Job 6:14-23

Job 6:14-23

[14] To him that is afflicted  pity  should be shewed from his friend;  but he forsaketh  the fear  of the Almighty.  [15] My brethren  have dealt deceitfully  as a brook,  and as the stream  of brooks  they pass away;  [16] Which are blackish  by reason of the ice,  and wherein the snow  is hid:  [17] What time  they wax warm,  they vanish:  when it is hot,  they are consumed out  of their place.  [18] The paths  of their way  are turned aside;  they go  to nothing,  and perish.  [19] The troops  of Tema  looked,  the companies  of Sheba  waited  for them. [20] They were confounded  because they had hoped;  they came  thither, and were ashamed.  [21] For now ye are nothing; ye see  my casting down,  and are afraid.  [22] Did I say,  Bring  unto me? or, Give a reward  for me of your substance?  [23] Or, Deliver  me from the enemy's  hand?  or, Redeem  me from the hand  of the mighty? 

What does Job 6:14-23 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

"If, up to this point, Job has been praying, or at least soliloquizing, now he makes a more direct attack on the friends (the "you" in Job 6:21 is plural)." [1]
"Eliphaz has attacked Job"s complaint; Job now attacks Eliphaz" "consolation."" [2]
Job"s friends had not been loyal to him when they judged him as they had. "Kindness" in Job 6:14 is literally "loyalty." Consequently, Job was close to forsaking his fear of God. Job"s friends should have encouraged and supported him. Instead they proved as disappointing as a wadi. A wadi is a streambed that is full of water in the rainy season, but when the heat of summer comes it dries up completely. Job replied that his friends were no help in his distress.
Evidently, Job"s friends were afraid of him ( Job 6:21) in the sense that they feared that if they comforted him, God would view them as approving of his sin and would punish them as well. [3]
"Verse21is the climax of Job"s reaction to his friends" counsel [4]. They offered no help." [5]
"There is no act of pastoral care more unnerving than trying to say the right thing to someone hysterical with grief. It is early in the day for Job to lose patience with them. But the point is not whether Job is unfair: this is how he feels. The truth is already in sight that only God can speak the right word. And Job"s wits are sharp enough to forecast where Eliphaz"s trend of thought will end-in open accusation of sin. Hence he gets in first with a pre-emptive strike, anticipating in the following denials his great speech of exculpation in chapter31." [6]