The Second Series of Speeches (Job 15-21)
The rejection by Job of the opinions and advice of the friends, his sturdy maintenance of his innocence, and the fearlessness with which in his anguish he has arraigned the divine government of the world, have all alike deepened their conviction of his guilt. Without actually charging Job with definite sin, for which indeed they have no ground, they now administer stern rebukes, and draw terrible pictures of the certain misery which awaits the godless, and this evidently with an eye to the sufferer. They no longer encourage him to repentance, or predict consequent prosperity.
Job, for his part, laments their harshness, and rejects anew their doctrine of retribution as contrary to experience, and as not applicable to his case. He feels himself to be abandoned by God and man; he cries out for pity; he reasserts his innocence, and is still troubled by the problem of evil. Yet in the very midst of his trouble he makes some advance towards the solution of the mystery. Already he has had dim visions of a mediator between himself and GVod (Job 9:32.), and of the possibility of a restoration to the divine favour (Job 14:13-15). These were only momentary glimpses of a brighter day amidst the gloom, but now they develop into a stronger conviction that God must in the end restore the light of His countenance to His servant, and vindicate his innocence to the world, though it can only be after his death: see Job 16:19; Job 19:25-27. It is, however, no longer an umpire between himself and God that he desires. The conviction has come to him that since there is no umpire who can force his decision on God, God Himself will be the umpire to vindicate the righteousness of Job against the stigma of unrighteousness which He had Himself seemed to fasten upon him by his affliction.
The Second Speech of Eliphaz
1-16. Eliphaz accuses Job of impiety and arrogance.