Albert Barnes Commentary Job 15

Should a wise man - Referring to Job, and to his claims to be esteemed wise (Job 13:2; Job 13:6). The argument of Eliphaz here is that the sentiments which Job had advanced were a sufficient refutation of his pretensions to wisdom. A wise man would not be guilty of "mere talk," or of using language that conveyed no ideas.

Utter - Literally, answer. It refers to the replies which Job had made to the arguments of his friends.

Vain knowledge - Margin, "Knowledge of wind." So the Hebrew (Job 7:7). The wind is used to denote what is unsubstantial, vain, changing. Here it is used as an emblem of remarks which were vain, empty, and irrelevant.

And fill his belly - Fill his mind with unsubstantial arguments or sentiments—as little fitted for utility as the east wind is for food. The image is, "he fills himself with mere wind, and then blows it out under pretense of delivering the maxims of wisdom."

With the east wind - The east wind was not only tempestuous and vehement, but sultry, and destructive to vegetation. It passed over vast deserts, and was characterized by great dryness and heat. It is used here to denote a manner of discourse that had in it nothing profitable.

Should he reason with unprofitable talk? It is not fitting for a man professing to be wise to make use of words that are nothing to the purpose. The sense is, that what Job said amounted to just nothing.

Yea, thou castest off fear—the margin says, “Make void.” Fear here means the fear or reverence of God. The idea is that Job had not maintained a proper veneration or respect for his Maker in his argument.

He had defended principles and made assertions that implied great disrespect for the Deity. If those doctrines were true, if he was right in his views about God, then God was not a being who could be reverenced.

No confidence could be placed in His government; no worship of such a being could be maintained. Eliphaz does not refer here so much to what was personal with Job as to his principles.

He does not mean so much to affirm that Job himself had lost all reverence for God, as that his arguments led to that conclusion. Job had maintained that God did not in this life reward and punish people strictly according to their deserts.

If this was so, Eliphaz says, then it would be impossible to honor Him, and religion and worship would be at an end.

The Hebrew word rendered “castest off”—more accurately rendered in the margin as “make void” (תפר tāpēr)—implies this. The verse continues, And restrainest prayer before God. The margin for “prayer” says “speech.”

The Hebrew word שׂיחה śı̂ychâh properly means “meditation”—and particularly meditation about divine things (Psalms 119:97).

Then it means “devotion,” as meditating on divine things is a part of devotion. It may be applied to any part of devotion and seems to be appropriately rendered “prayer.” It is that devotion which finds expression in the language of prayer.

The word rendered “restrainest” (תגרע tı̂gâra‛) means to shave off—like the beard—then to cut off, to take away, detract, or withhold.

The idea here is that the views Job maintained were such as “to sap the very foundations of religion.” If God treated the righteous and the wicked alike, the one would have nothing to hope and the other nothing to fear.

There could be no ground of encouragement to pray to Him. How could the righteous pray to Him unless there was evidence that He was the friend of virtue? How could they hope for His special blessing if He were disposed to treat the good and the bad alike?

Why was it not just as well to live in sin as to be holy? And how could such a being be the object of confidence or prayer?

Eliphaz mistook Job’s meaning and pressed his positions further than Job intended. Job was not entirely able to vindicate his position or to show how the consequences Eliphaz stated could be avoided.

“They both wanted the complete and full view of the future state of retribution revealed in the gospel, and that would have removed the whole difficulty.” But I do not see how the considerations urged here by this ancient sage, concerning the tendency of Job’s doctrine, can be avoided if applied to the views of those who hold that all people will be saved at death.

If that is the truth, then who can fail to see that the tendency must be to make people cast off the fear of God and to undermine all devotion and prayer? Why should people pray if all are to be treated alike at death?

How can people worship and honor a Being who will treat the good and the bad alike? How can we have confidence in a Being who makes no distinction regarding character? And what inducement can there be to be pious when all people will be made as happy as they can be forever, whether they are pious or not?

We are not to wonder, therefore, that the system tends everywhere to sap the foundations of virtue and religion, that it makes no one better, and that where it prevails, it banishes religion and prayer from the world.

For your mouth utters your iniquity - Margin, “teaches.” That is, “your whole argument shows that you are a guilty man. A man who can defend such positions about God cannot be a pious man, or have any proper veneration for the Most High.”

A man may pursue an argument, and defend positions that will as certainly show he is destitute of religion as if he lived an abandoned life. Moreover, he who holds opinions that are dishonorable to God can no more be a pious man than if he dishonored God by violating His law.

You choose the tongue of the crafty - Instead of pursuing an argument with candor and sincerity, you have resorted to miserable sophisms, such as glib debaters use. You have not shown a disposition to ascertain and defend the truth, but have relied on the arts and evasions of the subtle disputant and the rhetorician. His whole discourse, according to Eliphaz, was a work of mere art, designed to blind his hearers; to deceive them with a favorable opinion of his piety; and to give some plausible, but delusive view of the government of God.

Thine own mouth condemneth thee - That is, the sentiments which you have uttered show that you cannot be a pious man.