What is the meaning of Job 15:18? What was declared Eliphaz stresses that the message he is about to share is no personal guesswork. It is a settled, time-tested word. • “I will relate what I have seen” (Job 15:17) underscores firsthand observation, not rumor. • Like Moses reminding Israel, “These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts” (Deuteronomy 6:6–7), Eliphaz points to truth meant for every generation, not a passing opinion. • Psalm 78:2–4 models the same impulse: “We will not hide them from their children; we will proclaim… the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord.” What is declared is meant to anchor faith and moral conduct. By wise men Eliphaz appeals to a recognized line of godly thinkers—“wise men.” • Wisdom in Scripture is not mere intelligence but reverent alignment with God (Proverbs 9:10). These men lived within that framework. • Their teachings resemble the collective counsel found later in Proverbs 1:5, where “a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel.” • By invoking this company of sages, Eliphaz argues that Job’s complaints contradict the consistent testimony of those who fear the Lord (cf. Psalm 111:10). And was not concealed from their fathers Truth was handed down openly, not hidden in secret societies. • Transparency echoes Deuteronomy 29:29: “The revealed things belong to us and to our children forever.” The fathers preserved what God revealed for the benefit of all descendants. • The open transmission guards against distortion; Paul later urges Timothy similarly, “Entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Timothy 2:2). • Eliphaz’s point: generations have safeguarded this wisdom, so Job should listen rather than challenge it. The unbroken chain lends authority to the counsel about God’s justice and human sinfulness. summary Job 15:18 highlights the reliability of the counsel Eliphaz offers—drawn from observations, affirmed by godly sages, and faithfully passed down without secrecy. In the debate over suffering, Eliphaz insists that longstanding, openly transmitted wisdom supports the view that trouble comes as God’s just response to human sin. |
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