We are starting the third round of speeches by Job’s friends with Job’s responses. In the narrative section at the beginning of this book, we are told that Job was being tested and had done nothing wrong. It is extremely important to continue to keep that fact in mind to fully understand the author’s purpose. By this point in this long poetic section of the Bible, most readers have rushed ahead to the narrative section at the end of the book. Others are beginning to sympathize with the opinions of Job’s friends: Job must have done something wrong. I have even heard preachers say that Job’s flaw was his pride. Yet, the narrator of the book of Job is very clear: Job has done NOTHING to deserve his trials. He is only being tested and perfected by this hardship. So with this in mind, we begin Eliphaz’s third speech.
Job 22
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,
2 Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?
3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
4 Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment?
Eliphaz is asking Job if he is greater than God to either teach him or to intimidate him. The question implies that Job is being arrogant in contradicting all his friends. The assumption, though, is equally arrogant. Eliphaz and Job’s friends believe that they are speaking for God, and Job’s rejection of their words is a rejection God. Who is being the most arrogant?
5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it.
9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
Eliphaz is now inventing wickedness that he assumes Job has done. He can only make these assumptions because these sins are acts of omission that is common to all: Job has seen people in need and did not act. The New Testament is very clear that we all have sinned and come short of God’s perfection. Obviously, Job is not perfect, but is this the true source of Job’s suffering? When we are told at the very beginning of this book of the Bible that Job has a regular habit of asking God for forgiveness (sacrificing), it seems unlocking that God is punishing Job to bring him to repentance.
10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee;
11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee.
Eliphaz is now describing Job’s current distress as being a direct result of his sins. This is where Job’s friends’ words get tricky. We do often cause our own troubles because of our sins. The New Testament also says that not one of us are sinless or perfect, yet the book of Job says that Job was righteous. How can this be? It all come down to his faith in God, even before Jesus was born. Hebrews speaks of the saving faith of the Old Testament patriarchs.
12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.
When we pray, it sometimes feels like God is far away and not listening. Job has expressed this feeling about his own suffering, but Eliphaz has taken this the wrong way. Eliphaz is comparing Job to wicked people who act as though God does not see their wicked acts. Either way, though, Eliphaz is correct. God does see everything perfectly. For Job, though, God is not ignoring him nor punishing him. God is waiting for the time of test to be complete. He has a big plan that we cannot see. Later in this book, we will hear from God and his view of things.
15 Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden?
16 Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood:
17 Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?
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: and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
20 Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire fee consumeth.
21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.
28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
Eliphaz is asserting that is Job turns to God, everything will become better immediately. Unfortunately, this isn’t always true. It is true that our souls are better when we turn to God, but there are times when the circumstances of our life is still hard. Christians around the world endure persecution, plague, starvation, and many hardships even while being right with God. The blessings of God is far bigger and deeper that this life. It is very hard to keep the perspective of eternity in mind when we are hurting. Still, the point is, being right with God does not mean that this life will always be easy.
Job 23
1 Then Job answered and said,
2 Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning.
3 Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat!
4 I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments.
5 I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me.
6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
Job expresses his sorrow and laments very much like King David does in the Psalms. He wants to present his complaint directly to God, but the ends with a statement of faith. God would condemn him, but instead strengthen him to endure.
7 There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge.
8 Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him:
9 On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him:
Two things come to mind when I read this, one is that Jesus’s coming gave us access to the throne of God. He is our advocate and our help. My second thought is how there are times we pray that we feel like God is far away. Some classic Christian writers have called this the midnight of the soul or the Valley of the Shadow of Death. Within this dark place, God is actually very near us, but we can not see him or hear him.
10 But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
11 My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined.
12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food.
Job tells us that he has stayed on the path of righteousness. When we are following God and hit times of hardship, the heat and fire of that time refines us like gold, getting rid of wrong thoughts, habits, or motives. The hardship refocuses us on God as our strength. It is a good thing to know that we are not the source of our strength, only God is.
13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.
14 For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him.
15 Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him.
16 For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me:
17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
Job expresses fear because God has a plan, but Job doesn’t know what it is. God did not end his life, so what else can the future hold? It is normal to be afraid of God and his plan when we are going through a difficult time. What if the future is even harder than right now? The thing we must remember is that God does love us and is with us. His plans will work out for our good.
Job 24
1 Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days?
2 Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof.
3 They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow’s ox for a pledge.
4 They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together.
5 Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
6 They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked.
7 They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold.
8 They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter.
9 They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor.
10 They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry;
11 Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst.
12 Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them.
13 They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof.
14 The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief.
15 The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face.
16 In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light.
17 For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.
18 He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards.
19 Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned.
20 The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.
21 He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow.
22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life.
23 Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways.
24 They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn.
25 And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?
Job describes the wicked and goes much further than Eliphaz in listing the injustices and cruelty that they do to the poor, the defenseless, and the vulnerable. He also includes how the wicked enjoy life and forbidden fruit, yet he notes that is all only a temporary illusion of prosperity. All die in the end, but the wicked are forgotten and will receive justice at some point, whether in life or death. This description of wickedness is very different from what was being described about Job. It is good to notice that the sins of the righteous and the sins of the wicked point in very different direction. The wicked exert power over everyone with no remorse while the righteous sometimes don’t do the good before them and live a live of continual repentance. The sign of which path a person is on is not the hardship they face, but the choices they make.
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