implication, Job’s suffering proves his guilt. Perhaps Eliphaz’s experience was limited in scope. Perhaps it was a position that the author of Job crafted in order to make a statement or to later undermine it. Or maybe this is Eliphaz’s hope for the world—even in the midst of Job’s tragedy, which seems to counter it. Sometimes evil is requited and virtue is rewarded but it is not frequent enough for such a statement to be offered unconditionally.
The Targum struggles with the theology of the verse by suggesting that it is not a reference to an individual. Rather, it is referring to an entire generation: “the generation that is sunk in false deeds and that serves vanity will receive a similar recompense.”
Rashi explains that just as those who would plant seeds must first plow the land, so those who would devise evil must first think it through in order to bring it into action. Even so, such malefactors will find that they will harvest the evil intended for others.
4:9 They are destroyed with one breath by God. They are consumed by a snort of Divine anger.
If it was unclear in Eliphaz’s previous statements whether God was the implied source of such reward and punishment, he makes it explicit in this statement. The author of Job, through the statement of Eliphaz, makes a conventional presentation that is buoyed by a standard hoped for result: vice will be defeated and virtue will be defended.
In order for Rashi to reconcile the theology of the verse with what he experiences in daily living, he contends that “consumed” means to be “totally consumed,” making reference to the generation of the flood.
4:10 Old lions may roar and young lions may howl, yet the teeth of the cubs will be broken.
Even those who are among the fiercest of creatures are sometimes unable to protect their young. Whether this is a metaphor, poetry or simple illustration from nature, the theology seems at odds with preceding verses. For the Targum, this verse contains a statement about the people of Israel rather than an individual. It renders it as “Seir (Rome) is comparable to a ravaging lion whose cry resounds like a raging bear which terrifies [people] by its violence and whose officials are like lions ranging out to find prey.” Rashi understands the words as describing the different sizes of lions, as a metaphor for the various ranks of those in power in Rome, the kings, officials, and servants of Rome who will be destroyed as enemies of Israel.
4:11 Lacking prey, a lion perishes. Scattered are the cubs of the lioness.
Without food, even a lion dies. So its offspring are scattered, forced to seek food that once was provided by the parents. Eliphaz is arguing that there is no arbitrary pattern to the world. If Job now suffers, he did something to deserve that suffering.
4:12 A word came to me in secret. My ear picked up a trace of it.
With this verse, Eliphaz changes the subject. Rather than relying on what he has observed in the world, the focus of his previous statements, he now offers a different source for the information he wants to share with Job. Rashi understands that Eliphaz has returned to the posture of reproach from 4:7. Now he claims that he has received insight by way of prophecy on Job’s behalf.
4:13 In troubling thoughts set up by dreams of the night when deep sleep falls on humans.
This is a continuation of the sentiments expressed in the previous verse. Eliphaz has received this communication in the night, probably in a dream or in those few moments of confusion when one first awakes after a dream.
4:14 I was seized by trembling fear and all my bones began to shake.
This verse serves as the author’s introduction to the feelings of a night terror. Often this phrase is translated as “fear and trembling,” the same phrase in English used by the philosopher Soren Kirkegaard to describe the suspension of the ethical during Abraham’s journey to sacrifice his son Isaac known as the akedah (literally, binding). Eliphaz is clearly terrified by what he has experienced.
4:15 A spirit slithered past my face and all my hair stood on end.
Eliphaz’s sentiment—as expressed by the author—is quite clear. Eliphaz is scared and uncomfortable. To use a more colloquial expression that reflects the image of hair standing on end: it has him “freaked out.”
4:16 Although it stood still, I could not make out what it was. There was something in front of me. There was silence and then I heard a voice.
Just reading Eliphaz’s description is scary. You can feel his fear. He experienced something in his dream or as a result of his dream. The intent of the author—whether to tell us that the terror was evoked 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
