What is the context?
Job answers Eliphaz by asking that his anguish be weighed alongside the calamity. He acknowledges the rashness of his words while saying that their force cannot be understood apart from the weight of his suffering.
He experiences the suffering as poisoned arrows and an army of divine terrors. Images of animals with adequate food and food without flavor explain why complaint should not surprise his listeners.
The images describe pain from within the experience. They do not give Job the heavenly explanation available to the reader or turn his anguish into proof of the friends’ accusation.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Wesley emphasizes the need to consider the cause and scale of the grief. The USCCB note understands the food images as showing why Job cannot find his present life pleasant. His speech asks the friends to listen to suffering as well as to correct particular words.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.
Where can I study this further?
No deeper study linked yet.