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 here insinuates that, because Job complained so much of his afflictions, he thought God was unjust in afflicting him; but it was a strained innuendo. Job was far from thinking so. What Eliphaz says here is therefore unjustly applied to Job, but in itself it is very true and good,

      I. That when God does us good it is not because he is indebted to us; if he were, there might be some colour to say, when he afflicts us, “He does not deal fairly with us.” But whoever pretends that he has by any meritorious action made God his debtor, let him prove this debt, and he shall be sure not to lose it, Rom. xi. 35. Who has given to him, and it shall be recompensed to him again? But Eliphaz here shows that the righteousness and perfection of the best man in the world are no real benefit or advantage to God, and therefore cannot be thought to merit any thing from him. 1. Man’s piety is no profit to God, no gain, Job 22:1; Job 22:2. If we could by any thing merit from God, it would be by our piety, our being righteous, and making our way perfect. If that will not merit, surely nothing else will. If a man cannot make God his debtor by his godliness, and honesty, and obedience to his laws, much less can he by his wit, and learning, and worldly policy. Now Eliphaz here asks whether any man can possibly be profitable to God. It is certain that he cannot. By no means. He that is wise may be profitable to himself. Note, Our wisdom and piety are that by which we ourselves are, and are likely to be, great gainers. Wisdom is profitable to direct, Eccl. x. 10. Godliness is profitable to all things, 1 Tim. iv. 8. If thou be wise, thou shalt be wise for thyself, Prov. ix. 12. The gains of religion are infinitely greater than the losses of it, and so it will appear when they are balanced. But can a man be thus profitable to God? No, for such is the perfection of God that he cannot receive any benefit or advantage by men; what can be added to that which is infinite? And such is the weakness and imperfection of man that he cannot offer any benefit or advantage to God. Can the light of a candle be profitable to the sun or the drop of the bucket to the ocean? He that is wise is profitable to himself, for his own direction and defence, his own credit and comfort; he can with his wisdom entertain himself and enrich himself; but can he so be profitable to God? No; God needs not us nor our services. We are undone, for ever undone, without him; but he is happy, for ever happy, without us. Is it any gain to him, any real addition to his glory or wealth, if we make our way perfect? Suppose it were absolutely perfect, yet what is God the better? Much less when it is so far short of being perfect. 2. It is no pleasure to him. God has indeed expressed himself in his word well pleased with the righteous; his countenance beholds them and his delight is in them and their prayers; but all that adds nothing to the infinite satisfaction and complacency which the Eternal Mind has in itself. God can enjoy himself without us, though we could have but little enjoyment of ourselves without our friends. This magnifies his condescension, in that, though our services be no real profit or pleasure to him, yet he invites, encourages, and accepts them.

      II. That when God restrains or rebukes us it is not because he is in danger from us or jealous of us (v. 4): “Will he reprove thee for fear of thee, and take thee down from thy prosperity lest thou shouldst grow too great for him, as princes sometimes have thought it a piece of policy to curb the growing greatness of a subject, lest he should become formidable?” Satan indeed suggested to our first parents that God forbade them the tree of knowledge for fear of them, lest they should be as gods, and so become rivals with him; but it was a base insinuation. God rebukes the good because he loves them, but he never rebukes the great because he fears them. He does not enter into judgment with men, that is, pick a quarrel with them and seek occasion against them, through fear lest they should eclipse his honour or endanger his interest. Magistrates punish offenders for fear of them. Pharaoh oppressed Israel because he feared them. It was for fear that Herod slew the children of Bethlehem and that the Jews persecuted Christ and his apostles. But God does not, as they did, pervert justice for fear of any. See ch. xxxv. 5-8.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

JOB – CHAPTER 22

THIRD DISCOURSE OF ELIPHAZ

Verses 1-30:

ELIPHAZ STILL CHARGES JOB WITH HIDDEN SIN

Verses 1, 2 recount Eliphaz’s third accusatory speech against Job. He opened his remarks with seven rhetoric questions. Each was designed for the purpose of entrapment of Job as an obstinate, wicked man. He argued that Job was in error on the position that God sends prosperity to some and calamities to others for His own glory. He then supposes that Job’s covert sin had brought all his suffering, loss and afflictions. He proceeded to argue that a wise man can be profitable to himself, but not profitable toward God, Job 35:7; Psa 16:2; Luk 17:10; Act 17:25.

Verse 3 inquires of Job if it was of any pleasure to God that he was righteous, implying that it was not. He then added that God did not gain anything from Job’s contention that he was a perfect or mature man, did He? Though God is not dependent upon the character of men for His happiness, He takes pleasure in the righteous deportment of His people, Psa 45:7.

Verse 4 inquires of Job whether or not this affliction was sent on him because God was afraid of him and wanted to disarm him, Job 7, 12, 20; Job 10:17. He further inquired whether or not Job thought the Lord would enter into a judgment hall to hear his pleadings, a thing Job had requested. He would not, would he? Job 13:3; Job 13:21-22; Psa 143:2.

Verse 5 is a direct charge, not just an insinuation, that Job’s wickedness was great and his lawless deeds were infinite, meaning too many to count. Though it was a naked assumption, without any evident fact, to sustain his bleak charge that this calamity was a fruit of Job’s own sin, Job 1:1; Job 1:8; Job 2:3.

Verse 6 relates that Eliphaz accused Job of taking a security pledge from a brother, without a just cause to do so. The pledge was an oriental outer garment that served the poor as a covering by day and a bed by night. When one took such a security pledge he was to return it to the poor by nightfall, as it was often the covering by night to keep him warm, Exo 22:26-27; Deu 24:10; Mat 25:36; Jas 3:15.

Verse 7 further charges Job with being inhospitable, by refusing to give a drink of water to a weary traveler, or a crumb of bread to the hungry who passed by. Hospitality toward a traveler was considered to be a primary duty in the East, Job 31:16-17; Isa 21:14; Mat 25:42; Heb 13:1-2.

Verses 8, 9 state that the mighty man (man of strong arm) had the earth under control, and the honorable man, possessing authority had sent widows away empty-handed, without food and water, and he had broken the arms (the strength) of orphans; The Mosaic Law provided for the widows and the fatherless, Gen 31:42; Exo 22:22. Job, Eliphaz insinuated, was thus a wealthy man who had gotten riches in an immoral and an unethical manner, like a robber, bandit, or plunderer of the weak; Job 29:11-16 is Job’s reply to these untrue and harsh accusations against him.

Verses 10, 11 conclude that because of Job’s lack of hospitality to travelers, and his making the poor naked, and refusing to give bread to widows and orphans, these terrible body afflictions had been divinely sent down upon him. A flood of dark judgment from God, had now descended upon Job, bringing the calamities under which he now suffered, Eliphaz assured Job, Job 11:16; Job 27:20; Psa 18:16; Psa 32:6.

Verse 12 inquires of Job if he does not believe that there is a true God in heaven who beheld and observed all things. He inferred that Job did not really believe in God, else he would not be living as he had; And he would not argue that God reserved primary punishment of the wicked to a time beyond death, did not punish the wicked completely in this life, Joh 5:28-29; Psa 115:3; Psa 115:16; Ecc 5:2; Isa 66:1.

Verse 13 accuses Job of doubting that God even knew about the judgments that had come upon him, or that God could or would not concern himself with man and his activities in human affairs. This too seems to be a false charge against Job, Psa 73:11.

Verse 14 accuses Job of holding the Epicurean philosophy that God veiled himself off from man and the earth, having nothing to do with the affairs of man on earth, but amused Himself in heaven only, La 3:44; Isa 29:15; Isa 40:27; Jer 23:24; Eze 8:12; Psa 139:12.

Verse 15 inquires whether or not Job had considered the “old ways,” the wicked ways of men before the flood; 2Sa 22:22; Gen 6:5; Gen 6:11-13. Job is cautioned to beware lest he share their end.

Verses 16, 17 assert that those wicked who were cut down, or fettered out of time by death, in the flood, should be considered as an object lesson for Job that he too was about to be suddenly taken by death because of his sins, Job 15:32; Job 16:8; Ecc 7:17; Gen 7:11. Eliphaz uses Job’s own words, Job 21:14-15, to assure him that the wicked who put God away from them do not prosper; They think they can do everything for themselves, without God.

Verse 18 declares that in spite of this, God filled their houses with good things. Eliphaz then sarcastically says that Job had declared that the counsel of the wicked was far from him, Job 21:16; Yet, Eliphaz considered Job’s claim to be an hypocritical one, Psa 17:13-14.

Verse 19 states that the righteous see the wicked cut down and are glad at God’s vindication of His ways, Psa 107:42; They, the innocent, laugh the wicked to scorn, when judgment falls, Pro 1:21-31; Rev 15:3; Rev 16:7; Rev 19:1-2; 2Th 1:6-10.

Verses 20, 21 ask Job to observe substance of the righteous was not cut down, was preserved, but the remnant of the wicked the fire of God’s judgment consumed, Job 20:26; See also Job 1:16; Job 15:34; Job 18:15. Destruction is first mentioned by water and second by fire, v. 16; 2Pe 3:5-7. Eliphaz takes it for granted, simply presumed that Job was not acquainted with God. He called on Job to turn to God and find peace and good will come to him by doing good, Psa 37:27; Rom 5:1; Col 1:29; 1Ti 4:8; Isa 27:5.

Verse 22 calls on Job to receive the law of the Lord from Eliphaz and lay up God’s word in his heart.

Verses 23, 24 assure Job that if he would return to the Almighty God he would be built up, renewed, restored to his former health and prosperity, if he put away iniquity out of his earthly tabernacle. He was assured by Eliphaz that if he would only turn back to God he would lay up gold dust, count it of no more value than dust under his feet, or the gold of Ophir as stones of the brooks, wealth would mean little to Job, Eliphaz contends, when he is right with God, 2Ch 1:15.

Verses 25, 26 declare that the living God, the Almighty, would come to Job’s rescue and defense and he would have plenty of gold and silver when or if he would but confess his wickedness and turn back to God; He would then hold delight in the Almighty, and lift up his face to praise Him, Job 11:15; Isa 58:9; Isa 58:14.

Verse 27 calls Job to make his prayer to God, and he will be heard, if he will pay his vows to the Lord with all honesty, Psa 145:18; Ecc 5:4-5.

Verse 28 pledges that Job should decree, purpose, or resolve concerning a thing, and it will be granted, when his life is right with God, Pro 16:3.

Verse 29 asserts that when men are cast down, brought down to humanity, for a time, they will then have occasion to declare that there is hope in being lifted up, but only after they have humbled themselves, Jas 4:6; 1Pe 5:5. Pride casts one down, but humility is the way up. For the Lord will save the humble person, Psa 138:6; Pro 3:34.

Verse 30 concludes that God will deliver the island, isolated state of the innocent, by the pureness of His own hands, He not only delivered Job through his sorrows, loss and calamities, but also delivered the three proud and arrogant feigned foreign friends of Job. This He did, however, only after they had gone to Job, and offered up for themselves, in Job’s presence, a burnt offering, acknowledging their accusatory sins that they had committed against him, before the Lord, Job 42:7-9; Gen 18:26; See also Luk 18:10-14.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

THIRD SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ THE TEMANITE

Remonstrates with Job on his self-righteousness, and plainly charges him with grievous transgressions as the cause of his present sufferings; concludes with promises of prosperity and blessing on his repentance.

I. Reproves his apparent pride and self-righteousness (Job. 22:2-4) God laid under no obligation by his piety. Can a man be profitable unto God as he that is wise is profitable to himself? (or, when he by acting wisely profits himself; Margin, if he may be profitable, does his good success depend on himself?) Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou act righteous? or is it gain to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect? Will he reprove thee for fear of thee (lest He suffer injury and loss by thy conduct)? Will He enter with thee into judgment (to recover His right as an injured person)? Observe

1. God under no obligation to treat men better than He does. God no mans debtor. A secret feeling at the bottom of mens complaint against His providential dealings, as if they were wronged by Him and had a right to expect better treatment. On the contrary, all treated infinitely better than they deserve. All good in men is from God, not themselves. Men come infinitely short of rendering to God what He has a right to as their Creator, Preserver, and constant Benefactor.

2. Gods glory and happiness independent of mans conduct. God no loser by mens want of religion, nor gainer by their practice of it (Psa. 16:2). God reproves men not from fear of them, but from love to them (Rev. 3:19). Men never too bad for Him to love them, nor too great for Him to fear them. God neither rebukes the good from unkindness, nor the great from fear. Still true

(1) That men may, through grace, promote Gods glory and advance His kingdom in the world;

(2) That He has pleasure in holy men and in their holy lives (Psa. 147:11; Pro. 11:20);

(3) That men have it in their power to render to God His rightful claim, or to rob Him of what is His (Mal. 3:8). This the grievous sin not only of the Jews, but of men in general (Mat. 21:34; Mat. 21:41).

3. True wisdom always profitable to the possessor of it. That wisdom the fear of God and a life of godliness. Wisdom the knowledge, choice, and pursuit of the best end by the best means. Here equivalent to being righteous, or making ones ways perfect or upright. Profitable in regard both to body and soul, time and eternity. Godliness with contentment great gain (1Ti. 6:6). The gains of religion infinitely greater than its losses. Wisdoms ways pleasantness and peace. Length of days in her right hand, in her left riches and honour. Godliness profitableness unto all things (1Ti. 4:8). No good which is not gained by it; nothing lost by it which we are not the better by losing.

II. Charges Job with multiplied and grievous transgressions (Job. 22:5-9).

1. In general terms (Job. 22:5). Is not thy wickedness great and thine iniquities infinite? True, more or less, of all men, Job included. Not however in the sense of Eliphaz. According to Eliphaz, Jobs wickedness great in comparison with that of other men, and with his own. The thought that of the Pharisee in the temple.Great and multiplied transgressions humbly acknowledged by the best (Psa. 25:11; Psa. 40:12; Ezr. 9:6). The certain result of a fallen and corrupt nature (Mat. 15:19; Gen. 6:5; Gen. 8:21). Corrupt streams constantly flow from a corrupt spring. Yet along with this, in Job and in all good men, a nature opposed to evil. Hence

(1) the evil resisted, held in check, weakened, and more or less overcome;
(2) Good, though imperfectly, yet with more or less uniformity performed. Truly good men, in virtue of a two-fold nature, both saints and sinners. The former with their will, the latter against it. Good men do good, but not all they would, or any as they would. Do evil, but not all they otherwise would, nor would they do any (Gal. 5:17). Observe(i.) All wickedness great, as committed(a) Against a great God; (b) Against great obligations to the contrary; (c) With comparatively little inducement to commit it; (d) With great evil as the result both to ourselves and others. (ii.) The wickedness of some greater than that of others; as committed(a) With greater boldness; (b) Under great obligations to the contrary; (c) With greater knowledge and means of resistance; (d) With less temptation to the commission of it. (iii.) Mens iniquities infiniteas (a) Against an infinite God; (b) Against infinite obligations to the contrary; (c) Numberless; (d) Incessant during life; (e) But for Divine grace, continuing to be committed throughout eternity; (f) Attended with infinitely disastrous results. Sins committed against infinite majesty and goodness have in them an infinite malignity and greatness.

2. Charges him with specific crimes (Job. 22:6-9.)

(1) Cruelty and wrong (Job. 22:6). Thou hast taken a pledge from the poor for nought,unjustly, when nothing, or next to nothing, was due;taking his garment from him for that purpose without restoring it to him by sunset, as afterwards required by the law (Exo. 22:26-27), and as was always the part of a right-minded man,the poor mans garment by day being also his covering by night. Sometimes the bed itself taken as a pledge by rapacious and unfeeling creditors (Pro. 22:27). The sin of not restoring the pledge spoken of as not uncommon among the Jews in the days of the prophets (Eze. 18:12; Amo. 1:8). This alleged sin of Jobs marked by Eliphaz as particularly heinous from its being committed against a brother. The brother not necessarily a relative, or even a countryman. All men brethren. All wrong done to our fellowmen done to our brother. Sirs, ye are brethren,a powerful reason for not wronging one another (Act. 7:26; Exo. 2:11), &c.The charge enlarged upon. Thou hast stripped the naked (the poor and poorly clad) of their clothing,the large upper garment, or Arab hyke, worn as a garment by day and serving as a covering to sleep in at night. Among the articles taken and kept by rapacious and hard-hearted creditors. This charge the very opposite of Jobs character (ch. Job. 29:12-17; Job. 31:19-20).

(2) Want of kindness and charity to the poor and needy (Job. 22:7.) Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast witholden bread from the hungry. Acts of kindness and hospitality particularly required in the East, and especially at that early period: no inns for travellers; people often poor; travelling generally performed on foot; climate hot and creating thirst; water often scarce and always precious; inhabitants often plundered by marauders, and forced to wander from house and home by invaders. Hence duties of hospitality held peculiarly sacred among Orientals, especially in Arabia (Gen. 18:4-5; Gen. 19:2; Gen. 21:14-15; Gen. 28:11; Exo. 2:15). Fountains even in cities often bequeathed by wealthy Arabs for the free use of the poor, as well as money to provide persons to dispense it gratuitously in the streets. Jobs actual conduct the reverse of that here ascribed to him (ch. Job. 31:17; Job. 31:32).

(3) Partiality to the rich (Job. 22:8). But as for the mighty man, he had the earth (or land), and the honourable man dwelt in it. Reference probably intended to Jobs judicial conduct as an Arab chief, emir, or prince. The charge that of neglecting and wronging the poor, while the rich and mighty were favoured. The former expelled from their homes and inheritances to make room for the latter. Violence and wrong on the part of the great connived at. Partiality to the rich a grievous offence in the sight of God (Pro. 28:21). Especially on the part of judges and magistrates (Lev. 19:15). Condemned as existing in early Christian churches (Jas. 2:1-9). To feast the rich and neglect to feed the poor, the opposite of Christs rule (Luk. 14:12-14). The peculiar temptation of the rich.

(4) Neglect and oppression of the widow and fatherless (Job. 22:9). Thou hast sent the widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken,their support and means of subsistence taken from them, either by Job himself, or by others with his connivance. His alleged conduct either as that of a rich and powerful man in private life, or of a judge and magistrate, such as Job actually was (ch. Job. 29:7-17. The conduct here ascribed to him that of the unjust judge in the Parable (Luk. 18:2-5). The opposite of Jobs real conduct (ch. Job. 21:12-17; Job. 31:17-18; Job. 31:21). The offence laid to his charge one of the most aggravated. Neglect of the cause of an injured person a grievous offence on the part of the judge or magistrate; still more so when the cause is that of those who are bereft of their natural defenders and unable to defend themselves. To injure any a sin in the sight, of God; an aggravated sin to injure the widow and the fatherless. Widows and fatherless children entitled to pity; still more to justice. Not to assist such, a sin; a still greater one to injure them. The widow and fatherless especially cared for by God (Psa. 68:5). The same required by Him of others, both under the law (Exo. 22:22) and under the Gospel (Jas. 1:27).

These charges exhibit

(1) The wrong done to Job by his friends;

(2) The trial thus endured by himself. The open expression of what had been their secret thoughts from the first of their visit (ch. Job. 21:27). False charges both a grievous wrong against men and a heinous sin against God. An aggravation when, as in this case, laid against a good man and a friend.

The multiplicity and magnitude of Jobs offences only inferred by Eliphaz from his extraordinary sufferings. His false and uncharitable charges the result of a false philosophy and mistaken views of the Divine government. Errors in religion no less condemnable in themselves or injurious in their consequences from being sincerely held and earnestly defended. Christs followers often put to cruel deaths under the impression of doing God service (Joh. 16:2). No new thing for Gods faithful servants to have things laid to their charge, of which they not only are innocent, but which they utterly abhor. Innocence itself no security against false and abominable charges. Christ put to death under a charge of blasphemy. Stigmatized as a drunkard and a glutton, a deceiver of the people and exciter of sedition.

III. Imputes Jobs calamities directly to his sins (Job. 22:9). Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; or darkness that thou canst not see [any way of escape] and abundance of waters (overwhelming troubles) cover thee. Refers

(1) To his sudden and multiplied calamities;
(2) To his inward darkness and distress;

(3) To his perplexity and confusion of mind, both as to the cause of his troubles and any way of escape out of them. Fear and consternation the natural result of great, unlooked for, and successive calamities. Jobs present experience. His case an apparent contravention of the promise: He shall not be afraid of evil tidings (Psa. 112:7). Calmness and fearlessness in reference to calamity and trouble the believers duty and privilege (Php. 1:29). Christ in the midst of the storm: It is I, be not afraid.Jobs great troubles, according to Eliphaz, due to great sins. No sins likely to be more severely visited than those falsely charged upon himunmercifulness to and oppression of the poor and needy. He shall have judgment without mercy that hath shewed no mercy (Jas. 2:13). No louder cry than that of wrong done to the widow, the fatherless and the poor (Jas. 5:4).

IV. Charges Job with infidel principles (Job. 22:11-14). Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars how high they are! As spoken by Eliphaz himself, expresses the Divine supremacy over alleven the highest created beingsand the ability of God to take full cognizance of the affairs of men. As possibly ascribed by him to Job expressed the supposed distance of God from this lower world, and the consequent unlikelihood of his taking any notice of human affairs. And (yet or therefore) thou sayest [in effect, if not in so many words]. How (Margin, what) doth God know? Can he judge (rule in the affairs of men) through the thick cloud? Thick clouds are a covering to him that He seeth not; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven. The sentiment here falsely ascribed to Job that of a heart blinded by sin and alienated from God,God too far off and too much occupied with higher things than to care for or take cognizance of human affairs (Psa. 10:11; Psa. 73:11). Finite man thinks of God as finite and imperfect like himself. Perhaps in this case the wish the father to the thought. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no Godto take cognizance of earthly things (Psa. 14:1). Gods omnipresence and omniscience little realized because little loved. Hence

(1) Indulgence in a course of sin and oppression such as is here falsely ascribed to Job;

(2) Murmuring under trouble and oppression as if God took no heed either of mans doings or sufferings. Even a child of God, under deep and accumulated afflictions, tempted with such unbelieving and God-dishonouring thoughts. Faith in Gods omnipresence, omniscience, and all-superintending Providence, our comfort in trouble and our guard in temptation. The worst sentiments often falsely ascribed to the children of God. Blessed are ye when man shall say all manner of evil against you for my sake (Mat. 5:11).

The immense height or distance of the stars impressive even to ordinary observers. That distance, however, probably much greater than could be dreamt of in the days of Eliphaz. The nearest fixed star thousands of millions of miles distant. Millions of stars thousands of times more distant still. The Milky Way, powdered with stars, an immense cluster of stars too distant to be distinguished as such by the naked eye. Stars so distant that their light travelling at the same rate as that of the sun only reaches us so as to render them visible after thousands of years. A false and foolish conclusion that because God is present with and governs those distant worlds or suns, he cannot be supposed to superintend or care for the affairs of this minor planet. God necessarily equally present in, and equally cognisant of, every part of his boundless dominions. The most distant and the most minute of His creatures equally and at once observed by His eye and supported by His hand. The same omniscience that numbers the stars numbers also the hairs of our head. Divinely enlightened reason sees everywhere

The unambiguous footsteps of the God
Who gives its lustre to an insects wing,
And wheels His throne upon the rolling worlds.

Universal government no burden to an infinite God. An animalcule shares His attention with a sun, a worm with a seraph. God higher than the highest star, yet nearer to both reader and writer than his nearest friend. Hence:

1. God infinitely glorious and worthy of all adoration. The heavens declare the glory of God (Psa. 19:1).

2. Submission to God in all circumstances the creatures duty.
3. Trust in God, under the severest trials, the believers privilege.
4. Awful infidelity of the heart to ignore God and expel Him from His own world.
5. Dreadful nature of sin that despises and rebels against a God at once so infinitely great and good.

V. Adduces as a warning to Job the example of the antediluvian world (Job. 22:15-20). Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Which were cut down out of time (or prematurely), whose foundation was overflown with a flood (Margin, a flood was poured upon their foundations; or, a river poured forth was their foundation, i.e., their dwelling which seemed most secure, or all they trusted in); which said unto God, Depart from us, and what can the Almighty do for them (or, for us, or to us)? Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me (either the protest of Eliphaz himself against the principles and practice of those antediluvian sinners, and others like them, or perhaps the words of Job repeated in irony). The righteous see it (viz., the destruction of the ungodly) and are glad, and the innocent laugh them to scorn (Psa. 52:6; Psa. 58:10-11). Whereas our substance is not cut down (or, verily our adversary is destroyed); but (or and) the remnant of them (Margin, their excellency) the fire devoureth. Possible allusion to the destruction of the cities of the Plain, with a cruel side-glance at Jobs own losses and the occasion of one of them. Observe:

1. Some dealt with by God in judgment for the warning of others (2Pe. 2:6).

2. Sin an old way, older than the world itself, trodden by the angels that fell, and then by the world before the Flood (Gen. 6:5.)

3. A course of sin sooner or later ends in suffering. Sin, though an old and well-trodden way, as dangerous and disastrous as ever (Rom. 6:23).

4. The conduct of sinners and its fatal consequences to be carefully marked and avoided.
5. The firmest earthly possession easily swept away by the judgments of God; whose foundation, &c.
6. Dislike of God the essence of sin and the root of a sinful life; Which said unto God, Depart from us.
7. God and sin unable to dwell together at peace in the same heart.
8. The unrenewed heart unable to get God far enough; the renewed one unable to get Him near enough.
9. The baseness and blindness of sin. Like the man who turns his best friend and benefactor out of doors.
10. The ungodly often the most prosperous in this world. He filled their houses, &c.

11. The part of the impenitent to despise Gods goodness as well as defy His power (Rom. 2:4).

12. Gods multiplied favours a fearful aggravation of a sinful life. Yet He filled their houses, &c. Sad when a house full of good things is not accompanied with a heart full of grace.
13. A constant protest to be entered against an ungodly life, however prosperous. The counsel of the wicked, however fair and flattering, to be kept far from us.

14. Prosperous wickedness and suffering piety only for a time. A day cometh when the tables will be turned. Blessed are ye that weep now, for ye shall laugh; woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep (Luk. 6:21-25). AbrahamsSon, remember (Luk. 16:25).

15. The righteous glad, not at the sinners calamity itself, but at the holiness and justice of God appearing in it. The Creators character dearer to holy men and angels than the creatures comfort.

16. Proud and presumptuous sinners at last put to shame (Dan. 12:2).

17. Happy when we can truly rank ourselves with the godly. Whereas our substance, &c, i.e. that of the righteous; or, Truly our adversary, &c. Gods saints regard His adversaries as their own.

VI. Exhorts to repentance and piety (Job. 22:21-23).

1. Exhortation to submission and reconciliation with God (Job. 22:21). Acquaint now thyself (or, Submit thyself, and cultivate friendship and fellowship) with Him, and be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee (or, thine increase shall be good). Precious exhortation, but unjustly addressed to Job, as if still estranged from God. Contains:

First, the Exhortation proper. Two parts. Part First.

Acquaint thyself with God.

Acquaintance or friendship with God our first duty and highest interest. Implies

(1) Knowledge of God. Knowledge necessary to acquaintanceship. To have friendship with God we must know Him,as far as He is pleased to reveal Himself, and as far as creatures can know Him, in His nature, His attributes and His relations. God to be known as a Spirit, and as a Unity in Three Persons,Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. To be known as infinite, eternal, and unchanging; as omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent; as holy, just, wise, and good. To be known as our Creator, Preserver, Governor, and through the incarnation, obedience, and death of His Son, our Redeemer. To be known in part from His works, but most from His Word. Only rightly and savingly known through the inward illumination and revelation of His Holy Spirit. To be known as revealed in His Son Jesus Christ (Joh. 14:9). Power given to Christ by the Father to communicate the saving knowledge of Himself to men (Mat. 11:27; Joh. 17:2-3). The Sons mission to reveal the Father (Joh. 1:18). Knowledge of God to be obtained(i.) Through attention to and faith in the Word that reveals Him. The Scriptures testify of Christ; therefore to be searched (Joh. 5:39). (ii.) Through earnest prayer for Divine illumination and teaching (Pro. 2:3-5). Wisdom, including the true knowledge of God, given by God Himself in answer to believing prayer (Jas. 1:4). (iii.) Through application to and acceptance of Christ as a Saviour. One part of His work as a Saviour, to teach, enlighten, and communicate the saving knowledge of God (Mat. 11:27-29; Joh. 17:2-3). Christ Himself made wisdom to those who receive and trust in Him (1Co. 1:30).

(2) Submission to God. Submission to God the first duty of a creature. Necessary to acquaintance and friendly intercourse with God. Gods gracious regard directed to the humble and submissive (Isa. 66:2). Submission the first lesson in the school of Christ, and the first step to the enjoyment of the Divine favour and friendship (Mat. 11:27-29).

(3) Reconciliation with God. Man, through sin, in a state of enmity with God. As a transgressor of His law, is under condemnation. Sin to be forgiven, and man reconciled to God before any enjoyment of acquaintanceship or friendly intercourse. Reconciliation with God the object of the Sons incarnation and vicarious death. Sin a separating element between God and His creatures. The sword of justice between God and the sinner. To be sheathed before any friendly fellowship can exist. Only sheathed when satisfaction has been made to law and justice for transgression. To be first stained with the blood of a substitute. Hence the oblation of sacrifices. Christ the only true Sacrifice and Substitute. Men reconciled to God by His blood (Eph. 2:13-16; Col. 1:21-22; Rom. 5:10).

(4) Conformity to Gods will and character. Agreement in spirit and principles necessary to friendship and fellowship (Amo. 3:3). Conformity to Gods will and ways a creatures highest duty and interest. Without it mans spirit a troubled sea that cannot rest.

(5) Friendly walk and fellowship with God. The end of all the preceding. The highest happiness of a creature. Our privilege in this life, our blessedness in the next (Rev. 3:4). The testimony borne to Enoch and Noah before the Flood: they walked with God. The third duty required of man (Mic. 6:8). Abraham the friend of God. Gods friendship and fellowship mans highest happiness in Paradise (Gen. 2:8). Lost by the Fall, but restored in Christ (Joh. 14:23). The secret of happiness in a suffering world and of contentment in every lot. He cannot be unhappy who has the Almighty for his friend. Observe(i.) Our honour to be made capable of acquaintance and fellowship with God. Heaven, its endless enjoyment; hell, its irrecoverable loss, (ii.) Ever increasing acquaintance with God, in and through Jesus Christ, our precious privilege.

Second part of exhortation:

Be at peace.

Peace the sweetest word in any language. Includes all good. Gods best gift. God the God of peace. True peace the peace of God. Peace on earth the object and result of the Saviours incarnation (Luk. 2:14). Peace the purchase of His blood. Christ Himself our peace. His title the Prince of Peace. Peace His legacy and gift to His followers. Imparts His own peace (Joh. 14:27). Gives it not in word as a mere salutation, but in reality and experience. Peace either external or internal. The former precious; the latter still more so. In this world, the believers enjoy the latter without the former (Joh. 16:33). In the next, they enjoy both. Acquaintance with God the only way to peace. The world without peace because without God. Sometimes an external peace enjoyed without the internal. True peace only to be found in Him who is our peace. No peace without pardon, no pardon without Christ. Peace with God before peace in ourselves. Peace offered by God through the death of His Son. The Gospel an ambassage of peace from the King of kings. God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, and now beseeching men to be reconciled to Him (2Co. 5:19-21). Peace with God the immediate result of crediting the message and accepting the offer (Rom. 5:1). Followed by internal peace (Php. 4:6-7). Preserved by trust in Christ, and obedience as its fruit. Christ trusted in, as our Surety and Substitute, our peace as sinners; Christ followed as our Master and Pattern, our peace as saints.

