Borrowed Breath

Job’s friend Eliphaz timidly breaks the silence and reminds Job of all of the wise instruction and sympathetic counsel he has given to others. “Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees” (4.4). But his words soon take on a slightly accusing tone. And Job responds by justifying himself. The underlying tone of his rejoinder is that his friend just doesn’t understand. When we are going through any trouble, we often fall into this snare of believing that no one understands.

In chapters 6 and 7, Job answers Eliphaz directly. It’s as if he feels the necessity to defend himself against these judgments of his friend. But at the end of chapter 7, we find Job actually speaking with God and asking Him questions regarding the state he is in. This is clearly the better of the two options. We can pour out our complaint to the LORD, inquiring of Him as to the cause of our suffering. The LORD knows us much better than we know ourselves. There is safety in bringing our grievances to the Almighty. But when we protest and grumble within earshot of others, we may find that our rash words, spoken out of the midst of our misery, may come back to haunt us. And unlike our LORD, others are often less gracious with our words. They cannot see beyond what they can hear with their ears. So they tend to pass judgment. The LORD sees past our complaining voices into our hearts, and is able to weigh our words against what He knows to be true of us.

Bildad decides he can stay silent no longer. His counsel is interlaced with godly truths, but it comes from a heart of limited understanding of the workings of God. And his advice is that Job repents.

And Job replies to him, expressing his desire to interact in conversation with God, a concept that he states several times through this narrative. And in chapter 10, we find Job once again speaking with the LORD directly, giving utterance to his pain through prayer.