6: 1-7. One of Eliphaz's words has stung Job. In 5:2, Eliphaz told Job not to worry or to give way to vexation or resentment over his afflictions; Job should bear them patiently until God forgave him for his sins. In what he says, Eliphaz shows that he has no understanding ofthe spiritual agony which Job is experiencing, let alone the physical misery. Job is tortured because he no longer understands God in the way that he used to. The God to whom he offered sacrifices and whom he thought he knew, had disappeared from his life. His life had become terrifying and meaningless. In such a situation, how can he not worry? How can he just sit patiently? He feels that God is now his enemy, shooting poisoned arrows against him (verse 4). Verses 5-7 seem to mean that he could only sit patiently without worrying and protesting in his present misery if he were entirely without human feelings; even animals are upset if they lack food. His violent remonstrations with God (Job 3) come out of the deepest misery: 'so my wild words should not surprise you' (6: 3).

6:8 -13. Job again cries out to God to let him die. He has reached the end of his strength and longs for the sleep of Sheol.

6: 14-23. Job expresses his deep disappointment in those who have claimed to be his friends but are unable to help him in his afflictions. All he asks for from them is understanding of what has gone wrong with his life; instead of kindness he is given criticism. The words of Eliphaz have proved to be of no help to him. Job compares his friends with streams which dry up in the hot weather when people are desperately thirsty.

6: 24-30. He challenges his friends to tell him in what ways he has done wrong; he is ready to listen to them if they can show him exactly where he has been an evildoer. Eliphaz has merely talked in general about his sufferings being punishment for his unrighteousness. His friends have assumed his guilt, without explaining how he has been guilty of evil. Job feels that this is very unjust. He continues to maintain that he is in the right; he knows what is right and what is wrong.

7: 1-21. In an extraordinary passage, Job speaks again directly to the God whom he no longer understands but whom he still believes to have power over his life. Like Jeremiah, he cannot escape from God.

7: 1- 6. The misery of his present existence is vividly described.

7: 7-10. Job has begged God to let him die, but he now expresses the Israelite understanding that the dead cannot communicate with God from Sheol. The death that he asks for will cut him off from God. The dead are not with God. The unspoken question in 7: 1-10 is whether it is worse to go on existing in misery from which he can still speak to God, or to die and be cut off from God for ever.

7: 11. The dilemma which Job finds himself in makes him burst out in even more passionate argument with God, who now seems like an invisible oppressor to him. All Job wants to do is to escape from his sufferings but in his inner self he craves a meaningful relationship with God, and according to the teaching of his times death would separate him from God for ever.

7: 12-16. Job argues fiercely with the God whom he now thinks of as an oppressor: 'Why do you keep me under guard? Do you think I am a sea monster?' (verse 12). There is a reference in this question to an ancient story of Babylonian origin about the defeat of Tiamat, the waters of the sea, by the god Marduk (see chapter 3 of this book). Job is asking God if he has to be kept in helpless submission by God in the way that God was thought to control cosmic powers. The sea was sometimes referred to in Israelite understanding as a symbol of cosmic evil, forcibly restrained by' God from bringing harm to the world. Job then accuses God of sending him terrifying dreams which destroy his sleep. He suffers both day and night: 'My life makes no sense.'

7: 17-21. Job's words in verses 17-19 show us that he is acutely aware that God has a close personal relationship with the human beings he has created. Throughout all his sufferings, this knowledge has never been rejected by Job and it is this knowledge which is at the root of his great mental and spiritual distress. If God wants man to be in an intimate relationship with him, why, in Job's case, has it been des troyed when Job had always tried so hard to please God? Verse's 17-19 reflect Psalm 8 but in a bitterly sarcastic way. God's astonishing care and concern for man, expressed in Psalm 8, becomes God's ruthless inspection of man's faults in Job's argument. Verse 20 depicts God as an oppressor, treating his helpless victim Job with particular cruelty. Verse 21 is a cry for mercy. Job still does not know what wrong he has done in the sight of God, but he now gives in to the argument of Eliphaz that his sufferings prove that he has sinned. He does not admit that he has sinned but no other explanation seems to make sense, although he is not convinced about it. His final words-‘I’ll be gone when you look for me' -still hold to his belief that God's personal relationship with Job in some way provides the key to the meaning of his life. He no longer understands God but cannot escape from his presence and his power. Even after his death, God will look for him.