Second. The Promise attached to the exhortation proper: Thereby good shall come unto thee. Peace with God brings every blessing in its train (Rom. 5:1), &c. No good withheld from them that walk uprightly, as His reconciled and obedient children (Psa. 84:11). All things made to work together for good to them that love God (Rom. 8:28). Afflictions and trials converted into blessings (Heb. 12:11). To the submissive and believing, good comes in this life; still more in the life to come, Present good to believers only a foretaste of the future. Suffering with Christ here, glorified with Him hereafter. Death separates them from all evil, and introduces them into all good. Peace on earth crowned with glory in heaven.

2. Exhortation to a cordial acceptance of and attention to Divine teaching and admonition (Job. 22:22). Receive, I pray thee, the law at His mouth, and lay up Hiswords in thineheart. The enjoyment of peace to be followed by a life of purity. Friendship with God inseparable from obedience to Him. Christs yoke accepted with rest imparted (Mat. 11:28-29). The rest continued as the yoke is carried. Mary at peace sits down at the Masters feet and hears His words. God a King as well as a Father and Friend. Christ a Master as well as a Saviour. With Christ, the law given as a directory of conduct, not as a covenant of life. At first given withDo this and live; now given with,Live and do this. Our happiness, that the law is to be received at the hands of Him who has Himself fulfilled its commands and endured its curse as our Surety. The same pierced hands that purchased peace for our enjoyment, presents the law for our obedience. The peace of the Gospel preserved by obedience to the law.

The law from Gods mouth,spoken and given by Himself. At first given to man at his creation; afterwards on various occasions, and in different ways. God spake to the fathers at sundry times and in divers manners (Heb. 1:1). The law here probably equivalent to His words in the next clause. The directory not only of our conduct but of our faith. Taken in a general sense as including both law and Gospel, precept and promise.Gods Law, not our own will or reason, or the maxims and customs of the world to be the guide of our practice and opinions.Gods law to be received,

(1) By reverent attention;
(2) Thankful receptance;
(3) Cordial faith;
(4) Cheerful obedience;

(5) Humble submission. To be not merely read but received. Gods law one of His most precious gifts (Hos. 8:12; Psa. 147:19-20). His law, properly so called, as much a gift as his Gospel.

Gods words to be laid up in our heart,for remembrance, meditation, and use. To be laid up as our most precious treasure. To be laid up, not in our chest or our chamber, but in our heart. To be hidden in the heart that we may not sin (Psa. 119:11). So treasured by Christ, and ready for use in the hour of temptation (Psa. 40:8; Mat. 4:4). To be laid up in the heart,

(1) By deep attention;
(2) Frequent reading or hearing;
(3) Serious reflection. Not only to be learned but laid up. The mark of a loving child to prize, ponder, and preserve the words of an absent parent. Gods words laid up for us in the Scripture, and to be laid up by us in our heart. Worthy to be so laid up as our choicest treasure (Psa. 19:10). Gods words both words of promise and precept, wooing, and warning. Given both for direction and comfort. Found both in the Old and New Testaments.

VII. Holds forth various promises with conditions (Job. 22:23-30).

If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up (more especially in a family, with a new and numerous race of children); thou shalt (rather, if thou shalt) put away iniquity (or wrong doing) far from thy tabernacles (plural,Job addressed as a chief or emir); then shalt thou lay up gold as the dust (or, as Margin, and lay the precious metals on the dust, as things of no value and only to be trodden on), and the gold of Ophir (a place in Arabia distinguished for its gold) as (or on) the stones of the brooks; then shall the Almighty be thy defence (Margin, thy gold), and thou shalt have plenty of silver (or, and [he shall be] treasures of silver unto thee). For (or yea,a still greater blessing) thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty, and shall lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him (as incense), and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt perform thy vows [on thy prayer being answered]. Thou shalt also decree (or purpose) a thing and it shall be established unto thee, and the light [of prosperity and the Divine blessing] shall shine upon thy ways. When men are cast down (or shall cast [thee] down; or, shall humble themselves), then thou shalt say [in confident assurance], there is (or shall be) lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. He (i.e. God) shall deliver the island (or the country or dwelling) of the innocent (or, He shall deliver him that is not innocent, viz., at thy intercession), and it is delivered (or, he shall be delivered) by the pureness of thy hands. Three conditions

1. Returning to God. If thou return to the Almighty,return home to Him as a prodigal to his father, so as again to be united to him and to the family,return to Him in submission, obedience and love. Job unjustly regarded as having forsaken God and cast off his fear (ch. Job. 15:4.) Always true that the first step to a sinners happiness is returning to God: I will arise and go to my Father. All we like sheep have gone astray. Gods constant call to the unconverted: Turn ye, turn ye; for why will ye die? To the Almighty. To emphatic, even or quite to Him; not only in good inclinations and beginnings, but fully and thoroughly. He arose and went to His father. Not enough to turn from sin, but to return to God (Jer. 4:1; Hos. 7:16). Christ the way back to the Father (Joh. 14:6). Returning to God a necessary condition of God returning to us (Mal. 3:7). Important prayer (Jer. 31:18).

2. Putting iniquity far from us and from our dwelling. Thou shalt put iniquity far from thy tabernacles. No true returning to God without turning from sin. God and sin at opposite poles; the face to the one, the back to the other. No friendship with God without a falling out with sin. Sin the abominable thing which God hates (Jer. 44:4).To be put away not only from ourselves but from our dwelling. A man responsible for what is done in his house. Davids resolution (Psa. 101:3-7). Joshuas (Jos. 24:15). Much of a mans sin committed in his own house. A man to purify his house as well as his heart. Jobs piety seen in his care about his childrens conduct as well as his own (ch. Job. 1:6).Iniquity not only to be put away but far away (ch. Job. 21:16).Sin represented here as iniquity. Sin many-sided. Here especially its relation to our neighbour. Injustice, oppression, wrong, retention of dishonest gain, inconsistent with the enjoyment of the Divine favour and blessing.

3. Ceasing to love and trust in riches. Lay gold on the dust, (Margin). The heart to be withdrawn from covetousness. Love to the world incompatible with love to God. Trust in riches, heart idolatry. No man able to serve two masters. God not to be served with a divided heart (Hos. 10:2). Trust in riches the worship of Mammon. Solemnly repudiated by Job (ch. Job. 31:24-25).

Promises

1. Upbuilding (Job. 22:23). Thou shalt built up. God, who pulls down, able also to build up. Allusion to Jobs calamities, both as to fortune and family. Building up both external and internal. Here probably rather the former; temporal prosperity, and more especially in relation to offspring. Upbuilding in spiritual blessing, and soul-prosperity the New Testament promise (Act. 9:31). Implies growth in grace, comfort, spiritual strength. Upbuilding in Christ (Col. 2:7); in faith (Jud. 1:20); in love (Eph. 4:16). Spiritual growth dependent on consistent walk (Isa. 58:9-12).

2. Enjoyment of God as our portion and defence (Job. 22:25). The Almighty shall be thy defence (or treasure). The believers place of defence is the munition of rocks. Underneath are the everlasting arms. God Himself the portion of His people (Deu. 22:9; Psa. 16:5). He is safe who has the Almighty for his defence, and rich who has God for his treasure.

Give what Thou canst, without Thee we are poor;
And with Thee rich, take what Thou wilt away.

3. Delight in God (Job. 22:26). Thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty. God the fountain of joy and ocean of delights. more than enough in Him to fill all hearts with pleasure. God a sun to gladden, while a shield to guard. Giving up the unsatisfying short-lived pleasures of sin, we receive those which are perfect and enduring. Only a penitennt and renewed heart capable of delighting in the Almighty. The pure in heart see God (Mat. 5:8).

4. Access to, and confidence in, God as a reconciled Father (Job. 22:26). Thou shalt lift up thy face unto God. Implies conscious acceptance, delight, and confidence. The experience of one conscious of forgiveness and acceptance in the Beloved. The face lifted up in prayer and communion with God. The spirit of adoption, crying, Abba, Father. Boldness of access to a father the privilege of a child. The believers privilege in relation to God (Eph. 3:12). Enjoyed in Christ. Boldness to enter into the holiest of all by the blood of Jesus (Heb. 10:19). Believers to come boldly to the throne of grace, having Jesus there as their High Priest (Heb. 4:16). Confidence towards God connected with consciousness of obeying Him (1Jn. 3:21-22). Abiding in Christ now gives confidence before Him at His appearing hereafter (1Jn. 2:28). A loving heart gives boldness in the day of judgment (1Jn. 4:18).

5. The spirit of prayer and acceptance of our petitions (Job. 22:27). Thou shalt make thy prayer to him, and he shall hear thee. Ability to pray, and to pray with acceptance, the gift of God. Children, not slaves, free to bring their requests to the master. The spirit of prayer connected with a state of acceptance. Answers to prayer given to believers along with the spirit of prayer (1Jn. 5:14-16). Answers to prayer the privilege of the upright (Psa. 66:18; Psa. 16:8). The Lord fulfils the desire of them that fear Him (Psa. 145:6). Prayer as incense, from the Saviours merits and the Spirits grace (Psa. 141:2; Rev. 8:3-4). Answered for the sake of the Elder Brother (Joh. 16:23). God never weary of blessing His people, because never weary of loving His Son. Universal promise made to prayer offered believingly in the Saviours name (Joh. 15:7; 1Jn. 5:15; Mar. 11:24).

6. The grace of thanksgiving with answers to prayer (Job. 22:27). And thou shalt perform thy vows. Grace to render thanks for mercies received no less a mercy than the mercies themselves. Thanksgiving both our duty and our privilege. When God graciously fulfils our prayers we ought faithfully to fulfil our vows. Thanksgiving for answers to prayer and performance of vows practised by the heathen themselves (Jon. 1:16).

7. Success in undertakings (Job. 22:28). Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee, and the light shall shine upon thy ways. Prosperity and success in our undertakings dependent upon God (Rom. 1:8). Promised to the confiding and consistent believer (2Ch. 20:20; Psa. 1:3; Psa. 37:5). Promised to Joshua (Jos. 1:8). Afforded to Joseph (Gen. 39:3; Gen. 39:23); and to Daniel (Dan. 6:28). The prayer of Abrahams servant (Gen. 24:12); and of Nehemiah (Neh. 1:11).

8. Comfort, hope, and deliverance in time of trouble and depression (Job. 22:29). When men are cast down (or, when they shall cast thee down, or, when thou art depressed) then thou shalt say [to thyself, or to others], there is (or, shall be) lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. Comfort and confidence of help and deliverance in time of common as well as personal danger and depression, with encouragement to others. Realized by Paul in the ship (Act. 27:21-25. The Lord a light to His people in time of darkness (Mic. 7:8). Confidence, joy, and hope, in seasons of trouble and adversity, the fruit of faith and obedience (Hab. 3:17-19). Jobs own experience at times (ch. Job. 23:10).

8. Usefulness to others (Job. 22:30). He shall deliver the island (country or dwelling) of the innocent (or, shall deliver Him that is not innocent, i.e., that is guilty); and it (or he) is delivered by the pureness of thy hands. God honours His faithful and confiding people by not only blessing themselves, but making them blessings to others. So Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, Paul. Not only makes them grow themselves, but brings others to sit under their shadow (Hos. 14:6-7). Saves them, and gives them to share with Himself the joy of saving others (Jas. 5:20; Jud. 1:23; 1Ti. 4:16). The accepted and faithful believers prayers made efficacious even for the ungoldly (1Jn. 5:16). So Abrahams would have been in the care of Sodom (Gen. 18:24). A community, company, or family, often saved for the sake of the godly in it (Act. 27:24). Pureness of hands, both in practice and prayer, necessary to real usefulness to others. The promises in the text realized in Jobs case in a way not anticipated by Eliphaz (ch. Job. 42:7-9). A praying man a public good.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

III. FALLACIES, FOLLIES, AND LOGOTHERAPYTHIRD TIMES A CHARM (Job. 22:1Job. 26:14)

A.

ELIPHAZ ON THE FUNCTIONAL VALUE OF MAN (Job. 22:1-30)

1.

God, needing nothing, is not self-seeking in punishing Job; so the punishment must be the result of sin. (Job. 22:1-5)

TEXT 22:15

1 Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

2 Can a man be profitable onto God?

Surely he that is wise is 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 Is it for thy fear of him that he reproveth thee,

That he entereth with thee into judgment?

5 Is not thy wickedness great?

Neither is there any end to thine iniquities.

COMMENT 22:15

I can still hear his cries. Its unbearable. It almost makes you believe in God. . . . Cries like that seem to call God back to life, much more surely than all the happiness in the world, and end-of-the-world silence, more frightening even than instant justice.

Monteilhet, Policiers Pour la forme

Job. 22:1The third cycle of speeches now begins. From the very beginning Eliphaz has found Job obstinately perverse. The movement in the content of the speeches has thus far been along three lines of thought: (1) In earlier speeches the three friends have argued from their preconceived notions of Gods nature to the conclusion that Job has sinned and that his suffering can be alleviated only through his repentance. (2) The second cycle develops the thesis of the fate of the wicked and that the universe is governed by moral structures and (3) in the third series to turn with vehemence upon Job and charge him with grave sins. Their assumptions about God, evil, and suffering are once more in evidence; their conclusions follow from their presuppositions, not the evidence in Jobs life, as anyone elses. Eliphaz returns to his earlier theme that repentance would lead to Jobs restoration. His speech contains four divisions: (1) Since God is disinterested, i.e., silent, Jobs suffering is proof of his sinsJob. 22:2-5; (2) Eliphazs deduction concerning Jobs sinJob. 22:6-11; (3) Eliphazs envisagement of Jobs assumption concerning Gods silenceJob. 22:12-20; and (4) Eliphazs promise and appeal to JobJob. 22:21-30.

The central issue in this speech is the distance between God and man because of sin.[242] If man suffers, it is a result of his personal sins. Eliphaz here abandons all efforts at gentleness. In his first speech (chps. 45) he set forth encouragement; in his second speech (chp. 15) he spoke of Jobs irreverence; and now he openly charges Job with hypocrisy and secret sins. The principle from which Eliphaz begins his reasoning is true, i.e., God is just (Rom. 3:21 ff), but it is not the entire picture; God is also loving. By isolating Gods love and justice, Eliphaz distorts the entire relationship between God and man. Eliphaz still cannot understand how anyone can serve God for nothing. Somebody must gain from it. Is it man, or is it God?

[242] Note the history of this fundamental problem of the relationship between Gods immanence and transcendence: (1) There is no separation between God and man because there is no God, naturalistic atheism; (2) Kierkegaards total separation, God as wholly other; (3) After Hegels phenomenologically based pantheism the separation is only one of degree. From the Newtonian world Machine Model to 19 Organiamic ModelEvolutionary naturalism is its 19th dress; (4) Kierkegaard Buber-Otto-Barth in neo-orthodoxy; (5) God is totally immersed in realityDeath of God, Revolutionary political, Liberation Theologies of all types; and (6) Biblical alternatives.

Job. 22:2God can derive no possible advantage from man, but a pious life style can benefit man. God would gain nothing by deviating from strict justice in dealing with human behavior (Elihu expresses the same theme in Job. 35:7). God doth not need either mans work or his giftsMilton. Job has previously used this argumentJob. 7:20. Man cannot harm God; why then should God care what man does? He should just leave man alone.

Job. 22:3Is it any advantage (note parallel word in the second line gain) or pleasure (Job. 21:21) to God, if you are righteous? Can a gebher (strongest specimen of man) be useful to God? Can a professional wise man give instruction to the Almighty? As a theologian of transcendence, Eliphaz dismisses these ludicrous possibilitiesIsa. 62:5; Luk. 15:7; Luk. 17:10.

Job. 22:4Both Testaments witness to our unprofitableness and Gods gracious concern. Eliphaz has used the word yirah (fear, reverence, piety) before (Job. 4:6) in the sense of piety. He is assuming that since God is disinterested, His relationship to man must be our advantage and not Gods. The A. V. translation fear is quite inappropriate in this discussion.

Job. 22:5Job will later protest that he is innocent in Job. 31:5 ff, which also contains his response to Eliphazs charges. Jobs accuser has no evidence; his accusations are derived from his presuppositions. The two words for sin in this verse are (1) wickednessresha, loose, ill-regulated; and (2) peshadeliberate and premeditated; and Job. 34:37 speaks of adding pesha to hattahmiss attaining of goal (see Brown, Driver, Briggs). Eliphaz declares that if Gods discipline is not for your piety, then it must be for your sinful rebellion. If your suffering is limitless and God is just, then your sins must also be boundless.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

XXII.

(1) Then answered Eliphaz.Eliphaz proceeds to reply in a far more exaggerated and offensive tone than he has yet adopted, accusing Job of definite and specific crimes. He begins by asserting that the judgment of God cannot be other than disinterested, that if, therefore, He rewards or punishes, there cannot be anything personal in it.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

The third stage of the controversy.

Chaps. 22-26.

THIRD ADDRESS OF ELIPHAZ.

1. Then Eliphaz answered God is all-sufficient, and if he punish, it is not for his own profit, much less for the sake of human piety, but on account of the sins of men. It is therefore plain that an infinite sufferer must have been an infinite sinner, (2-5.) Job’s exaggerated description of the prosperity of the wicked seems to Eliphaz a denial of Divine Providence.

He now proceeds to refute Job by indirectly arguing the doctrine of such Providence, and carries the war into Africa by an assault upon Job himself. He charges upon him the guilt of oppression and cruelty to the weak and defenceless. Under his emirship might and violence prospered. Moreover, he was a sceptic, well skilled to make “the worse appear the better reason,” (12-15.) That Job should suffer was due to sins such as these, and demonstrated that the wicked are punished in this life. The antediluvians lived just such lives as those of the happy wicked, and their foundation of bliss and security was poured forth like a stream. The triumphant song of the survivors furnishes a text from which Eliphaz confidently urges Job to return to God, with the assurance of returning prosperity, which will manifest itself not so much in worldly good as in joy in God, the consciousness of spiritual uprightness, and the bliss of doing good to others.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job’s Dialogue with Three Friends – Job 3:1 to Job 31:40, which makes up the major portion of this book, consists of a dialogue between Job and his three friends. In this dialogue, Job’s friends engage in three rounds of accusations against Job, with him offering three defenses of his righteousness. Thus, Job and his friends are able to confirm each of their views with three speeches, since the Scriptures tell us that a matter is confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses (2Co 13:1). The underlying theme of this lengthy dialogue is man’s attempt to explain how a person is justified before God. Job will express his intense grief (Job 3:1-26), in which his three friends will answer by finding fault with Job. He will eventually respond to this condemnation in a declaration of faith that God Himself will provide a redeemer, who shall stand on earth in the latter days (Job 19:25-27). This is generally understood as a reference to the coming of Jesus Christ to redeem mankind from their sins.

Job’s declaration of his redeemer in Job 19:23-29, which would be recorded for ever, certainly moved the heart of God. This is perhaps the most popular passage in the book of Job, and reflects the depth of Job’s suffering and plea to God for redemption. God certainly answered his prayer by recording Job’s story in the eternal Word of God and by allowing Job to meet His Redeemer in Heaven. I can imagine God being moved by this prayer of Job and moving upon earth to provide someone to record Job’s testimony, and moving in the life of a man, such as Abraham, to prepare for the Coming of Christ. Perhaps it is this prayer that moved God to call Abraham out of the East and into the Promised Land.

The order in which these three friends deliver their speeches probably reflects their age of seniority, or their position in society.

Scene 1 First Round of Speeches Job 3:1 to Job 14:22

Scene 2 Second Round of Speeches Job 15:1 to Job 21:34

Scene 3 Third Round of Speeches Job 22:1 to Job 31:40

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Eliphaz Charges Job with Wickedness

v. 1. Then Eliphaz, the Temanite, answered and said, ignoring Job’s argument concerning the prosperity of the ungodly,

v. 2. Can a man be profitable unto God, no matter how good or how great he may be in this world, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? This is really the answer to the first part of the verse: God, being absolutely wise, is not influenced by the wisdom of any man.

v. 3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, a gain or advantage to Him, who Himself is perfection, that thou art righteous? The most blameless life of men cannot add to His bliss; He is never actuated by selfish motives. Or is it gain to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect, striving to be absolutely righteous in his manner of living? God does not reward the pious because they bring Him any benefit by their piety, nor does He punish sinners because their transgressions diminish His blessedness.

v. 4. Will He reprove thee for fear of thee? Will He enter with thee into judgment? It must not enter one’s mind that God was sending this punishment upon Job on account of his godliness, since God never acts from selfish motives, and because the cause of Job’s calamity must lie in himself, as Eliphaz supposed.

v. 5. Is not thy wickedness great and thine iniquities infinite? Eliphaz here boldly draws the conclusion to which his first statements entitled him, as he thought: Because God sends such afflictions only as punishment for transgressions, and because He is never influenced and guided by any selfish motives and arbitrary notions, therefore it follows that Job is guilty. This accusation he now tries to back up by an enumeration of sins of which he supposed Job had become guilty.

v. 6. For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for naught, there being no need for Job, who had been wealthy, to be so exacting in collecting moneys due him from his relatives, and stripped the naked of their clothing, taking even the last piece of garment which they possessed, Exo 22:25-26; Deu 24:6 to Deu 10:11, against every sentiment of humanity.

v. 7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, as they fainted in their thirst, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry, thus setting aside the fundamental demands of charity.

v. 8. But as for the mighty man, literally, “the man of the arm or fist,” he had the earth, and the honorable man dwelt in it, that is, the honored, influential one. Thus Eliphaz accused Job of selfishness and greed, of taking the whole land for himself and letting the poor suffer.

v. 9. Thou hast sent widows away empty, when they appealed to him for help, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken, they were treated with the most inhuman cruelty, deprived of all their rights and powers.

v. 10. Therefore, as a punishment of such sins, snares are round about thee, various forms of destruction besieged him, and sudden fear troubleth thee, a sudden deadly anguish overpowered him time and again,

v. 11. or darkness, that thou canst not see, the night of suffering admitting no ray of consoling light; and abundance of waters cover thee, bursting upon him with overwhelming misery. It was a bitter and unjust accusation which Eliphaz heaped upon Job.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Job 22:1-30

Eliphaz returns to the attack, but with observations that are at first strangely pointless and irrelevant, e.g. on the unprofitableness of man to God (verses l, 2), and on the slight importance of Job’s case (verse 3). After this weak prelude, however, there is more vigour in his assault. In verses 4-9 he directly charges Job with a number of specified sins, and in verses 10, 11 declares his sufferings to be the consequence of them. He then proceeds to accuse him of denying God’s omniscience (verses 12-14), and, alter some not very successful attempts to retort on him his own words (verses 15-20), finally recurs to his favourite devices (see Job 5:17-26) of exhorting Job to submission and repentance, and promising him restoration to God’s favour and a return of prosperity (verses 21-30).

Job 22:1, Job 22:2

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, Can a man be profitable unto God? Job had said nothing upon this point; but perhaps Eliphaz thinks his complaints and expostulations to imply a higher value in man, and a greater claim to consideration at God’s hands, than can rightly be challenged. Certainly God does not depend on man for profit or advantage of any kind. Neither our wisdom nor our goodness “extendeth to him.” As he that is wise may be profitable unto himself; rather, truly he that is wise is profitable unto himself; i.e. to himself only, and not to God. Man’s intelligence and researches can add nothing to God’s knowledge.

Job 22:3

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? As “our goodness extendeth not to God,” and as his all-perfect happiness knows neither increase nor diminution, we cannot he said to advantage him by our goodness. Still “good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, are pleasing and acceptable to God in Christ;” and God himself condescends to say that he “takes pleasure in his people,” “in them that fear him” (Psa 147:11; Psa 149:4). Or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect? Of course, the “gain” is to the man himself, and not to God. He saves his soul alive. God has one more worshipper in the courts of heaven, one more voice added to the choir which hymns his praise for evermore, But what is one drop added to an ocean?

Job 22:4

Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? rather, Is it for thy fear of him that he reproveth thee? Surely not. If he reproves thee, it must be because thou fearest him not. The fact of thy reproof is sure evidence of the fact of thy guilt. Will he enter with thee into judgment? rather, that he entereth with thee into judgment (see the Revised Version).

Job 22:5

Is not thy wickedness great? Judging from the greatness of Job’s punishment, Eliphaz concludes, logically from his premisses, that his wickedness must be commensurate. He must have been guilty of almost every form of ill-doing. And thine iniquities infinite? literally, and is there not no end to thine iniquities? These general conclusions seem to Eliphaz to justify him in proceeding to the enumeration of details.

Job 22:6

For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought; i.e. thou hast lent to thy brother on pledge, without reasonable cause, when thou weft rich enough to need no security (comp. Neh 5:2-11). And stripped the naked of their clothing. When thy brother, on borrowing from thee, pledged his raiment, thou didst retain it, and so didst leave him to shiver all night without covering (see Exo 22:26, Exo 22:27). We may, perhaps, gather from this that the Mosaic Law on the subject was founded on an anterior custom widely prevalent in SouthWestern Asia.

Job 22:7

Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink. To give water to the thirsty was regarded in the East as one of the most elementary duties of man to man. The self-justification of the dead in the Egyptian Hades contained the following passage: “I gave my bread to the hungry, and drink to him that was athirst; I clothed the naked with garments; I sheltered the wanderer” (‘Ritual of the Dead,’ ch. CXXV. 38). The same claim appears continually on Egyptian tombs. “All men respected me,” we read on one; “I gave water to the thirsty; I set the wanderer in his path; I took away the oppressor, and put a stop to violence”. In the proverbs assigned to Solomon, “which the men of Hezekiah copied out” (Pro 25:1), the duty was declared to be one owed even to enemies (see Pro 25:21, “If thine enemy be hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he be thirsty, give him water to drink“). Isaiah notices it as praiseworthy in the Temanites (Eliphaz’s people), that they “brought water to him that was thirsty‘ and prevented with their bread him that fled” (Isa 21:14). Jael is praised for going further than this: He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish” (Jdg 5:25). And thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. Later on Job absolutely denies this, as well as many of the other charges. “If I have withheld,” he says, “the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof,“ then let mine arm fall from my shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone” (Job 31:16-22).

Job 22:8

But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; literally, as for the man of arm; i.e. the man strong of arm. Job’s retainers are probably meant, whom Eliphaz supposes to have been allowed by Job to oppress the poor, and have their own way in the world. This charge was doubtless as baseless as the others (comp. Job 29:16, Job 29:17). And the honourable man dwelt in it; of the accepted man“the favoured man,” i.e. those of whom Job approved and whom he favoured.

Job 22:9

Thou hast sent widows away empty. Job, on the contrary, declares that he “caused the widow s heart to sing for joy” (Job 29:13). The sin of oppressing widows was one of which Job deeply felt the heinousness. He is certainly a priori not likely to have committed it (Job 1:1; Job 4:3, Job 4:4), and the prejudiced testimony of Eliphaz will scarcely convince any dispassionate person to the contrary. And the arms of the fatherless have been broken; i.e. the strength of the fatherless has been (by thy fault) taken flora them. Job has allowed them to be oppressed and ruined. The reply of Job is, “When the ear heard, then it blessed me; and when the eye saw, it gave witness to me: because I delivered the poor that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him” (Job 29:11, Job 29:12; see also Job 31:21, Job 31:22).

Job 22:10

Therefore snares are round about thee. As Bildad had threatened (Job 18:8-10), and as Job himself had acknowledged (Job 19:6). And sudden fear troubleth thee (comp. Job 3:25; Job 7:14; Job 13:21, etc.).

Job 22:11

Or darkness, that thou canst not see. Job had complained of the “darkness” that was “set in his paths” (Job 19:8), meaning probably his inability to discover the cause of his afflictions. And abundance of waters cover thee. The comparison of severe affliction to an overwhelming flood is very common in Scripture (see Psa 42:7; Psa 69:1-3, Psa 69:14, Psa 69:15; Psa 124:4, Psa 124:5; Lam 3:54, etc.). So Shakespeare speaks of “a sea of troubles.”

Job 22:12

Is not God in the height of heaven? From taxing Job with definite open sins, Eliphaz proceeds to accuse him of impious thoughts and principles. He does not acknowledge, Eliphaz says, either the majesty or the omniscience of God. Here he has, at any rate, some tangible ground for his reproaches. Job’s words have been over-bold, over-venturesome. He has seemed to forget the distance between God and man (Job 9:30-33; Job 10:2, Job 10:3; Job 13:3, etc.), and to call in question either God’s omniscience or his regard for moral distinctions (Job 9:22, Job 9:23; Job 21:7-13, Job 21:23-26). Hence Eliphaz is enabled to take a high tone and ask, “Hast thou forgotten that God is in the height of heaven, far up above all us poor wretched mortals? Dost thou need to be reminded of this? He is above the stars, and yet behold the height of the stars, how high they are! Even they are infinitely above men, yet how far below him!” (comp. Job 35:5).

Job 22:13

And thou sayest, How doth God know? Job had not said this in so many words, but, by equalizing the godly and the wicked (Job 9:22; Job 21:23-26), he might be supposed to mean that God took no note of men’s conduct, and therefore had not a perfect knowledge of all things. The psalmist implies that many men so thought (Psa 10:11; Psa 73:11; Psa 94:7). Can he judge through the dark cloud? rather, through the thick darkness. God was supposed to dwell remote from man, in the highest heaven, and, according to many, “clouds and darkness were round about him” (Psa 97:2)he “dwelt in the thick darkness” (1Ki 8:12)he “made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him was waters, and thick clouds of the skies” (Psa 18:11). The imagery was, no doubt, at first used in reference to man’s inability to see and know God; but when men became familiar with it, they turned the metaphor round, and questioned God’s ability to see and know anything about man. Job had not really ever shared in these doubts; but it suits Eliphaz’s purpose to malign and misrepresent him.

Job 22:14

Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not (see the comment on the preceding verse); and he walketh in the circuit of heaven; or, on the circumference of the heavens. The heavens are regarded as a solid vault, outside which is the place where God dwells.

Job 22:15

Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? rather, Wilt thou keep the old way‘ etc.? (see the Revised Version). Eliphaz assumes that it is Job’s intention to cast in his lot with these persons whose prosperous wickedness he has described in the preceding chapter (verses 7-15). And this notwithstanding Job’s final protest, “Be the counsel of the wicked far from me” (verse 16). He calls the mode of life pursued by these wicked persons “the old way,” either with allusion to the seed of Cain before the Flood, who “corrupted their way” (Gen 6:12), or perhaps with reference to the descendants of Nimrod after it.

Job 22:16

Which were cut down (rather, swept or snatched away) out of time; i.e. before their time, prematurely. Whose foundation was overflown with a flood. Some suppose an allusion to the general destruction of mankind by the Noachian Deluge; but perhaps no more is meant than that the supports of the wicked are ordinarily loosened and carried away by a flood of calamity. No single event need be referred to.

