4:1ff Eliphaz claimed to have been given secret knowledge through a special revelation from God (4:12-16), and that he had learned much from personal experience (4:8). He argued that suffering is a direct result of sin, so if Job would only confess his sin, his suffering would end. Eliphaz saw suffering as God’s punishment, which should be welcomed in order to bring a person back to God. In some cases, of course, this may be true (Galatians 6:7, 8), but it was not true with Job. Although Eliphaz had many good and true comments, he made three wrong assumptions: (1) A good and innocent person never suffers; (2) those who suffer are being punished for their past sins; and (3) Job, because he was suffering, had done something wrong in God’s eyes. (For more about Eliphaz, see his profile, chapter 8, p. 1055 and the chart in chapter 28, p. 1083. Teman was a trading city in Edom, noted as a place of wisdom; see Jeremiah 49:7.)
4:7, 8 Part of what Eliphaz said is true, and part is false. It is true that those who promote sin and trouble eventually will be punished; it is false that anyone who is good and innocent will never suffer.
All the material recorded and quoted in the Bible is here by God’s choice. Some is a record of what people said and did but is not an example to follow. The sins, the defeats, the evil thoughts, and misconceptions about God are all recorded in God’s divinely inspired Word, but we should not follow those wrong examples just because they are in the Bible. The Bible gives us teachings and examples of what we should do as well as what we should not do. Eliphaz’s comments are an example of what we should try to avoid—making false assumptions about others based on our own experiences.
4:12, 13 Although Eliphaz claimed that his vision was divinely inspired, it is doubtful that it came from God because later God criticized Eliphaz for misrepresenting him (42:7). Whatever the vision’s source, it is summarized in 4:17. On the surface, this statement is completely true—a mere mortal cannot compare to God and should not try to question God’s motives and actions. Eliphaz, however, took this thought and expounded on it later, expressing his own opinions. His conclusion (5:8) reveals a very shallow understanding of Job and his suffering. It is easy for teachers, counselors, and well-meaning friends to begin with a portion of God’s truth but then go off on a tangent. Don’t limit God to your perspective and finite understanding of life.
4:18, 19 Do angels really make errors? Remember that Eliphaz was speaking, not God, so we must be careful about building our knowledge of the spiritual world from Eliphaz’s opinions. In addition, the word translated “folly” is used only here, and its meaning is unclear. We could save Eliphaz’s credibility by saying he meant fallen angels, but this passage is not meant to teach about angels. Eliphaz was saying that sinful human beings are far beneath God and the angels. Eliphaz was right about God’s greatness, but he did not understand God’s greater purposes concerning suffering.