Job 15

This chapter opens the second cycle (chapters 15–21) of the debate between Job and his three friends in the Book of Job. In chapters 12–14 Job dismissed his friends' words as worthless and declared that he would argue his case directly with God. This chapter is Eliphaz's second reply.

Outline

• Verses 1–6 Eliphaz the Temanite rebukes Job's words as vain knowledge, as empty as the east wind. He says that Job has cast off the fear of God and that it is Job's own mouth that condemns him.
• Verses 7–13 He asks Job whether he was the first man ever born and whether he has heard the secret counsel of God. He points out that among the friends are men older than Job's father, and he tells Job to stop speaking against God.
• Verses 14–16 He declares that no human being can be clean or righteous. God puts no trust even in His holy ones, and the heavens are unclean in His sight; how much less, then, a man who drinks iniquity like water.
• Verses 17–19 He offers to recount the teaching that wise men received from their fathers and have handed down.
• Verses 20–35 He describes the fate of the wicked. The wicked man lives all his days in pain and dread. Because he has stretched out his hand against God, he loses his wealth and cannot escape darkness. In the end he perishes without fruit, like a vine that drops its unripe grapes or an olive tree that casts off its blossoms.

Key Verses

• Job 15:14 "What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?" — This verse speaks of the fundamental impurity of humanity, turning back on Job the words he spoke in 14:4.
• Job 15:16 "which drinketh iniquity like water" — This phrase is frequently cited as a description of human beings grown accustomed to sin.
• Job 15:20 "The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days" — This verse summarizes Eliphaz's reasoning that suffering is the consequence of sin.

People and Places

• Job: The recipient of Eliphaz's rebuke.
• Eliphaz: A Temanite. Among Job's three friends he always speaks first; here he gives his second speech, following the first in chapters 4–5.
• Teman: Eliphaz's place of origin. In the Old Testament it is associated with Edom and is mentioned as a place renowned for wisdom (Jeremiah 49:7).

Points for Reflection

• Verses 14–16 nearly repeat what Eliphaz said in Job 4:17–19, and they also resemble Bildad's words in Job 25. The statement about human sinfulness is in itself consonant with teachings such as Romans 3:10–12. Eliphaz, however, uses it as grounds for concluding that Job's suffering is caused by his sin.
• At the end of the book God says that the friends have not spoken of Him what is right, as Job has (Job 42:7–10). For this reason many interpreters read the friends' speeches as arguments within their context rather than quoting them directly as God's teaching. At the same time, as Paul's quotation of Eliphaz's words (Job 5:13) in 1 Corinthians 3:19 shows, some of their statements are accepted as true in themselves.
• The "saints" (holy ones) in verse 15 are generally understood to refer to angels.
• The idea that suffering is simply the penalty for sin is often read in contrast to Jesus' answer concerning the man born blind in John 9:1–3.