Bible Commentary - Job 6

In this chapter, Job replies to Eliphaz.

This chapter, like many other chapters in the book, uses a lot of flowery and evocative imagery for what is at essence a relatively simple point. I’ll do my best to try to unpack this chapter and explain the underlying points but I personally think this is a relatively simple chapter, and expect my commentary to be fairly short.

It seems like Job has just two or three main points in this chapter. His first point is that he calls his own complaint (from chapter 3, earlier) “rash” and that his words “belong to the wind”. The basic idea is that Job says he is speaking out of his emotions and pain, and that nobody should have treated him as though he were making a calm, rational argument about his own righteousness or broad theological topics. Job’s second point is that his friends were “deceptive” because he thought they would provide him comfort, and instead Eliphaz (and soon the other two) have been adversarial, challenging him as if they were in some sort of debate.

From this, I think we can establish a fairly strong point about grief counseling. If someone is pouring out his or her heart to you, and talking about the hardships they have gone through recently, you should not tell them about how it’s their fault even if it’s true. Even if “you told them so” and had warned them about the behavior that resulted in their present catastrophe. If someone is going through a hardship, 99% of the time they will be smart enough and aware enough that they will figure out for themselves why things turned out badly. That 1% of the time when they don’t, they almost definitely won’t want to hear about it from you. The sole exception is if the person specifically asks for advice about what they might have done wrong or how they should change their behavior; upon being asked for advice, feel free to offer it (but with compassion and empathy). If not asked for advice, do not provide it, because the suffering person almost definitely doesn’t want it.

Overall, I think our high level conclusion here is that Job’s friends seem to want to adhere to their theology rather than be, like, actually good friends. I think Job is right, his friends are not comforting him which is really what being a friend is about in these kinds of situations. There are times when a friend needs to be a harsh voice of truth, but this is not that time.

Lastly, as a somewhat smaller point, Job continues to claim his righteousness as he has not “denied the words of the Holy One” and has refused to curse God like his wife suggested to him. This is the basis of Job’s continued self-defense, that he does not feel like he has done anything wrong, and as long as he says it, his friends will continue to attack him.

In the next chapter, Job continues sharing his emotional grief.