Job 22:17

Who said unto God, Depart from us (comp. Job 21:14). Eliphaz tries, though with no very great success, to turn Job’s words against him. And, What can the Almighty do for them? i.e. and ask what the Almighty can do for them. A change from the second to the third person, without any change of subject, is not unusual in Hebrew. The wicked renounce God, and bid him depart from themconduct which they justify by asking what good he could do them if they acted otherwise. The idea is the same as that of Job 21:15, though not expressed so pointedly. What Eliphaz thinks to gain by echoing Job’s words is not very apparent.

Job 22:18

Yet he filled their houses with good things. The “he” is emphatic (). Translate, Yet it was he that filled their houses with good things; and comp. Job 21:16, where the prosperity of the wicked is said not to have proceeded from themselves. But the counsel of the wicked is far from me; or, but let the counsel of the wicked be far from me. Again, Job’s words in Job 21:16 are echoed, perhaps that Eliphaz may show himself to be at least as pious as Job.

Job 22:19

The righteous see it, and are glad; i.e. “the righteous see both the short-lived prosperity (Job 22:18) and the ultimate destruction (Job 22:16) of the wicked, and rejoice over them. especially over the latter” (comp. Psa 58:10; Psa 107:40-42; Pro 11:10). And the innocent laugh them to scorn (comp. Psa 2:6). Scorn and derision are the just portion of the wicked, and in Old Testament times even saints did not scruple to pour them out on those who deserved them. But the gospel spirit is different.

Job 22:20

Whereas our substance is not cut down. It is best to take these as the words of the righteous in their triumph over the wicked; but they can scarcely bear the interpretation given them in the Authorized Version. The clause is not really negative but affirmative, and the word . does not mean “substance,” but “adversary.” Translate, Surely they that rose up against us (or, our adversaries) are cut off; and compare the Revised Version. The “adversaries” of the righteous are the “wicked men” who have been “snatched away before their time,” and have had their “foundation overflown with a flood” (Job 22:16). But the remnant of them the fire consumeth; rather, and the remnant of them hath the fire consumed (see the Revised Version). The “fire” here, like the “flood” in Job 22:16, is a metaphor, and therefore not to be pressed. All that is essential is that the wicked are destroyed. Over this the “righteous” and the “innocent” rejoice.

Job 22:21-30

At this point a transition occurs. Eliphaz turns away from reproaches, open or covert, designed to exhibit Job as an example of extreme wickedness, and falls back on those topics which were the main subjects of his first exhortation (Job 5:8-27), viz. an earnest appeal to Job to return to God, to repent and amend (verses 21-23) and a lavish outpouring of promises, or prophecies, that in that case he should be delivered from all his troubles, should recover his wealth and prosperity, obtain of God all that he should pray for, succeed in all his enterprises, and be able to help and ease others, even those who might be guilty in God’s sight (verses 24-30).

Job 22:21

Acquaint now thyself with him (i.e. God), and be at peace; or, make, I beseech thee‘ a trial of him, and be at peace; i.e. risk everything, throw thyself upon his mercy, and so make thy peace with him. To do so is well worth thy while, for thereby good shall come unto thee. It is a question what sort of “good” is meant. If we are to explain the “good” of this passage by Job 22:24, Job 22:25 exclusively, Eliphaz will become a mere utilitarian, and he will be rightly characterized as “selfish and sordid” (Cook)an anticipation of the Mammon of Milton. But there seem to be no sufficient grounds for singling out Job 22:24, Job 22:25 from the rest of the passage, and regarding them as forming its key-note. The “good” which Eliphaz promises to Job includes, besides “the gold of Ophir” and “plenty of silver,” such things as “delight in the Almighty,” and confident trust in him (verse 26), God’s hearing of his prayers (verse 27), the shining of light upon his path (verse 28), his own payment of his vows (verse 27), his giving assistance to the poor and needy (verse 29), and even his deliverance of the guilty by the pureness of his hands (verse 30); so that other besides material considerations are clearly taken into account, and the worldly prosperity which Eliphaz promises forms a part only of the good result which he anticipates from the patriarch making his peace with the Almighty.

Job 22:22

Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth; or, receive now instruction from his mouth. The supposition of some commentators, that the “Law of Moses” is intended, is negatived by the entire absence from the Book of any allusion to the details of the Mosaic legislation, as well as by the primitive character of the life depicted in the book, and the certainty that no one of the interlocutors is an Israelite. The Hebrew , without the article prefixed, is properly “instruction,” and is only to be assumed as meaning “the Law” when the context shows this meaning to be probable. The “instruction” to which Eliphaz here points, and which he regards as instruction from God’s mouth, is probably the teaching of religious men, such as himself, which he considered to have come from God originally, though, perhaps, he could not have explained how. And lay up his words in thine heart. This is a mere variant of the preceding clause, and adds no fresh idea.

Job 22:23

If thou shalt return to the Almighty. Eliphaz, like Bildad in Job 8:5, and Zophar in Job 11:13, taxes Job with having fallen away from God, almost with having apostatized. All his prophecies of future prosperity rest upon the assumption that Job, having fallen away, is now about to turn to God, repent of his misdoings, and be again received with favour. Thou shall be built up; i.e. “restored, re-established! Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles (comp. Job 11:14, where Zophar implies that Job’s tents have ill-gotten gains concealed in them).

Job 22:24

Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust; rather, then shalt thou lay thy treasure in the dust; i.e. hold it in slight esteem, because of its abundance. And the gold of Ophir (literally, and Ophir) shall be to thee as the stones of the brooks,. “Ophir” stands, no doubt, for untold wealth, being the great gold- producing country (see 1Ki 9:28; 1Ki 10:11; 1Ki 22:48, 1Ch 29:1-30 :41; Psa 45:9; Isa 13:12).

Job 22:25

Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense; rather, thy treasure. The word is the same as that used in the first clause of Job 22:24, It properly signifies “ore.” The general meaning of the passage seems to be, “However rich thou mayest be in the precious metals, thy true treasurethat which thou wilt value mostwill be the Almighty himself.” And thou shalt have plenty of silver; or, and he shall be previous silver unto thee (see the Revised Version).

Job 22:26

For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty. God shall no longer be a terror and alarm to thee, as he is at present (Job 7:17-20; Job 9:17, Job 9:34; Job 10:15-17; Job 13:21; Job 19:6-13, etc.), but a source of rejoicing and joy. Thou shalt have blessings at his hands instead of sufferings, rewards instead of punishments. Therefore shalt thou delight in him, and shalt lift up thy rites unto God; i.e. “shalt turn towards him, like the sunflower towards the sun, end bask in the light of his countenance.”

Job 22:27

Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee. Now Job prays, but is not heard; he asks for death, but it does not come; he begs for a respite from suffering, but it is refused him; he beseeches God to enter into argument with him (Job 9:32-34; Job 10:2), but God vouchsafes no answer. Let him follow Eliphaz’s advice, “return to the Almighty” (verse 23), humble himself in the dust, repent and “put away his iniquity” (verse 23), and then, Eliphaz promises him, all shall be changedGod will become gracious to him, will listen to him, and grant his requests, will remove his heavy hand, and crown him with mercy and loving-kindness. Then, he adds, thou shalt pay thy vows. Thou shalt have wealth enough, and strength enough, to pay any vows that thou hast made, which now in thy afflicted state thou canst not do. Vows are part of natural religion, and were widely prevalent over all the East in ancient times. The performance of vows, which was strictly enjoined in the Mosaic Law (Deu 23:21), must at all times have been felt as obligatory by the natural conscience.

Job 22:28

Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee. Whatever thou resolvest on, i.e; God shall ratify with his authority, and bring to pass in due time for thy benefita promise which has certainly “a touch of audacity” about it (Cook). David is less bold, but intends to give the same sort of encouragement when he says, “Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart; commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass (Psa 37:4, Psa 37:5). And the light shall shine upon thy ways. Job had complained of the “darkness” by which his path was shadowed (Job 19:8). Eliphaz promises that this cause of complaint shall be removed. Job’s way shall be “made plain before his face.” A bright light shall illumine ita light that shall ever “shine more and more unto the perfect day” (Pro 4:18).

Job 22:29

When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; rather, when men cast down‘ and thou shalt say, Let there be lifting up; i.e. when oppressors have cast a man down, and thou appealest to God, and prayest for his lifting up, then he (i.e. God) shall save the humble person. God shall hear thy, prayer, and the oppressed person shall be rescued and saved.

Job 22:30

He shall deliver the island of the innocent; rather, he shall deliver even him that is not innocent (see the Revised Version). It is now generally admitted that in this place is for , as in 1Sa 4:21; Pro 31:4. The meaning seems to be that God will deliver, at Job’s prayer, even guilty persons, who will be delivered by the pureness of Job’s hands. Eliphaz thus prophesies his own deliverance and that of his two friends from God’s wrath at the intercession of Job, as actually came to pass afterwards (see Job 42:7-9).

HOMILETICS

Job 22:1-4

Eliphaz to Job: the third colloquy: the second controversy: 1. A fallacious syllogism.

I. A SOUND PREMISS. That God’s government of mankind is entirely disinterested, his judicial retributions not being affected by considerations of personal benefit or hurt arising from the conduct of his creatures.

1. Not by expectation of advantage. (Verses 2, 3.) Here is:

(1) An admission; that a wise man, rightly exercising his faculties in the sphere of natural life, may effectually promote his own advantagea proposition incontrovertible by reason, since wisdom in this sense signifies superior discernment and ability, the capacity of employing means to accomplish ends (Ecc 10:10); and abundantly confirmed by experience, which attests that “by wisdom there is profit to them that see the sun” (Ecc 7:11), that “through wisdom is an house builded, and its chambers filled with all precious and pleasant riches” (Pro 24:3, Pro 24:4), and that “wisdom strengtheneth the wise more than ten mighty men which are in the city” (Ecc 7:19).

(2) An implication; that the same law holds good in the higher realm of religion; that a man acting wisely, i.e. living under the influence of that wisdom which cometh from above (Jas 3:17), filling his heart with that fear of the Lord which is the beginning of wisdom (Job 28:28; Psa 111:10; Pro 1:7;, Ecc 12:13), and shaping his ways in accordance with its instructions (Job 28:28; Pro 3:7; Pro 16:6), shall also advance his highest interests (Pro 4:8)a sentiment likewise endorsed by Scripture (1Ti 4:8; 1Ti 6:6) and experience.

(3) An admonition; that the above law does not apply to man’s relations to his Creator; that a man even in his best estate (Geber), which is wholly vanity (Psa 39:5), clothing himself in righteousness, and striving, with apparent success, to make his ways perfect, as Job somewhat boldly asserted he had done (Job 9:21; Job 13:15), can center nothing in the shape of increase or profit upon God; that his piety, which may be useful to himself (Pro 19:8) and helpful to his neighbors (Ecc 9:15), does not reach as far as God in the way of bestowing advantage (Job 35:7; Psa 16:2), neither augmenting his felicity nor enhancing his sufficiency (Rom 11:35), and therefore cannot enter into God’s calculations in the distribution of rewards and punishments among his subjects, as certainly it should not mingle with man’s cogitations about himself (Luk 17:10).

(4) A qualification. Nevertheless, God not only expresses himself as it’ the piety of his people did contribute to his felicity (Num 14:8; 1Ki 10:9; Psa 37:23; Psa 147:11) and advantage (Matthew’ Mat 21:41), but pathetically complains that sinful men are “together become unprofitable” (Rom 3:12).

2. Not by fear of damage. (Verse 4.) Eliphaz appears to mean that God has as little reason to dread loss from man’s wickedness (Job 35:6) as to expect gain from his godliness, and therefore no need to defend himself against man by either punishing him with undeserved calamities, or weakening him through unmerited rebukes. The sentiment may remind us

(1) of man’s weakness, which can do nothing against God, who sits enthroned in heaven far beyond the reach of man’s puny arm;

(2) of sin’s folly, which by all its craft and contrivance can succeed in inflicting damage only on itself;

(3) of God’s greatness, which remains unaffected by all the conspiracies of men and devils against his throne, his Law, his grace, his Person;

(4) of affliction’s design, which is not to crush but to convert man, not to reduce him to weakness but to bring him to repentance, not to evince the Divine indignation against him bat to attest the Divine love and compassion towards him.

II. THE MISTAKEN INFERENCE. That Job was a sinner.

1. The inference appeared obvious.

(1) It was evident that Job was a great sufferer.

(2) It was self-contradictory to suppose that God was chastising him on account of his piety. So some read the words, “Will he reprove thee for fear of thee?” literally, “for, or on account of, thy fear,” i.e. thy piety? No, verily.

(3) It was inconceivable that God could be punishing him from any interested motive. Hence

(4) it was a natural inference that Job’s calamities were judicial visitations on account of sins. Therefore

(5) Job, in spite of appearances to the contrary, must be a great sinnerin fact, a criminal of gigantic proportions, as Eliphaz next proceeds to show (verses 5-9). Nevertheless:

2. The inference was wrong. Since

(1) Job was not a sinner in the sense intended by his accuser, but, as his conscience testified and God had declared, a perfect man and an upright, one that feared God and eschewed evil.

(2) Besides strict judicial retribution, and infliction of suffering from interested motives, there was a third alternative, of which Eliphaz appeared to be ignorant, viz. chastisement for the individual’s good (Heb 12:10)the view of suffering subsequently brought into prominence by Elihu (Job 33:14-30), and constantly exhibited in the gospel. And

(3) in point of fact, Job was not being treated Penally on account of any personal transgression. Hence

(4) the inference of Eliphaz, though on his premisses correct, was essentially fallacious.

Learn:

1. That the best saint has no more claim on God’s grace and favour than the worst sinner.

2. That God’s salvation of sinful men can in the case of none be of work and merit, but in the case of all must be of faith and grace.

3. That, as a special mark of condescension and kindness, God is pleased to accept and reward the services of his people as if they had been profitable unto himself.

4. That if God has no need of man’s righteousness, man has infinite need of God’s.

5. That, notwithstanding God derives no advantage from the piety of his creatures, he commands all men to make their ways perfect,

6. That, though God never reproves men out of fear, he sometimes does out of love.

7. That good people’s piety is sometimes better than their logic.

Job 22:5-20

Eliphaz to Job: 2. A false accusation.

I. A CHARGE OF FLAGRANT IMMORALITY.

1. Generally preferred. (Verse 5.) All sin may be justly characterized as great, being committed against a great God, a great Law, great light, great love, great obligations, and great penalties; and every man’s iniquities may be styled “without an end,” i.e. numberless, since David says of his, “They are more than the hairs of mine head” (Psa 40:12); but Eliphaz designs to represent Job’s wickedness as exception ally flagrant in comparison with that of ordinary sinners, and a fortiori of such good people as Bildad, Zophar, and himself (cf. Luk 18:11), and Job’s crimes as not only already beyond computation, but, probably, as even then not terminated (Carey).

2. Specifically detailed. More abominable wickedness can scarcely be imagined.

(1) Merciless extortion (verse 6). Job had exacted in pledge from his unhappy creditor the large upper garment of Orientals, and had not restored it at sundown, as was afterwards commanded by Moses (Exo 22:26, Exo 22:27)a sin in Job’s case aggravated by several considerations, as e.g. that his creditor was his” brother,” i.e. either a relative or, at any rate, a fellow-countryman, and not a stranger; that he was poor, and would be rendered comparatively destitute without his upper raiment; and that the pledge had been taken from him “for nought,” or without cause, i.e. either had been exacted though the debt was small, such as rich Job might have overlooked, or the pledge had in value greatly exceeded the debt, or it had been retained after the debt was paid.

(2) Heart less inhospitality (verse 7). It was regarded in Oriental countries, especially in early times, as both a dictate of nature and a mark of piety, to provide kindly entertainment and comfortable shelter for famished and hungry travellers (Gen 18:4, Gen 18:5; Gen 19:2; Gen 21:14, Gen 21:15; Gen 29:13; Exo 2:20). Nevertheless, according to Elihu, Job had “not given water to the weary to drink,” and “bad withholden bread from the hungry”a charge which, though unjustly preferred against Job (Job 31:17, Job 31:32), will yet be righteously advanced against not a few professing Christians (Mat 25:44), who are enjoined by the gospel to “use hospitality without grudging”.

(3) Barefaced robbery (verse 8). Conceiving that the land was made for the rich and the mighty and the noblea delusion which has survived in the minds of the earth’s “mighties” and “honourables” from Job’s day to this (Psa 115:16)Job, “the man of the arm,” had by force or by fraud dispossessed the poor of their possessions and acquired them for himself. The wickedness is the same whether a man robs his neighbour with the help of the law or in defiance of it; and legislation tending to drive the poor from the soil is legalized robbery.

(4) Pitiless oppression (verse 9). Instead of proving a shield and defender of helpless widows and orphans, a duty prompted by humanity and prescribed by religion (Exo 22:22; Jas 1:27), in imitation of God himself (Psa 68:5), Job, Elihu says, not only turned a deaf ear to their cries of distress and solicitations for aid, like the unjust judge in the parable (Luk 18:2-5), but, like the Pharisees who devoured widows’ houses, took advantage of their friendless and helpless condition to defraud them of the last fragment of their possessions, thus “breaking the arms of the fatherless,” i.e. taking away everything on which they relied. The crime of robbing the poor because he is poor is one that God will avenge (Pro 22:22, Pro 22:23). Orphans and widows are God’s peculiar care.

3. Plausibly constructed. The charge preferred by Eliphaz had this mark of truthfulness, that the crimes specified were such as a rich and powerful prince might naturally have been supposed to commit. Men’s vices as well as their virtues usually adjust themselves to external surroundings as well as to internal dispositions. All men have their characteristic and besetting sins, while there are other forms of wickedness which they cannot commit. A person may shun burglary and yet perpetrate forgery. He who cannot steal a purse may yet appropriate an inheritance. A man may avoid the vulgar sin of drunkenness and yet fall into the greater wickedness of whoredom.

4. Ostensibly proved. Eliphaz could point to Job’8 calamities as evidence that what he had alleged was true. That calamity had been

(1) sudden in its coming, it had caught him like a snare; it was

(2) terrifying in its effects, filling the mind of Job with inward fears;

(3) unavoidable in its enduranceout of the darkness that encompassed him no way of escape could be detected;

(4) overwhelming in its measure, being likened to a multitude of waters; and it would be

(5) fatal in its end, there being no hope of other issue, so far as Eliphaz could see, but that Job should be submerged in the sea of trouble that surged around him. It was useless, then, to say that proof was wanting. Yet was the charge of Eliphaz:

5. Wholly imagined. It was purely a creation of the Arabian seer’s fancy. Not only did Job declare it untrue, but Eliphaz himself must have known it to be baseless (cf. Job 4:3, Job 4:4). Either Eliphaz had allowed his excited and wrathful imagination to beguile his judgment, which was not like a seer, or he had taken up a slanderous report against Job, in spite of his better knowledge, which was not like a saint. But passion can disperse piety and confound reason, while malice will constrain even good people to believe lies. Envying and strife are the parents of confusion and every evil work (Jas 3:16).

II. A CHARGE OF PRACTICAL ATHEISM.

1. The import of this form of infidelity. It denies not the existence, but the overruling providence of Godin this respect differing from theoretical atheism. It places the Supreme at an infinite distance from the universe which he has called into being, setting him “in the height of heaven,” banishing him, as it were, beyond the stars, where “he walketh in the circuit of the heavens,” wrapped about by “clouds” which “veil him that he seeth not,” alike ignorant of, and unconcerned about, anything that transpires in this lower sphere, and, of course, never interfering in any way with “the work of his hands,” which, like a perfect piece of mechanism, goes without inspection or repairin all this contradistinguished from pantheism, which believes in a God at hand, but at the same time confounds the Creator with his works. Practical atheism says, “The Almighty was once here present, but he has withdrawn ages ago; nature reigns, and all physical phenomena are the necessary result of mechanical laws” (Pearson on ‘Infidelity,’ Job 3:1-26.).

2. The antiquity of this form of infidelity. This was the creed of the men of the antediluvian world, “the old way of the wicked, who were cut down out of time” (i.e. before their time), “whose foundation was overflown by a flood“ (literally, “a river poured out was their firm foundation”)”a strong but suitable expression, referring probably to Noah’s flood” (Umbreit). Though not the faith of Job, it was that of some of Job’s contemporaries (Job 21:14), as afterwards of some of David’s (Psa 10:11) and Asaph’s (Psa 73:11), and at a later time of many Hebrews before and during the exile (Isa 29:15; Eze 8:12). Among Greek philosophers it was the teaching of Epicurus and the atomists. The French encyclopaedists, the English deists of the last, and the Comtists of the present century, all concur in this opinion. It is the latest finding of modern materialistic science.

3. The origin of this form of infidelity.

(1) Intellectual pride. The belief that man can, or ought to be able to, explain everything has as its correlative the astounding assumption that nothing can exist which man does not understand. Practically this is the fundamental article in the modern scientific religion of agnosticism, which consigns to the limbo of the unknowable everything outside the domain of the senses and the reason, among other things such a doctrine as that of an overruling providence. The human mind discerns an insuperable difficulty in harmonizing the theory of a continual Divine interposition with the scientific dogma of the reign of law”How doth God know? can he judge through the dark?”with the insignificance of this earth, which, in comparison with the boundless universe, is but as a drop to the ocean, and in particular with the majesty of God, whose Divine perfections and glory are thought not to admit of such a condescension to details as is implied in an overruling providence.

(2) Heart-depravity. Even more than in intellectual obliquity does practical atheism take its rise in moral perversion. It is the doctrine of “the wicked,” of the moral fool, of those whose hearts are alienated from God by wicked works, who are so destitute of spiritual life that they have nothing the Almighty can do for them, and who desire nothing more earnestly than to have no further thought of God, to be left alone to their own infidelity and sin.

4. The wickedness of this form of infidelity. Were there no indications of God’s overruling providence discernible, such amazing incredulity might in part at least be excusable. But proof in abundance existed which these atheists might have studied had they been willing, for “he had filled their houses with good things.” So Paul told the men of Lystra that God had never left himself without a witness (Act 14:17), and the Athenians that he was not far to seek, or find, from any one who looked upon the world with open eye and honest mind (Act 17:26-28). Hence such infidelity is criminal, and to be held in abhorrence by all good men, as well as by Eliphaz and Job (Job 21:16).

5. The find doom of this form of infidelity. In opposition to Job, who maintained that men of atheistical principles flourished and were happy all their lives, Eliphaz contends that their common fate is rather that of the sinners who were engulfed by the Deluge (verse 16); which fate, though often

(1) invisible to them, coming on them at the moment when they are saying, “Depart from us,” as it did on the infidels of Noah’s day (Luk 17:26, Luk 17:27), is

(2) progressing towards them, the righteous being able to discern its approach, though they, the wicked, cannot, “the secret of the Lord being with them that fear him,” and “the Lord showing them what he is about to do,” as he did to Abraham (Gen 47:17) and Pharaoh (Gen 41:28), and will ultimately prove

(3) unavoidable by them, the fire of retribution being as certain to devour their abundance as it did that of the Sodomites (Luk 17:29), as well as

(4) ignominious for them, the innocent mocking at them and exulting in their destruction, just as the worshippers of the beast shall yet be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb (Rev 14:11).

Learn:

1. That good men may tell lies.

2. That saints should be chary in preferring charges against one another.

3. That no cause can be permanently advanced by an untruth.

4. That atheism is an old sin, and is commonly associated with immorality.

5. That neither distance nor darkness can hide from God.

6. That the Almighty can do more for, or against men, than unbelievers imagine.

7. That God’s goodness does not always lead the ungodly to repentance.

8. That they who now scorn the righteous will eventually be scorned by the righteous.

9. That God must reign until all his adversaries are overthrown.

Job 22:21-30

Eliphaz to Job: 3. An uncalled for exhortation.

I. THE PATHWAY OF PENITENCE.

1. Acquaintance with God. The word points to such an intimate knowledge of God as might be secured by dwelling with him on familiar terms in the same house. The meaning is that Job required, as a first step towards temporal and spiritual recovery, to disabuse his mind of the obviously false impressions of the Divine character which he entertained, and to get to know God as he really was in the excellence and beauty of his Person. Ignorance of Godof his character as a God of love; of his purpose as a purpose of salvation; of his Gift, Christ Jesus, the outcome of his grace; of his gospel, which contains a free invitation to fallen sinnersis the fruitful cause of unbelief and sin (Eph 4:18), as, on the other hand, a thorough appreciation of God’s Name and character as revealed in Christ invariably leads to repentance and faith (Psa 9:10). Such acquaintanceship with God can only be realized in and through Christ, who, as the “Image of the invisible God” “dwelt among us'” that men might see his glory; that, so to speak, God might become familiarized to man; that man might be able to get on speaking terms with God, and so come to understand God better than he had ever done before (Joh 14:7, Joh 14:9).

2. Reconciliation to God. The second clause, though sometimes read as consecutive, may be taken as jussive, and as intimating the second step in the sincere penitent’s return. There naturally rises out of a better acquaintance with God a laying aside of enmity towards him, or a making friends with him. Already God is reconciled to the sinner (2Co 5:18); or rather, he has objectively and legally set the sinful world in a state of reconciliation towards himself, i.e. he has turned away his judicial wrath from the world, so that now nothing prevents the instantaneous establishment of “peace,” friendship, at-one-ment, between God and man, except man’s own disinclination and enmity. The publication of God’s reconciling work is the message of the gospel (2Co 5:19); the invitation addressed to man to discontinue hostility against God, to lay down the arms of rebellion, to live no more in a state of war against God, but o! amity and peace with God, constitutes the ministry of reconciliation.

3. Instruction from God. Accepting God’s gracious offer of forgiveness and salvation, and entering with him into a covenant of friendship, the penitent must next submit his seal to the Divine teaching (verse 22). God’s Law, first written on the tablets of the heart (Rom 2:15); afterwards promulgated from Sinai (Exo 20:1); at a subsequent period amplified, illustrated, and enforced by the prophets (Heb 1:1); in the fulness of the times exemplified in the Person, character, and work of Jesus Christ (Joh 3:2; Heb 1:2); now reaches its find stage when engraven on the renewed heart by the Holy Ghost (2Co 3:3; Heb 8:10). To this Law God requires submission as one of the imperative conditions of enjoying his friendship; and this submission must be

(1) sincere, proceeding from the heart;

(2) implicit, yielding obedience to the utterances of his mouth;

(3) complete, not to one or two of the utterances, but to all; and

(4) cheerful, laying up his words in the heart with an earnest desire to bring the life into full accord with their instructions.

4. Holiness before God. Equally does the grace of repentance involve a hearty forsaking of sin and a steadfast resolution after new obedience (verse 23). This sentiment is a repetition from Bildad’s second oration (Job 11:14; vide homiletics), but is nevertheless true. No man really returns to God who continues to adhere to sin (Isa 55:7). If a man does return to God, he will “cease to do evil, and learn to do well” (Isa 1:16). Conversion means death to sin, but life to righteousness (Rom 6:6-22). Follow holiness is the all-comprehensive precept of the gospel (Heb 12:14). The Christian life is essentially an upward progress towards personal purity. This is assuredly the grand lesson of the grace of God that bringeth salvation (Tit 2:11, Tit 2:12).

5. Renunciation of all besides God. The genuinely contrite man must complete the evidence of his sincerity by abjuring everything in which he has formerly placed his trust, in particular his riches, even though these should happen to have been justly and honourably acquired, “laying down in the dust his gold, and placing among the pebbles of the brook the gold of Ophir” (verse 24); i.e. he must esteem them as absolutely worthless in comparison with religionlanguage which seems an anticipation of the sublime utterance of St. Paul (Php 3:7, Php 3:8). So Christ exhorted the rich young ruler to sell all that he had (Mat 19:21), and called his disciples to leave all (Mat 4:20). And so must saints still be willing to part with every treasure that might dispute with Christ the supreme affection and control of the heart (Mat 10:37, Mat 10:38; Mat 16:24; Luk 14:26); in particular, neither trusting in uncertain riches (1Ti 6:11), nor attempting to serve God and mammon (Mat 6:24).

II. THE REWARD OF PENITENCE.

1. Inward peace. The first effect of such a penitent return to, and reconciliation with, God would, according to Eliphaz, be deliverance from mental disquietude (verse 21, Authorized Version). Laying down its weapons of rebellion, and closing with the Divine overtures of pardon, the contrite soul would experience a holy calm, “a peace above all earthly dignities, a still and quiet conscience.” True peace of mind is unattainable in sin and under condemnation (Isa 57:21). It is only possible as the result of acceptance with God (Job 33:26; Psa 29:11). Hence it is described in the gospel as the first effect of justification (Rom 5:1), as the great, gift bestowed by Christ upon his people (Joh 14:27; Joh 20:19), and as the certain experience of every believer (Rom 8:6; Rom 14:17; Rom 15:13). It is also represented as s peace which the world can neither give nor take away (Joh 14:27), as a peace which passeth all understanding (Php 4:7), whether by a saint or by a sinner.

2. Outward good. The subsequent enumeration of blessings attendant on the lowly penitent almost leads to the surmise that Eliphaz was thinking mainly of spiritual good (verse 21). Yet it is certain that temporal enlargement was not excluded from his contemplation. Probably he intended both; and “good” in the widest acceptation of the term is promised to believing followers of God in both the Old and New Testaments (Psa 34:10; Psa 84:11; Rom 8:28). Even things that in themselves wear an adverse aspect are transformed into benefits for the child of God (Heb 12:11). St. Paul gives an inventory of the saint’s “good” things (1Co 3:21). And these good things come to the saint without his labouring for them (Mat 6:33), simply as the gift of God.

3. Domestic prosperity. The building up alluded to (verse 23), while capable of wider reference, may here be understood of family enlargement. Children are like olive plants about the table, i.e. noble sons and fair daughters; and to have many of them was a special mark of Divine favour under the Law (Psa 128:3). Indeed, all right-thinking persons regard a numerous offspring as a blessing rather than a curse.

4. God for the soul‘s Portion. In exchange for the castaway gold and silver, Job is promised that which constitutes the true riches, via. the Almighty himself, who should be to him “gold from the mine, and silver of the brightest lustre” (verse 25). So God represents himself as his people’s Portion (Jer 10:16; Jer 51:19), and as such he is claimed by his people (Psa 16:5; Lam 3:24). His salvation also is depicted as the soul’s true treasure (Luk 16:11). At this point the recitation of the penitent’s reward may be said to culminate. The undermentioned benefits, though here exhibited as co-ordinate with the foregoing, are really nothing else than the unfolded contents of the last benefit recorded. The man who has God for a Portion will in consequence possess all the privileges that follow.

5. Delight in God‘s presence. Instead of sitting melancholy and dejected, sullen and gloomy, before God, like another Cain, he will be able to lift up a serenely joyous face to God as a father reconciled (verse 26), and will not only exult in his acceptance (Rom 5:2), but delight in his Portion, i.e. take pleasure in studying God’s character as unveiled in Jesus Christ (2Co 3:18), in learning God’s will as revealed in the Bible (Isa 58:2), in obeying God’s Law as promulgated in the gospel (Rom 5:1-21 :22), in enjoying God’s society in every situation and phase of life (1Jn 1:7).

6. Acceptance in prayer. Taking God as his Portion, Job should have

(1) free access to the throne of grace in order to present his petitions;

(2) freedom of utterance in expressing the desires of his heart;

(3) certain assurance that God would listen to his supplications;

(4) sooner or later, answers to his petitions;

(5) a spirit of thankfulness for mercies received and expected, which should lead him to vow an offering to God; and

(6) the needful fidelity to enable him to keep his promise and pay that which he had vowed (verse 27). Note that all of these are comprehended in the blessings promised to Christ’s believing people (Php 4:6; Heb 4:16; Heb 10:19-22; 1Jn 5:14, 1Jn 5:15). Here again the blessings that ensue are illustrations of the power with God which a good man possesses through believing prayer.

