John Burnight, «Does Eliphaz Really Begin 'Gently'? An Intertextual Reading of Job 4,2-11», Vol. 95 (2014) 347-370
It is widely believed that the Joban poet presents Eliphaz as seeking to reassure Job in his first speech, and only later accuses him of wrongdoing. One prominent exegete, for example, remarks that Eliphaz 'begins considerately, and proceeds with notable gentleness and courtesy' (Terrien). In this paper I propose that Eliphaz’s opening words are neither gentle nor reassuring. Instead, they are a sharp intertextual response to Job’s complaints that he can find no 'rest' (3,26) and that what he 'feared has come upon him' (3,25). In essence, Eliphaz is implying that Job has brought his suffering on himself.
02_Burnight-co_347_370 28/10/14 10:35 Pagina 362
362 JOHN BURNIGHT
tators have compared the use of the expression hrtsn wkrd here to
the occurrence of the same phrase in Isa 40,27 42:
Why do you say, O Jacob,
And assert, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the LORD,
And the justice due me escapes
the notice of my God?”
It is noteworthy that this is the only other occurrence of this ex-
pression in the Hebrew Bible. Here, Isaiah is comforting the people
by assuring them that the LORD is indeed aware of their (righteous)
conduct, and in the next few verses the prophet asserts that their
God will provide them with “rest” from their troubles (cf. Isa 40,28-
31). In Job 3,23, however, Job echoes Israel’s question but then
goes on to complain about his lack of “rest” in 3,26 (see discussion
of 4,1 above). Many scholars have remarked upon the numerous
thematic and intertextual links between Deutero-Isaiah and Job 43.
If this is in fact another such case, then the implication is clear: as
he has already indicated in the previous section (cf. 3,11-19), Job
sees death as the only sure guarantor of true rest. To Job, Isaiah’s
promise that God does indeed take note of the righteous “way” of
his servants is empty, for he believes that he has been abandoned
to his suffering.
Eliphaz, in turn, recognizes Job’s allusion and attempts to defend
his understanding of God’s justice. Just as in 4,2 he responded to
Job’s complaint of “exhaustion” in 3,26, and in 4,3-5 he rebuked
Job for his “fear” in 3,25, in 4,6 he castigates Job for his elliptical
self-justification, with the implication that God no longer perceives
42
In addition to Ehrlich and Tur-Sinai (cited above), see also Y. PYEON,
You Have Not Spoken What Is Right about Me. Intertextuality and the Book
of Job (Studies in Biblical Literature 45; New York 2003) 71; SEOW, Job 1–21,
369-370; and several others.
43
E.g., STRAHAN, The Book of Job Interpreted, 19; A. DAVIDSON – G. LAN-
CHESTER, The Book of Job (Cambridge 1918) lxx; R. GORDIS, The Book of
God and Man (Chicago, IL 1965) 145-149, 214-216, and The Book of Job.
Commentary. New Translation, and Special Studies (New York 1978) xxxi;
J. CRENSHAW, “Popular Questioning of the Justice of God in Ancient Israel”,
ZAW 82 (1970) 380-395 (see esp. 389); J. WHARTON, Job (Louisville, KY
1999) 10-11; and many others.
FOLLOW US