running stubbornly against him with a thickly bossed shield;
Eliphaz has been painting a long portrait of the wicked man, and here that man charges at God like a soldier behind a heavy studded shield. The real question is whether Eliphaz had any right to pin that picture on the suffering man in front of him.
The Picture Eliphaz Paints
This man thinks he can take God on and win. One commentator follows him through the rest of the speech — alarm inside him now, and a sure end ahead.
William KellyThe voice of alarm never leaves his ears. In peace the destroyer is invading him; and, if darkness surrounds him, he has no hope of getting out. He knows that the day of darkness is ready at hand, full of anguish and distress. Even so, he plays the hero against God, and rushes on Him as if he could fight it out. But God is not mocked, and the end, if it is slow in coming, comes.
Whose Shield Is It
Commentators differ on the shield. Some read it as the rebel's own shield, held up as he attacks. Others read it as God's shield, and the attacker hurls himself at it. One commentator sees the same scene in the rulers who tried to silence the apostles.
William KellyThey fully knew the remarkable deed just done by the apostle. They recognised it as not merely a miracle but "a sign". Yet they strengthened themselves against the Almighty, running on the thick bosses of His shield. God's hand was plain to see and His lesson clear, yet they work together on purpose to wipe out its effects.
Eliphaz Means Job
Eliphaz has a living target. He builds his case out of Job's own admissions.
Leslie M. GrantJob admitted he was afraid because of his great suffering. So Eliphaz considered this another proof of Job's wickedness. "He has stretched out his hand against God and defies the Almighty, running stubbornly against Him" (vv.25-26). These were things that Eliphaz saw in Job, so that he felt himself right in comparing Job to wicked men. Certainly in all this Eliphaz showed a painful lack of discernment and unfeeling cruelty.
Another writer follows the same picture to its end, and then names the man Eliphaz has in view.
Samuel RidoutThis imaginary wicked person had stretched out his hand against the Almighty. With stiff neck, and thick bosses of wickedness as a shield, he dared to defy God! ... his substance fails, the darkness falls, the fire reaches him, and he perishes at the breath of God! A fearsome picture indeed — and he thinks he is describing Job!
The Assumption That Ruins The Argument
The charge only works if present trouble measures present guilt. That is where all three friends went wrong.
William KellyHere was where they went astray. They assumed that how the world looks now is an adequate expression of God's judgment of men's ways. This assumption runs through the speeches of the three friends. At first they express it calmly, but in the end it hardens into severity... Here was a soul suffering a succession of troubles beyond all example. Who could point out the man subjected to such dealings since the world began?
The Truth The Verse Does Carry
Misapplied to Job, the words still describe something real. One writer sees this same rush at God in a day still to come.
Edward DennettHistory will show it once more. If man in his daring godlessness dares to rush upon "the thick bosses of the shields" of God, it brings only his instant and complete destruction.
Why Job Was Really Suffering
The book gives the real reason for Job's trial. It is the opposite of Eliphaz's theory.
William KellyGod singled Job out, not because there was something evil hidden beneath apparent blamelessness, but because he was the most upright man then living on earth... The trial proved that he did not serve God for gain or ease. He clung to God when all was lost, and gained nothing except the most intense suffering for soul and body. This was because he took it all from God, without in the least knowing why the blessed and blessing God should hand over to torture the one He loved.
Summary
- The charge — Eliphaz sketches a man who plays the hero against God and rushes at Him as though he could win the fight.
- The target — he takes Job's fear and Job's own words as proof. He counts the sufferer among the wicked, and shows a painful lack of discernment.
- The flaw — the whole speech rests on one false assumption: that how life looks now shows God's verdict on a man.
- The truth — the image is still true of real defiance; to run at God's shield brings instant, complete ruin.
- The reversal — Job did not suffer because evil hid under his blamelessness. He suffered because he was the most upright man alive, and he held on to God when all was gone.