7. Success in his own undertakings. Job, or the penitent, would only need to “decree a thing” and it should be “established” unto him, so that” the light” of prosperity should shine on his ways (verse 28). The same promise is given to the Old Testament saint (Psa 37:4 6) and the New Testament believer (Mar 11:22-24); and the promise was verified in the cases of Abraham’s servant (Gen 24:12), Neh 1:11, Elijah (1Ki 17:1; Jas 5:16-18), and others.

8. Helpfulness to others in their troubles.

(1) Encouraging the cast-down by his words, saying to them, “Arise” (verse 29), as St. Paul cheered the crew and passengers of the Alexandrian corn-ship in the storm (Act 27:21-25);

(2) saving the humble, literally, the downcast of eyes, by his prayers, as doubtless Epaphroditus was restored to health in answer to St. Paul’s entreaties (Php 2:26, Php 2:27), as St. Paul himself expected to be liberated from his Roman confinement in response to Philemon’s supplications (Phm 1:22), and as the elders of the primitive Church knew that the prayer of faith would save the sick (Jas 5:15); and even

(3) delivering the ungodly by his intercessions,” rescuing the not-guiltless by the pureness of his hands “(verse 30), as Abraham would have saved Sodom had it only contained ten righteous persons (Gen 18:23-32), and actually recovered the household of Abimelech (Gen 20:7, Gen 20:17), and as Job subsequently interceded for his friends (Job 42:7-9). Thus in all the three ways specified God’s people have power with God in behalf of others, and are honoured to co-operate with God in the noblest work in which a man can engage on earth, that of saving souls.

Learn:

1. That many a noble sermon is preached to the wrong hearers. The discourse of Eliphaz, though lofty in its conceptions and moving in its strains, was not adapted to the case of Job.

2. That men’s creeds are sometimes better than those who hold them. The piety and spirituality of this exhortation stand at a higher elevation than the character of him who uttered it.

3. That more gospel light may be possessed by those outside the Church than those within suspect. Eliphaz’s sermon sounds like an anticipation of New Testament teaching.

4. That there is only one way of salvation for all countries and all times. Eliphaz preached to his listener what St. John Baptist, St. Peter, St. Paul, and St. John proclaimed to their hearers, “Repent and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.”

5. That true happiness can be reached by none who do not first return to God. “There is no peace, saith our God, to the wicked.”

6. That the pious poor man is richer than the godless millionaire. God is better as a Portion for the human soul than gold of Ophir.

7. That the royal road to all genuine success in life lies in establishing a friendship with Heaven. The man who delights in God shall have his desires granted, his prayers heard, and his plans fulfilled.

8. That the most influential men on earth are the truly pious. God’s Israels have power with both God and man.

9. That the wicked world is more indebted to the Church of God than it imagines. God’s saints and Christ’s followers are the salt of the earth.

HOMILIES BY E. JOHNSON

Job 22:1-30

Censorious and uncharitable reasoning.

Eliphaz again takes up the word. He does not contest Job’s position, that life presents many examples of the prosperity of the godless, and of the calamities of the godly, but he still maintains that only grievous sins, such as he proceeds to specifyoppression, hard-heartedness, injustice to his neighbourscould be the cause of his misfortunes and miseries (verses 2-10). He then proceeds to give an earnest warning against further indulgence in profane thoughts and words, because the fatal end of the wicked man, whatever his course may have been, can be no other than dreadful, like that of all wicked men from olden time (verses 11-20). Then comes an invitation to repentance and conversion, and to the enjoyment of the blessings promised to the penitent by God (verses 21-30).

I. ACCUSATION OF JOB AS A GREAT SINNER. (Verses 2-10.)

1. These questions taken together (verses 2-5) form a syllogism (Zockler). The major premiss (verses 2, 3) expresses the thought: in God, the all-sufficing One, who is not affected by man’s good or evil, the cause of Job’s unhappiness cannot lie; the minor premiss shows that if Job himself bears the blame, this cannot possibly be because of his reverence for God (verse 4); and the conclusion is drawn to the prejudice of the moral character of Job (verse 5). “Does man bring profit to God? No, the man of sense profits himself.” God needs nothing, and gains nothing, whether man’s conduct be wise or foolish; therefore if he has acted wisely, man is but cousulting his own interest. “Is it an advantage to the Almighty, if thou art just? or a gain, if thou makest thy ways sound?’ i.e. pure and free from blame and punishment. Therefore it cannot be selfish or arbitrary motives which determine God to afflict men. “Will he chastise thee for thy reverence, go with thee to judgment?” If the reason of your doom is to be found in yourself, can it be reverence to him for which he punishes you? It must be the very opposite. Then comes the conclusion, “Is thy wickedness not great, and of thy transgressions no end?” On the rigid principles of Eliphaz and his companions, no other conclusion can be drawn. “The things said are good, but they are carnally understood. For the wisdom of the flesh thinks that blessing outwardly belongs in this world to the godly, and to the ungodly, curses; but the truth teaches that the godly enjoy blessing in this life under the guise of cursing, life in death, salvation in seeming condemnation; but, on the contrary, the ungodly are cursed under the show of blessing, are dead while they live, are condemned though in seeming safety” (Brenz).

2. Enumeration of Job’s supposed sins (verses 6-10). They are the sins of the rich and powerful, such as Job had been. “For thou didst take a pledge of thy brother without cause,” thine abundance rendering such measures against a poor neighbour unnecessary. Note the indignation with which the Bible ever treats sins against the poor and needy. “And stripped off the clothes of the naked,” i.e. the ragged, the scantily clothed. Common humanity would forbid the taking of the last garment of such in pledge; and the Law of Moses strictly, prohibited it (Exo 22:25,. sqq.; Deu 24:6, Deu 24:10, sqq.) “Thou gavest not the thirsty water to drink, and didst refuse the hungry bread;” comp. Isa 58:10, and the beautiful contrast in the words of Christ concerning giving the cup of cold water to the little one (Mat 10:42). “And the powerful man [literally, ‘the man of arm’], his was the land, and the man of consideration was to dwell in it.” A picture, as the speaker supposes, true to the life of what Job had been. “Widows thou didst send empty away, and the arms of the orphans were crushed'” i.e. their rights and their resources, all that they could rely on (Psa 37:17; Eze 30:22). “Therefore snares are round about thee, and terror comes upon thee suddenly” (comp. Job 18:11; Pro 3:25). The truth of God’s special care over widows and orphans, over the poor, the prisoners, and the oppressed is thus incidentally brought out with force. Sins against them are amongst the vilest that cry to Heaven (Sirach 35:14, 15, 18, sqq.).

II. WARNING OF FURTHER PUNISHMENT. (Verses 11-20.)

1. “Or darkness that thou canst not see, and a flood of waters covers thee”the night of woe and the deep misery which have come upon him in consequence of his sins (verse 1). “Is not Eloah heaven-high?”infinitely exalted”and do but behold the head [or, ‘highest’] of the stars, how exalted they are!” (verse 12). Then how idle is every thought of the limitation of his power, and every doubt of the absolute justice of his doings! In verses 13,14 Job’s doubts of the justice of God’s government are construed by the speaker as denials of God’s knowledge of earthly things and his providence over mankind, like the Epicureans in ancient and the deists in modern times. “And thou sayest, What knoweth God? will he judge through the dark clouds? clouds are his covering, that he seeth not; and he walketh on the circumference of the heaven,” deigning not to give heed to this little and insignificant earth. Similar expressions of ancient scepticism are found in Psa 73:11; Psa 94:7; Isa 29:15; Eze 8:12. Its refutation is in the words of Jer 23:23, sqq.. God is not afar off, but near to every creaturenot far from every one of us (Jer 23:27, Jer 23:28; Act 17:1-34.). To think that God is too exalted to attend to our mean affairs, is to set out on the road of unbelief, sin, and ruin. Rather, because God is so exalted, nothing is hidden from him. He is as manifest in the microscopic dust as in the planetary worlds. He knows our most secret deeds, our inmost feelings, our sufferings that most retire from the notice of others (Jer 23:23, Jer 23:24; Psa 139:1, sqq.; Mat 6:8; 1Jn 3:20).

2. The overthrow of the godless. (Jer 23:15-20.) “Wilt thou observe the way of the old world, which men of perdition trod?”alluding, perhaps, to those before the Deluge (2Pe 2:5). Swept away before their time, their foundation was poured away like a stream, so that they could not remain (Jer 23:16). These ungodly ones had said to God, “Depart from us;” had asked, “What can the Almighty do for us?” (Jer 23:17). Job had in the previous chapter (verses 14, 15) put words like these into the mouth of the prosperous bad men; and now Eliphaz ascribes them to the subject of his description, to show Job that he approves up to a certain point of the representation he had made of the relation of external happiness to human guilt (Zockler). “And yet it was he that had filled their houses with blessing,” giving the contrast between the sudden Divine judgments and the previous prosperous condition which suggested their exemption from punishment. “The counsel of the wicked be far from me!” exclaims the speaker (verse 18), echoing Job (Job 21:16), as if to imply only one who, like myself, has no doubt of God’s retributive justice, may dare thus to speak. The wish of the godly is that God may draw near, ever nearer, to him; that of the ungodly is always, “Remove, depart from us!” “They would willingly leave God his heaven, if he would only leave them their earthly comfort “(Starke). Verse 19, the overthrow of the wicked is a subject of rejoicing even of derision, to the righteous and innocent, according to the proverb, “He laughs best who laughs last” (comp. Psa 58:10, Psa 58:11; Psa 64:9, 20). Verse 20 contains the words of triumph of the godly, “Verily, our adversaries are destroyed, and their remainder the fire has consumed.” Contrast the spirit of Christ (Mat 23:37; Luk 19:42, sqq.; Jas 5:19, Jas 5:20).

III. EXHORTATION TO REPENTANCE AND PROMISE OF SALVATION. (Verses 21-30.)

1. Exhortation. “Make friends with him, and be at peace” (Jas 4:8), “thereby blessing will come to thee ‘ (verse 21); “Take instruction from his mouth” (Pro 2:6). “If thou returnest to the Almighty, thou wilt be built again; if thou put wrong far from thy tents, and lay in the dust the precious metal, and under the gravle of the brooks the Ophir gold”getting rid of it as a worthless thing”then will the Almighty be thy Treasure, and silver in heaps” (verses 23, 25; see on this sentiment the New Testament passages, Mat 6:20, Mat 6:33; Mat 19:21; Luk 12:33; 1Ti 6:16-19). God’s grace builds up what sin destroys. To enjoy that grace is competency, is wealth. Deus meus et cranial (Psa 73:25, Psa 73:26). “Let thy heart rely on God, and thou mayest cast away thy gold, lose it without care; the Almighty remains thine inviolable Treasure; whilst, on the other hand, without him the most troubled watching and anxiety are of no avail” (vide Gerlach).

2. Promises continued. (Verses 26-30) “Yea, then thou writ delight thyself, in the Almighty, and lift up thy face to God” (verse 26), in the freedom of a conscience without guilt (Job 11:15; comp. Psa 37:4; Isa 58:14). “If thou prayest to him, he will hear thee, and thy vows thou wilt pay” (Psa 22:25; Psa 50:14; Psa 61:8; Psa 65:2). The vow is looked at in the light of promise rather than of duty; God will always grant so much that thou canst fulfil all thy vows. “If thou resolvest on anything, it will come to pass, and light shall beam on thy way. If they [the ways] go downwards, thou sayest, Up!”a cry of triumph and thanksgiving. “And to the cast down he gives help. He will deliver the not-innocent, and he is delivered by the cleanness of thy hands” (verses 28-30). For the sake of thy innocence, which thou shalt have regained, God will be gracious to others who need atonement for their guilt. Little does the Pharisaic speaker dream that it is he who will receive the pardon at God’s hands for Job’s sake (Job 42:8). The “prayer of a righteous man availeth much.” At his intercession evil-doers may be spared, and not visited with the merited punishment (Gen 18:23, Gen 18:24; Eze 14:14, sqq.).J.

HOMILIES BY R. GREEN

Job 22:2-11

The impartiality of the Divine judgment.

Eliphaz knows of no tense for suffering but sin. Doubtless sintransgression of Divine lawsdoes lie deeply buried in the causes of human suffering. This is the fruitful seed from which widespread harvests of suffering grow. But it is not within the power of man to fix on the actual offender. Suffering occurs in a thousand instances where not the sufferer but another is the offender. To charge home, therefore, upon every sufferer the cause of his sufferings is an error. Into this error Job’s friends foil. But Eliphaz proclaims a great truth in affirming the judgment of God to be unbiassed. No unworthy motives move him in his decisions. They are true and righteous altogether. The impartiality of the Divine judgments is

I. ASSURED BY THE INVIOLABILITY OF THE DIVINE RIGHTEOUSNESS. The character of the Most High is the utmost refuge of the human thought. It is the basis of human confidence. That Name is absolutely unimpeachable. No difficulty in the Divine ways or in our interpretation of them can for a moment check our assurance of the Divine sanctity and justice. On this rock all hope is built. As now we repose on it, so in our thoughts of the future. The final as the present judgments of God are and can be only true and righteous. The sanctity of the Divine Name is the assurance of the unimpeachable rectitude of the Divine ways. The impartiality of the Divine judgments is therefore

II. A GROUND OF CONFIDENT APPEAL BY THE UNJUSTLY ACCUSED. In calmness he may wait who knows himself to be unrighteously accused, slandered. It is hard to bear the unjust accusations of men, and all the more if we have no means at hand by which to vindicate ourselves. To the final adjudication we may safely appeal. There justice will be done. There the righteousness of the righteous shall shine out as the sun, or as the stars in the Black night. The human judgment errs; it is swayed by false words, by base motive, by ignorance, by want of integrity. But high above the imperfectness of the human rises the Divine judgment, calm and profound, pure as a sea of glass. To that judgment Job has again referred himself now in strong Confidence, now in fear; though, in moments of weakness, he has seemed to impugn it. The impartiality of the Divine judgment is

III. A SOURCE OF TRUE COMFORT FOR TEE SORROWFUL. Ever there lies deep in the heart of the suffering the hope that some counterbalancing good shall follow. To the full round of scriptural teaching we are indebted for the clear light that we have on this subject. “There is a God that judgeth in the earth.” “There is a reward for the righteous.” Weeping may endure through life, and turn it into a long night, but a morning of joy breaketh, when tears shall be wiped away. Though men are tried, yet shall they come forth as gold purified in the fire. To the final Divine award, when God will render to every man according to his works, the patient sufferer may commit himself in calmness of hope. The impartiality of the Divine judgment stands in contrast to the error and imperfection of all human judgment. The human knowledge is partial, the human motives liable to be warped; therefore the human decisions are often unjust. Thus was it with Job. His friend accused him in severe terms. “Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?” Then in severe words he names his offences, and adds,” Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee.” Such was not the Divine judgment, as the sequel declares. Hence shines forth the lesson to the sufferer and the falsely accused, to abide calmly in hope of the righteous judgment of God.R.G.

Job 22:13, Job 22:14

The unseen eye.

God is exalted; he is “in the height of heaven.” He is unseen by man, and therefore often forgotten. He is above, beyond; and the frail judgment perverts this great truth into

I. A SUPPOSITION OF THE DIVINE IGNORANCE OF HUMAN AFFAIRS. “How doth God know?” “Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not.” Thus ignorance or folly perverts the right and the good. Either the judgment or the moral character is at fault. Men sin in forgetfulness that the Divine eye is upon them. “Thou God seest me” is a hedge of fire to prevent from evil-doing. How great a departure from right reason is the foolish supposition that, because God is not seen, therefore he seeth not! So the Divine is measured by the human. Only godlessnessthe indifference of the soul to Godcan lead men to such perversions. The pure, they who, communing with the pure One, are changed into his image, see God. They discern his eye. t is the light and the joy of their life. The evil with darkened eye seeth not. A cloud of ignorance covers him, as a cloud of mystery the Most High.

II. This ignorance is further perverted into A SUPPOSITION OF THE INCOMPETENCY OF THE DIVINE JUDGMENT. “Can he judge through the dark cloud?” Thus the blind falls into the pit of error. One fault follows another in quick succession. The faulty view which shuts God out from his own world, which thinks of him as too far exalted above human affairs to take knowledge of them, must needs complete itself in denying the Divine judgment of human actions. It is the perilous perversion of ignorance and of sinthe blindness of mind which springs from a hardness of heart The moral sensibilities being blunted, moral truth is not apprehended. Spiritual things are foolishness to the unspiritual; he cannot discern them. The heart loving evil bribes the conscience into doubt as to the judgment upon evil, and finally wins it over to a denial of it. God cannot judge. So does the frail, ignorant, foolish creature judge of the Creator, and thus assumes to itself what it denies to its Maker.

Mark

(1) the error,

(2) the folly,

(3) the wickedness,

(4) the danger, of this.R.G.

Job 22:21-30

Peace with God.

In clear words reconciliation with God is urged. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.” Ignorance of God casts men off from the highest goodfrom the fellowship of their truest and best Friend. Deep in the heart of the wicked enmity against God reigns. This is sin’s utmost folly. Men are to be judged by their relation to a pure and true standard. The utmost condetonation lies buried in a repudiation of the highest goodness, the supreme righteousness, the purest benevolence. “What have we to do with thee?” was the expression of a purely devilish mind. The reconciliation of the human soul to God is the noblest and best work of philanthropy. Eliphaz points out

I. THE WAY OF RECONCILIATION.

1. The search for the knowledge of God. “Acquaint now thyself with him.” The knowledge of God is the basis of peace and the encouragement to it. It is the knowledge that comes of the heart turning to God. To such a heart God turns and manifests himself. Mere intellectual search is insufficient. God is known, as he is seen, by the heart.

2. Receiving teaching from him. The acceptance of his holy Law as the law of the returning life, hiding his words in the heart, taking them up into a loving recognition of them,this is the way of all true peace and blessedness.

3. The putting away iniquity. This, the true repentance, is a departure from evil

4. A return of the soul wholly to God. This is the true conversion. From this issues the utmost good which Eliphaz points out in describing

II. THE FRUITS OF PEACE.

1. The restoration of prosperity. “Thou shalt be built up.” The blessing of God upon the human life is the highest pledge of true prosperity. Thou shalt lay up gold as dust,” may not be a definite promise of riches to every returning one, but it indicates the true effect of righteousness. God will be to him his true gold.

2. Divine protection. “The Almighty shall be thy Defence.”

3. A confident and joyous approach to God. “Thou shalt have thy delight in the Almighty.” How greatly is the character of life raised by its purer fellowships! The soul brought to find its delight in the highest good is blest indeed.

4. The free access of prayer; and the pledge of a favourable response, “Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee.”

5. Prosperity and joy. “Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.” Thus shall it come to pass that he who was “cast down” shall be lifted up, and the lowly shall be saved. Thus the guiltless shall be rescued, and he who has pure hands shall be delivered. The way of the sinner’s approach to God is as of oldit is the path of humility, of repentance, of lowly confession, of faiththe heart’s whole trust in the Lord and in his word of grace. And the fruits of righteousness are now as alwayspeace and assurance and blessing.R.G.

HOMILIES BY W.F. ADENEY

Job 22:2

Whether man can be profitable to God.

Here is a question to which Eliphaz only expects a negative answer. Let us look at the grounds of the question, its difficulties, and the possible solution of it.

I. THE GROUNDS OF THE QUESTION. With many persons such a question never occurs. They do not dream of becoming profitable to God, nor do they wish to be of real service to him. Their only desire is that they may be profitable to them. Even in religion their great idea is to save their own souls. When they think of God at all, it is to consider what they may get from him for their own advantage. Any idea of sacrificing themselves to God and rendering him disinterested service has never dawned upon their consciousness. But when a true Christian spirit is aroused in the heart of a man, he must look beyond himself; he must desire to show his gratitude to God by some act of service; he must wish in some way to be profitable to God. It will be a pain to him to find that he can only receive bounties from God and can never render him any return. Thus there will arise within him an earnest question as to whether indeed he can do anything that will really be useful to God.

II. THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE QUESTION. These come from two main sourcesfrom man’s littleness, and from God’s greatness.

1. Man‘s littleness.

(1) In knowledge. How can we discover what will be profitable to God? Have not men often done for religion what has really neither pleased God nor helped his cause?

(2) In power. We are limited, imperfect, feeble creatures. All We have is directly derived from the goodness of God. How, then, can we find means with which to give him beck any service?

(3) In goodness. Sin mars all we touch. Our sacrifice is defiled, our service is corrupt. We do not approach him with clean hands and pure hearts. How, then, can he accept our service?

2. God‘s greatness. It would seem that our slight service would be simply lost in the vast sea of Divine activities. It would be like a drop of water added to the ocean. Indeed, it would be no real addition; for God is infinite, his resources are boundless. He can do all things without an effort. Therefore he cannot need our service.

III. THE POSSIBLE SOLUTION OF THE QUESTION. Even if we cannot find this we should believe that it exists, because God calla us to serve him, and he would not do so if effective service were impossible. He could not desire us to waste our strength in work which was exhausting to ourselves and yet not useful to him, while we were simply aiming at serving him in obedience to his command. That would be a cruel mockery. Therefore we must believe that God does account our service profitable. Further, there are some ways in which we can see that it is so.

1. Through the love of God. The parent is delighted to receive the small ministries of his child, though he does not absolutely need them, and though they may really cost him more in first furnishing the means and then helping the accomplishment, than they are worth when regarded from a commercial standpoint. But love adds a value of its own. God delights to receive the service of his children. He waits for it and makes it valuable by the condescension which gives it a place in his plans.

2. By helping our fellow-men. We serve God when we serve our human brothers. Though in the infinity of his resources he does not lack anything, they lack many things. Yet God rejoices in what benefits any of his creatures. Thus we may become profitable to God by being profitable to our neighbours (Mat 25:40).W.F.A.

Job 22:7

Help for the needy.

I. THIS IS NATURAL. God has made us mutually dependent on one another. In social order there is an interchange of service, and the general life of the community is simply maintained by people helping one another. The cases of extreme distress are those in which the reciprocity breaks down because the hungry and helpless can make no return for what they receive. Still they are part of the body, and if “one member suffer, all the members suffer with it” (1Co 12:26). The “solidarity of man” is such that the needy are naturally dependent on others for maintenance.

II. THIS IS SIMPLE. Only water and bread are here referred to. These are the most necessary things; but they are also the most accessible. A poor man who cannot give the smallest coin to a beggar may yet offer a cup of cold water. Of course, true sympathy will lead us to desire to help up to the utmost of our powers. But a very great amount of distress might be alleviated without a proportionate expenditure of money; e.g. penny, halfpenny, and even farthing dinners for children give an assistance far beyond what their cost suggests.

III. THIS IS UNCONDITIONAL. At least the one condition is need. We have not to consider merits when we relieve extreme distress. Water to the thirsty and bread to the starving should be given at the mere sight of extreme need, though the recipients are quite undeserving. This we admit by our poor-law. As soon as the immediate and pressing needs are supplied, other and more difficult questions must be considered. If we go further we may pauperize the objects of our charity. It is necessary, therefore, to consider character and methods of help suited to lift, not to degrade, the recipients. Here most complicated problems arise. But the primary help is simple and unconditional.

IV. THIS IS CHRIST–LIKE. Our Lord took pity on the world’s sore need. He did not consider whether he could find “deserving cases.” He offered his salvation to the most undeserving. Need, not merit, was the call that brought him from heaven. The most undeserving are really the most needing of help, not indeed with lavish doles of charity that will keep them in idleness, but, after the first necessaries are supplied to maintain life itself, by a kind of assistance that will raise them and better them. How to give this help is a most difficult question. We cannot do better than to follow our Lord’s example. He raises where he helps. The grace of Christ never pauperizes the soul.

V. THE NEGLECT OF THIS IS A GREAT SIN. Eliphaz was unjust in accusing Job of such a sin. In the eyes of the Oriental, often dependent on casual hospitality for life itself in the desert, to refuse water and bread to the needy was a gross wrong. You may kill your enemy with the sword, but you must not deny him water to drink and bread to eat when he comes to you as a guest. Christianity widens and deepens the obligation. Though in various forms suited to the various circumstances of the world as we find it, brotherly helpfulness is always expected of Christ’s people. It is taken as a service rendered to himself. The neglect of it is a reason for rejection at the great judgment (Mat 25:41-46).W.F.A.

Job 22:13

God’s knowledge.

I. THE APPARENT DIFFICULTY OF IT. It may not be asserted that God does not know all, and yet people act as though they could hide from God. In distress and loneliness it sometimes seems as though God could not know whet were the troubles of his children, or he would not permit them to be so grievously tried. The vastness of the universe raises the same difficulty. Many things are covered up, and it is not easy for us to believe that he can “judge through the thick cloud.”

II. THE REAL TRUTH OF IT. If God is the infinite Being whom we know him to be, all difficulties will vanish before him. We may not be able to conceive of the method by which he comes to know all things; but this is not wonderful, for that method itself must have an infinity about it quite beyond our comprehension. On the other hand, God frequently gives startling evidence that he sees in secret and knows all things. He surprised Hagar by discovering her in the desert (Gen 16:13). Achan’s stolen booty could not be hidden (Jos 7:16-21). Our own lives must bear witness to the searching knowledge of God. At first, perhaps, his treatment of us may have seemed to go on without any regard to our requirements, but that was only because we were short-sighted and superficial; for when we have been able to look back over a long stretch of life, have we not been surprised again and again at observing how wonderfully God has wrought just the very thing that was needed to bring out what was best in the end?

III. THE CONSEQUENCES DEPENDENT ON IT.

1. It is vain to try to hide from God He sees through the thickest cloud. Thus we only waste our efforts when we try to make a darkness that shall shut off the piercing gaze of God. He knows all now. He does not need to wait for the future revelation of the judgment-day. Already all hypocritical pretences are perfectly open and apparent to him.

2. It is foolish to distrust God‘s wisdom. We see a little corner of life; he has the whole field of it before him. Therefore he must have vastly greater materials for his judgment than we possess for ours. It is not to be wondered at that his decision often differs from ours. But if his ways are not as our ways and his thoughts not as our thoughts, the simple explanation is that his ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah Iv. 8, 9).

3. It is well to seek God‘s guidance. When we follow his lead we are conducted by One who knows the end from the beginning. Our difficulties arise from partial lights and intercepted views. We see enough to lead us astray. But the perfect, all-penetrating knowledge of God invites us to renounce our prejudices and look up for the indications of God’s guiding hand. These may be given to us

(1) in the course of events;

(2) in the admonitions of conscience;

(3) in the teachings of Scripture;

(4) in the life, the teaching, and the example of Jesus Christ.

Browning says

“Our times are in his hand

Who said, ‘A whole I planned;’

Youth shows but half; trust God;

see all nor be afraid.”

W.F.A.

Job 22:21

Peace from the knowledge of God.

Eliphaz has here stumbled on a great truth, which even his wrong-headedness cannot pervert, which is indeed a flash of Divine inspiration. Our unrest springs from our ignorance of God. If we did but know him, we should be at peace.

I. HOW PEACE SPRINGS FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.

1. From the characteristics of knowledge. There is a restfulness about all knowledge. Vague apprehensions and surprising alarms dog the footsteps of ignorance. We cannot walk tranquilly in a dark night through regions of unknown dangers. Even the knowledge of painful truths is less disturbing than uncertainty about them. When we know the worst the fever of anxiety is allayed, although the lethargy of despair may have taken its place. The higher knowledge induces patience, calmness, strength.

2. From the nature of God. Here is the wonderful truth that comes to the troubled soul like a gospel of peace. Our hard thoughts of God are erroneous. They spring from a complete misconception as to his nature. We have thought him indifferent, or stern, or vindictive. These ideas were born of our own ignorance. If we had but known him we could not have held such views Of his nature. The more we do know him the more we see that his true name is Love. His purposes are gracious. Afar off they appear hard; on a near acquaintance the beauty and goodness of them is made evident to us.

3. From the needs of our soul. We cannot be at peace till we know God. The severance from God is a great cause of unrest. The knowledge of God is life eternal, and we are cut off from that life while we hold aloof from God.

II. HOW THE PEACE–GIVING KNOWLEDGE OF GOD IS ACQUIRED.

1. By some effort. We have to acquaint ourselves with God. We do not know God in our condition of sin and sorrow. The world iS in ignorance of God. A deep gloom hangs over a large part of heathendom through mistaken beliefs about malignant deities. Christians need to escape from hard thoughts of God. Our despondency, our limited views, our weakness, our consciousness of sin, all make it hard for us to know God in his perfect goodness.

2. Through revelation. In acquainting ourselves with God we have not to feel after him if haply we may find him. He has spoken to us. The Scriptures enlighten us and dispel needless fears as they make known the mercy of the Lord that endureth for ever. The greatest distress is sometimes felt by people dwelling too much in the region of subjective religion. Thus they imagine hard things about God that are contrary to his revelation of himself.

3. In Christ. He is the supreme Revelation of God, and he has come to bring “peace on earth.” To see Christ is to know God as favourable to us. He is “our Peace.”

4. By means of reconciliation. This further thought is implied in the notion of acquainting ourselves with God. We are estranged by sin, which hides from us the vision of the love of God. We must turn to God submissively, and make practical acquaintance of him by yielding ourselves to his will. Then the intimacy of spiritual communion will be “the peace of God that passeth all understanding.”W.F.A.

Job 22:22

Heart-treasures.

God’s words are here regarded as heart-treasures, to be received with eagerness and laid up with care. The ignoring of the “Torah,” the ancient Law of Israel, by the author of Job is one of the striking features of the poem. It would seem that the poet wished to set the scene of his great drama of providence in the open field of nature, free from the disturbing influences of a special system of religion. But now he does just refer to the word “law,” or “instruction.” There is a larger law than that of Moses, a wider teaching than that of the Pentateuch. All God’s words in nature, Scripture, conscience, and Christ are treasures to be received and guarded in the heart.

I. THE NATURE OF THE TREASURES. “Law,” or “instruction,” and “words.” These treasures are not, material things. Gold and jewels are not the most precious things. Good thoughts are worth more than diamonds. God’s words are of the greatest value on several accounts.

1. Their truth. All truth is precious; Divine truthtruth about God and spiritual thingsis most valuable.

2. Their bearing on life. God’s words are not concerned with abstract truth. They throw light on duty. They show us the way of salvation.

II. THE SOURCE OF THE TREASURES. The Law is from God’s mouth. He originates the commandment; he conveys the instruction; he teaches the truth. God’s revelation is the original source of all truth, for we can only know nature in so far as God reveals it to us through its phenomena and by means of the faculties he has given to us.

1. The original Source. God made the Law, impressed the truth on nature, inspired the ancient prophet, gave the hearing ear.

2. The immediate Source. We can only receive the truth of God when the Spirit of God brings it home to us. Thus it comes from God to each individual.

III. THE RECEPTION OF THE TREASURES. We have to receive the Law and the words of God.

1. They are not in us by nature. Or, if it may be said they are with us in our pristine stare of nature, we have lost them through sin, and we need to recover them.

2. They must be received willingly. We can keep them out; therefore we are urged to open the door and let them in. The best revelation fails before unwilling ears.

