October 13
Reading: Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:
2 “Can a man be profitable to God?
Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right,
or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
and enters into judgment with you?
5 Is not your evil abundant?
There is no end to your iniquities.
6 For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The man with power possessed the land,
and the favored man lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10 Therefore snares are all around you,
and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11 or darkness, so that you cannot see,
and a flood of water covers you.
12 “Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13 But you say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14 Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
15 Will you keep to the old way
that wicked men have trod?
16 They were snatched away before their time;
their foundation was washed away.
17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19 The righteous see it and are glad;
the innocent one mocks at them,
20 saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
and what they left the fire has consumed.’
21 “Agree with God, and be at peace;
thereby good will come to you.
22 Receive instruction from his mouth,
and lay up his words in your heart.
23 If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
if you remove injustice far from your tents,
24 if you lay gold in the dust,
and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25 then the Almighty will be your gold
and your precious silver.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
and you will pay your vows.
28 You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
and light will shine on your ways.
29 For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;
but he saves the lowly.
30 He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
Eliphaz now begins the third round of the critique of Job in his misery. Refer again to the chart from chapter 4.
Do you now clearly see the bad theology that these three friends of Job are teaching? Their idea of God’s working, which they have now explained in a few different ways, is simple. God is righteous. God judges the unrighteous. God controls all things, therefore, if you experience calamity, it must be God’s righteous judgment upon you for your unrighteousness.
You will discover many people who think this way, especially when it concerns others.
But this is false. While it is true that calamity is sometimes a sign of God’s righteous judgment upon sinners, this is by no means always the case. With Job we know it is not the case. In the first two chapters we learned that Job was a righteous man, seeking God, making sacrifices even for the unknown sins of others, and refusing to curse God.
Eliphaz, the most mature of Job’s three counselors, is here pleading with Job to confess his sin and repent. But he is operating still under his bad theology and false premise. Proverbs 16:27 tells us, “A worthless man digs up evil, while his words are like scorching fire.” Eliphaz is digging. His words are scorching.
Consider the poetic argument of Eliphaz here and how difficult it would be to disagree. It is as if he is asking Job, “Don’t you feel bad about your sin?” If he says “yes” he is guilty. If he says “no” he is guilty.
- God has a right to judge you. Don’t you know that you are a sinner? (vss. 1-5)
- Surely you have done something wrong… to the poor, the widows, the orphans. (vss. 6-9)
- Therefore, God is right to judge you. (vss. 10-11)
- God knows all things and yet you say that He cannot see your sin? (vss. 12-14)
- Are you going to continue on your sinful path? (vss. 15-20)
- Confess, agree with God about your sin and speak truth. (vss. 21-22)
- Repent, and turn from your sinful ways and God will restore you. (vss. 23-30)
Just think about being on the receiving end of this speech. Have you ever been there? How does one disagree? How does one even begin to attempt to answer, “But I didn’t do anything to bring this about?”
It is no wonder Job is pleading for an audience with God and a good lawyer to represent him.