Why does Job 34:7 describe humans as drinking scorn like water? Text and Immediate Translation Job 34:7 : “What man is like Job, who drinks scorn like water?” Hebrew: מִגֶּבֶר כְּאִיּוֹב יִשְׁתֶּה־לַּעַג כַּמָּיִם׃ Key words: yishteh (“drinks”), laʿag (“scorn/derision”), kammayim (“like water”). Cultural Metaphor of Water Water in the Ancient Near East was both life-sustaining and plentiful in daily routine—drawing, pouring, drinking morning and evening. To “drink X like water” therefore signifies: • frequency—many times a day • volume—large quantities • instinct—without reflection (Job 20:18 contrasts “swallowing riches”). Elihu’s image pictures scorn as Job’s default intake. Literary Setting in Elihu’s Speeches (Job 32–37) • Elihu enters after the three friends fall silent (32:1). • His thesis: Job’s suffering does not license self-righteous complaint (33:12; 34:10). • 34:5-9 summarizes Job’s claims; v. 7 hyperbolically peaks the indictment—Job’s rhetoric has crossed into derision of God’s moral rule. • The phrase echoes Eliphaz’s earlier “drinks wickedness like water” (15:16), showing internal coherence of the dialogues and Elihu’s familiarity with previous arguments. Intertextual Parallels Job 15:16 “[Man] drinks iniquity like water.” Psalm 73:10 “They drink their fill of the waters of abundance” (of arrogance). Proverbs 19:28 “The mouth of the wicked gulps down iniquity.” These parallels reveal an idiom of habitual sin-absorption; Elihu adapts it to “scorn.” Theological Implications 1. Total Depravity: The metaphor exposes man’s ease in dishonoring God (Romans 3:14). 2. Self-Justification: Job’s earlier laments (“God has wronged me,” 19:6-7) shimmer here as functional scorn. 3. Divine Justice: Elihu protects God’s righteousness (34:10-12) while calling Job to humility (33:27). Philosophical Reflection Speech discloses ontology: “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). Consuming scorn points to an internal well poisoned by pride. Free creatures choose their intake; repeated choice enslaves (John 8:34). Christological Contrast Job drinks scorn; Christ offers “living water” (John 4:10; 7:37-38). The gospel supplies the antidote: receive, not mock, the Living God. At Calvary mockers surrounded Jesus (Matthew 27:39-44), yet He absorbed their derision and rose, proving the reversal of Job’s complaint and the vindication of God’s justice (Acts 17:31). Practical Application • Guard the tongue (James 3:8-12). • Cultivate gratitude to replace contempt (Ephesians 5:4). • Examine heart post-suffering; pain tempts scorn, but worship redirects thirst (Psalm 63:1-5). Teaching Questions 1. How does habitual language shape spiritual disposition? 2. Contrast Job 34:7 with Job 1:22 (“In all this Job did not sin”). What shifted? 3. How does Elihu prepare the narrative for God’s speeches in chs. 38–41? Summary Job 34:7 pictures a man gulping down derision with the same ease and frequency that one drinks water. The idiom conveys habitual, instinctive irreverence. Elihu uses it to rebuke Job’s slide into self-justifying scorn, upholding God’s unassailable righteousness. The text’s linguistic, manuscript, and thematic integrity reinforces Scripture’s coherence, while the metaphor warns every generation: what we choose to “drink” shapes the soul—scorn leads to death; the living water of Christ leads to life. |
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