove nothing at all. They just imagine things, without really realizing what they are saying (Job 6:26). Their words have no content and no basis, while they themselves feel that they are honest words. On the other hand, they consider the words of the plagued Job as wind, as futile, without substance, though they are spoken out of great despair. They have not really listened to Job’s agonizing words, have ignored his suffering, have not taken his heart’s cry seriously.

Paul writes that he has also been desperate, that he and others “despaired even of life” (2Cor 1:8). The circumstances were different from those in which Job found himself. The big difference between Job and Paul, however, is that Job despaired of both life and God, whereas Paul did not. Paul did not despair of God, but trusted in Him “who raises the dead; who delivered us from so great a [peril] of death, and will deliver [us]” (2Cor 1:9-10).

Once again Job outbursts against his friends. He now calls them the most ruthless people he can think of. He considers them capable of throwing a dice for a defenseless orphan to make money (Job 6:27). Also, according to him, they wouldn’t shun to sell their friend. Job is so disappointed in them that he accuses them of things that are not true. But for his feeling it is like this. He is totally ruined by their mercilessness and lack of sympathy. His outburst is inexcusable, but can be understood by what the friends say to him.

Then he regains some self-control and asks them if they still want to come his way, that is to say if they will be able to have some sympathy for him (Job 6:28). He doesn’t lie to them in the face, does he? He is really desperate, and he cannot think of a reason for this. He calls them to desist and come to their senses, that they will reconsider their opinion of him and the cause of his distress (Job 6:29). With their view of him and the cause of his distress they commit injustice. He is truly in his right. His “righteousness is yet in it”. So let them desist.

Job argues that it was not he who made a mistake, but that they made a mistake. There is no injustice on his tongue (Job 6:30). He has not uttered a single false word. He even suggests that he is a taster, that he really would know it if he had fallen into these “calamities” through his own fault. Job emphasizes that he is honest and sincere. He claims that he is still righteous and sincere, that he is perfectly capable of judging his own situation, and that his conscience is perfectly clean and not burdened by some unconfessed sin.

Job wrongly boasts here that he is impeccable in his words. He forgets that he is not perfect. There is only One Who could say: “Which one of you convicts Me of sin?” (Jn 8:46a).