Job 15:17-25 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Job 15:17-19: 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.

Summary for Job 15:17-19: 15:17-19 ^a 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.
Summary for Job 15:20-35: 15:20-35 ^b The wicked also suffer everything that happened to Job (see 1:16-19 ^c)—attacks by marauders (15:21 ^d), loss of possessions (15:29 ^e), crumbled houses (15:28 ^f), and fire (15:30 ^g, 34 ^h).
15:21 ⁱ Although Eliphaz generalized the terror that the wicked experience, Job had undergone similar experiences (3:25 ^j; 6:4 ^k; 9:34 ^l; 13:11 ^m, 21 ⁿ; 23:15 ^o; 27:20 ^p; 30:15 ^q). Bildad (18:11 ^r, 14 ^s) and Zophar (20:25 ^t) spoke of more terror to come.

• The Sabeans and Chaldeans were examples of the destroyer (1:13-17 ^u), but this could refer to any destructive agent (1:18-19 ^v). Destroyers might be agents of Satan (1 Cor 10:10 ^w; Rev 9:11 ^x) or divine agents that punish wickedness (Exod 12:23 ^y; 2 Sam 24:16 ^z; 2 Chr 32:21 ^aa; Acts 12:23 ^ab; Heb 11:28 ^ac). Eliphaz meant the latter.
15:22 ^ad 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 ^ae They wander around, saying, “Where can I find bread?”: Like the wicked (15:20 ^af), Job either experienced hunger (see 15:27 ^ag) or (following the Greek Old Testament) had been “appointed to be food for a vulture,” which would parallel “marked for the sword” (15:22 ^ah).
15:25 ^ai Job had complained earlier that God was treating him like a formidable foe (7:19-21 ^aj; 13:24 ^ak).