14 "When desperate people give up on God Almighty, their friends, at least, should stick with them. 15 But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert - one day they're gushing with water 16 From melting ice and snow cascading out of the mountains, 17 But by midsummer they're dry, gullies baked dry in the sun. 18 Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink, end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst. 19 Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water, tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink. 20 They arrive so confident - but what a disappointment! They get there, and their faces fall! 21 And you, my so-called friends, are no better - there's nothing to you! One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.
22 It's not as though I asked you for anything - I didn't ask you for one red cent - 23 Nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me. So why all this dodging and shuffling? 24 "Confront me with the truth and I'll shut up, show me where I've gone off the track. 25 Honest words never hurt anyone, but what's the point of all this pious bluster? 26 You pretend to tell me what's wrong with my life, but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air. 27 Are people mere things to you? Are friends just items of profit and loss? 28 "Look me in the eyes! Do you think I'd lie to your face? 29 Think it over - no double-talk! Think carefully - my integrity is on the line! 30 Can you detect anything false in what I say? Don't you trust me to discern good from evil?
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 6:14-30
Commentary on Job 6:14-30
(Read Job 6:14-30)
In his prosperity Job formed great expectations from his friends, but now was disappointed. This he compares to the failing of brooks in summer. Those who rest their expectations on the creature, will find it fail when it should help them; whereas those who make God their confidence, have help in the time of need, Hebrews 4:16. Those who make gold their hope, sooner or later will be ashamed of it, and of their confidence in it. It is our wisdom to cease from man. Let us put all our confidence in the Rock of ages, not in broken reeds; in the Fountain of life, not in broken cisterns. The application is very close; "for now ye are nothing." It were well for us, if we had always such convictions of the vanity of the creature, as we have had, or shall have, on a sick-bed, a death-bed, or in trouble of conscience. Job upbraids his friends with their hard usage. Though in want, he desired no more from them than a good look and a good word. It often happens that, even when we expect little from man, we have less; but from God, even when we expect much, we have more. Though Job differed from them, yet he was ready to yield as soon as it was made to appear that he was in error. Though Job had been in fault, yet they ought not to have given him such hard usage. His righteousness he holds fast, and will not let it go. He felt that there had not been such iniquity in him as they supposed. But it is best to commit our characters to Him who keeps our souls; in the great day every upright believer shall have praise of God.