IV. THE PRESERVATION OF THE TREASURES.

1. To be laid up. God does not favour us with a flash of revelation for the use or the enjoyment of a moment. The truth is given for a permanent good.

2. In the heart.

(1) The thought. It is useless to hear, if we do not comprehend and consider.

(2) The memory. “The hoarded memories of the heart” are stores for use in after-years.

(3) The affections. We need to love God’s truth and make it part of our very being by embracing it in our deepest affections.

V. THE USE OF THE TREASURES. They are not buried in oblivion, nor are they kept only for show, like the Crown jewels at the Tower. In the heart they are at the source of the life, and they are there to inspire and influence the whole man. God’s Law is to be written on the fleshy tablets of the heart, that there it may live and rule. This treasure within purifies the soul and guides the conduct.W.F.A.

Job 22:23

The penitent’s return and restoration.

I. THE RETURN.

1. To God. All sin is departure from God; and repentance is a return to God. As the fall is from personal relations, so the recovery is a renewal of personal relations. When the sinner comes to himself, he sees that his one hope is to “arise and go unto” his Father. Thus the very Being against whom he has sinned is sought for pardon and restoration. Now, it is not possible to mend our ways without thus coming back to God. His power and presence are the inspiration of the new life. The very thought of God as the Almighty is a help in this return. Although we are first moved by perceiving his goodness and mercy, we are conscious that we are helpless in ourselves and need heavenly aid to regenerate our souls. Thus the invincible power of God, which was our terror while we remained impenitent, becomes our hope as soon as we repent.

2. From sin, taking the last clause of the verse as a condition of God’s help. We must put away iniquity from our tabernacles if we are to expect God’s restoring mercies.

(1) Sin must be rejected. We cannot return to God and retain our sin. That must ever remain at a distance from him. Therefore we can only return by cutting our-solves off from it, and leaving it behind. It is necessary to abandon the practice of sin as well as to regret the past sin.

(2) Sin must go from the homefrom the “tabernacles.” Private sin must be abandoned; though now curtained in secret, it may not be harboured any longer. Cherished sin must go. Habitual sin must be cast out. It is easy to renounce the strange sin that only touches us now and again. The difficulty is with the besetting sinthat which dwells in the tabernacles. Yet this too must go.

II. THE RESTORATION. The returning penitent is to be “built up.”

1. On fulfilling the conditions. He must return to God; he must renounce sin. There is s foolish notion that God’s goodness will blot out the consequences of sin without these conditions being fulfilled. To do so weald be to outrage justice as well as to fly in the face of nature, We cannot have the rewards of grace without first accepting its inward influences. Forgiveness is not merely the cancelling of penalties; that is but an incident of the transaction; in itself it is a very personal thing, and until the personal reconciliation in which it consists is accomplished, only the lowest views of God’s government could lead us to look for the external advantages.

2. In personal recover. The sinner himself is to be built up. Sin breaks a man downbreaks down character, reputation, faculty, energy. The fallen life is a broken life. Now, the first act o! Divine restoration touches the nature of the sinner himself. He is lifted up from the dust and set on his feet. Like a ruined building, shaken down by the earthquake, he is built up again, that he himselfand not merely his belongingsmay be strong and beautiful. Thus the restored penitent is made a temple for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, a fortress to keep out future invasions of evil, a palace in which the fairest graces of the kingdom can be nourished, a hospital and asylum for the sick and miserable, a school of new thoughts and enterprises, a home of prayer and love.

3. In external prosperity. It is only too likely that poor Eliphaz thought exclusively, or at all events quite disproportionately, of this when he spoke of Job being built up again. The patriarch’s ruined fortune could be restored. This is not the chief part of a Divine restoration. Still in some waythough not always in restored wealthit does follow that the outer as well as the inner life is favoured by a penitent return to God.W. F. A.

Job 22:24, Job 22:25

Rich in God.

The idea of these verses seems to be that if a man will give up his earthly riches, his jewels and gold of Ophir, God will be to him a Defence, and as gold ore and silver in bars.

I. RENUNCIATION THE CONDITION OF TRUE WEALTH. We do not get the best riches by grasping, but by giving. Sacrifice, not selfishness, is the source of the highest prosperity. We must renounce in order that we may attain. This principle is exemplified in various ways

1. Typified in nature. The farmer must not store his wealth in his granary if he would increase it. He must commit the seed to the earth, cast it away and bury it, in order that he may receive more in return.

2. Practised in commerce. We rarely meet with the old-fashioned miser and his bags of gold. In our day the money-worshipper lays out his wealth so that, like Shylock, he may make it “breed.”

3. Taught by Christ. Our Lord showed in his parables of the talents and the pounds that the gifts of God were to be used, expended profitably, and that they should have more who had traded with what they first received. He led to deeper truths when he told the young man who desired eternal life to sell all he had and give to the poor, promising that he should then have treasure in heaven (Mar 10:21), and when he promised his disciples that there was no man who had renounced home and family for his sake and the gospel’s, but he should receive a hundredfold now in this time, and in the coming age eternal life. Here we see that mere renunciation is not enough. It will not do merely to pour the money into the sea, nor to sell all one’s goods and give to the poor, unless we also follow Christ.

4. Proved by experience. It is found with surprising gladness that to give up all for Christ is to be rich indeed, while to Cling greedily to earthly possessions is to be miserably disappointed in the end.

II. GOD THE SOURCE OF TRUE WEALTH. It is not that God will give us new riches in exchange for what we have given up. We shall find our wealth in God himself. He is to us all we need.

1. A defence. Riches are valued for what they will purchase. In the last resort they are chiefly prized because they can ward off evils. To keep hunger, pain, and death from their doors, men will give up any amount of wealth. Nations spend vast sums in their defensive arrangements. Europe is now an armed camp, with armies maintained at an enormous cost, simply in order that each country may be safe from invasion by its neighbours. Now, God is the true Defence of his people, better than any armaments that money can maintain.

2. A store of vast possibilities of good. Gold ore and silver bars are the precious metals in an elementary state. They thus represent value that may be employed in various ways. God is our most elemental wealth.

(1) He is as a treasure to the soul that possesses him, as gold and silver are precious in themselves. It is a great mistake to seek God only for what he gives, forgetting that he is better than all his gifts.

(2) Still, he is the Source of all other good, as gold and silver are means for purchasing innumerable things. Through God we may own all things. St. Paul says to Christians, “All things are yours.”W.F.A.

Job 22:26

The joy of the Lord.

I. THE INTERIOR EXPERIENCE. “Delight in the Almighty.”

1. God gives joy. As we have but to acquaint ourselves with God to be at peace (Job 22:21), so we have but go appreciate his intentions go see that he does not wish us to be in distress.

2. This joy is in himself. We have to learn by experience how this is the case, for no words can express it. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1Co 2:9). But Christian experience shows how real this Divine joy is.

(1) The joy of pardon. The soul has been estranged from God, darkened with the gloom of the wrath of Heaven; now the cloud is broken up and God smiles forgiveness.

(2) The joy of love. This is mutualthe soul loving God in exchange for his love.

(3) The joy of trust. No fear need disturb the soul that is at peace with God. Its confidence is a source of deep gladness, because it dispels the most terrible alarms.

(4) The joy of service. It is a happy thing to be working for God, especially when we perceive that we can be “fellow-workers with God.” He is the inspiring energy of all our work.

(5) The joy of communion. To be walking with God is itself a joy. The blessedness of the pure in heart who enjoy the vision of God is deeper than any earthly delight.

II. THE SPIRITUAL ATTITUDE. “And shall lift up thy face unto God.”

1. Confidence. While we fear and distrust God we cannot look up to him. We rather shrink from his gaze and hide ourselves, like Adam and Eve in the garden. We may even cry go God for help without daring go look up, like the publican in Christ’s parable (Luk 18:13). It is happy for the soul when the shame of sin and the fear of doubt are removed by the forgiving love of God, so that the child can look quite naturally and confidently into the face of his Father.

2. Contemplation. To lift up the face to God is go gaze upon him as well as to submit go his gaze. This is no vision of the eye of sense, for God is Spirit, and must therefore be always invisible to the bodily eye. But the spirit of man may contemplate the Divine Spirit. Theology tries to do this, but theology consists of purely intellectual conceptions. There is a deeper contemplation of sympathy which is only possible go the soul that is in living communion with God.

3. Expectation. Our contemplation should be an act of pure worship in which we forget ourselves, rejoicing only in the beauty of God’s goodness. Yet personal wants will make themselves felt, and when they do, there is no one more ready or able to supply them than our Father in heaven. Therefore it is natural to look to him for help in prayer, patience, and hope.

(1) Prayer, because the help should be sought from God;

(2) patience, because it may not come immediately; and

(3) hope, because it can be anticipated with the assurance that God will not disappoint his children.

4. Beatification. The face that is lifted up-to God is illumined by the glory of God. His light falls upon it and glorifies it. There is a great blessedness springing directly from communion with heaven. If we looked up more, our countenances would be brighter.

CONCLUSION. Observe that these blessings follow a penitent return to God, and are conditioned by it. “Then thou shalt have thy delight,” etc; pointing back to Job 22:23.W.F.A.

Job 22:27

The prayer that shall be hears.

This verse is one of a series that describe the happy results of the penitent return to God referred to in Job 22:23. Thus Eliphaz means that after we have returned in penitence to God our prayer will be heard. His principle is quite in accordance with the teaching of Scripture, though, as usual, his application of it to Job is unjust.

I. PRAYER IS AN ELEMENT OF PROSPERITY. It is not only a condition on which prosperity is given; it is a part of the prosperity itself. Trouble drives us go prayer; but happiness cannot let us dispense with it. It is possible for one go be too miserable, too depressed, too hopeless, go pray. The best praying seems to need an element of joyous confidence. When it springs from this happy condition it enhances the joy of it. It is a very low and selfish notion that leads people to economize their prayers, and reserve them for times of dire necessity. Surely it should be a happy thing for the child go talk with his Father!

II. PRAYER EXPECTS AN ANSWER. We may pray without looking for any replypray because we cannot contain ourselves in silence, because the strong feelings of the soul will burst out into utterance. Then there may be a certain relief in the mere opening of the floodgates of emotion. But this is not the chief end of prayer. Further, we may just confide our case to God, consoled by the thought that he hears, even though we do not believe that any help is possible. Thus comfort is sought in the silent sympathy of a friend to whom the burdened soul can pour out its griefs. Still, the chief end of prayer is not reached in this way. It is difficult to carry on a one-sided conversation with an auditor who makes no reply, who does not even give us a sign that he hears or is at all interested in what one says. Prayer would languish and perish if God did not answer it. This he will not now do in an audible voice, nor always by such evident tokens that we can have no doubt that what he has done is in response to the cry of his children. Yet all who are in the habit of praying can bear witness to the fact that God hears prayer, and replies often in the most surprising and unmistakable way.

III. THE PRAYER THAT IS TO BE ANSWERED MUST BE SINCERE. Cain’s sacrifice was rejected. The Pharisee’s prayer could not reach heaven. We cannot pray to God effectively until we renounce sin and return to him. Then the prayer must be a real, inward, spiritual act. Such prayer is not valued by the correctness of its phraseology; much less is it estimated quantitatively by the time it occupies and the number of its words. The one essential quality is reality. The simple reason why many so-called prayers are not answered is that they are not really prayers at all. They do not come out of a worshipper’s heart. Therefore they cannot reach the ears of God, and incline him to respond to them. If all such pretended prayers were left out of account there would be leas scepticism and more glad confidence that God does hear prayer.W.F.A.

Job 22:29

Uplifting the fallen.

Accepting that rendering of the verse which takes the reference to the cast-down as not applying to Job himself or his affairs, but to other people and their troubles, we have here a fine turn given to the description of the happy estate of the returned and restored penitent. He is not only full of gladness, and enjoying many blessings by himself; he turns to others in their need and uplifts them.

I. THE DUTY AND JOY OF UPLIFTING THE FALLEN.

1. The duty. We are by nature members of one family, because our descent from a common parentage makes us all brothers and sisters. But Christianity has strengthened the ties of nature. There is no Christian duty so obligatory as that of following our Lord in his greatest workthat of seeking and saving the lost. Whether it be sin or sorrow that has east one of our brothers down, his very distress, apart from all questions of merit or attraction, calls upon us to aid him.

(1) Now this aid must be practical. We must do what we can to lift the cast-down.

(2) It must be encouraging. The helper is represented as crying, “Up!” A cheering word may go far to give courage and hope. We have to help people to help themselves. Depressing preaching does little good. There are plenty of things to discourage. People want hopeful encouragement.

2. The joy. This action of lifting up those who are cast down appears as part of the blessedness of the restored servant of God. It is not a heavy penance for the sinner; it is a happy occupation for the saint. It cannot but involve toil and pain, and often disappointment. Yet it is really a much happier work than self indulgent pleasure-seeking. It contains the very joy of God, who is blessed in giving and loving.

II. THE EXPERIENCE WHICH ENABLES US TO LIFT UP THE FALLEN. The glorious and Christ-like work of saving the fallen is promised to a man who is himself restored.

1. Experience of misery. He who has been cast down knows what it is to be cast down. The lessons of adversity teach sympathy. Thus we may explain some of the mystery of sorrow. It is a school for the training of sympathy. Even the experience of sin may be turned to good in this way. It must always be best not to have fallen. Still, though original innocence cannot be recovered, God may mitigate the sad consequences of sin in the penitent by making him a helper to the tempted and the fallen, whose condition his own terrible experience enables him to understand.

2. Experience of recovery. While suffering with others we may sympathize with them, but we cannot do much to aid them. While ourselves living in sin we can only exert a baleful influence on others. Therefore the first step is to be ourselves restored to God and the life of Christian holiness. Then the joyous consciousness of redemption is an inspiration for seeking to bring to others the same privilege. Thus Christians can preach the gospel with a force that-no unfallen angel can command. The greatest argument for urging man to accept it is that what God has done for one, he can and will do for another. The greatest motive for sacrificing ourselves to save our brother-men is that Christ gave his life to save us.W.F.A.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

CHAP. XXII.

Eliphaz asserts, that Job’s justification of himself doth not please God, and that he is surrounded with snares, because he had been guilty of many iniquities. He exhorts him to repentance, with promises of mercy.

Before Christ 1645.

Job 22:1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered Eliphaz here, increasing in his indignation, charges Job home with particular facts of cruelty and oppression; to which he adds the atrocious crime of atheism, and a denial or disbelief of Providence; and this latter he assigns as the reason of Job’s obstinacy in refusing to submit and acknowledge his guilt: Job 22:2-14. He compares his wickedness with that of the mighty oppressors of the antediluvian world; with that of the inhabitants of Sodom, and the cities of the plain; intimating not obscurely, that his end would probably be the same as theirs, unless prevented by a speedy submission, and full restitution, Job 22:15-20 to which he therefore earnestly presses him, and endeavours to allure him by placing full in his view the great advantages that he would probably reap from such a conduct: Job 22:21 to the end. Heath.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

THIRD SERIES OF CONTROVERSIAL DISCOURSES

THE ENTANGLEMENT REACHING ITS EXTREME POINT

Job 22-28

I. Eliphaz and Job: Chapter 2224

A.Eliphaz: Reiterated accusation of Job, from whose severe sufferings it must of necessity be inferred that he had sinned grievously, and needed to repent:

Job 22:1-20

1. The charge made openly that Job is a great sinner

Job 22:1-10

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2Can a man be profitable unto God,

as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?

3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous?

or is it gain to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect?

4Will He reprove thee for fear of thee?

will He enter with thee unto judgment?

5Is not thy wickedness great?

and thine iniquities infinite?

6For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought,

and stripped the naked of their clothing.

7Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink,

and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.

8But as for the mighty man, he had the earth:

and the honorable man dwelt in it.

9Thou hast sent widows away empty,

and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.

10Therefore snares are round about thee,

and sudden fear troubleth thee.

2. Earnest warning not to incur yet severer punishments:

Job 22:11-20

11Or darkness, that thou canst not see;

and abundance of waters cover thee.

12Is not God in the height of heaven?

and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

13And thou sayest, How doth God know?

can He judge through the dark cloud?

14Thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He seeth not;

and He walketh in the circuit of heaven.

15Hast thou marked the old way,

which wicked men have trodden?

16Which were cut down out of time,

whose foundation was overflown with a flood;

17which said unto God, Depart from us:

and what can the Almighty do for them?

18Yet He filled their houses with good things:

but the counsel of the wicked is far from me

19The righteous see it, and are glad

and the innocent laugh them to scorn:

20Whereas our substance is not cut down,

but the remnant of them the fire consumeth.

3. Admonition to repent, accompanied by the announcement of the certain restoration of his prosperity to him when penitent:

Job 22:21-30

21Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace:

thereby good shall come unto thee.

22Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth,

and lay up His words in thine heart.

23If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up,

thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.

24Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust,

and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.

25Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence,

and thou shalt have plenty of silver.

26For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty,

and shalt lift up thy face unto God.

27Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee,

and thou shalt pay thy vows.

28Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee:

and the light shall shine upon thy ways.

29When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up;

and He shall save the humble person.

30He shall deliver the island of the innocent;

and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

1. Without controverting Jobs position in Job 21, that the present life furnishes numerous examples of the prosperity of the ungodly, and of calamity to the pious, but at the same time without abandoning in the slightest degree his former argument in favor of an external doctrine of retribution, Eliphaz adheres to his assumption that the cause of Jobs calamities and misery could lie only in sins of a grievous character (Job 22:2-10), with which he now reproaches him particularly and in detail (Job 22:6-9),sins of arrogance, of cruelty, and of injustice towards his neighbor. Then follows an earnest warning against pursuing any further his unholy thoughts and speeches, as otherwise his final doom, like that of all the wicked from the earliest times must be a terrible one (Job 22:11-20)a position indeed which Job also might urge to prove the alleged injustice of Gods treatment of him. To this sharp warning succeeds a conciliatory invitation to repent and to return to God, and to enter into possession of the blessings promised by God to the penitent, the whole discourse having a conclusion similar to that of the first discourse of Eliphaz (Job 22:21-30). This third and last discourse of Eliphaz falls into three divisions, exactly equal in length, and each of these embraces two strophes substantially equal in length, consisting of five verses each (the first, however, only of four).

2. First Division, or Double Strophe: the accusation: Job 22:2-10.

First Strophe: Job 22:2-5 : Four interrogative sentences, which taken together exhibit a well-constructed syllogism, of which the first two questions (Job 22:2-3) constitute the major premise, the third (Job 22:4) the minor, the fourth (Job 22:5) the conclusion. The major premise expresses the thought: The cause of Jobs misery cannot lie in God, the All-sufficient One, to whom the conduct of men, whether good or evil, (wise or unwise) matters nothing. The minor premise affirms that the penalty which Job was enduring could not have been brought upon him by his piety. From this he draws a conclusion unfavorable to Jobs moral character. Is a man [, a great man, a hero, etc.; man in short considered in his best estate; Carey] profitable unto God? Nay, the intelligent man is profitable unto himself. The question, with its negative force, and the negative follow each other immediately, the latter introduced by in the sense of nay, rather [Conant: for; E. V. Wemyss, Elzas, less suitably; as, regarding the second clause as a part of the question]. The meaning is: God, the absolutely Blessed One, who has everything and needs nothing, receives no advantage from mans conduct whether it be thus or so, whether he act unwisely, (i.e. wickedly, Psa 14:2 [1], or intelligently (i.e. piously, righteously); so that accordingly if the latter is the case, man cares only for his own well-being. In regard to , lit. to dwell beside one another, to become ones neighbor, and hence to assist one another, to be serviceable, to be profitable, comp. above on Job 15:3; also 35:3. The pathetic plural form , with the signification of the singular, , as in Job 20:23. [The use of in the second member, instead of as in the first, is one of the Aramaisms, which poetry gladly adopts (Del.). Comp. Psa 16:6].

Job 22:3. Is it an advantage to the Almighty, if thou art righteous? [lit. pleasure] means here, as the parallel in the second member shows, interest, gain, advantage, as in Job 21:21. Or a gain, if thou behavest blamelessly? lit. if thou makest thy ways blameless [or perfect] (, imperf. Hiph. of , with the [Aramizing] doubling of the first radical; comp. Gesen. 66, Rem. 8), si integras facias vias tuas. The meaning of the whole question is: God gets no profit from mens righteousness; consequently the motives which determine him to inflict sufferings on men are neither selfish, nor arbitrary.

Job 22:4. Will He because of thy godliness [lit. fear, godly tear] chastise thee, enter into judgment with thee? That is: if now then the cause of such a calamity as has befallen thee lies in thyself, can it be thy piety for which God punishes thee? Hirzel interprets to mean: from fear of thee, the suffix expressing the genit. of the object against the context, which requires a meaning antithetic to , Job 22:5. [Hirzels explanation is the one adopted also by Bernard, Wemyss, Carey, Renan, Rodwell, Elzas]. The meaning: godly fear, piety is all the more firmly established for by the fact that Eliphaz has already used this same word twice in this emphatic sense: Job 4:6 and Job 15:4 [a genuine Eliphazian word, in accordance with the poets method of assigning favorite words and habits to his speakers. Ewald].

Job 22:5. The conclusion, expressed in the interrogative form, like the preceding propositions in the syllogism. Is not thy wickedness great, and no end of thy transgressions?Thus strongly does Eliphaz accuse Job here; for, entangled in legalism, he thinks that if the impossibility that God should cause the innocent to suffer be once for all firmly held, then, from the severity of the sufferings inflicted on any one, we may argue the greatness of the transgressions which are thus punished,a piece of bad logic, seeing that it entirely overlooks the intermediate possibility which lies between those two extremes, that God may inflict suffering on such as are friends indeed, but not yet perfected in their piety, with a view to their trial or purification.

Second Strophe: Job 22:6-10. Enumeration of a series of sins, which, seeing that they are ordinarily associated with riches and power, must constitute, in the opinion of the speaker, the probable reason why Job, who was once rich and honored, had fallen so low, and been made to suffer the Divine chastisement.

Job 22:6. For thou didst distrain thy brethren without causei.e., without being in thy superfluity under any necessity of doing so (Hirzel). The brethren are naturally the next of kin, fellow-clansmen, not specially brethren in the more literal sense. If instead of we should with many MSS. and Editions (so also Bhr and Delitzsch) read , this singular form, thy brother, would nevertheless require to be understood as a collective, as the second member shows. And the clothes of the naked thou didst strip off.By we are to understand, of course, not those who are absolutely naked, but those who are scantily clothed, the half-naked poor, as in Isa 20:2; Joh 21:7; Jam 2:15 (comp. also Seneca, De Benefeciis, v. 13: si quis male vestitutum et pannosum videt, nudum se vidisse dicit). To strip such naked ones by distraint of their last piece of apparel is forbidden not only by the law of Moses (Exo 22:25 seq.; Deu 24:6; Deu 24:10 seq.), but also by the sentiment of universal humanity. The same may be said of the proofs of cruelty enumerated in the following verse [Job 22:7 : Thou gavest no water to the fainting to drink, and thou didst refuse bread to the hungry]; comp. Isa 58:10, and for the opposite course Mat 10:42.

Job 22:8. And the man of the fist (absolute case)his was the land, and the honored one was to dwell therein!That is to say, according to the insolent, selfish, grasping views and principles which Eliphaz imputes to Job. The man of the arm, or of the fist ( ), i.e., the powerful and violent man, as well as the honored man ( , as in Isa 3:3; Isa 9:14), is none other than Job himself, the proud, rich Emir, who, as Eliphaz maliciously conjectures, had driven away many of the poor and helpless from house and home, in order to seize upon the land far and wide for himself. According to the assumption that both expressions referred to another than Job, whom the latter had favored in his course of self-aggrandizement (Rosenmller, Umbreit, Hahn [Noyes, Wemyss, Renan, Elzaswho translates: As if the land belonged to the man of power alone; as if only the man of rank may dwell therein]), the strong sense of the passage is needlessly weakened. That Job is not immediately addressed here, as in the verse just preceding, and again in the verse following, is to be explained by the vivid objectivizing tendency of the description.

Job 22:9. Widows thou didst send away emptywhen they came to thee as suppliants; and the arms of the orphans were brokenin consequence, namely, of the treatment which such needy and helpless ones were wont to receive from thee and those like thee. The discourse here assumes the objective generalizing tone, for the reason that Eliphaz is sensible that the concrete proofs of the charge which he would be able to produce out of Jobs former history would be all too few! The arms of the orphans is a figurative expression describing not their appeal for help, but all their powers and rights, all upon which they could depend for support. The same phrase occurs also in Psa 37:17; Eze 30:22. For the arms as the symbol of strength, power, comp. Job 40:9; Psa 77:16 [15]; 83:9 [8].

Job 22:10. Therefore snares are round about thee (a figure descriptive of destruction as besetting him around; comp. Job 18:8-10), and terror suddenly comes upon [or affrights] thee (comp. Pro 3:25)i.e., sudden deadly anguish, terror in view of thy approaching complete destruction, overpowers thee time after time. Comp. the similar description above in Bildads discourse, Job 18:11. [To be noted is the frequent paronomasia of and . Schlott.].

3. Second Division, or Double Strophe: the warning. If Job should presumptuously cast doubt on the Divine righteousness, and thereby make himself partaker of the sins of those in the primeval world who insolently denied God, he would draw down on himself the Divine judgment which had been ordained for those guilty of such wickedness, and which would without fail overtake them, however long and securely they might seem to enjoy their prosperity: Job 22:11-20.

Third Strophe: Job 22:11-15. Or seest thou not the darkness, and the flood of waters, which covereth thee?That is, dost thou not then perceive in what destruction thou art already involved, and that in punishment for thy sins? Darkness and the flood of waters (the multitudinous heaving of waters, as in Isa 60:6) are here, as also in Job 27:20, a figure not of the sins of Job (Hahn), but of the night of suffering and of the deep misery, which, as Eliphaz thinks, had come upon him in consequence of his sins. is a relative clause, and logically belongs also to ; comp. Isa 60:2. In mentioning darkness and a flood as bursting on Job, he has reference to the catastrophe of the deluge, which in the following verses he proceeds to hold up as a warning picture of terror (Job 22:16). The whole verse forms a suitable transition from the accusation in the preceding section to the warning which now follows. [By the majority of versions and commentators Job 22:11 is joined immediately to the verse preceding, as its continuation. There is certainly a close connection between the two. But that Zckler (after Dillmann) is correct in regarding Job 22:11 as transitional to what follows, and so introducing the next strophe, is favored both by the use of the disjunctive rather than , and by the evident anticipation of Job 22:16 in the . This view requires the construction of as the object of : seest thou not the darkness? (Ewald, Schlottm., Dillm., Delitzsch), rather than as an independent subject, followed by a relative clause: darkness, that, thou canst not see (E. V., Umbreit, Noyes, Con., Lee, Renan, Rodwell, etc.).E.]

Job 22:12. Is not Eloah the height of heaven?i.e. the heaven-high, infinitely exalted One (comp. Job 11:8; [in view of which passage, says Schlottmann, the construction of as Accus. loci: in the height of heaven, is less probable than the construction, as predicate]).And see now the head of the stars [i.e. the highest of the stars, gen. partitivus) how high they are! how, or also that, as in Gen 49:15; 1Sa 14:29. The plural [by attraction] as in Job 21:21; comp. Ewald, 317, c. The whole verse, in this reference to the Divine greatness and exaltation, beginning as a question, and passing over into a challenge, has for its object the vindication of Him who is above the world, and above man, against every thought which would limit His knowledge, or cast any suspicion on the perfect justice of His ways.

Job 22:13 seq. The doubt expressed by Job touching the justice of God in administering the affairs of the world is here interpreted by Eliphaz as a denial that God has any knowledge of earthly things, or feels any special concern in what happens to men. He therefore reproaches him with holding that erroneous, and almost atheistical conception of the Deity, which has since been advanced by the Epicureans (see e.g. Lucretius III. 640 seq.), and more recently by the English Deists. [Eliphaz here attributes to Job, who in Job 21:22 had appealed to the exaltation of God in opposition to the friends, a complete misconception of the truth, and thus skilfully turns against Job himself the weapon which the latter had just sought to wrest from him. Schlottmann]. And so thou thinkest (literally sayest) what knows God? (or: what should God know?) will He judge through ( as in Gen 26:8; Joe 2:9) the darkness of the clouds?i.e. judge us men on this lower earth, from which He, covered by the clouds, is wholly separated and shut off.

Job 22:14 continues this symbolical description of this total separation of God from the world: Clouds are a covering to Him, so that He sees not (comp. Lam 3:44), and He walks upon the vault (or circle, Pro 8:27; Isa 40:22) of the heavennot therefore on this earthly world, which is too small and insignificant for Him. Similar expressions of unbelief touching Gods special concern for the affairs of earth may be found e.g. in Psa 73:11; Psa 94:7; Isa 29:15; Eze 8:12.

Job 22:15. Wilt thou keep in the path of the old world? (, to observe, follow, as in Psa 18:22 [not hast thou marked? E. V. against which is the fut. , and the connection] and , as in Jer 6:16; Jer 18:15), which the men of wickedness trod?i.e. insolent, ungodly and wicked men, as they are described in the following verses, both as to their arrogant deeds, and their righteous punishment. The reference to the race of men immediately preceding the Noachian deluge (the of 2Pe 2:5) is evident enough.

Fourth Strophe: Job 22:16-20. Description of the destruction of those ungodly men as a divine judgment overtaking them after a season of prosperity, together with an application to the controversy suggested by Jobs case in respect to the doctrine of retribution.

Job 22:16. [The asterisk in the Hebrew Bible marks the verse as the middle of the book, there being 537 verses before, and the same number after this mark] Who were swept off (, lit. were seized comp. above on Job 16:8) [Bernard, Rodwell, etc., who became shrivelled (corpses) before, etc. Carey: who got tied up so that escape was impossible, but better as above,to be snatched away] before the timei.e. before there was any probability, according to human experience, that their hour had come; comp. the of the LXX. also above in Job 15:32 as even in the present passage some Mss. read instead of (com. Psa 139:16). As a stream their foundation was poured awayi. e. it became fluid, so that they could no longer stand on it, but sank down. Again a palpable allusion to the deluge (scarcely to the fate of Sodom and Gomorrah, in mentioning which the rain of fire and brimstone (Gen 19:24; comp. Job 18:15) would scarcely have been forgotten:against Ewald [and Davidson, Introd. ii. 229]). The construction of the words which we have followed, according to which is the subject, nominat. of the predicate or product, and descriptive Imperf. Hoph. (not an unusual alternate form of the Perf. Pual , as Ewald supposes) appears as that which alone is favored by the position of the words and the accents. The following renderings are not so good: their place became a poured out stream (Hirzel: whose foundation was a poured out stream (Umbr., Olsh.) [Rodwell]; a stream was poured out upon their foundation(Rosenm., Hahn) [Lee, Carey: with which may be connected the rendering of E. V. Renan, Noyes, Elzas: whose foundation was overflown with a flood, and of Conant: their foundation was poured away in a flood].

Job 22:17. Who said unto God: Depart from us! and what could the Almighty do for them?The sentiment of the ungodly is expressed first in the direct and then in the indirect form of speech, precisely as in Job 19:28. As to the matter the passage reminds us of Jobs last discourse, Job 21:14-15. The same arrogant God-renouncing utterances, which Job there attributes to the prosperous wicked described by him, is here imputed by Eliphaz to the objects of his description, in order to show to him that up to a certain point he agrees entirely with his representation of the relation of external prosperity to human sinfulness. [El. no doubt intends this as a direct contradiction to Jobs statement. The Patriarch had asserted that men of these atheistical principles were happy all their lives. El. says: No! these are the very sort of men who were visited by the judgment of the deluge, and you are just as bad as they, for you are treading in their steps. Carey].

