Job 15:17-19

17 I will shew [chavah] thee, hear [shama`] me; and that which I have seen [chazah] I will declare [caphar];

18 Which wise [chakam] men have told [nagad] from their fathers ['ab], and have not hid [kachad] it:

19 Unto whom alone the earth ['erets] was given [nathan], and no stranger [zuwr] passed [`abar] among [tavek] them. KJV-Interlinear

17 'I will tell you, listen to me; And what I have seen I will also declare; 18 What wise men have told, And have not concealed from their fathers, 19 To whom alone the land was given, And no alien passed among them. NASB

All too often people will refer to the old days, the golden years, times past when life was simpler and purer, and perhaps even more innocent than life is today.

This view of life and history is an over simplification of life as it really was, and more often than not, is a closed and narrow, and selective view of how some want to remember the past, but is far from the reality of life.

Eliphaz steps up his attack against Job.

From his own personal perspective, he recalls the teachings of older generations, and he recalls his own interpretations of those teachings.

These comments also help to date Job and his friends time in history. Eliphaz speaks of the ancients as those who are still contemporaries in their life, but who are much older.

In fact it is these older folks to whom God Himself had given the lands they now possess.

Throughout the Bible, God recorded many promises to several different folks. Likewise in history, when a parent was ready to die, he passed on his wealth to his children. The parent would divide his assets up between his various children. And so it was from the beginning.

God made certain promises to Adam, to Noah, to Abraham, to Moses, to the Israelites, to David and so forth.

The promised land of Canaan was given to Abraham, but in fact that land had already been settled by many other various tribes and clans. It wouldn't be for several hundred years later before the Israelites would receive the lands they had been promised.

God reiterated this promise, which had already been made even prior to Abraham. By implication and by the movements of the various descendants of Shen, Ham, and Japath it is clear that the world was divided up by Noah, amongst his three sons. We presume that God directed Noah in this matter.

Of course we only speculate, but the logic of history makes all of this seem clear.

Now Eliphaz reinforces this concept.

It was to the ancients to whom the lands were given. It was given to them when they were the few who lived on the planet, alone. There were no aliens, no foreigners, no folks from distant countries, competing for the lands, because they did not exist.

From the time of Noah, only eight people lived on the planet as they moved out of the ark, then down the mountain, and into the valley of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. As grand-children grew up, Noah and his sons would assign lands to the descendants.

Some would comply with their assigned lands, and others would ignore that assignment and take whatever they pleased.

Many folks did not live in accordance with the laws of truth. Some tried to construct a huge tower called Babel, and then confusion in languages fell on the population and nations were formed and they went their separate ways. Most away from God.

Didn't Cain, prior to all of this, murder someone?

But Eliphaz does not remember the past as it was, only as he wishes to remember it. Remember that Noah did live in an ark for about a year. And why was that?

Eliphaz recalls what he has heard and what he has seen. But Eliphaz has not seen nor heard all there is to see and hear. He too, was not alive before the first man, nor alive before the first hills were formed.

And yet he acts here as though his memory and knowledge are impeccable.

Stories back then, were handed down verbally, from generation to generation. There was no internet, no library books, no television from which a person could obtain his knowledge.

Eliphaz is going to infer that the wicked are a miserable people, and that all miserable people are in fact wicked. Job is now miserable and therefore he must be wicked.

From his own experience and observations, from the knowledge of the ancients, from history long past, and from the golden years of when the earth was peaceful and tranquil and trouble just did not exist, then Eliphaz is going to prove Jobs wickedness. Or so he thinks.

Now is the time to post a prayer.