Job 4:6Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Aquila reflects on "your enduring patience and the straightforwardness of your conduct," but he mistakenly seeks to rationalize his plight. He expresses, "the dreadful fate I feared has come upon me" (Job 3:25), suggesting that this dread stemmed from "foolishness" and that "hope" emerged from the "wickedness" of the heart. It is unfathomable for someone living righteously to anticipate such outcomes; thus, you have acknowledged that your life was wrong; where there is a desire for holiness, fear is unwarranted.

Although the Scriptures affirm that Job did not speak wrongly about God (Job 1:22), one of his friends, holding a differing view regarding his afflictions, assumed Job's suffering was a consequence of his sins and perceived his words as lacking reverence. He remarked that Job's fear was not without merit, as he considered himself to be in the right, along with his hope and the wickedness of his conduct. This friend deemed Job's expectation of being vindicated as illogical, arguing that the righteous do not endure such tribulations. Eliphaz labeled Job's conduct as a path of vice, firmly believing that the blessed could only suffer due to wrongdoing. Consequently, he also deemed Job's reasoning as irrational.

Notes: * LXX. Synod. translation: Shall not thy fear of God be thy hope, and the integrity of thy ways thy trust? -

Job's lamentations regarding his circumstances provoke responses from his friends, sparking an extensive discourse on the reasons behind his afflictions. Eliphaz takes the initiative as the first to contest Job's words. After seeking permission to express his thoughts, he expresses his astonishment that someone who has often comforted others in distress now voices such intense grievances, particularly when Job's own righteous actions should assure him of a favorable outcome. He draws from personal experience to argue that integrity typically protects one from calamity; conversely, cruelty and aggression cannot shield anyone from divine displeasure. This leads him to assert that were Job genuinely virtuous, he would not endure such tribulations.