Job 22:18. And yet he had filled their houses with blessings(, prosperity, good, as below Job 22:21 and Job 21:25); a circumstantial clause, which stands connected with the principal verb in Job 22:16, having a restrictive force, in order to express the contrast between the sudden judgment which overtakes the wicked, and the long season of prosperity preceding it, which gives to them the appearance of exemption from punishment. The formula of detestation which follows in b Eliphaz intentionally takes as it were out of the mouth of Job (comp. Job 21:16), in order to impress upon him that only he has the right thus to speak who does not doubt that God inflicts righteous retribution.

Job 22:19. The righteous will see it:to wit, the destruction which will one day befall the wicked (not the punishment inflicted on the sinners of the primeval world, which was long since past)and rejoice, and the innocent will mock at themat those who were once prosperous, but have now encountered the righteous penalty of their transgressions, in regard to whom accordingly the proverb will be verifiedhe laughs best who laughs last. The triumphant joy of the righteous over the final punishment of the ungodly, which they shall live to see, and which Eliphaz here describes in such a way as to contrast with Jobs previous utterances, Job 17:8; Job 21:5-6, is frequently described in the Old Testament; comp. Psa 58:11 [10] seq.; 64:10 [9] seq.

Job 22:20 contains the words in which this future triumph of the pious will be expressed. Verily ( as in Job 1:11; Job 17:2) our adversaries are destroyed. (instead of which Olsh. needlessly proposes after Psa 44:6; Exo 15:7) is a pausal form for , from a root , which occurs only here, meaning he who is set up (partic. pass.), i.e. the adversary. The righteous designate the ungodly as their adversaries not in a personal, but an ethical sense, because Gods enemies are also their enemies; comp. Psa 139:21; Rom 11:28. And what is left to them a fire has devoured, their remnant, their residue, to wit, in property and wealth; the remainder of their means; hardly their super-abundance (Del.) [for why should the fire devour only that which they had as a superfluity? Dillm.] is used here accordingly in another sense than in Job 4:21, a passage otherwise similar to the present. For the use of fire as a symbol of the divine decree of punishment effecting a radical extermination, comp. Job 15:34; Job 20:26; Eze 20:28, etc.

4. Third Division, or Double Strophe: Job 22:21-30 : An admonition to repentance, and a promise of salvation to the penitent.

Fifth Strophe: Job 22:21-25 : The admonition.

Job 22:21. Make friends now with Him, and be at peace. here with , which gives a signification different from that found above in Job 22:2, viz. to make friends with any one, to draw nigh to any one, comp. Jam 4:8. The following is to be rendered as an Imperat. consec. (comp. Pro 3:4; and Gesen. 130 [ 127], 2; and be at peace, i.e. and so shalt thou be at peace. [We distinguish best between and by regarding the former as expressing the conclusion, the latter the preservation of peace. Schlottmann]. There by shall blessing come to theecome upon thee, comp. Job 20:22. (instead of which many Mss. read ) Isaiah 3 sing. fem. imperf. with a doubled indication of its feminine form (first by and afterwards by ), hence = , with suffix of the 2d person. Comp. in regard to such double feminines Delitzsch on the passage [who refers to Pro 1:20; Eze 23:20; Jos 6:17; 2Sa 1:26; Amo 4:3], also Ewald 191, c; 249, c [Green 88, 3 f.]Olsh. and Rdig. following certain Mss. would read : thereby will thine income be a good one, but this would impart to the discourse an artificial character, seeing that an earthly reward is not mentioned before Job 22:25 seq. As to , thereby (lit. by these things) with neuter suffix, comp. Eze 33:18; Isa 64:4; Isa 38:16.

Job 22:22. Receive, I pray, instruction out of His mouth.Gods mouth represented as the source of instruction in the higher truth, as in Pro 2:6 [El. as Dillm. says claiming to be himself the interpreter of Gods teaching to Job].

Job 22:23. If thou returnest to the Almighty.( as in Joe 2:12; Amo 4:6 seq.; Isa 19:22) [We are told by Rosenmller that stands here for to, but we are rather inclined to think with Maimonides that it is purposely made use of in its real signification, viz., as far as, even to, right up to, close up to, in order to encourage Job, who was looked upon by the speaker as a very great sinner, by showing him that notwithstanding the enormities of his sins, he need not despair of coming through penitence again close up to his offended Creator. Bernard. Or, as Carey says, that his return must be no partial movement, not one that would stop half way, but a return quite to God]. If thou removest iniquity far (puttest it far away) from thy tents.This second conditional clause, being parallel to the antecedent clause in a, needs no apodosis. It adds to the former a more specific qualification, which in itself indeed is not necessary, but which is appropriately illustrative of the former; comp. Job 11:14. The LXX., who in the first member read ( ) instead of construed the whole verse as the antecedent, Job 22:24-25 as parenthetic, and Job 22:26 as consequenta dragging construction, which indeed has a parallel in Job 11:13-15, but has less to justify it here in the sense and connection. [The E. V. in making the last clause a part of the apodosisthou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away, etc., does not quite correctly set forth the logical relation of the clauses. E.]

Job 22:25. And lay down in (or cast down to) the dust the precious ore.The word , which occurs only here and in the following verse, signifies according to the etymology as well as the connection precious metal, gold or silver, and that in its crude, unprepared state, as it is brought forth out of the shafts of the mountain mines, hence gold and silver ore, virgin-gold (Delitzsch). The laying down of such metal in the dust signifies that one relieves himself of it as of worthless trash. The second member expresses the same thought still more strongly. And among the pebbles of the brooks ( assonant with ) the gold of Ophir, for the more complete and common , comp. Job 28:16; Psa 45:10 [9], etc., also such modern mercantile abbreviations as Mocha, Damask, Champagne, etc. In regard to the much disputed location of the land of Ophir (LXX., ,Cod. Al. however , which reminds us of Sufra, on the peninsula of Guzerat, in India, as well as of the Coptic Sofir, used as a name for India) comp. the Realwrterbcher [Cyclopdias and Dictionaries]; also Bhr on 1Ki 10:22 [Vol. VI. of this series, p. 122]. To the earlier theories which located Ophir in India, or in Arabia has been added latterly that of Sir Rod. Murchison, who in a Report to the London Geographical Society is inclined to the opinion that the south-African coast around the mouth of the Limpopo river is the true Ophir of the Bible, supporting his view in part by the conjectures of the well-known archologist, John Crawford (in his Descriptive Dictionary of the Indian Islands), which point to this locality, and in part by the discoveries of districts abounding in gold, which the German traveller, K. Mauch, claims to have made since 1866 in this very region (north of the colony of Natal). Comp. the Ausland, 1868, No. 39: Die Goldfnde in der Kolonie Natal und das Ophir der Bibelwhich essay indeed rightly prefers the combinations of K. Ritter, Chr. Lassen, etc. pointing to the East Indies, while an article in the Globus, Vol. 18, No. 24, p. 369 seeks to mediate between the two hypotheses by supposing Ophir to be a wild region on the Indian Ocean, which embraced a part of the eastern coast of Africa and of the western coast of India.

Job 22:25. Apodosis. Then will the Almighty be thy treasure (, pl. of , hence lit pieces of gold-ore, pieces of metal) and silver in heaps to theescil, will He be. which occurs elsewhere only in Num 23:22; Num 24:8; and Psa 95:4, has received very different explanations. According to these passages, however, it must signify things standing out high and prominent. Here, therefore it must mean either high heaps of silver, or long, prominent bars of silver. The former definition is favored by the fact that the Arabic certifies for the signification, to tower, to grow, to mount upward, a meaning which the Vulgate expresses here also (argentum coacervabitur tibi), while on the contrary the derivation of the word from the root , to shine (comp. the LXX: ), or even from , to be weary (Gesen. in Thes., Bttcher [Con. silver sought with toil] etc), has but slight etymological foundation. In regard to the sentiment in Job 22:24-25 comp. New Testament parallels: like Mat 6:20; Mat 6:33; Mat 19:21; Luk 12:33; 1Ti 6:16-19, etc. [The rendering of these two verses (24, 25) by the E. V. is to be rejected as inconsistent with the language (thus cannot be to lay up as dust), and as yielding a much feebler sense.E.]

Sixth Strophe: Job 22:26-30 : Further expansion of the promise annexed to the admonition.Yea, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty. confirmatory, as in Job 11:15 : or argumentativefor then, etc., which is the common rendering. For the representation of God as the object of joy or delight on the part of the righteous comp. Psa 37:4; Isa 58:14. In regard to lifting up the face as an expression of freedom from the consciousness of sin (the opposite of , Gen 4:6), comp. above Job 11:15.

Job 22:27. If thou prayest to Him,etc. hypothetical antecedent without , as also in the following verse. As to to pray (lit. to present incense), comp. Exo 8:4 [8], 25 [29]; 10:17. In respect to discharging, i.e. fulfilling vows (here most naturally such as have been offered in connection with prayer), see Psa 22:26 [25]; 50:14; 61:6 [5], 9 [8]; 65:2 [1]. Comp. v. Gerlach on this passage (below in the Homiletical Remarks).

Job 22:28. If thou purposest anything, so shall it come to pass to thee. lit. to cut off, here as an Aramaism in the sense of to purpose, determine. , either = a matter, anything, or design, plan (Del.). As to , to come to pass, to be realized, comp. Isa 7:7; Pro 15:22; in respect to light upon thy ways, see Job 19:8.

Job 22:29. When they lead downwardsviz. thy ways (as to , to make low, to lead downwards, comp. Jer 13:18), then thou sayestUpward!, syncopated form of (Ewald 62, b; 73, b), lit. uplifting; here as an interjection, meaningupward! arise! not, however, as a petition in a prayer (Dillm., etc.), but as a triumphant exclamation in thanksgiving. [This rendering is certainly not free from objection, especially on account of the artificial cast which it seems to give to the expression The rendering of E. V., however: when men are cast down, then thou shalt say, etc., is still less satisfactory, destroying as it does the connection between the first and second members, leaving two verbs, and , with subjects unexpressed, and introducing in a a thought which is scarcely suited to this connection, and which is subsequently introduced with climactic force in 30b.E.] And to the humbled one (i.e., to thee, if thou art humbled; lit. to him who has downcast eyes, LXX.: ) He works out deliverance;i.e., God, who is also the subject of the first member in the following verse. It is not necessary therefore with the Pesh. and Vulg. to read the passive .

Job 22:30. He will rescue him that is not guiltless, and (yet more!) he is rescued by the pureness of thine hands ( as in Job 17:9; Psa 18:21 [20]; 24:4); i.e., on account of thine innocence, which thou shalt then have recovered, God will be gracious even to others who need an atonement for their sins. So great and transcendent an efficacy does Eliphaz assume that Jobs future conversion will possess, without once anticipating that he (together with Bildad and Zophar) will turn out to be the not-guiltless one ( for , Ewald, 215, b) [Gesen., 149, 1], whom God will forgive only on Jobs account; comp. Job 42:8. [Another striking example of that dramatic irony in which our author from time to time indulges, when he allows for a moment the light of the future to fall on his characters in such a way as to present the contrast between their thoughts and Gods thoughts.E.] Seb. Schmidt and J. D. Michaelis have already given the correct explanation, as follows: Liberabit Deus et propter puritatem manuum tuarum alios, quos propria innocentia ipsos deficiens ipsos deficiens non esset liberatura. So also substantially most moderns, while Hirzel arbitrarily understands by the not-guiltless one Job, with another subject for the second member. Umbreit, however, gives a still harsher construction, taking Job as the object of the first member (= ), and at the same time as subject of the second member, which he treats as addressed to God: yea, he (Job) is delivered by the pureness of Thy hands; i.e., by Thy Divine righteousness. [E. V., in taking in its usual meaning of island, gives a rendering which is seen at once to be altogether unsuitable.E.]

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Eliphaz in the second part of this new discourse is prompted to discuss somewhat more thoroughly than before the proposition advanced by Job (Job 21) touching the frequent contradiction between the moral desert and the outward lot of men, which he does indeed only by representing the prosperity of the wicked, the existence of which he cannot deny, as only apparent, and quickly passing away (Job 22:15-20). Following upon this discussion, which has in it little that is personal, and which concerns itself rather with the subject-matter, he resumes the tone of fatherly admonition and persuasion by promises of good found in his first discourse, instead of continuing the purely threatening tone of the second (Job 15), closing even with a prophetic picture so full of light, that it quite rivals in the freshness and glow of its colors that found at the close of the first discourse (Job 5:17 seq.), and breathes a spirit which certainly proves him to be in his way Jobs sincere well-wisher. In all these particulars, and to this extent, Eliphaz, the oldest of Jobs friends and their leader, here at the beginning of the third act of the colloquy exhibits progress for the better in his way of thinkinga progress, moreover, to which Job himself contributes by the skill with which he vindicates himself, and the moral superiority of his spirit. On the other hand, however, it must be said that he is guilty of misunderstanding and of misrepresenting in a one-sided manner Jobs doubts resulting from the disproportion between human desert and happiness (Job 22:13-14), and so perverts them, as though Job had advanced frivolous epicurean conceptions of the Deity, and thus denied a special Providence, leaving the destinies of men on earth to be ruled over by accident. In close connection with this gross misconception of Jobs opinions, and serving to explain it, is the re-affirmation which he makes in the First Division through the medium of a downright syllogism (Job 22:2-5) of grievous crime on the part of Job as the ground of his sufferings, proceeding so far even as to name particular sins of which he arbitrarily assumes him to be guilty, and pushing his charges to the most outrageous excess (Job 22:6-9). In both these respects we see an advance on the part of the speaker in an evil direction, an increasing bitterness, a constant stubborn refusal to entertain the truth. We accordingly find in this discourse in one direction certainly an apparent preparation for a peaceful solution and harmonious reconciliation of the conflict; but in another direction, and that the very one which is important and decisive, it simply contributes to the heightening of the conflict, and by inciting Job to bitterness, makes it more and more impossible for the sorely tried sufferer to enter upon a truly calm and convincing exhibition of the goodness of his cause, and thus points with a necessity which ever becomes more and more imperative, to the final intervention of a higher Arbiter as the only way of unraveling the entangled coil of the controversy.

2. In consequence of this advance both in a good and an evil direction, this new discourse of Eliphaz bears in a much higher degree than his two former ones the character of a peculiar double-sidedness, and self-contradiction in its expressions. Considered in itself it is the purest truth, expressed in the most striking and beautiful form; but as an answer to the speech of Job the dogma of the friends itself is destroyed in it, by the false conclusion by which it is obliged to justify itself to itself (Delitzsch). In one respect its expressions breathe the spirit of a genuine prophet, of a divinely enlightened teacher of wisdom of the patriarchal age. But in another respect, in that, namely, which concerns the sharply malicious tendency which they reveal against Job. they seem like the sayings of a false prophet, and even of a passionate accuser and spiteful suspecter of suffering innocence. They have a double sound to them, like the expressions of one who is at once a Moses and a Balaam. According to their general substance these speeches are genuine diamonds; according to their special application they are false ones (Delitzsch).Eliphaz gives utterance to the purest and most elevated conceptions of God, and His infinitely wise and righteous dealings. At the very beginning of the first division he describes His blessed all-sufficiency; at the beginning of the second His heaven-high exaltation, His majesty comparable to the unchangeable brilliancy of the stars; and in the third division he sets forth with incomparable and truly impressive power His fatherly gentleness and compassion, which willingly hears the prayer of the penitent sinner. And what he affirms in respect to the inexorable rigor with which the justice of the same God inflicts punishment, as it was manifested in judgment upon the sinners of the primeval world, upon the ungodly antediluvians (Job 22:15-18), even that produces an impression all the more deep and forcible in that it has for its setting those splendid descriptions radiating forth their mild brilliancy. Yet after all that inviting description of the divine all-sufficiency is used in the service of a low, external and vulgar theory of retribution, which is deduced from it by an audacious sophism, and an unexampled logical leap (see on Job 22:5). After all that admonitory reference to the majestic movement of God as the All-seeing Ruler of the universe, and the inexorable Avenger of the wicked, shoots wide of the mark in so far as it is aimed at Job, for it was neither true that Job had denied the special Providence and Omniscience of God (as Eliphaz in Job 22:13-14, by a crafty process of deduction, reproached him with doing), nor that his sins were of such a character that they could even approximately be compared with those of the insolent blasphemers and deniers of God in Noahs time. Finally, the beautiful words of promise in the closing division, with their reference to Gods goodness as Father, and with their counsel to seek the love of this God as the most precious of all treasures (Job 22:24-25), are wanting in all true power of consolation for Job, and lose entirely their apparent value in consequence of that which precedes them. For if Job is to seek God as his heavenly treasure, it is presupposed that hitherto he has loved earthly treasures more than was right, nay, that he has been guilty of the sins and transgressions of grasping tyrants, as was intimated in the first division (Job 22:6-9). And if Job had really sinned so wantonly, and subscribed to the atheistic sentiments of the generation that was destroyed by the deluge, then all advice to repent and return to the Heavenly Father would be for him practically useless; at least from the stand-point of Eliphaz, characterized as it was by the pride of legal virtue, such an exhortation, together with the promise of good which accompanied it, could scarcely have been uttered sincerely. [Should we not, however, make allowance for the perplexing dilemma in which the friends found themselves placed? Was there not a constant strife between the deductions of their logic and the instincts of their affection? Is it strange that the rigor of the former should be continually qualified by the tenderness of the latter? And does not our poet skillfully avail himself of this inconsistency to relieve what would otherwise be the intolerable harshness of their position?E.]

3. This two-fold character appertaining to the utterances of Eliphaz, it is evident, increases largely the difficulty of the homiletic expounder of this chapter, especially if he would not simply seize upon and bring forth single pearls or gems, but consider the beautiful glittering jewel as a whole. For in order to a correct appreciation, and a truly fruitful application of the contents of the discourse, which is not wanting in richness, it is indispensable to avoid as much as possible any mutilation of so well-connected a whole, and to note everywhere not only what is true, but also what is false and one-sided in the utterances of the speaker. The Moses and the Balaam sides of the prophet must be exhibited together. Any other treatment, any one-sided favorable representation of the speakers character would contradict the evident purpose of the poet, which is from the beginning to the end of this discourse to present truth and error blended and amalgamated together. This is especially indicated by the circumstance that Eliphaz at the close of the discourse appears wholly in the character of a pseudo-prophet, of the order of Balaam, and is compelled unwillingly to prophesy the issue of the controversy, and that too as one that is decidedly unfavorable to him and his associates. He who now, considering himself as , preaches penitence to Job, shall at last stand forth , and will be one of the first who need Jobs intercession as the servant of God, and whom he is able mediatorially to rescue by the purity of his hands (Delitzschcomp. above on Job 22:29-30).

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Job 22:2 seq. Brentius: This is indeed a most beautiful exhortation to repentance which Eliphaz here delivers; but what is it to Job? Eliphaz therefore sins in this direction, because that by these words he falsely charges Job with iniquity and impiety, and this with no other reason for so doing than that he sees him to be afflicted. Everything is well said, but carnally understood. For carnal wisdom thinks that in this life blessing attends the godly in temporal affairs, but a curse the ungodly; whereas truth teaches that in this life, to the godly, the blessing accompanies the curse, life death, salvation damnation; while, on the contrary, to the ungodly, the curse accompanies the blessing, death life, damnation salvation.

Job 22:6 seq. Starke (after the Tbingen Bible and Zeyss): To withhold a pledge which has been received, and to oppress the poor, are heinous sins, which cry out to heaven (Exo 22:26 seq.). To sin against the widows, the orphans, the poor, the needy, etc., infallibly brings down severe punishment from God, as One who has His eye specially on those, Sir 35:18 seq.

Job 22:12 seq. Cocceius: It is an old error that God dwells in the highest summit of heaven, and touches those things which are lower only by a certain force impressed on those things which are nearest to Himself, and gradually transmitted from them;an error which Scripture refutes when it says that God is a God at hand, and not a God afar off (Jer 23:23 seq.), for no part of creation is nearer to God than any other.Wohlfarth: God is too exalted to trouble himself about the affairs of men: thus do many still think, and walk accordingly in the path of unbelief, sin and destruction. Only the Tempter can persuade them to this. Just because God is the most exalted Being, nothing is hidden from Him; and He knows even our most secret actions, our most hidden wishes, our most silent sufferings (Jer 23:23 seq.; Psa 139:1 seq.; Mat 6:8; 1Jn 3:20, etc.).

Job 22:17 seq. Starke: As it is the wish and longing of the godly, that God would draw nigh to them, so, on the contrary, the burden of the song of the ungodly is: Depart from us! They would gladly leave to God His heaven, if He would only leave to them their earthly pleasure.God oftentimes seeks to allure the wicked to repentance by multiplying their earthly possessions; if, however, He does not succeed in this, it results only in their heavier condemnation. When they think that they are most firmly established, God suddenly casts them down, and brings them to nought (Psa 73:19).

Job 22:19. Wohlfarth: May the Christian also rejoice in the destruction of sinners? Eliphaz, in accordance with the way of thinking in his time, speaks of the pleasure of the righteous when sinners are seized by the hand of the Lord. Christ wept in sight of Jerusalem over its hardened inhabitants, and said: How often, etc. (Mat 23:37; Luk 19:42 seq.) When, therefore, the Lord blesses the righteous, rejoice, O Christian! but do not mock at the sinner, but save him when thou canst do it (Jam 5:19-20),when not, mourn for him as thy brother, whose fate demands pity.

Job 22:23-25. Starke: What sin tears down, Gods grace builds up again. Having this, you are rich enough! The worlds treasure and comfort are silver and gold, empty and perishable things; but the children of Gods only, highest, and best portion is God Himself (Psa 73:25 seq.).V. Gerlach: If thou dost cling with the heart to God, thou canst throw away thy gold, or lose it without concern; the Almighty still remains thy perennial treasure; whereas, on the contrary, without Him the most laborious cares and watchings avail nothing.

Job 22:27. V. Gerlach: The paying of the vows, which is elsewhere presented more as a duty, appears here as a promise: God will ever grant thee so much, that thou shalt be able to fulfill all thy vows!

Job 22:30. Jo. Lange: The intercession of a righteous man is so potent with God, that on account of it He spares even evil-doers, and visits them not with punishment (Gen 18:23 seq.; Eze 14:14 seq.).

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

In this Chapter Eliphaz brings a new charge against Job, which is the third he brought against him. He perverts Job’s reasoning, it should seem, to a very different meaning to what he intended, in delivering his sentiments in the preceding chapter. Eliphaz very severely reproves the Man of Uz in, this: though, towards the conclusion, he gives some sweet counsel.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

(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?

Nothing can be more true than this; though, in respect to Job, it is most falsely applied. How can man be profitable to GOD? is a question which never can be sounded too often, nor too loudly, through the chambers of every self-righteous man’s heart. Indeed it is astonishing that any man’s heart should, amidst all other deceptions, fall under this. The glories of GOD in creation, the glories of GOD in redemption; the salvation of innumerable souls by the wonderful process of grace and love in GOD’S dear Son: all these manifest GOD’S graciousness, and goodness, and abundant mercy: but what profit is brought to my GOD in the salvation of such a sinner as I am? Oh! precious JESUS! give me grace rightly to value thine, and thy Father’s everlasting love in lying low in the dust before thee, and being content to be nothing; for indeed, and in truth, I am worse than nothing! ruined, lost and undone, in myself, and so should remain to all eternity, were it not that in thy righteousness I am made righteous, and in thy complete salvation now and forever accepted. Yes! blessed LORD! thou art indeed my all; for thou art made of GOD to me, wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, that all my glorying may be in thee, O Lord. 1Co 1:30 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Job 22:5 f

‘There was no shadow of truth in the accusation,’ Mark Rutherford observes. ‘But what a world that must have been when the Church’s anathemas were reserved for him who exacted pledges from his brother, who neglected the famishing, and who paid undue respect to the great!’

We require higher tasks because we do not recognize the height of those we have. Trying to be kind and honest seems an affair too simple and too inconsequential for gentlemen of our heroic mould; we had rather set ourselves to something bold, arduous and conclusive; we had rather found a schism or suppress a heresy, cut off a hand or mortify an appetite.

R. L. Stevenson.

Job 22:12

The last word of each of the three parts of the Divina Commedia is ‘stelle’ (stars). To the stars Dante always returned; and they must indeed be the last word of any utterance, be it in glorious verse or humble prose, that is concerned with the mystery of man’s relation to the infinite. This it is that, to the thinking mind, lends life at once its zest and its dignity. This it is that reduces to an infinitesimal pettiness all our cupidities, our vanities, our egoisms. From Let Youth but Know, p. 207.

Reference. XXII. 15-17. Spurgeon, Sermons , vol. xv. No. 859.

Job 22:17-18

It requires greater virtues to support good fortune than bad.

La Rochefoucauld.

Reference. XXII. 21. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture Job, p. 49.

Job 22:21

I think we lose much from beginning our religion at the wrong end, concerning ourselves first and principally, with the idea of what we are or ought to be to God, without sufficiently considering the converse; what He is to us. Acquaint thyself, said one of old, with God, and be at peace.

Dora Greenwell.

To win true peace, a man needs to feel himself directed, pardoned, and sustained, by a supreme power, to feel himself in the right road, at the point where God would have him be in order with God and the universe. This faith gives strength and calm. I have not got it. All that is, seems to me arbitrary and fortuitous. It may as well not be, as be. Nothing in my own circumstances seems to me providential.

Amiel.

‘Horace,’ says Mr. Walter Bagehot in his study of Branger, ‘is but the extreme and perfect type of a whole class of writers, some of whom exist in every literary age, and who give an expression to what we may call the poetry of equanimity, that is, the world’s view of itself; its self-satisfaction, its conviction that you must bear what comes, not hope for much, think some evil, never be excited, admire little, and then you will be at peace.’

When the Bible says, ‘acquaint thyself with God, and be at peace,’ it means to say that there is something in God which necessarily gives peace to everyone that knows it. If a soul is not at peace, the only reason is because it does not know God…. Since God does love us and has forgiven us, we need not do anything to change God’s feelings, and all that is necessary for our peace and confidence is to know what the actual state of God’s feelings are towards us, and this is salvation by faith, c’est–dire , salvation by knowing our real circumstances.

Erskine of Linlathen to Madame de Stal (in 1829).

The Treasure of Heaven

Job 22:25

The Almighty shall be thy treasure, or thy gold, as it is in the marginal reading. That, then, is the treasure of heaven. The thirst for gold in the human race is a strong and impelling one. There is no question as to the ardent desire for this precious metal. Is it hurtful in its effects as it is potent in its attraction?

I. It is interesting to find that the first reference to gold in the Bible is of a kind that commends it. ‘The gold of that land is good,’ we read in the second chapter of Genesis. You will find also that gold in itself is never spoken of in the Bible as bad. It is the love of money, not money itself, that is the root of all evil. Do not, then, let us run down gold in itself; we know the value of it in connexion with human affairs. Here is a poor sufferer languishing upon a bed of sickness. There is hope of recovery if only nourishing food could be obtained. Is it filthy lucre when some one comes to the help of the sufferer with means of procuring the prescribed necessities? Nay, the gold is good.

II. All the same it is only to a certain extent that gold can be a help. No one knows better than a millionaire how little, after all, money can do in the way of bringing true happiness. It is that that Marie Corelli deals with in her work The Treasure of Heaven. It is a rather improbable story, but the object of it is plain enough. The writer wishes to bring out the power of love, and the need of the human heart for love, as the one thing of true value in life’s pilgrimage. In general we cannot go among our fellows and look too searchingly for a disinterested love on their part. Human kindness would be paralysed if we were to examine too minutely into the spirit in which helpful deeds are either given or received.

III. But there is one great spring of love in the world’s story that accounts for untold kindness in the affairs of men. Your eyes must be dim if you cannot see what the love of Christ has done and is doing among men, and your powers of imagination must be very weak if they cannot realize to some extent how bare and grey the world would be but for the sunshine of that love that is shed abroad in many hearts. Apart from that, there is very little truly disinterested love among men. Some humorist has said, that after all, there is a great deal of human nature in man. And one might add on the other side, that after all, there is very little humanity in man. What is there in the savage or the leper, in the criminal, in the morally degraded, that, so far as they themselves are concerned, would command the loving ministrations of others? It may be said that the sentiment of pity should be sufficient, but as the case stands it is a higher force than that that proves to be the impelling power, a force dauntless in the face of perils, and that never leads to despair. Consider all that is done in the way of disinterested love in the world at the present moment, and you must admit that the love of Christ is the secret of most of it. For His sake is the inspiring motive.

An Outline of the Devout Life

Job 22:26-29

I. I note first that life may be full of delight and confidence in God. Now when we ‘delight’ in a thing, or a person, we recognize that that thing, or person, fits into a cleft in our hearts, and corresponds to some need in our natures. And so these things, the recognition of the supreme sweetness and all perfect adaptation and sufficiency of God to all that I need these things are the very heart of a man’s religion. There is no religion worth naming of which the inmost characteristic is not delight in God.

II. So secondly, note, such a life of delighting in God will be blessed by the frankest intercourse with Him. That is to say, if a man really has set his heart on God, and knows that in Him is all that he needs, then of course he will tell Him everything. A true love to God makes it the most natural thing in the world to put all our circumstances, wants, and feelings into the shape of prayers. All life may become a thankoffering to God. First a prayer, then the answer, then the rendered thankoffering, thus in swift alternation and reciprocity is carried on the commerce between heaven and earth, between man and God.

III. Then, thirdly, such a life will neither know failure nor darkness. To serve Him and to fall into the line of His purpose, and to determine nothing, nor obstinately want anything until we are sure that it is His will that is the secret of never failing in what we undertake. To the measure of our love for Him are our discernment and realization of what is truly good.

IV. Lastly, such a life will be always hopeful, and finally crowned with deliverance. The devout life is largely independent of circumstances, and is upheld and calmed by a quiet certainty that the general trend of its path is upward, which enables it to trudge hopefully down an occasional dip in the road. It is the privilege of Christian experience to make hope certainty. And the end will vindicate such confidence. For the issue of all will be ‘He will save the humble person’; namely, the man who is of the character described and who is ‘lowly of eyes’ in conscious unworthiness, even while he lifts up his face to God in confidence in his Father’s love.

Alexander Maclaren, The God of the Amen, p. 118.

References. XXII. 26. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi. No. 1839.

Job 22:27

Commenting on Numa’s injunction to the Romans to sit after they had offered prayers to the gods, Plutarch observes that ‘this act of sitting after prayer was said to indicate that such as were good people would obtain a solid and lasting fulfilment of their petitions.

Reference. XXII. 29. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii. No. 731.

Job 22:30

I cannot contentedly frame a prayer for myself in particular, without a catalogue for my friends…; and if God hath vouchsafed an ear to my supplications, there are surely many happy that never saw me, and enjoy the blessing of mine unknown devotion.

Sir Thomas Browne, Religio Medici (pt. ii.).

