Job 4 revisited

12 "This truth was given to me in secret, as though whispered in my ear. 13 It came to me in a disturbing vision at night, when people are in a deep sleep. 14 Fear gripped me, and my bones trembled. 15 A spirit swept past my face, and my hair stood on end. 16 The spirit stopped, but I couldn't see its shape. There was a form before my eyes. In the silence I heard a voice say, 17 'Can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone be pure before the Creator?' 18 "If God does not trust his own angels and has charged his messengers with foolishness, 19 how much less will he trust people made of clay! They are made of dust, crushed as easily as a moth. 20 They are alive in the morning but dead by evening, gone forever without a trace. 21 Their tent-cords are pulled and the tent collapses, and they die in ignorance. Job 4:12-21 (New Living Translation)
About the vision: While God can cause fear and terror, He normally says something like: fear not, do not be afraid, be not afraid, or something similar... There is no mention of anything along those lines in this particular passage! So my theory stands: it the devil having a little fun and whispering to poor Eliphaz! Thus, Eliphaz gets misguided! This happens to the best of us, if we only know of God and not actually know God!
So, Eliphaz speaks from his head!
Contrary to verse 18, God does place trust in His servants - its called free will! And the only angels that I know of who have been charged with error is the devil and his friends!
So my understanding is that Eliphaz was very misguided, and in his misguidedness, he mouths off! Then near the end of the book (Job 42:7) we read that God says to Eliphaz, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has." (NIV)
In my opinion, Job just got vindicated!
Practical application!
Don't mouth off until you know the full facts! None of them were in the know about what on earth the devil was up to, or the conversation between the devil and God! Eliphaz seems to have only known of God!
Its kinda about making judgments on others! Has someone in your life done something that you didn't think was right, or that you don't agree with? How about before telling them off, you pray! Before you judge them as having done something bad, get Gods take on the situation! God knows far more than we could ever dream of knowing! And what's more, we see the actions of a person and make our judgments, but God sees the heart of the person and makes His judgment! He has the full facts and thus, His judgment is righteous. We have a mere glimpse and thus our judgments are unrighteous!
Sometimes what we this is right, is just plain wrong! We need to be asking God to soften our hearts and teach us to listen to Him before we speak!