Job 6:4 Commentary and Bible Study

He says that God is now a terror to him. Since they cannot see directly what he is feeling in his heart, let them judge by what he has expressed of his sufferings. Job is here almost admitting that he has gone too far in saying what he said in chapter 3, but he adds that it is not without cause – if only they knew. ‘Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?’ Don’t you understand what is happening to me, he asks. Yes, I have burst out with extravagant complaints, but that is because of the extreme nature of my trials. An ass is silent and contented when it has enough to eat, and an ox lies down in the pasture to digest its meal when it has had enough. If my suffering was not so extreme, I wouldn’t complain.Job also gives his opinion of Eliphaz’ advice – something insipid and tasteless like the white of an egg. How can Job derive comfort from this empty council which does him such injustice and totally fails to appreciate the depth of the problem? Although the three friends have sat in silence with him for seven days, when they do start to speak their hostility becomes apparent immediately. They have nothing to say which truly fits Job’s case. Sometimes they come out with moral truisms which fail to address Job’s case; at other times they are attacking him for imaginary sins which he is not guilty of.