References. XXIII. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxviii. No. 2272. Ibid. vol. xliii. No. 2546. Ibid. vol. xlvii. No. 2732.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

The Last Speech of Eliphaz

Job 22

There are two interpretations of Scripture. One is the critical and literal, dealing searchingly and usefully with the grammar of the text, seeking to know exactly what each speaker and each writer meant at the very time of his utterance and at the very time of his authorship. That must always be a work of high utility. We cannot, indeed, proceed legitimately until we have settled the grammar of the text. But we should not rest there. There is a second interpretation, which we may call the larger. That interpretation brings up the word to our own time, sets it in direct: reference to our own thought and action not by any violent process, but by a legitimate development. The question which the wise reader will put to himself in perusing the Bible is to this effect: What would these inspired men say were they living now, were they addressing me as they addressed their interlocutors and general contemporaries? This is not forcing meanings into their words; this is not an unnatural and perverting exaggeration of terms: this is what we have described as a legitimate development of the thought and purpose of the men. What Eliphaz said to Job was of the greatest possible consequence to the patriarch, and is of the greatest possible consequence to all ages. But is it not open to us to discover from what Eliphaz has said what he would say under modern circumstances and under our own immediate conditions? Is there not an enlarging faculty, a peculiar power of the mind which attests the operation of the Holy Ghost, by which we can definitely say what the Bible writers would have written now? If we have such faculty, if we enjoy such immediate ministry of God the Holy Spirit, we shall be able to verify it by inquiring how far what we now say, either in reasoning or exhortation, coincides with what is written in the book of inspiration. There must be no difference of quality; there must be no contradiction in moral tone or purpose; conscience must not be disturbed by this larger translation, this widening and brightening of things said long ago the root and the branch are really one; we must not graft anything upon the old trunk, the tree of the Lord’s right-hand planting, but we must watch its natural, legitimate, and purposed developments; and thus we shall have an ever-enlarging Bible, a book old as the ink with which it was first written, yet new as this morning’s dew, as this day’s holy dawn. This is what the Bible is, old and new; coming up from eternity, yet condescending upon every day of time, and leaving behind light and blessing. Never be satisfied, therefore, with the mere interpretation of the scribe. He lives in the letter. He would seem almost to pay homage to the ink. Up to a given point he may be right; but there is a point beyond the large interpretation, the moral meaning, the persistence of thought, by which thought urges its way through all coming days, events, circumstances; proclaims the old commandments, and the old beatitudes, with new force, new sympathy, new considerateness. This is why we go back to the old speakers and old writers. We are not mere superstitious devotees. It is because the present coincides with the past, and the past dignifies the present, and because we perceive that God’s providence is an organic whole, a grand beneficent scheme, that we revert to the olden time, and come up to the immediate day, feeling how true it is that God’s thought is one, God’s love is unchanging, God’s mercy endureth for ever. Under the light of this canon, see how Eliphaz the Temanite sits down beside us today, and with what gravity he talks, with what pungent questions he pierces us, with what solemn appeals he challenges our attention. Have no faith in those easy and superficial critics who tell you to attend to the present time and think nothing of Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar, because they lived long ago. They did not in any sense which has rendered them obsolete. There is nothing new that is true; there is nothing true that is new. The Lamb slain for sin was historically crucified on Calvary: but morally, redeemingly, divinely, he died before the foundation of the world. We lose our dignity when we live within the present sunrise and sunset, when we sever the present day from the fountains of history. Eliphaz will come to us, and like a seer will be quiet, like a prophet of the Lord he will burn, like an apostle who grasps the genius and the end of the present time he will flame, and appeal, and exhort, with heavenly eloquence. Let us hear him.

How he rebukes the supposed patronage which men would offer the living God!

“Can a man be profitable unto God?… Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?” ( Job 22:2-3 ).

The legitimate interpretation of these words, their fair and honest enlargement, leads us to say: no man can confer patronage upon God, upon the altar, upon the cross, upon the church, upon the truth. We get all; we can give but little or nothing so little, that giving it we do not know we are worthy of any honour. It is a matter of fact that some men do suppose they add something to God’s greatness by according to him their patronage! They would not say so in words. Men are sometimes afraid of their own voices. Not on any account would they say so in so many sentences or phrases; but is there not working in the human heart that marvellous webwork of mystery some remote subtle thought that by going to church we confer some favour, not only upon the Church, but upon God himself? How curious in its working is the human heart! Some men seem to live to confer respectability upon whatever they touch. The Church is partly to blame for this. The Church is far too eager to put away the common people and bid them be quiet, in order that some uncommon man may come in and take his velvet-cushioned seat in God’s temple. There are some who say that if such and such arguments be true, or such and such men have taken a right view, they will give up religion altogether. What a threat! How it makes the sun tremble, and sends a pain to the earth’s very heart! A man who can give up religion has no religion to give up. What! Is religion something to be held in the hand, and laid down at will and pleasure? Is it a garment that is worn, and of which the body can be dispossessed? That is not the indwelling Spirit of God, the ever-living, ever-glowing soul of goodness. Herein is true what has often been misunderstood by the expression of “the perseverance of the saints”: they must be saints to persevere; if they do not persevere they are not saints. A man can no more give up religion than he can give up breathing; that is to say, when he gives up breathing he commits suicide. Religion is not a set of phrases, something in book form, a mystery that can be written down and cancelled by the hand that wrote it; it is the soul’s life, the heart’s sympathy with God, identity with Christ: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” Who can separate the two? They are not two they are one. When a man threatens to give up his religion, O Church of the living God, quiet thyself! say, as a great philosopher said to a too-excited man, “Why so hot, my little sir?” Really, no intolerable catastrophe will have occurred if such men observe the emphasis upon the word such should perpetrate the impossibility of giving up what they never possessed! There are others again who threaten the State in the same way. Truly we live in. very anxious and solemn times. Some men threaten to abandon the service of the State if such and such a policy is pursued. The State will still go on! There are those who say, If this be done and said, we shall give up public life. By all means give it up; the threat does not make us much afraid. A man can no more give up patriotism than he can give up religion, regard being had to quality and degree. Patriotism is part of the man; it is mixed, so to say, with his very blood; he drew it in with his mother’s milk; if he can give it up, he ought never to have avowed it.

To this solemn issue must we come that men must recognise that religion is greater than they are, patriotism is greater than they are, and neither Church nor country ought to be under such obligation to any man as to be unable to do without him. We are honoured by the Church; but honour, how little we can give! We are honoured by living in the country; if we can give any little honour in return, God be praised! There are also some men who occasionally threaten to give up the ministry. Would God they would! If a man can ever threaten to leave the ministry, let him go! It is recorded that in an early Wesleyan Conference Mr. Charles Wesley said that if such and such things were done he would leave the Conference. His elder and greater brother said, “Will some brother be kind enough to give him his hat?” That is not the way to treat great organisations, and sublime policies, and holy altars. What! a man leave the ministry, except through old age, failure of faculty, exhaustion of power? He cannot, if ever he gave himself to it at the cross, under the baptism of blood. We are not called to this ministry by men, nor by men can we be dismissed from it. If we be true ministers, we are the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, and from him only can we obtain our release. That a man may throw himself out of it by giving Christ the treacherous kiss, by selling his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, that a man may thrust himself out of it thus by unfaithfulness and unworthiness, is the very tragic point of spiritual history: but so long as the man is brokenhearted, penitent, contrite, loving, his whole soul set in the direction of heaven’s beckoning hand, he will never think of giving up the ministry; when he dies it will be but to exchange the helmet for the crown. Let us live in the spirit of humility, true, genuine spiritual modesty, knowing that all the advantage of religion is upon our side, and that it is not in our power to add to God’s dignity.

Whilst all this may be readily acknowledged, perhaps our consent may be more reluctant to the next point. Were Eliphaz amongst us today he would be what is termed a personal preacher. That preacher is never popular. If a minister would be “popular” whatever the meaning of that word may be he must preach to the absentees; smite the Agnostics, hip and thigh; pour lava upon the Mormons who are thousand miles away: but he must not speak to the man in the nearest pew. Eliphaz comes amongst us like a fire. He is skilful in the cruel art of cross-examination. To Job he said,

“Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?” ( Job 22:5 ).

The man who could preach so would not vary his method on account of circumstances. He addressed Job personally. The preacher who speaks to thousands of men must bring himself to feel that after all he is only addressing one man. There is only one man, if we could see things in their reality; multitudinous are the details: but address the one man, aim at the one target. The more we become filled with the spirit of preaching, the less shall we care about the mere numbers who listen to us; we do not reject them, or undervalue them, but the more will the value of the one man rise, so that a little child shall be a congregation, one listener worthy of all the resources of learning and eloquence we may be able to control. The young preacher is afraid of the wet day, because he has written a most elaborate discourse which he intended the whole congregation to hear and to admire. He will outgrow that. Be patient with him now. Efflorescence in youth is natural and seasonable. By-and-by he will not know whether it is raining, or shining, or thundering: the whole truth will be in him, and must be uttered to any soul that may be present to hear it.

Eliphaz accuses Job specifically. He says,

“For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for bought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry” ( Job 22:6-7 ).

Do not run off with the devil’s suggestion that these are Oriental terms; they are modern words. The colouring may be eastern, but the genius of the accusation is eastern and western, northern and southern, wide as the world, detailed as the varieties of the human species. Is it possible that men may say, What is the meaning of taking a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripping the naked of their clothing? What is the meaning of not giving water to the weary to drink? Is it possible to grammarise these words, vivisect them, to understand their Oriental allusion, and to escape their immediate and mortal application to ourselves? We have not done this in the letter, yet every day we may be doing it in the spirit. Do we crush the poor? Do we make the poor man feel that his poverty is a crime? Do we snub him and humiliate him because he is poor? whereas we should crouch before the same man were he a millionaire, the same man, without more mental capacity, literary resource, spiritual refinement! It is not enough to find out just what Eliphaz meant in these lines: what he meant in the spirit is what we ought to be in quest of. Have we contemned the weak? Have we turned our poor brother into an occasion of jibing and sneering? Have we been deaf to entreaty? Have we pleaded excess of business, extremity of position, dignity of office, so that we might turn away from him who had a prayer to breathe to our benevolence and clemency? Away with all merely literal orthodoxy, if it be not supported by the broader orthodoxy of love, sympathy, and sacrifice. Eliphaz would not hesitate to remind us of broken vows; he would give us day and date; he would remind us that we told God that if he would save us in a given extremity we would serve Him evermore; and Eliphaz would lay his hand upon us, and look at us as fire only can look, and ask us whether we have redeemed the vow. This is the only preaching worthy of any attention, namely, preaching that goes to the immediate case, the real, actual, concrete experience of the hearer. Nor will it always come with judgment and accusation; it will often come as the rain, as the dew, as a still small voice. We do injustice to God if we suppose that by personal preaching is always and only meant accusatory preaching There is consolatory personal preaching. There are brave men who are fighting hard battles at home, in the marketplace, in their own hearts, in the Church, in the State; and he is the preacher sent of God who will recognise the existence and necessity of such men, and will make them strong by brotherly prayer, and by brotherly sympathy and exhortation. The preacher can never be wrong in speaking to broken hearts. There may be only a few learned men or critics in his congregation, but there are many blighted lives, broken hearts, wounded spirits, men lost in thick fogs, mental and spiritual; souls tormented of the devil by unnamable temptations. Therefore in our personal preaching we must not always play the part of impeachment, but must remember the part of consolation and sympathy, sweet advice and generous comfort; then they that are ready to perish will bless us, and souls that came into the sanctuary weary and overborne, will return to their work nerved, and strengthened, and blessed.

Eliphaz, then, were he amongst us, would avail himself of history in support of the exhortation:

“Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them?”( Job 22:15-17 ).

That also is practical preaching. Eliphaz claims all history as his book of anecdotes. Why invent stories, when the whole experience of mankind goes to show that wickedness never comes to a good end, and that the way of transgressors is hard? Let us keep to history, and then we cannot be dislodged from our position. Stand by the realities of life not as seen within any given five minutes, but as spreading themselves through the length and breadth of history and we shall find written upon all the pages of the past the fact that God is against the wicked man, the stars in their courses fight against wickedness, and that only judgment and fiery indignation can be the portion of those who violate the spirit of obedience and defy the spirit of law. Blessed be God, we need not trust to our invention in the discharge of this solemn ministry: all facts are ours, all history is our book of evidences; we do not bandy opinions with men equally able or still more skilful than we are; if they have discovered laws, so have Christian thinkers, and one of those laws is that God punishes iniquity with everlasting punishment, if the man guilty of it do not repent and seek the sanctuary of the cross. If any man had said so only yesterday, we should have said, Let time try him. It is not yesterday, as the last day gone, that speaks to us, but all time’s yesterdays, the thousands multiplied by thousands and millions, they all stand, as it were, upon the horizon, and say, Preacher, speak up, fear not; tell the wicked man that all God’s omnipotence is against him, and he must perish in the tremendous conflict. And is there not another side also to this? Has history nothing to say about the good, the true, the pure, the wise? Is not God a sun and a shield? Will he withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly? Has he not promised them an exceeding great reward? And yet has he not wrought in them a miracle of grace that without thinking of the reward they would die for the cross of his Son? This is our mission. If we cannot preach as Eliphaz preached, we ought to vacate the pulpit, and leave stronger men to occupy it. We want no new inventions, no curiously coloured hypotheses; we want the old revelation spoken with the modern accent eternal truth offered to men in language they can understand the awful affection of God for the human race, represented in the cross of Christ, preached as a sweet gospel, always ending with a loving invitation, such as, “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest;” “If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.” Speak these words; the men may not be thirsting now, but when the fire burns them, memory will be awakened, they will say, Where heard we words about water that could quench this thirst? and when they ask the question, your opportunity will have come.

Note

The law of Moses did not contemplate any raising of loans for the purpose of obtaining capital, a condition perhaps alluded to in the parables of the “pearl” and “hidden treasure” ( Mat 13:44-45 ). Such persons as bankers and sureties, in the commercial sense (Pro 22:26 , Neh 5:3 ), were unknown to the earlier ages of the Hebrew commonwealth. The Law strictly forbade any interest to be taken for a loan to any poor person, either in the shape of money or of produce, and at first, as it seems, even in the case of a foreigner; but this prohibition was afterwards limited to Hebrews only, from whom, of whatever rank, not only was no usury on any pretence to be exacted, but relief to the poor by way of loan was enjoined, and excuses for evading this duty were forbidden (Exo 22:25 ; Lev 25:35 , Lev 25:37 ; Deu 15:3 , Deu 15:7-10 , Deu 23:19-20 ). The instances of extortionate conduct mentioned with disapprobation in the Book of Job probably represent a state of things previous to the Law, and such as the Law was intended to remedy (Job 22:6 , Job 24:3 , Job 24:7 ). As commerce increased, the practice of usury, and so also of suretiship, grew up; but the exaction of it from a Hebrew appears to have been regarded to a late period as discreditable (Pro 6:1 , Pro 6:4 , Pro 11:15 , Pro 17:18 , Pro 20:16 , Pro 22:26 ; Psa 15:5 , Psa 27:13 ; Jer 15:10 ; Eze 18:13 , Eze 22:12 ). Systematic breach of the law in this respect was corrected by Nehemiah after the return from captivity. In later times the practice of borrowing money appears to have prevailed without limitation of race, and to have been carried on on systematic principles, though the original spirit of the Law was approved by our Lord (Mat 5:42 , Mat 25:27 ; Luk 6:35 , Luk 19:23 ). The money-changers ( , and ), who had seats and tables in the Temple, were traders whose profits arose chiefly from the exchange of money with those who came to pay their annual half-shekel ( Mat 21:12 ). The documents relating to loans of money appear to have been deposited in public offices in Jerusalem. Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

(See the Job Book Comments for Introductory content and general conclusions and observations).

VII

THE THIRD ROUND OF SPEECHES

Job 22-26.

Eliphaz’s third speech consists of three parts: Job 22:1-4 ; Job 22:5-20 ; Job 22:21-30 .

The subject of part one (Job 22:1-4 ) is: God’s dealings with men not for selfish interests, And the main points are:

1. A man who is wise may be profitable to himself, but not to God.

2. Man’s happiness cannot add to God’s happiness, because that resides in himself.

3. Man’s piety does not provoke affliction from God, for he does not fear man nor is he jealous of man. The subject of part two (Job 22:5-20 ) and the status of the case in general, are expressed thus:

Your wickedness is the cause of your suffering. For the first time Eliphaz now leaves insinuations, intimations, and generalities, and, in response to Job’s repeated challenge comes to specifications, which he cannot know to be true and cannot’ prove. This is the difficult part of all prosecutions, viz: to specify and to prove) as the Latin proverb expresses it: Hie labor, hoc opus est. The breakdown of Eliphaz on this point prepares the way for Job’s speedy triumph. Bildad dares not follow on the same line; all the wind is taken out of his sails; he relapses into vague generalities and with lame brevity repeats himself. Zophar who has the closing speech of the prosecution, is so completely whipped, that he makes no rejoinder. It is a tame windup of a great discussion, confessing advertising defeat.

The specifications of Eliphaz’s charges against Job are:

l. Thou hast taken pledges of thy brother for nought (Job 22:6 a). (For the heinousness of this offense see later legislation, viz: Exo 22:26 ; Deu 24:6 ; Deu 24:17 ; and the reference in Eze 18:16 .)

2. Thou hast stripped the naked of their clothing (Job 22:6 b).

3. Thou hast withheld water and bread from the famishing, and all this when thou hadst the earth and wast honorable in it (Job 22:7-8 ).

4. Thou hast refused the pleadings of necessitous widows and robbed helpless orphans [See Job’s final pathetic and eloquent reply in Job 31 , where he sums up the case and closes the defense], therefore snares, fear, and darkness have come upon thee like a flood of waters (Job 22:9-11 ).

5. These were presumptuous and blasphemous sins because you argued that God could not see you, denying his omniscience (Job 22:12-14 ).

6. You have imitated the antediluvians who, ungrateful for divine mercies, bade God depart and denied his power and who therefore were swallowed up by the flood becoming an object lesson to future ages and a joy to the righteous (Job 22:15-20 ). (Cf. 2Pe 2:4-15 and Jud 1:6-16 .)

The passage, Job 22:21-30 , consists of an exhortation and a promise. The items of the exhortation, and the implication of each are as follows:

1. Acquaint thyself with God (Job 22:21 ), which implies Job’s ignorance of him.

2. Accept his law and treasure it up in thy heart (Job 22:22 ), which implies Job’s enmity against God.

3. Repent and reform (Job 22:23 ), which implies wickedness in Job.

4. Cease worshiping gold and let God be the object of thy worship (Job 22:24 ), implying that he was covetous.

The items of the promise are:

1. God, not gold, shall be thy treasure and delight and his worship thy joy (Job 22:25-26 ).

2. Thy prayers will be heard and thy vows accepted (Job 22:27 ).

3. Thy purposes will be accomplished and thy way illumined (Job 22:28 ).

4. Thou shall hope for uplifting when cast down and thy humility will secure divine interposition (Job 22:29 ).

5. Thou shall even deliver guilty men through thy righteousness (Job 22:30 ). [Cf. Gen 18:25-32 ; ten righteous men would have saved Sodom; but compare Eze 14:14 ; Eze 14:20 and Jer 15:1 ; see also Job’s reply in Job 31 .] The items of Job’s reply as it applies to his particular case (Job 23:1-24:12 ) are:

1. Even yet my complaint is accounted rebellion by men though my hand represses my groaning (Job 23:2 ).

2. “Oh that I could now get the case before God himself he would deliver me forever, but I cannot find him, though he finds me” (Job 3:10 a).

3. When he has fully tried me, as gold is tested by fire, I shall be vindicated, for my life has been righteous (Job 23:10-12 ). [This is nearly up to Rom 8:28 ,]

4. But his mind, in continuing my present trouble though I am innocent, is immutable by prayers and his purpose to accomplish in me what he desires is inflexible (Job 23:13-14 ).

5. This terrifies me, because I am in the dark and unheard (Job 23:15-17 ).

6. Why are there not judgment days in time, so that those that know him may meet him? (Job 24:1 ).

7. Especially when there are wicked people who do all the things with which I am falsely charged, whom he regards not

The items of broad generalization in this reply are as follows Here Job passes from his particular case to a broad generalization of providential dealings and finds the same inexplicable problems]:

1. There are men who remove land marks, i.e., land stealers (Job 24:2 ). (Cf. Deu 19:14 ; Deu 27:17 ; and Hos 5:10 ; also Henry George vs. Land Ownership in severally and limitations of severally ownership when it becomes a monopoly), so that it shuts out the people from having a home. (See Isa 5:8 .)

2. There are those who openly rob the widow and orphan and turn the poor away so that they have to herd as wild asses and live on the gleanings from nature (Job 24:3-8 ).

3. There are those who pluck the fatherless from the mother’s breast for slaves and exact the clothing of the poor for a pledge, so that though laboring in the harvest they are hungry, and though treading the wine press they are thirsty (Job 24:9-11 ).

4. In the city men groan, the wounded cry out in vain for help and God regardeth not the folly (Job 24:12 ).

5. These are rebels against light, yet it is true that certain classes are punished: (1) the murderer; (2) the thief; (3) the adulterer (Job 24:13-17 ).

6. The grave gets all of them, though God spares the mighty for a while and if it is not so, let some one prove me a liar and my speech worth nothing (Job 24:18-25 ).

In Bildad’s reply to Job (Job 25 ) he ignores Job’s facts; repeats a platitude, How should man, impure and feeble, born of a woman, a mere worm, be clean before the Almighty in whose sight the moon and stars fade?

Job’s reply to Bildad is found in Job 26:1-4 , thus:

1. Thou hast neither helped nor saved the weak.

2. Thou hast not counseled them that have no wisdom.

3. Thou hast not even done justice to what is known.

4. To whom have you spoken, and who inspired you?

Job excels Bildad in speaking of God’s power (Job 26:5-14 ), the items of which are:

1. The dead tremble beneath the waters and the inhabitants thereof before him.

2. Hell and destruction are naked to his sight. [Cf. “Lord of the Dead,” Mat 22:32 and other like passages.]

3. The northern sky is over space and the suspended earth hangeth on nothing.

4. The clouds hold water and are not rent by it; his own throne is hidden by the cloud spread upon it.

5. A boundary is fixed to the waters and a horizon to man’s vision, even unto the confines of darkness.

6. The mountains shake and the pillars tremble, yet he quells the raging storm.

7. These are but the outskirts and whispers of his ways and we understand his whisper better than we understand his thunder.

Two things are worthy of note here, viz:

1. Job was a martyr, vicarious, he suffered for others.

2. Job’s sufferings were a forecast of the suffering Messiah as Abraham was of the suffering Father. So far, we have found:

1. That good men often suffer strange calamities while evil men often prosper.

2. That the sufferings of the righteous come from intelligence, power, and malice, and so, too, the prosperity of the wicked comes from supernatural power as well.

3. That man cannot solve the problem without a revelation, and the suffering good man needs a daysman, and an advocate.

4. That before one can comprehend God, God must become a man, or be incarnated.

5. That there must be a future, since even and exact Justice is not meted out here.

6. That there is a final judgment, at which all will be rewarded for what they do.

7. That there must be a resurrection and there must be a kinsman redeemer.

Many things were not understood at that time, such as the following:

1. That Satan’s power was only permitted, he being under the absolute control of God.

2. That suffering was often disciplinary and, as such, was compensated.

3. That therefore the children of God should glory in them, as in the New Testament light of revelation Paul understood all this and gloried in his tribulation.

4. That the wicked were allowed rope for free development and that they were spared for repentance. Peter in the New Testament gives us this light.

5. That there is a future retribution; that there are a heaven and a hell.

6. That this world is the Devil’s sphere of operation as it relates to God’s people.

QUESTIONS

1. Of what does Eliphaz’s third speech consist?

2. What the subject of part one (Job 22:1-4 ) and its main points?

3. What the subject of part two (Job 22:5-20 ) & in general, what the status of case?

4. What the specifications of Eliphaz’s charge against Job?

5. Of what does Job 22:21-30 consist?

6. What the items of the exhortation, and what the implication of each?

7. What the items of the promise?

8. What the items of Job’s reply as it applies to his particular case (Job 23:1-17 )?

9. What the items of broad generalization in this reply?

10. What was Bildad’s reply to Job (Job 25 )?

11. What Job’s reply to Bildad?

12. In what does Job excel Bildad (Job 26:5-14 ) and what the items?

13. What two things are worthy of note here?

14. So far, what have we found?

15. What was not understood at that time?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Job 22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,

Ver. 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said ] Abruptly, without any preface, he sets upon Job (as doth likewise Bildad, Job 25:1-6 ), acting the part of a spiteful caviller rather than of an ingenuous accuser; reckoning and ranking just Job among the wicked, not covertly, as before, but overtly and expressly; and then thinking to salve all by an exhortation to repentance, backed with a fair promise of a full restoration. Pulcherrima parsenesis, sed quid ad Iobum? saith Brentius, A very good exhortation, but ill applied. We shall do well to take notice what a dangerous thing it is to give way to unruly passions, which, like heavy bodies down steep hills, once in motion, move themselves, and know no ground but the bottom.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Job Chapter 22

Well now, we begin again with Eliphaz (Job 22 ). Eliphaz takes it up, and he says, “Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself?” Yes, Eliphaz, but cannot a man please God? It is not for profit that a pious man submits to God, and obeys the word of God, but it is to please Him, and why? Because he loves Him. That is not working for profit. That is a way in which a Jew did afterwards. “Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous?” Yes, it was. He was quite wrong about it. God was pleased with Job – that very man that they were so insidious against, and against whom they insinuated all kinds of evil. God pointed out, as you remember, at the beginning of the Book, that there was not a man on earth that was all round like His servant Job, and yet there was something there that God meant to bring out, of which Job had no idea, i.e., that he never recognized that it was wrong. “Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? Will he enter with thee into judgment? Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought” – now come all his evil surmisings once more – “and stripped the naked of their clothing. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink.”

Eliphaz is just imagining what he thinks Job must have done to account for the troubles that he was passing through. “But as for the mighty man, he had the earth” – Job was the mighty man – “and the honourable man dwelt in it. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. Therefore snares are round about thee.” You see all the reasoning is quite mistaken. “And sudden fear troubleth thee; or darkness, that thou canst not see; and the abundance of waters cover thee. Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! And thou sayest, How doth God know?” That was not what Job said at all, but quite the reverse. “Can he judge through the dark cloud?” Well, undoubtedly he was not a scoffer. Nothing of the sort. He was a pious, narrow-minded man; and there are plenty of such individuals. “Yet he filled their houses,” etc. (vers. 1-20). There was a little bit of tenderness in his heart toward Job. “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth.” Eliphaz certainly was nothing like Zophar, nor even Bildad. “And lay up his words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up.” And so it was. Little did he know that that return was about to be made manifest, to their shame. “Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and light shall shine upon thy ways” (vers. 21-28). And so it did, in the most marvellous way, and much sooner than Eliphaz expected. “When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. He shall deliver -“

There is a very old mistake in this verse (30); that word “island” is all wrong. The same word in Hebrew means “island” and also “not” To give you an instance – take “Ichabod,” there you get the “I” (ee) – used adverbially, meaning “not,” for “Ichabod” means “not glory,” or “inglorious” – “the glory is departed.” This was the name that the poor wife of Phinehas gave, in her dying moments, to the son that was born to her – “Not glory.” Well now, that is the word here; and if you translate it as a negative particle you get the true sense of it – “him that is not innocent.” “Island” only makes nonsense. Nobody could explain it as given in our A.V.; no person has ever done it nor approached it, and it is an astonishing thing that it remains. I believe it is all right in the Revised Version; but it is well worth knowing, because I daresay you have been puzzled to find where “the island of the innocent” came in. You know there is a proud little corner of Europe that calls itself “the Isle of Saints.” but the isle of the innocent is still more extraordinary. There has never been such a thing. Man lost his innocence, and has never recovered it. Man gains holiness by the faith of Christ, but no recovery of innocence; that could not be. “He shall deliver [him, or] those that are not innocent” – that is the point of it.

Yes, and God did that, and who were they? Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. They were the people who were “not guiltless”; they were guilty, they were “not innocent.” So that here are two words rather mauled in this version. The real force is, “He shall deliver those that are not guiltless,” and that was verified in the case of Job’s three friends, little as Eliphaz expected it. They were treated by God as being guilty towards their dear brother whom they had so misjudged, to whom they had imputed all kinds of hidden evil, and made him a hypocrite as well as a naughty man. And Eliphaz here unconsciously gives utterance to words that came true. We sometimes find that. Words said passingly by a Christian, who had no idea perhaps that they would ever be verified – and yet how often they have been – as I have known frequently, from very simple souls. Perhaps only some poor brother that could not write, or from a poor old sister that could do very little except mend stockings.

So here we find these words were true. God has a great deal more to do with any good words which are uttered than we at all realise. Eliphaz, although he was so wrong, was, nevertheless, allowed to say words which came true in a marvellous manner about Job himself. “He shall deliver him that is not innocent,” or “not guiltless” – that is the proper word – “and he shall be delivered by the pureness of thine hands.” This was what God compelled these three men to feel – that Job was more righteous than they; that his hands were cleaner than theirs. They had defiled their hands in setting upon Job so foully and so violently; and they owed it to Job that they were spared their lives.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

Eliphaz. See note on Job 2:11.

answered = spake. See note on Job 4:1.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 22

So Eliphaz takes up the argument now. And the same old story: he accuses Job of being wicked and he actually makes many bad accusations. He said,

Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable to himself? Is there any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? or is it any gain to him, that you make your ways perfect? Will he reprove thee for the fear of thee? or will he enter into thee with judgment? ( Job 22:2-4 )

In other words, “Job, do you think that you’re adding anything to God? Is it anything to God if you are good? If you justify yourself? It’s no gain to God.” But,

Is not thy wickedness great? and your iniquities infinite? For you have taken a pledge from the brother for nothing, you’ve stripped the naked of their clothing. You have not given water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honorable man dwelt in it. Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken ( Job 22:5-9 ).

So these are accusations now that he is making against Job. They’re not proved. He is assuming these things now, but there is absolutely no proof to them at all, and Job doesn’t answer them immediately, but in a couple of chapters Job will answer these accusations. When we get to chapter 29, he answers the accusations that are made against him, or chapter 30.

But it’s interesting how that hospitality was considered really a… well, not to be hospitable was actually a great wickedness. In other words, if you didn’t give a cup of water, if you didn’t give bread, if you didn’t seek to help the poor, the widows, the fatherless and all, then that was considered a great wickedness. I think that one of the tragic things about our culture today is that we are so much into ourselves that we really aren’t even aware of the needs of those around us. I have great difficulty with people who can spend lavish amounts of money for their own luxuries and their own pleasure but do not take any concern or any care for the poor. They think nothing at all of spending fabulous sums to adorn their own bodies, and yet, if someone comes up who is really destitute, they are annoyed. “Go away, go ask someone else.” It was considered a great wickedness in the time of the Bible, and I think that it is still a great wickedness. I do not believe that we can justify a luxurious lifestyle for ourselves when people are hurting, when people are hungry, when people are in great need. I think that we need to become more sensitive to the needs of others around us. There is a movement in England of what they are calling communal-type living. I do not agree with it, because I think that they are exerting too much pressure. But they are encouraging the people who have, say, a $15,000 car to sell it and to buy a $2,000 car and give the $13,000 to the poor. If you’re living in a $50,000 house and you only need a $20,000 house, sell your house and give the remainder to the poor. And it is quite a movement in England right now. John Stout is involved in this, or was at least a while back. I don’t know if they still are or not. But, as I say, I don’t necessarily agree with it, but yet, I do feel very strongly that if God has blessed us, it isn’t that we would use the financial blessings to heap up unto ourselves gold and silver while others are around us in real need, hungering and hurting.

