Job 6:14

JOB LEVELED HIS COMPLAINT AGAINST HIS FRIENDS

"To him that is ready to faint kindness should be showed from his friend;

Even to him that forsaketh the fear of the Almighty.

My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook,

As the channel of brooks that pass away;

Which are black by reason of the ice,

And wherein the snow hideth itself.

What time they wax warm, they vanish;

When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place.

The caravans that travel by the way of them turn aside;

They go up into the waste and perish.

The Caravans of Tema looked,

The companies of Sheba waited for them.

They were put to shame because they had hoped;

They came thither and were confounded.

For now ye are nothing;

Ye are a terror, and are afraid.

Did I say, Give unto me?

Or, Offer a present to me of your substance?

Or, Deliver me from the adversary's hand?

Or, Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors?"

In these verses, Job not only replied to Eliphaz, but to all of his comforters.

"To him that is ready to faint should be showed kindness from his friend" (Job 6:14). This was the very thing his three friends had not shown Job. Job even went further and declared that such sympathy and kindness should be extended to a person, `if he had forsaken,' God (Job 6:14). Hesser described this anguished cry as:

"One of the most pathetic lines in literature."[16] This verse carries with it the strong implication that, "Eliphaz had let Job down."[17] "Job's friends had come to him physically, but they had disappointed him because they showed no pity."[18]

"My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook" (Job 6:15). The type of brook to which Job compared his friends was that intermittent `wash' or wady of the desert, sure to be dry if any one depended on it for water.

"The caravans of Tema ... companies of Sheba" (Job 6:19). These were probably well known examples of caravans that were lost in the desert because of the untimely failure of such `brooks.' The tragedies that befell them, unknown to us, might have been remembered by many in Job's generation.

DeHoff explained what Job meant by this remarkable simile. "When Job was in prosperity, his friends were loyal to him; but, when he was struck down with suffering, they rejected him."[19] They were just like those undependable `brooks' that had water in the winter time, but none at all when the water was needed.

"Ye are nothing" (Job 6:21). That was just Job's way of saying his friends were worthless as far as any benefit to Job was concerned. The prodigal son in the parable also saw all of his friends forsake him when he ran out of money.

"Ye see a terror, and are afraid" (Job 6:21). Here Job gives the reason for his friend's refusal to comfort him. "Their conduct is dictated by fear that, if they show compassion on Job, God may view it as criticism of his providence and suddenly plague them like Job."[20]

"Did I say give unto me" (Job 6:21)? In this and the following two verses, "Job's friends treat him like he had requested a loan, plenty of advice, but no hard cash."[21] "Job desired only one thing of his friends, sympathy; and that he did not get."[22]