Question 1

Who is Eliphaz the Temanite, and why is he speaking to Job?

Accepted Answer

Eliphaz is one of Job’s friends who came to sit with him in his deep suffering. He is likely the oldest or most respected of the three, which is why he speaks first after Job’s bitter complaint. Eliphaz feels he must answer what he sees as Job’s impatience and questioning of God. He thinks a true friend should speak up to defend God’s justice, even if it hurts. So his speech mixes some respect for Job’s past life with a sharp rebuke of Job’s present words.

Question 2

What does Eliphaz mean when he says the innocent never perish?

Accepted Answer

When Eliphaz says, “Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?” he is arguing that real disaster only comes on those who have done wrong. In his mind, if someone suffers as badly as Job, there must be hidden sin. He is using what he thinks is a simple rule: the righteous prosper, and the wicked are cut off. The problem is that this rule does not always match real life, and it does not fit Job, whom God himself calls upright.

Question 3

What does “they that plow iniquity and sow wickedness reap the same” mean?

Accepted Answer

Eliphaz uses a farming picture. To “plow iniquity and sow wickedness” is to work at evil like a farmer works his field, planning and carrying it out. To “reap the same” means you harvest what you have planted. In other words, he is saying people who live in sin will, sooner or later, receive trouble that matches their deeds. That truth often holds in life, but Eliphaz wrongly applies it directly to Job, assuming Job’s pain proves he has lived this way.

Question 4

Why does Eliphaz bring up his fearful night vision in this passage?

Accepted Answer

Eliphaz tells of a night vision to strengthen his point about God and man. In the vision a spirit passes before him, he trembles with fear, and a voice asks, “Shall mortal man be more just than God?” The message is that God is pure and perfect, and even angels and humans are weak and faulty in themselves. Eliphaz uses this to suggest Job cannot claim innocence before such a holy God. The vision is true about God’s greatness, but Eliphaz still misreads Job’s situation.

Question 5

What does this passage teach about God’s justice and human weakness?

Accepted Answer

The words in this chapter stress that God is perfectly just and pure. The voice in the vision says no man can be more just or more pure than his Maker. Even angels are not trusted in themselves, and people live in “houses of clay,” with bodies made from dust that break easily. This shows how small and fragile humans are compared with God. The mistake is not in saying God is just, but in assuming that every case of suffering is a simple payback for personal sin.

Question 6

Why is Eliphaz’s counsel to Job seen as harsh or mistaken?

Accepted Answer

Eliphaz starts gently, reminding Job of how he once helped many hurting people. But then he quickly turns and says Job is fainting under his own trouble, hinting that Job’s fear of God was never real. He insists that innocent people do not perish like this and that those who suffer must have “plowed iniquity.” In doing this, he ignores the depth of Job’s pain and the hidden reasons for it. His words add blame instead of comfort and rest on a view of suffering that is too simple.

Question 7

What is meant by people dwelling in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust?

Accepted Answer

The phrase “houses of clay” pictures human bodies as fragile houses made from clay, with a foundation in the dust. It reminds us that people are created from the dust of the ground and return to it. Eliphaz is saying that, compared with God, humans are weak, easily crushed, and short-lived, “destroyed from morning to evening.” The point is to show the huge gap between God’s strength and human frailty. This makes it foolish for anyone to set themselves up as more right than God.

Question 8

How can this passage guide how we talk to suffering people today?

Accepted Answer

This passage warns us to be slow to judge when someone is in deep trouble. Eliphaz knew true things about God’s holiness and about reaping what we sow, but he applied them in a cold way. He did not really enter Job’s pain, and he assumed that suffering must mean guilt. When we speak to hurting people, we should be honest about God, but also gentle, patient, and humble. We should avoid quick answers and remember that suffering can come even to the upright.

Question 9

Why does this passage feel difficult when it talks about the innocent never perishing?

Accepted Answer

The words are hard because we know of many faithful people who have suffered greatly. Eliphaz speaks as if there is a straight line between how good you are and how easy your life is. The wording has been read in more than one way, but in the story it is clear that this is not God’s final word. The rest of the account shows that Eliphaz’s simple rule does not fit Job. This helps us see that not every sentence spoken in the story is meant to be copied as good counsel.

Job 4:1

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Eliphaz: The Innocent Prosper

Eliphaz: The Innocent Prosper

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Job 4:1

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

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Eliphaz: The Innocent Prosper

Eliphaz: The Innocent Prosper

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