Job 6 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Job 6:1-7:21: 6:1–7:21 Job’s response attacks his counselors (ch 6 ) and challenges God (ch 7 ). He excuses his passionate words by referencing the depths of his misery (6:2-3 ; 7:11 ). Job says that Eliphaz has failed to offer comfort or sympathy as a friend, having chosen instead to haggle over stale theological precepts.

Summary for Job 6:1-7:21: 6:1–7:21 ^a Job’s response attacks his counselors (ch 6 ^b) and challenges God (ch 7 ^c). He excuses his passionate words by referencing the depths of his misery (6:2-3 ^d; 7:11 ^e). Job says that Eliphaz has failed to offer comfort or sympathy as a friend, having chosen instead to haggle over stale theological precepts.
Summary for Job 6:3-4: 6:3-4 ^f In the Old Testament, arrows are associated with supernatural peril, pestilence, and destructive ills (7:20 ^g; 16:12-13 ^h; Deut 32:23-24 ⁱ, 42 ^j; Pss 7:12-13 ^k; 38:2 ^l; 64:7 ^m; 91:5-6 ⁿ; Lam 2:4 ^o; 3:12-13 ^p; Ezek 5:16 ^q).
6:6 ^r the tasteless white of an egg? Job’s riddle-like complaint probably refers both to Eliphaz’s weak counsel and the detestable situation God had allowed him to endure.
6:9 ^s At one time, both Moses and Elijah wished that God would kill them (Num 11:15 ^t; 1 Kgs 19:4 ^u).
Summary for Job 6:14-27: 6:14-27 ^v Job and his friends might have been bound by a covenant of loyalty and faithfulness (Hebrew khesed; see Gen 21:23 ^w; Exod 15:13 ^x; 1 Chr 16:34 ^y) that made them like brothers (Job 6:14-15 ^z), protectors (6:21-23 ^aa), and trusted friends (6:27 ^ab). If this was the case, Job was accusing his friends of violating their covenant with him.
6:19 ^ac The city of Tema in the northern Arabian desert was at the junction of roads from Damascus to Mecca and from the Persian Gulf to Aqaba (Isa 21:14 ^ad; Jer 25:23 ^ae). It might have been named after one of Ishmael’s descendants (Gen 25:15 ^af). It was not the same as Teman, Eliphaz’s home in Edom.

• Sheba, located in southwest Arabia, was a market city for precious commodities (Ps 72:10 ^ag, 15 ^ah; Isa 60:6 ^ai; Jer 6:20 ^aj; Ezek 27:22-23 ^ak; 38:13 ^al).
6:27 ^am even send an orphan into slavery: Job, the former protector of orphans (31:17 ^an, 21 ^ao), used a proverbial example of his counselors’ hard-heartedness toward the defenseless (see 17:5 ^ap).
6:30 ^aq Don’t I know the difference between right and wrong? (literally Can’t my palate discern malice?): Job might have been echoing his earlier comment about a tasteless, revolting diet (6:6-7 ^ar).