Job 15:1-2

Then Eliphaz, the Temanite,

   replied saying:

Should a wise man respond to empty opinion,

   A bellyful of hot air from the East?

 

I finally got past my trips and got caught up on work enough to order my rowing machine and my home gym. Today, I need to clean out the garage for them. And air up the tires on the cars, wash some cars, clean the hot tub, etc. It is good to have these swings of productivity amongst my days of not.

‘Should’ was also ‘would’, ‘does’, ‘will’, and ‘what’. ‘Respond to’ was ‘answer’ or ‘utter’. ‘Empty opinion’ was also ‘windy knowledge’, ‘empty notions’, ‘empty knowledge’, ‘vain knowledge’, ‘windy opinions’, ‘windy wisdom’, and ‘ideas of hot air’. That’s all eight sources having a different set of two words.

‘Bellyful’ was also ‘fill themselves’, ‘fill his belly’, etc. ‘Hot air from the East’ was also ‘the East wind’, or simply ‘wind’.

Reading my notes, the verse is sarcasm when equating wisdom from the East to hot air. Once I read that sarcasm was a sin, I have tried not to use it myself. I probably am not as successful as I would like to be. Obviously, Eliphaz is calling himself wise and Job a man full of vain opinions and wondering aloud if he should really bother to respond. The phrase that comes to mind is casting pearls before swine.

This week in bible study we were looking at Romans 2, and how the gentiles thought the Jews and their fascination with swine was ridiculous. One phrase even referenced the thought that Jews worships pig as gods following the whole cow thing further to the East. In the end, the lesson was about how the Jews were so focused on their status as privileged that they made everyone else hate them due to their arrogance. Paul telling them that they were fools to believe that God would not judge them based on their actions really made the Jews mad at him.

I used to ‘decorate’ my office with items that might provoke a conversation about God or baseball. One was a news clipping from June 18, 2006 about Lance Berkman and one of his kids. The quote was how he wanted to teach them about Jesus and the Bible. Another two were about working hard and working effectively. In the end, I wanted everyone to know that I was going to do the right thing, and I was going to do it to the best of my ability. But now I know my abilities are limited and I need to limit my activities to those that God has called me to in His strength or those I can actually accomplish with the skills he gave me. Hence why my wife may need to help clean out the garage.

Written 11/16/24, Posted 12/9/24, Job 341