by a nightmare or something that happened to Eliphaz when he awoke—is unclear. Something moved past Eliphaz, either a wind or a spirit. Then it stopped in front of him. He could not tell what it was even though it stopped in front of him, literally, “in front of his eyes.” Then out of the silence came a voice. The phrase resonates, as Ibn Ezra points out, with the verse from 1 Kings 19:12, kol demama dakah (a still small voice)—which announces that a kind of prophecy will follow.
4:17 Can a human be more righteous than God? Can one be more than one’s maker?
Apparently, these questions emerged from the voice in the previous verse. While these questions are to be read as statements, Rashi sees them as real questions. And since his answer to both questions is “no,” he sees no value in complaining.
4:18 Behold God does not trust the divine servants and charges the angels with error.
This argument is strained. What does God’s mistrust and impugning of heavenly beings have to do with Job’s suffering? Job is a human being. No one has asked him to be more than human. Others may sin. Others may fail. But what does this have to do with Job? The author is making the argument: if divine servants and angels can’t be trusted not to sin, then how can a mere mortal like Job claim that he has not sinned?
While most readers will assume that God’s mistrust of the angels is negative—perhaps they were responsible for carrying out God’s instructions to destroy Job’s life—Rashi offers us a more positive perspective. He claims that the angels are righteous. Knowing that they are human and might sin—an insight into Rashi’s perspective on angels from which we might learn—God takes them from this life before their time so that they cannot sin.
4:19 How much the more for those who live in clay houses, whose foundations are in the dust, who can be crushed easier than a moth.
The author makes a point in the form of a logic syllogism: if those close to God—either servants or semidivine beings—are not worthy of God’s concern, how much less worthy can mere mortals be? At a time when authority of whatever kind could not be questioned, such an argument might have made sense to the reader. It makes little sense in our time when the way we think and what we have experienced have made many people question authority of any kind. Even as it is presented here, the argument is problematic. We humans as mortals are indeed limited in knowledge and lifespan. But we can still ask, if we are not worthy of God’s concern, why would such a Deity be worthy of our concern? What kind of Deity would place us on this earth and have no regard for us?
4:20 They are crushed between morning and evening [but] no one cares. They disappear forever.
This echo from Ecclesiastes reflects the life and death of many people—even in our own time. For those whose lives are “crushed,” no one notices that they are gone. They are forgotten. For Rashi, this “crushing” is important. It takes place within one day. Those who are crushed don’t even care enough to return to their Maker.
4:21 Has not their thread of life been pulled out? They shall die without wisdom.
Perhaps we are dealing with an idiom in this verse that might have made sense to tent-dwellers and their descendants but did not fit the city world in which the book of Job is played out.
Ibn Ezra tells us that this verse is about the money that people will lose at the time of their deaths. He contends that these people will die without wisdom, because they thought that they should amass wealth rather than knowledge, forgetting that humans were created to acquire wisdom.
God’s Attribute of Justice
According to rabbinic tradition, God’s attribute of justice (called midat hadin) is held in balance by God’s attribute of compassion (called midat harachamim). These are God’s two primary attributes. This notion is consistent with the rabbinic idea of opposing categories and the search for the Golden Mean at their center. The goal of prayer is to move God from the state of hadin to the implementation of harachamim. According to the Rabbis, God’s own prayer is “May my attribute of compassion overcome my attribute of justice.” We live in a relationship with God that is contextualized by the tension between these two attributes.
Chapter 5
5:1 Call out now. Who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
Eliphaz continues his presentation from the previous chapter. By using Eliphaz to raise these questions, the author has raised others. Job has suffered. Does he expect his suffering to be justified? Does he expect to be saved from his present difficulty by a miraculous intervention? Moreover, does anyone who suffers expect to be justified? Can anyone expect divine intervention?
5:2 Anger will kill a fool and jealousy will slay the simple.
While it is difficult to discern the relationship of this verse to Job’s situation, the author is clearly quoting some sort of proverb or truism. Perhaps he is simply telling Job that anger—however deserved—will not help him to resolve his predicament. Only a fool would think that the expression of anger can make a difference. Jealousy of good fortune comes from looking at others without seeing deeply inside of the individual and his or her situation. Those who were jealous of Job were jealous when he was well-off. They ceased being jealous once they discerned his later predicament.
5:3 Although I saw such a fool put down roots, suddenly I cursed the fool’s home.
Why would Eliphaz curse the fool’s home? Perhaps Eliphaz is suggesting that the fool’s actions bring a curse to the home in which the fool lives—or to the fool’s family that lives in the fool’s home. That would mean that Eliphaz is implying that Job brought the curse to his family (read: his home).
5:4 The fool’s children will be far from any help. Wronged in court, they will be without a defender.
Eliphaz considers Job to be a simple fool. As a result, Job, like others like him, pass down their punishment to their children. Even in a court of law, presumed to be sensitive to children who are at a disadvantage, no one will help them. The “court” for Ibn Ezra (b’shaar, literally, the gate) is simply “in public.”
5:5 The hungry eat what the fool harvested. Picking out the thorns, the thirsty pant after what the fool has.
This verse has to be translated in the context of the previous verses. The first clause of this verse suggests that the fool cannot even control his or her own property. As a result, someone who is hungry can just come and eat. And even the harvest is of poor quality since it is full of “thorns.” Whatever the specifics, this is clearly a continuation of Eliphaz’s attack against his so-called friend Job.
5:6 Disaster does not come from the dust nor does trouble sprout out of the ground.
Quoting some sort of a proverb or idiom, the author is suggesting that trouble is not due to nature; instead it is a result of human activity.
5:7 To be human is to be born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
This verse has a far deeper meaning than might be seen at first glance. The vicissitudes of the human situation are linked to bnai reshef (sparks). Rashi contends that it is impossible for a human being to refrain from sinning and therefore be punished. He explains that bnai reshef are angels. Because of their supernal status they are untouched by the blandishments of Satan and the Evil Inclination. So they are able to fly on high.
5:8 If it were me, I would seek God. I would place my plea before God.
While the literal translation of this verse could yield “However, I would seek God,” we are following Rashi’s explanation of “Were these chastisements to have come upon me, ‘I would seek God.’” After all, this is a theological text whose ultimate goal is to urge the individual to develop a closer relationship with God. This would be the author’s suggestion even had Eliphaz not explained the cause of Job’s problems as Job’s own fault. It is what we would suggest, as well, although the context in which it is made—the game being played with Job by God and Satan—continually threatens to undermine the suggestion.
5:9 God does great things beyond understanding,