NOTES for Job 6:1-2

Of course, Job has nothing to say in reply to Eliphaz about what has been said. But he understands perfectly well that his friend's words in this case miss the target (vv. 26-30). Job had no intention at all of denying the obvious religious truths that were known to him no less than to Eliphaz or to any of his other friends. Job does not argue with Eliphaz or object to him at all. He says: how much longer can I endure, and what can I hope for (vv. 11-13)? The most terrible thing has happened: something has fallen upon a righteous person that he does not deserve in any way, and a human being can do nothing about it, because God explains nothing to him. He only strikes blow after blow, and human strength is not boundless (vv. 2-4).

Job had always feared sin and impurity most of all, and now he has fallen ill with a disease that makes a person unclean, a disease known to be sent by God to the most terrible sinners as punishment for their sins. Now God forces Job to live precisely in such impurity, like the worst sinner (vv. 5-7). It would be better if He gave Job the chance to die: death is the lot of everyone, there is no sin in it, and the death of a righteous person is as pure before God as his life. But death does not come, and there is no end in sight to a life spent in impurity (vv. 8-10).

Job, as we can see, is frightened not by death, but by a life whose meaning and purpose he does not see, and by a punishment whose reason he does not understand. In such a situation, it would truly have been better for his friends to keep silent and simply be near the sufferer, without trying to "instruct" him with common truths and general phrases (vv. 14-20). But they cannot be silent, and Job himself tells them why: they are afraid (v. 21). This, of course, is not fear of leprosy; otherwise Job's friends would hardly have come to him, and certainly would not have spent a whole week beside him. What frightens Job's friends is what he says. Job's words do not fit into the framework of traditional religiosity, and his friends try to "bring him to his senses," or in essence, to squeeze him back into the old framework that has become too tight for the sufferer. But Job stands firm in what he says; he is convinced that he is right (vv. 24, 29).