Job 6:15-20

15 My brethren ['ach] have dealt deceitfully [bagad] as a brook [nachal], and as the stream ['aphiyq] of brooks [nachal] they pass away [`abar];

16 Which are blackish [qadar] by reason of the ice [qerach], and wherein the snow [sheleg] is hid [`alam]:

17 What time [`eth] they wax warm [zarab], they vanish [tsamath]: when it is hot [chom], they are consumed out [da`ak] of their place [maqowm].

18 The paths ['orach] of their way [derek] are turned aside [laphath]; they go [`alah] to nothing [tohuw], and perish ['abad].

19 The troops ['orach] of Tema [Teyma'] looked [nabat], the companies [haliykah] of Sheba [Shaba'] waited [qavah] for them.

20 They were confounded [buwsh] because they had hoped [batach]; they came [bow'] thither, and were ashamed [chapher]. KJV-Interlinear

15 'My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi, Like the torrents of wadis which vanish, 16 Which are turbid because of ice, And into which the snow melts. 17 'When they become waterless, they are silent, When it is hot, they vanish from their place. 18 'The paths of their course wind along, They go up into nothing and perish. 19 'The caravans of Tema looked, The travelers of Sheba hoped for them. 20 'They were disappointed for they had trusted, They came there and were confounded. NASB

A wadi is primarily a steep sided dry course over which water flows rapidly at intermittent times of the year. In the winter and early spring, when the rains come and snows melt, the melt run off sends torrential water flows through these rock surfaced paths.

When a traveler passes by one of these streams, and sees the abundance of water, he would be surprised come late summer, finding that the stream is nothing more than dust and rock. The dry wadi then looks as though it has not seen water in decades.

In the winter and spring, there is an abundance of water, representing the prosperous times of ones life. The water is there, but you don't really need it. The summer and fall when there is a lack of water, represent the adversity, which can come into any of our lives at any moment. This is when we need the water but it is no where to be found.

The wadi can explode with flowing water and just as quickly run dry. To an onlooker, the wadi is deceitful in that it has water on the one hand, and then none. The wadi proves unreliable when it comes to a consistent and sustaining source of water.

Job compares his friends to the unreliability and deceitfulness of the wadi.

Thus far Eliphaz is the only one of the three who has spoken. But by their later speeches, we will discover that the other two friends, Bildad and Zophar, are nodding their heads in agreement at everything Eliphaz has said.

And by Job's comments now, we know that the three are all in agreement with everything that Eliphaz has said.

Like the wadis, these friends have come only when the time was opportune for them. They were friends with great verbal abundance when Job was in his prosperous days, a wadi running full of water. And now that his prosperity has vanished, their good nature has been replaced with condescending criticism, a dry river bed.

Once they looked to Job as an authority and leader, and now, they consider themselves as the authorities on life, and Job the deceiver.

The caravans as they travel, would always travel from one water source to the next. And when they came to a known source, and found it dry, they were confounded, bewildered, perplexed as to what they should do next. The expected water, but found none.

Job thought his friends were coming to assist him in his suffering, but he has sine discovered their good intentions have all but dried up. Instead of receiving the expected comfort, he received the dust of contempt.

Eliphaz has been reasonably polite thus far, but the words of criticism will get more and more harsh as this conversation continues.

The friends came to Job by means of an arranged appointment, with some degree of ceremony, in order to offer their comfort, and Job had reason to expect extraordinary support from them. They promised relief and refreshment as an overflowing wadi does in the winter months when relief is not needed, but they gave none, as a hot dry summer wadi does, when relief is needed most.

Heb. 4:16

16 Let us therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace to help in time of need. NASB

When relief is needed most, humanity proves to be unreliable and inconsistent. There is but one source of comfort and relief, and that source is God.

The three friends should have offered comfort and relief, not only in words, but in deeds as well. But they in fact represent the world when it comes to offering solutions to our many problems we will encounter in this world. Money, resources, wealth, talent, looks, and whatever else you may rely on in your life, to get you through your life, will sooner or later prove to confound your expectations.

Live a whole life relying on your ingenuity, hustle, intellect, social status or whatever, and if the world does not confound your efforts, during your life, then death certainly will.

No one can survive on their own in this world. Everyone needs the support of God, Christ, and doctrine whether they believe that or not.

To look to earthly resources for crutches and relief is in effect building your life on quick sand. You will always be disappointed and never be independent from the world.

To look to spiritually based resources for support and relief, and provision, is like building your life on bedrock, the solid structure of God, which is eternal. In your spiritual life, one of your milestones of spiritual growth, will be your achievement of independence and autonomy from the limitations and dependence, imposed on your life by the world.

Job could have looked to the support of his friends, but their true friendship was nothing more than deceit. The world is no different. That is the best that anyone can expect from this world.

Expect something from the world and only disappointment will follow. Expect something from God, from within your functioning spiritual life, and you will never be disappointed.

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