Eliphaz appeals to Job's fear of God. This seems reasonable, since Job has not lost faith; he rejected his wife's blasphemous appeal, acting, by the way, more steadfastly and reasonably than Adam. Eliphaz speaks correctly; it is impossible, and unnecessary, to refute his words. But Eliphaz's problem and limitation is that he is confident everything can be explained rationally. Here we encounter one of the attempts to understand God on the basis of one's own inevitably limited ideas. They may be more or less wise and deep, and they may correspond to correct ideas about the spiritual world to one degree or another, but they cannot give a complete picture of the Truth that cannot be expressed in ordinary words and cannot be exhausted.

Eliphaz's words, who that was innocent ever perished, and where were the upright ever cut off? - might seem excessively optimistic, especially since they are not hard to refute; one can cite a great many examples that refute them. But he presents these words as a reproach, and so Job's additional torture begins: he is forced to endure accusations from friends who are certain that Job has been rightly punished for sins and who do not doubt their right to denounce him.

How easily one can move from compassion to hard-heartedness...

Job's friends, of course, could not leave unanswered the cry they had heard, although that cry was in essence addressed not to them but to God. Still, as Eliphaz observed, who could compel him, or any of those taking part in the conversation that had begun, to be silent (v. 2)? All the more when the subject was such fundamental matters as righteousness and humility before God! And Eliphaz begins his exhortation. He, like the rest of Job's friends, says things that are completely correct from the point of view of any religion.

Indeed, Job had surely more than once had to speak encouraging words to those who found themselves in a difficult situation, perhaps one like the situation in which Job himself now found himself (vv. 3-4). And now Eliphaz calls Job to courage. He says to him: what sort of example are you showing to those whom you used to support (v. 5)? The call to courage is followed by a quite traditional, religiously impeccable reflection that God does not abandon the righteous person, that he will not perish, that righteous Job should not despair, that he may boldly rely on his righteousness and be confident that everything will end well for him, since he is not wicked (vv. 6-11).

Such a speech might seem like the speech of a professional religious optimist, highly inappropriate and even somewhat mocking, if Eliphaz were not being utterly frank with Job, the way people are frank only with close friends. He shares with Job his own deeply personal, even one might say intimate, experience of a revelation he himself had lived through (vv. 12-21). Its meaning is quite understandable: a human being is never clean and blameless before God, so no one can be certain of anything when it comes to relationship with Him. And if that is so, then anything can happen even to a righteous person; a righteous life cannot be a one-hundred-percent guarantee against troubles and misfortunes. Still, Job is a righteous man, and he has nothing to fear. He need only rely on God, trust Him completely, and all will be well.