Practice What You Preach

Behold, you have taught many, and you have strengthened weak hands.   Your words have helped the stumbling to stand, and you have strengthened ^[b]feeble knees.  But now it comes to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are horrified.  Is your ^[c]fear of God not your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?  Job 4:3-6  NASB

Horrified – “You didn’t expect this!”   That’s the background context of bahal, the verb translated “horrified” in this verse.  It has a wider umbrella of meanings, like “be disturbed, alarm, terrify,” and “to hurry,” but Martens’ comment explains how it is used:

The verb bāhal occurs fifty times, eleven of which are in the Aramaic section of Daniel with similar meaning. Synonyms are ḥārad “tremble, be afraid,” pāḥad “be afraid,” and yāgōr a general word meaning “to fear.” yārēʾrefers to a reverential fear. bāhal usually expresses an emotion of one who is confronted with something unexpected, threatening or disastrous (e.g. Israel at the news of Abner’s death, II Sam 4:1; or the Benjamites when ambushed, Jud 20:41).^[1]

With this in mind, read the verse again.  What is Eliphaz suggesting?  Job expected his life to be satisfying, prosperous, and protected.  In fact, all the signs were there.  He was a rock for others.  He lifted up those who fell.  He taught life principles.  But something happened; something completely unprecedented.  All the disaster that fell on others suddenly came to him, and his collapse erased all the previous goodwill he had shown.  Horrified?  Yes, but also dismayed, alarmed, discouraged.  Eliphaz questions Job’s prior righteousness, asking, “Don’t you realize that your previous respect and confidence in YHVH and your past trust in Him still provides hope?”  Eliphaz doesn’t discount Job’s record, at least not yet.  Instead, he points to the character of Job’s life and says, in effect, “Hey, God is still with you.  Don’t give up.”  We may discover that Eliphaz’s argument turns in another direction when it comes to explaining Job’s current situation but at this point he supports his friend.  “Your faith has been a beacon to many.  It still is.  Don’t walk away now.”  It reminds me of the Twelve Step saying, “Don’t quit one minute before the miracle.”

Perhaps we all need this kind of reminder.  We might not understand why disaster befalls us.  In fact, like Job we might be caught totally by surprise.  We may have assumed we were on the right track and things should be different.  But they aren’t.  Is that a reason to walk away?  Do we turn our backs on all the past because now, at this moment, everything seems wrong?  Are we so self-absorbed that we forget what it was like in the light when we’re now in the dark?  Job has plenty of reason to be discouraged, even angry.  But the record of his past faith isn’t scratched away because life took an unexpected turn.  History counts for something.  This message is one that Israel needed to hear too.  If Job is a postexilic story of hope, then it must begin with the foundation of the past.  God hasn’t left despite what it may seem.  Start there, says Eliphaz.

Good advice.

Topical Index: bahal, unexpected, history, faith, Job 4:3-6

^[1] Martens, E. A. (1999). 207 בָּהַל. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 92). Moody Press.