So much for the third attempt to convict Job and bring him to confession. It is a bolt shot apparently at a venture, yet it strikes where it must wound to the quick. Here, however, made aware, perhaps by a look of anguish or a sudden gesture, that he has gone too far, Eliphaz draws back. To the general dogma that affliction is the lot of every human being he returns, that the sting may be taken out of his words:--
"_For disaster cometh not forth from the dust, And out of the ground trouble springeth not; But man is born unto trouble As the sparks fly upward._"
By this vague piece of moralising, which sheds no light on anything, Eliphaz betrays himself. He shows that he is not anxious to get at the root of the matter. The whole subject of pain and calamity is external to him, not a part of his own experience. He would speak very differently if he were himself deprived of all his possessions and laid low in trouble. As it is he can turn glibly from one thought to another, as if it mattered not which fits the case. In fact, as he advances and retreats we discover that he is feeling his way, aiming first at one thing, then at another, in the hope that this or that random arrow may hit the mark. No man is just beside God. Job is like the rest, crushed before the moth. Job has spoken passionately, in wild resentment. Is he then among the foolish whose habitation is cursed? But again, lest that should not be true, the speaker falls back on the common lot of men, born to trouble--why, God alone can tell. Afterwards he makes another suggestion. Is not God He who frustrates the devices of the crafty and confounds the cunning, so that they grope in the blaze of noon as if it were night? If the other explanations did not apply to Job's condition, perhaps this would. At all events something might be said by way of answer that would give an inkling of the truth. At last the comparatively kind and vague explanation is offered, that Job suffers from the chastening of the Lord, who, though He afflicts, is also ready to heal. Glancing at all possibilities which occur to him, Eliphaz leaves the afflicted man to accept that which happens to come home.
IV. Eloquence, literary skill, sincerity, mark the close of this address. It is the argument of a man who is anxious to bring his friend to a right frame of mind so that his latter days may be peace. "As for me," he says, hinting what Job should do, "I would turn to God, and set my expectation upon the Highest." Then he proceeds to give his thoughts on Divine providence. Unsearchable, wonderful are the doings of God. He is the Rain-giver for the thirsty fields and desert pastures. Among men, too, He makes manifest His power, exalting those who are lowly, and restoring the joy of the mourners. Crafty men, who plot to make their own way, oppose His sovereign power in vain. They are stricken as if with blindness. Out of their hand the helpless are delivered, and hope is restored to the feeble. Has Job been crafty? Has he been in secret a plotter against the peace of men? Is it for this reason God has cast him down? Let him repent, and he shall yet be saved. For
"_Happy is the man whom Eloah correcteth, Therefore spurn not thou the chastening of Shaddai. For He maketh sore and bindeth up; He smiteth, but His hands make whole. In six straits He will deliver thee; In seven also shall not evil touch thee. In famine He will rescue thee from death, And in war from the power of the sword. When the tongue smiteth thou shalt be hid; Nor shalt thou fear when desolation cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh; And of the beasts of the earth shalt not be afraid. For with the stones of the field shall be thy covenant; With thee shall the beasts of the field be at peace. So shalt thou find that thy tent is secure, And surveying thy homestead thou shalt miss nothing. Thou shalt find that thy seed are many, And thy offspring like the grass of the earth; Thou shalt come to thy grave with white hair, As a ripe shock of corn is carried home in its season. Behold! This we have searched out: thus it is. Hear it, and, thou, consider it for thyself!_"