Commentary for Job 16:28

Job does not reply at once to the resolution of the question of the prosperity of the wicked advanced by Eliphaz, nor to the thesis Bildad adopts on his issue, preferring to wait until all three of his companions have addressed the subject. He then answers them all (in Chapter 21) in comprehensive response that rebuts everything they had said on the subject.

Nor does he react to Eliphaz's repetition of the claim he had made in his first oration, namely, that he had received a prophetic vision concerning the suffering of the righteous, as he had already replied to it at the time. He just rebukes him for repeating himself and for adding nothing new, as though all he wanted to do was to drown him with words, which is not the way of the wise (Ch.16:2-5).

Neither does he comment on the ideas Eliphaz repeats concerning free-will, there being no point in reiterating what he had already said.

And so he limits himself, at this point, to dealing to just two matters:

• The first, that Eliphaz had now sought to brand him as a totally evil person; one deserving of the condemnation and punishment due to the wicked. For everything he had described about the fears that possess a wicked person and his ultimate collapse had pointed the finger(Proverbs 6:13) at Job, for it had all happened to him. Job cries out and fiercely protests against this (Ch.16:7-21).

And the second, Eliphaz’s attempt to reinforce his previous thesis that the essential reward [of the righteous] is the survival of the soul after death, as when he said (Job 15:11): Are God's consolations inadequate for you; For you will return your spirit to God. Job rejects this completely, saying that since the essential quality of the soul is a hidden matter and most people cannot understand this mystery and see only that which is sensed, i.e., that the righteous person is tormented with suffering in real-life; and since as regards this other spiritual life, there is nobody who can give them a guarantee that the soul lives on after death, for such things are hidden from the seeing eye; and since even the intellect can make no sense of it, as he says (Job 17:4): But You have hidden comprehension from their minds, and since all human beings only set store by what is seen in real-life, there are those who, when they see a righteous person suffer, pass a perverse judgment over him and conclude from this that he must have sinned, as happened in the case of Job, whereas others will maintain that the person was indeed righteous and so complain about the workings of Providence.¹'If God wants us to do a thing, he should make his wishes sufficiently clear. Sensible people will wait till he has done this before paying much attention to him.' - Samuel Butler (1835–1902). It follows that this disposal of the suffering of the righteous and the prosperity of the wicked [viz. reward or punishment of the soul after death in the Hereafter] leads people to dissent and reproach, and to barren thought: it is a shadow of death in Governance; incoherent (Job 10:22). The righteous and the wicked should be given their just deserts in this world, for all to see, to learn and to take note; so that injustice be gagged (Psalms 107:42).

Job’s Reply
will bring clarity to you Heb. ימרצך. Your mouth will make you evaluate to think clear words with proper basis.

could speak like you I know how to chide as you do.

if your soul were in pain instead of my soul, I too would join words together against you and shake my head at you in your cry, and encourage you with my mouth, saying, “Be still, have courage, and endure your sufferings,” just as you are saying to me.

and the movement of my lips which I move and [with which I] complain now and cry, would then stop, and I would no longer cry or lament, but now...

Replying to Eliphaz’s taunt 'Your own mouth condemns you, not I; your own lips testify against you', Job rejects the notion that his ordeal and his refusal to bear it stoically are of themselves proof of his wickedness

you have silenced Heb. השמות, you have silenced, like (Dan. 4:16), “was appalled (אשתומם),” and like (Jer. 2:12), “O heavens, be astonished (שמו).” Be silent and wonder.

You have shriveled me up; it has become a witness You have shriveled me up and blackened me for a witness, for it has become a witness to my iniquity, to accuse me.

As is known from the annals of ancient peoples, when they wanted to investigate someone who was suspected of robbery or murder or of committing some such crime but who denied it, they would torture the suspect and look for his reaction. If they saw that he endured the suffering as though feeling nothing, they would conclude that the accusation was false. However, if they saw that he felt the effects of the torture and cried out, they judged the accusation to be true and so they continued to torture him still more. And when, in turn, he cried out still more, they became even more convinced of his guilt. Hence, the witness that they brought against the suspect to show that their suspicions were justified, was the torment that they themselves inflicted upon him.

My Adversary Satan is the adversary.

sharpens Heb. ילטוש, sharpens, like (Gen. 4:22), “who sharpened (לטש) every instrument etc.”

They open their mouth at me Heb. פערו, they open, like (Isa. 5:14), “and opened (ופערה) its mouth.”

they assemble Heb. יתמלאון, they gather, and there are many similar words in Scripture, e.g. (Jer. 12:6), “have called a gang (מלא) after you”; (Isa. 31:4), “although a band (מלא) of shepherds gather against him,” but it does not deviate from its original meaning because every filling (מלוי) is a gathering together.

God delivers me to a fool The Holy One, blessed be He, delivered me to a fool, a scorner, a mocker, to be scornful of me.

and heals me through the hands of the wicked Heb. ירטני. The bandage of His consolations and my healing He delivered to the wicked, who only provoke. Another explanation: יַרְטֵנִי is like יַרְצֵנִי, He placates me, an expression of placating and consolation

but he crumbled me to pieces Heb. ויפרפני. That fool [crumbled me]. [It is] an expression of crumbs (פרורין).

Job once again describes the suffering his ordeal has brought upon him, the ordeal that Eliphaz has suggested is the very proof of his wrong-doing. What he is enduring is not proof of any wrong-doing but is just an act of brutality.

and shattered me Heb. ויפצפצני, an expression of something being broken into many fragments with a hard blow, like (Jer. 13:14), “And I will dash them (ונפצתים), one against the other”; (Ps. 137:90), “and dash (ונפץ) your little ones against the rock. “

His archers רביו, the one who shoots his arrows, as in (Gen. 21:20), “and he became an archer (רבה קשת).”

my gall Heb. מְרֵירָתִי, my gall.

my scab Heb. גלדי, a dry wound that forms a crust, and [in] the language of the Mishnah (Rosh Hashanah 27b): He scraped it (the shofar) down to a thin crust (גלדו).

Job's outcry was no more than should be expected from someone who has endured such an ordeal.

and sullied Heb. ועללתי, and I sullied, like (Jud. 19:25), “and abused (ויתעללו) her,” an expression of disgrace and abasement, and like (Lam. 3:51), “sullies (עוללה) my soul.”

my radiance Heb. קרני, my radiance, an expression of (Habakkuk 3:4): “rays of light (קרנים) came to them from his hand.”

became shriveled Heb. חמרמרו, like (Chullin 3:3), “and its internal organs became shriveled (ונחמרו),” in the language of the Mishnah. Similarly (Lam. 1:20), “my intestines have become shriveled (חמרמרו).”

the shadow of death it became darkened from weeping and tears.

and my prayer is pure I did not curse my friend nor did I think any evil against him.

In heaven they know that he is guiltless; that his suffering is not proof of sin.

and let there be no place in the earth to absorb my cry, but it should ascend to heaven.

behold my Witness is in heaven My Creator, Who knows my ways.

pours out Heb. דלפה, tears and sprays tears, an expression of dripping (דלוף).

Would that a man could reason If only He would do this for me, that He would give me a place so that a man could reason with God, to liken the two contentions: the contention of man with his Maker, and the contention of man with his fellow.

For numbered [years] The limited number of the days of my life.

Eliphaz had argued that the true reward of the righteous is the survival of the soul after death. Job now challenges Eliphaz to bring proof that there is a life after death.

will come Will arrive, and then I will go on a way from which I will not return.