Eliphaz has just argued that Job is arrogant in his rejection of conventional wisdom, that it is the wicked who suffer torment, distress, and ruin and receive it in full (15:32). Job’s opening remarks (16:1–6) ridicule his friends: “Will your long-winded speeches never end?” (16:3). He too, if he were in their shoes, could say the same things they say, but now that he recognizes the devastation of his life and his exception to the rule, he would be more encouraging than they. His friends are no friends.
Job’s alienation from the…
Baker Publishing Group, The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, by Gary M. Burge