In chapter four we have the beginning of the first of the three rounds in the debates between Job and his three friends. Eliphaz answered Job not by sympathizing but by rebuking.
Eliphaz began to speak after the forced silence (4:2). The strong person and character of Job had forced his friends to be silent. After Job broke this silence, Eliphaz began to rebuke him.
First, Eliphaz reminded Job of his positive condition in the past. He said to Job, "Behold, you have instructed many, /And you have strengthened the weak hands./Your words have raised up him who was stumbling,/And you have made the bowing knees firm" (vv. 3-4).
In verse 5 Eliphaz went on to rebuke Job concerning his negative state at that time. "But now it comes to you, and you are wearied by it;/It touches you, and you are disturbed." According to Eliphaz, Job was no longer strong but had been defeated by the disasters and the plague.
Eliphaz's word was based on Job's perfection, uprightness, and integrity (vv. 6-11). In verse 6 Eliphaz asked Job, "Is not your fear of God your confidence,/And the integrity of your ways your hope?"
Eliphaz's answer to Job was in the principle of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said that the innocent and the upright (the good) will never perish (v. 7) and that those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble (the evil) reap the same (v. 8). Speaking in a poetic manner, Eliphaz continued, saying, "By the breath of God they perish,/And by the blast of His anger they are consumed./The roaring of the lion and the sound of the fierce lion/And the teeth of the young lions are broken;/The strong lion perishes for lack of prey,/And the whelps of the lioness are scattered" (vv. 9-11).