James said, “Go to now, ye rich, weep and howl for the miseries that have come upon you. Because you have laid up your gold and silver for the last days, but it’s going to corrupt. It’s going to be rotten, and the laborer that you have defrauded is crying out for his pay and all” ( Jas 5:1-4 ). Jesus said, “How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven; easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle than a rich man” ( Mat 19:24 ). Why? Because they that are rich fall into different, many different temptations which damn men’s souls. If God has blessed us, it is that we might use those blessings of God to share with others that are in need. And if we close up our hearts, if we close up ourselves to the needy world around us, to the needy brothers and sisters in Christ while we are just spending foolishly for ourselves in luxuries that really are just nothing, then surely God will judge us.

They’re accusing Job of these kind of things. As far as they are concerned, they are horrible accusations declaring the wickedness of Job. And because you have done these things, he declares, verse Job 22:10 :

Snares are round about you, sudden fear troubles you; Darkness, that you cannot see; waters are covering you. Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! And you say, How does God know? how can he judge through the dark cloud? ( Job 22:10-13 )

He is now falsely accusing Job, he is saying, “Job, you’re saying how can God see you when it is a cloudy day?” You know, God’s up there in heaven, He can’t see through the clouds. Job didn’t say that, but this guy is just really laying one on Job. You say that,

Thick clouds are a covering, then he can’t see through them; and he walks in the circuit of heaven. Have you marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. The righteous see it, and are glad: the innocent laugh them to scorn. Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumes. [Now Job,] acquaint yourself with God, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto you. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart ( Job 22:14-22 ).

So his advice to Job is, “Just get right. Find God, Job. Just find God. And be at peace. Listen to His words. Follow Him.”

And then thou shalt lay up gold as the dust, of the gold of Ophir, as the stones of brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be your defense, and you will have plenty of silver. For then shall you have the delight in the Almighty, and you will lift up your face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear you, and you shall pay your vows ( Job 22:24-27 ). “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Job 22:1-3

Introduction

Job 22

THE THIRD SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ:

HIS FALSE CHARGES ACCUSING JOB OF SPECIFIC SINS

“The only thing new in this speech of Eliphaz was the list of specific sins he charged him with committing.” In this evil speech, “We have the most brutal, the most harsh, and the most unjust words spoken against Job in the whole book.” Satan’s malicious campaign against Job is about to fail, and this accounts for the increased savagery and injustice of his attacks through his instruments, the alleged friends of Job. Not for one moment can we agree with Blair that, “What Eliphaz said, in the main, was good.” How can a Christian writer refer to the malicious lies which Eliphaz uttered against Job’s character as `good,’ with no evidence or support whatever, except the prompting of his own evil imagination, – how can any of that be `good.’?

“It was one of the unhappinesses of Job, as is the case with many an honest man, to be misunderstood by his friends.” “The lamentable fact is that the friends endorsed Satan’s view of Job as a hypocrite. Thinking to defend God, they became Satan’s advocates, insisting that he (Job) whom God designated as his servant, actually belonged to the devil!”

“The second cycle of these dialogues had practically exhausted all the real arguments.”[6] And in the third cycle that begins here, only Eliphaz tried to clinch the discussion by his barrage of shameful sins with which he shamelessly charged Job. Bildad replied with what some have called “a short ode,” and Zophar apparently withdrew from the contest.

Job 22:1-3

THE IRRELEVANT PRELUDE TO ELIPHAZ’ SPEECH

“Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,

Can a man be profitable unto God?

Surely he that is wise is profitable unto himself.

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous?

Or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect?”

Rawlinson referred to these lines as “irrelevant”; but actually, there was a terribly wicked thrust in these words. “Eliphaz here thinks that it is for man’s sake alone that God created him,” and that God laid out the rules, which if a man follows them, he shall be happy and prosperous, and that if he does not follow them, illness, misfortune and destruction shall be his portion.

That view expressed here by Eliphaz completely ignores God’s love of mankind (Joh 3:16), the passionate desire of God Himself that man should love his Creator (Mar 12:30), and the joy in heaven over one sinner that repents (Luk 15:7). It is impossible to imagine a more evil proposition than the one Eliphaz advocated here.

E.M. Zerr:

Job 22:1-2. Eliphaz was the first speaker of the three “friends.” He is now about to make his third and last speech to Job. The position will not be changed, but he will repeat many of the assertions that have already been made. He asked if a man could be as profitable to God as to himself. Any one would answer it with a negative but that would not touch the question at hand.

Job 22:3. It is of no advantage to God to have a man live a righteous life. This is the teaching of Eliphaz and all people will agree with him, Job not excepted. That is, the Lord would not be personally benefited by the righteousness of man and it is not for that purpose; it is for the benefit of man’s soul.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Here begins the third cycle in the controversy, and again EIiphaz is the first speaker. His address consisted of two movements. First, he made a definite charge against Job (1-20); and, second, he made his final appeal to Job (21-30). He approached his charge by practically declaring, in a series of questions, first, that a man’s righteousness is no direct gain to God, and consequently that it is inconceivable that God punishes a man for his goodness. He then proceeded to declare the sins which, according to his philosophy, would naturally account for the suffering through which Job had passed. By adroit quotation of some of the things Job had said he attempted to account for the sins Job had committed.

Here Eliphaz made his great mistake. Without proof, save such as he was able to deduce from his own reasoning, he had charged Job with the most terrible crimes. Had his deductions been correct, the advice he now gave would indeed have been the highest and the best. What man needs in order himself to be blessed and to be made a blessing is the knowledge of God. This truth is declared, first, by the statement of human condition, and, consequently, by the declaration of the issues of fulfilment. The whole matter is first stated in the great words:

Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace; Thereby good shall come unto thee.

The method by which the conditions are to be fulfilled is described. The law is to be received. There is to be return by putting away unrighteousness. All human treasure is to be abandoned as worthless. Then the answering God is described. Instead of earthly riches, treasure will be possession of the Almighty. In Him there will be delight, and communion with Him; through Him there will come triumph, and the result will be ability to deliver others.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Acquaint Thyself with God

Job 22:1-30

Eliphaz opens the third cycle of the discussion with a speech altogether too hard and cruel. He begins with an enumeration of Jobs fancied misdeeds, Job 22:1-11. The fundamental position with Eliphaz was the absolute, even-handed justice of God. In contrast with the oriental magnate who is influenced by gifts, God at least was unimpeachable; and therefore, however Job might affirm the contrary, he must have deserved the chastisement which had befallen him.

Then follows his argument from the Deluge, Job 22:12-20. Evil men are always anxious to think that God does not notice them. This was, says Eliphaz, the policy of those who were destroyed by the Flood. They attempted to build society on atheistic lines, though he filled their houses with good things. The inference, of course, was that Job had been guilty of the same offense, Eliphaz concludes with a tender delineation of a holy life, Job 22:21-30. To be reconciled to God, to obey His Word, to put away iniquity and trust in earthly riches, are the conditions of blessedness. We shall gain more than we lose, Job 22:25. We shall inherit the confidence and joy of His presence, Job 22:26. Our prayers will be answered; we shall walk in the light; and our ministry to others will be full of helpfulness. Let us, then, acquaint ourselves with God and be at peace!

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Job 22:21

I. Consider of what sort our knowledge of God must be. It is a knowledge, not of comprehension, but of acquaintanceship. There are three stages to be observed in a man’s knowledge of God. (1) Certain true notions respecting the Divine Being and His character must be presupposed before we can approach Him with that personal approach which is the basis of acquaintanceship. (2) The man must not suffer sin to hold him back from moral intercourse with God, else his knowledge will be only a knowledge about God, not a knowing of God. To worship, to love, to obey, is the road to real acquaintanceship with Him. (3) Such a moral acquaintanceship with God ekes out even the imperfection of our intellectual notions regarding Him. Out into the darkness which bounds on every side our small illumined spot of knowledge, faith and love can venture hand in hand without alarm, sure that He whom they know will be no other in the dark where we cannot watch Him than He has been in the things we see.

II. Consider, by two or three instances, how God’s growing revelation of Himself to men has been followed by a corresponding increase of peace in their souls. (1) The fundamental truth, which it took nearly a thousand years to teach to the chosen nation of the old world, is the unity of God. Prepared in a corner of Syria through a millennium, this doctrine of the unity of God brought a beginning of peace to the world’s heart. (2) What may be called God’s absolute integrity, embracing, first, His truth or faithfulness; next, His justice; and third, His unchangeableness-this is the grand moral discovery of the Old Testament. On this, as on a rock, men’s souls can repose themselves. (3) Until God was pleased to make through Christ a further disclosure of Himself we could never be at peace. Through all pre-Christian religions, as in the religion of every man still who has not acquainted himself with the Gospel of Christ, there ran, and there runs, some unquiet effort to solve the problem of atonement. The idea which rules them all is that man has to work on God through some means or other so as to change repulsion or aversion into favour. This notion brings no peace. Expiation is God’s own act, dictated by His sole charity, wrought by His sole passion. Knowing Him in His Son, rest shall be imposed on the disquietudes of a wounded conscience. (4) As the discovery of the Second Divine Person, the Expiator and Reconciler, has allayed in those who acquaint themselves with Him the unrest and alarm of a conscience goaded by guilt to pacify, if it can, Divine displeasure, so we are led still nearer to perfect peace by a more recent revelation: that of the Third Person. God the Third Person broods like a dove of peace over the tumultuous chaos of a passionate heart, glimmers like a star of hope in our blackest night. With Him let us acquaint ourselves. Then shall we have more peace, increase of peace, even unto the full repose which follows conquest.

J. Oswald Dykes, Sermons, p. 191.

Job 22:21

I. Is there such a thing among men as peace, a deep and true peace, without any acquaintance with God? (1) Suppose the case of one possessing high intelligence allied with all the ordinary virtues of human life, but who lacks entirely any personal faith in God as a Person. If you ask if his nature is at peace, he answers, Yes; I have no fear, no trouble, except that which comes by ignorance or inattention to law. Life is not long; I shall soon be in the dust, and that will be the end of me. I am at peace. The peace of such a man may be calmness, indifference; but cannot be the same thing as comes into a soul and flows through it and down into its far depths as the result of acquaintance with God. (2) Imperfect and partial knowledge of God is practically more disturbing and alarming than complete scepticism. Once allow His existence, and it is impossible ever to put that existence anywhere but in the primary place. Those who are imperfectly acquainted with God look at some of His attributes separately, but never at the centre and essence of the character where all the attributes meet.

II. The words of the text, “Acquaint thyself with God,” literally mean, “Dwell with God,” dwell with Him as in the same tent or home. To come to God in Christ is to come home.

III. “Thereby good shall come unto thee,” good of every kind, and especially of the best kind. No man is good who avoids the society of God. Every man is good who seeks it and enjoys it. This is the supreme criterion of goodness, and the pledge that all goodness, in abundance and variety, will come. The “good” that comes is nothing less than all the benefits and blessings of the Gospel.

A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, p. 229:

References: Job 22:21.-H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2063; J. Natt, Posthumous Sermons, p. 184; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 129; Old Testament Outlines, p. 97; C. Girdlestone, A Course of Sermons for the Year, vol. ii., p. 69. Job 22:26.-G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 277. Job 22:29.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiii., No. 731. Job 22-S. Cox, Expositor, 1st series, vol. viii., p. 81; Ibid., Commentary on Job, p. 294. Job 22-28-A, W. Momerie, Defects of Modern Christianity, p. 128. Job 23:1-6.-W. Jay, Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 157.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

The Third Series of Controversies

CHAPTER 22 The Third Address of Eliphaz

1. Is not thy wickedness great? (Job 22:1-5)

2. In what Job had sinned (Job 22:6-11)

3. The omniscience of God and the ways of the wicked (Job 22:12-20)

4. Eliphazs exhortation and promise (Job 22:21-30)

Job 22:1-5. The third cycle of addresses begins again with Eliphaz, the wise man from Teman. He tries to maintain his dignity and lofty conception, but he proves too well that Jobs accusation of insincerity is well-founded. He starts out with reminding Job of the majesty of God. Can then a man be profitable to God? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty when thou art righteous? Or does He gain anything by it if thou art perfect in thy ways? Since then God has no interest in mans righteousness, and He cannot punish Job for his righteousness, he draws the conclusion that Job is a great sinner. Is not thy wickedness great? Neither is there an end to thine iniquities.

Job 22:6-11. And now having made the assertion, according to his logical conclusions, he attempts to show that Job not alone must have sinned, but in what his sin consists. He charges him with avarice, with cruelty, with dealing in a heartless way with widows and with the fatherless. Then he tells Job that is why these snares are around thee and thou art covered with darkness and with the waters of affliction. The astonishing thing is that every word of what Eliphaz says is a lying invention. Job later gives the most positive proof that all was a concoction of falsehoods. The Word of the Lord concerning Job shows up Eliphaz as a miserable liar, for the Lord had said concerning Job, there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man. Would the Lord have spoken this if Job had outraged the laws of humanitarianism and withheld water and bread from the destitute or stripped the naked of their clothing? But how could Eliphaz ever stoop so low? It was but the result of his iniquitous logic. Job must be a sinner; he is a wicked man and without any real facts he draws his conclusions that Job must have done these things and charges him positively with it. The same fatal logic is still with us. Evil, for instance, comes upon a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ; he passeth through affliction, sorrow upon sorrow comes upon him, then someone suggests that his life must be wrong and the slanderous tongue soon charges some specific evil.

Job 22:12-20. Eliphaz speaks next of Gods omniscience and then again brings in the favoured theme of himself and his friends, the wicked and their defiance of God. Then in self-righteousness he declares–But the counsel of the wicked is far from me. Strange it is this word which came from Jobs lips first (Job 21:16). Evidently Eliphaz repeats this phrase to mock and to insult Job.

Job 22:21-30. Once more as before he turns exhorter. Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace, thereby good shall come unto thee. He gives him instruction what he is to do, and what God will do for him if he acts upon his advice. But while the exhortations are all proper, they are altogether out of place with Job. For if Job acted upon this advice and would repent according to Eliphazs demand he would by doing so assent to the false and lying accusations of his three friends. He would acknowledge himself the wicked man they had made him out to be. What he says as to restoration is almost prophetic of what should come to Job in blessing at the close of his trial.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Reciprocal: Job 4:1 – Eliphaz Job 15:1 – Eliphaz

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

The outspoken way in which Job had told his friends, that the comfort they had offered was untrue and valueless, rather naturally moved Eliphaz to begin his third speech on a still more bitter note. Job certainly had been defending his own character, but did he confer any profit or benefit on the Almighty by the righteousness and perfection that he claimed? And would God enter into judgment with him as though he were His equal? There could be but one answer to these questions, and it would be salutary for Job to realize what it was. As our Lord told His disciples, the confession of us all has to be, “We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do” (Luk 17:10).

But, having uttered these wise words, Eliphaz plunged into a series of accusations against Job, which in the light of the testimony God bore to him at the outset of the story, must have been utterly unfounded. These accusations fill verses Job 22:5-9 and reading them we can see what provoked Job to sing his own praises, as he does in Job 29:1-25. Eliphaz did not deal in vague insinuations but affirmed Job’s wrong-doing in regard to the needy, the naked, the weary, the hungry, the widow and the fatherless. In Job 29:1-25, Job rebuts these things and is equally explicit in declaring how well he had acted to these very people.

In verse Job 22:13 Eliphaz supposes the evil had been mainly in secret and that Job assumed that God did not know of his wickedness – another false assumption. In verses Job 22:15-18 we have a reference to the flood. Job had just spoken of wicked men, who said unto God, “Depart from us,” and here Eliphaz asks if he had really taken to heart this very thing, as displayed in the antediluvian world. What men did after the flood, as they lapsed into idolatry, was just what had been done before the flood. Eliphaz is quite right in saying that the root of all their appalling wickedness was departure from God, and shutting Him out of their lives and even out of their thoughts.

At this point we may well pause and consider our own age. Job’s assertion in the previous chapter was that when, as often, God prospered wicked men, they desired God to depart from them for they had no desire for His ways. Now Eliphaz has stated that of old wicked men dismissed God from their thoughts and lives and were cut down by the flood. Job’s point was that God often prospered the wicked and their judgment only came at the end, whereas Eliphaz insisted that God did intervene in judgment, as the flood had borne witness. Both it seems were right, and in our own day we can see the direful results of men dismissing God from their thoughts and lives. If God be thus turned out, every kind of evil comes in.

How true therefore is the exhortation of Eliphaz in verse Job 22:21. The knowledge of God does indeed lead to both peace and good as the ultimate result, but at first it leads to deep unrest and trouble, as Job had to find. Before he reached the good, recorded at the end of the book, he had to experience the anguish of self-judgment – see, Job 40:4; Job 42:6.

Underlying this verse however, and the succeeding verses too, is the old assumption that Job did not know God, that he was astray from Him and needed to come back and put away his iniquity, which was bringing all this chastisement upon him, and he closed with a glowing description of all the advantage that would come to Job if he did so A clearer translation of the last verse is, “He shall deliver him that is not guiltless,” and in his closing words Eliphaz seems to state that if only Job had clean hands he would deliver other people as well as himself.

Job’s next speech occupies chapters 23 and 24, and is remarkable in that he makes no direct reference to what Eliphaz had just been advancing.

Job 23:1-17 has the nature of a lament with a great deal of pathos in it. Here he was full of bitter complaint, yet feeling that the weight of the stroke laid on him was beyond any groan that he uttered. The stroke came from God, vet he did not know where He was nor how he might find Him. If only he could find Him and order his cause before Him, he felt sure relief would come, and he would be delivered – verse Job 22:7 has been translated, “There would an upright man reason with Him; and I should be delivered for ever from my Judge.” Thus once more did Job assume his own uprightness, and his complaint was that he was troubled by the Almighty, whom he could not reach and into whose presence he could not come.

Nevertheless he still had confidence, as verse Job 22:10 shows, that all the path of sorrow he was treading was known to God, that in it he was being tested, and that as the result he would come forth as gold at the end That indeed was the end finally reached but, we suspect, not in the way Job expected. As yet, filled with confidence in his own righteousness, he expected to be approved of God. He did come forth as gold, but as the fruit of his abasement in self-judgment before God, and then he was lifted up and abundantly blessed.

Verse Job 22:12 is striking and frequently quoted. But the words translated, “my necessary food,” are literally, “my appointed portion,” as the margin shows. The New Translation renders them, “the purpose of my own heart.” Reading it thus, we may well challenge our own hearts as to whether we are prepared to set aside our own purposes in subjection to the words of God.

The first verse of Job 24:1-25 propounds a question, the exact force of which is not easily discerned. But it does appear that in the rest of the chapter Job is recounting the evils that were filling the earth in his day, which were going on unjudged until the grave closed the history of the wicked, as giving point and force to the question he asked. This being so, the latter part of verse Job 22:1 would mean, “Why do the God-fearing not see days of judgment falling from God on the heads of the godless?” A very pertinent question, approximating to that raised in Psa 73:1-28. At the end of the chapter Job, as well as the Psalmist, sees judgment ultimately coming upon them. But seeing it does not so come now, Job challenged all comers to confute him and prove him a liar.

For the third time Bildad now spoke, as recorded in Job 25:1-6. As with Eliphaz so with him, each speech was shorter than the preceding one, showing that their powers of compassion, as also of argument, were running short. Moreover there appears to be little of reference to Job’s statements in what he said. His description of the greatness and glory of God is fine and almost poetical, and what he says of the sin and uncleanness and insignificance of man, who is like a worm before his Creator, is equally true. But he could only reiterate the question Job asked in Job 9:1-35, “How then can man be just with God,” without making any attempt to answer it, or express a desire for a mediator, as Job had done. To Bildad it was an unanswerable question, and perhaps he thought it gave some kind of excuse for the sin, with which he and his friends had been accusing unhappy Job.

This moved Job to open his mouth for the ninth time, in a speech longer than all the rest. As their arguments for the prosecution were failing, his for the defence increased. Bildad’s brief words had been of a gentler kind, but before Job showed that he too can speak in glowing terms of the greatness of God, he indulged in the sarcasms that fill verses Job 22:2-3 of Job 26:1-14. To us it seems quite obvious that the speeches of the friends had not been helpful nor saving nor wise, but Job being human, he did not miss the opportunity to hurl these taunts at them. Other translations render the opening words of verse Job 22:3, “To whom,” rather than, “For whom.” That would mean that Job wished them to remember that though their words had been addressed to him, they had really been speaking in the presence of God, and speaking moreover not in the right spirit.

His description of God’s creatorial power is striking. Verse Job 22:7 in particular shows how these early saints, living in the fear of God, as far as He was then revealed, had a true and simple knowledge of created things, far removed from the fantastic ideas entertained, even by the learned, when their minds had been darkened by lapsing into idolatry.

He knew that God had wrought by His Spirit in garnishing the heavens, which is what learned unbelievers would hardly admit today; and at the same time he was conscious that what was known in his day was only a part of His ways, and his comment was, “What a whisper of a word do we hear of Him!” (New Trans.). Let this pathetic cry of Job sink into all our hearts. He had but a “whisper of a word” as to God. Israel knew something of “the thunder of His power,” when at Sinai through Moses the law was given. We have the high privilege of knowing and enjoying the “grace and truth” that came by Jesus Christ, and further of walking in “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2Co 4:6). We may well bless God, who has brought us out of darkness into His marvellous light.

What a striking witness we have in this book – one of the oldest in the world – to facts which stand out plainly in the New Testament. Here are patriarchal saints, living only a few centuries after the flood, with a knowledge of God according to the primeval revelation of Himself. Men did not develop out of heathenism into the knowledge of God, but the reverse. As Rom 1:1-32 says “When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God;” and again, “As they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over… ” However stubborn Job was in his self-righteousness, and his friends were in their thoughts, they did not exclude God from their knowledge. He was very present in their thoughts.

The opening words of Job 27:1-23 indicate that at this point Job paused, expecting Zophar to speak; and apparently he paused again at the end of Job 28:1-28. But no reply was forthcoming. This was not surprising, for the man who bases his position on intuition has a very restricted field of argument. The man who argues from his own observation may have had a wide field of vision and therefore a lot to put forward. So too, the man who delves into past history and argues from tradition. But the man who only urges what he thinks, the ideas that he has intuitively formed, may urge them with great force in his opinionated self-conceit; but if his thoughts be rebutted, there is not much else he can say.

So Job resumed his discourse, striking a very solemn note, as taking an oath before God. In affirming his own integrity and truth he charged his friends with being the ones who spoke falsehood and deceit, while he held fast his righteousness with the utmost resolution. This “righteousness,” as Job 29:1-25 will show us, was concerned with his outward conduct, for as yet the searching light of God had not entered his soul. He had been charged with being a deceiver and a hypocrite. He knew he was not this, and he was not going to plead guilty to it for a moment. We too know that he was not, but outward correctness does not in itself count for righteousness in the presence of God. Job’s own words here prove it, for the way he complains of God in verse Job 22:2 shows that his heart was not right in His sight.

In the rest of the chapter we find Job enlarging upon the way God deals in judgment with the hypocrite. He had just been virtually charging his friends with being hypocrites in their accusations against him, so it would appear that his words were a warning to them that such might be their fate, something akin to what had happened to him.

He followed this – Job 28:1-28 – with the remarkable words about man’s search after wisdom. In his days mining was practised: it may have been then a new pursuit, whether for iron or copper, for gold or silver or gems. They dig down, they divert the subterranean stream, they make paths untrodden by the strongest of beasts or the most keen-sighted of birds. But in all this searching they never find wisdom. This is the question he raised in verse Job 22:12, and he affirmed very rightly that it could not be found in these human activities. Men may discover much, and since Job’s day they have discovered an immense deal more, but wisdom eludes them. If Job could have been given a glimpse of man’s activities and discoveries in our atomic age, he would say the same, only with emphasis a huudred-fold greater.

So, “Where shall wisdom be found?” (verse Job 22:12). Job begins to answer this in verse Job 22:23. God, who understands it, knows its way, and has declared it to man, as verse Job 22:28 declares. “The fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding. “In all the statements made during this prolonged discussion no truer nor wiser thing had been said. In Pro 9:10, we find Solomon making a similar statement, and it is corroborated in the history of the early church, as we see in Act 9:31.

As the fear of God departs from the heart of man, so his own selfwill increases, which produces endless folly. In the present age the knowledge and cleverness of man has risen to heights undreamed of a century ago, and his destructive folly threatens to descend to undreamed of depths. Psa 36:1, quoted in Rom 3:18, exposes the root of it all.

As Job continued his parable, in Job 29:1-25, he sighed for a return to the days of his prosperity and, remembering the accusations of Eliphaz, which we had in Job 22:1-30, he began to utter his own praise. What light and luxury were his! What deference and even reverence was paid to him! And then he declared his acts of benevolence and righteousness and judgment, which he felt had entitled him to very preferential treatment in blessing from the hand of God.

Job 29:1-25 has thus become one of the great “I” chapters of the Bible. Ecc 2:1-26 is Solomon’s “I” chapter: that personal pronoun occurs 16 times in the first 9 verses: true chapter of the self-gratified “I.” Job 29:1-25 is the chapter of the self-satisfied “I” Rom 7:1-25 is of course the chapter of the self-condemned “I” And to be self-condemned is far better than to be self-gratified or self-satisfied. Best of all is to be self-eclipsed, as we find Paul to be in Php 3:1-21, where he mentions “I” a good many times.

But our chapter records how Job was permitted to let himself go, and sing his own praise, and thus reveal to us the self-righteousness and self-conceit, which had lain deep down within him, hidden from all eyes but God’s. To bring this to light, and to bring Job himself to judge it, and to judge himself in the presence of God, was the object God had in permitting Satan to bring these extreme testings upon him.

For the moment however Job was full of the great and excellent things he had done, and of the commanding position amongst his fellows which had been his as the result. This did but make more vivid the contrast of his present condition, and to this he returned in the sorrowful lament recorded in Job 30:1-31. He had now become the derision of the basest of men, and even of the youngest among them. They could make up songs about his misery. and even spit in his face – a cruel insult indeed. In verse Job 22:20 however he turned to God and made bitter complaint to Him, and even against Him. He felt that He had opposed him and cast him down and disregarded his prayers and entreaties, and so had “become cruel” to him. Poor Job! Without any question men had become cruel to him, and he now felt that God had become cruel also. In the closing verses of this chapter he described the extreme state of bodily weakness and misery and corruption into which he had been brought. God had given Satan permission to do his worst, short of taking his life. With malign skill Satan reduced his body to such a state of loathsome disease as, we suppose, no man has suffered before or since; for in every other case the victim would have died before such a mass of bodily trouble could develop. Let us not judge Job harshly. In such a fearful plight as his we should probably have said far worse things than he.

Having uttered these sorrowful complaints, Job closed his lengthy speech, as we see in Job 31:1-40, by a series of asseverations almost amounting to oaths. His friends had accused him of definite sins and wrong-doing. As to these things his conscience was clear, though, as we have seen, he admitted he was not pure in the sight of God. So he strongly affirmed that he had not committed the kinds of evil that were alleged or insinuated.

This chapter bears witness to the fact that before the law was given a high standard of morality was still found among God-fearing men. A standard moreover which had regard not only to the outward act but also to the inward motive that prompts the act: see, as instances of this, he spoke of what he thought, or did not think, in verse Job 22:1; of his heart walking after his eyes, in verse Job 22:7; and again, his heart being secretly enticed, in verse Job 22:27; and of hiding his iniquity, and covering his sins, like Adam, in verse 33. This may remind us of the Sermon on the Mount; particularly if we compare his words in verse Job 22:30, realizing that merely wishing a curse to his enemy would be a sin, with our Lord’s words in Mat 5:24

Again, he knew that deceit and false witness was wrong; see, verse Job 22:5 : that adultery was wrong; see, verse Job 22:9 : that idolatry was wrong; see, verses Job 22:26-28; since the worship of sun and moon was the most primitive form that idolatry took. So also he knew that he was not to covet what his neighbour possessed, for in contrast he should be a giver to his necessities, as we see in verses Job 22:13-22.

So most evidently the standard of conduct that Job had before him was a very high one, and he felt he had rigidly observed it. He knew too that there would be a day when God would rise up and visit and he asked, “What shall I answer Him?” (verse Job 22:14). Reviewing all these things, Job felt he could call down a curse upon himself, if he had not observed them: that on his land thistles might “grow instead of wheat, and cockle [tares] instead of barley.” With this Job also lapsed into silence.

The end that the Lord reached with Job is made all the more striking by the fact that in me main these assertions of his were correct. At the outset Jehovah bore witness that he was perfect and upright, and when finally He intervened He did not utter words of contradiction. It is just this which imparts such tremendous force to the utter abasement and self-condemnation that sprang from Job’s lips, before he was blessed at the end of the story.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

THIRD SERIES OF THE DEBATE

1. With Eliphaz (chaps. 22-24) a. Speech of Eliphaz (chap. 22) b. Reply of Job (chaps. 23-24) 2. With Bildad (chaps. 25-26) a. Speech of Bildad (chap. 25) b. Reply of Job (chap. 26) 3. With Zophar (chaps. 27-31) a. Continuation of the reply of Job (chaps. 27-31) The last speech Eliphaz makes, chapter 22, is a grand effort to refute Job based upon the latters appeal to facts. There is more severity in it than he has shown before. He charges Job with cruelty, oppression and injustice as a magistrate. Therefore, no wonder such calamities had come upon him. Using the deluge as an illustration, he shows how God must deal with the wicked according to their deserts. Job is exhorted to acquaint himself with God and be at peace with Him, and all might yet be well.

Job replies pathetically. He has no human help, but turns to God. Oh, that he might come before him! He cannot seem to find Him, yet he has confidence in Him. His own integrity is once more asserted. It was not true that God always dealt with men on earth in accordance with their character. The wicked often have long prosperity, though he admits they will ultimately be cut off.

Bildad attempts a reply in chapter 25, and yet he seems to realize that the controversy is decided, for he contents himself simply with a description of the power, wisdom and majesty of God, closing with the sentiment

expressed before concerning the comparative impurity and insignificance of man. Bildad has, in fact, yielded the argument and retires from the field.

Job speaks in chapter 26 in a strain of irony. His friends have not enlightened him very much. His own views of the greatness of God are superior to those of Bildad. Notice the sublime description of the divine majesty which follows.

Zophar should have replied, but his lips are closed, and Job himself proceeds more calmly in chapters 27-31. Once more he refers to the government of God, giving a most beautiful description of the search for wisdom, detailing the discoveries of science in his time, and saying that none of them could disclose it, and concluding that true wisdom can only be found in the fear of the Lord. Once more he maintains his integrity, and concludes that if God would come forth and pronounce a just judgment on him, he would take the decision and bind it on his head as a diadem, and march forth with it in triumph.

QUESTIONS

1. What illustrates the greater severity of Eliphaz?

2. How is Jobs magisterial function referred to?

3. In what verses is the deluge spoken of?

4. Under what terms does Job affirm his integrity?

5. Quote some of the irony of Job.

6. Name some of the scientific discoveries of Jobs day.

7. How beautifully is the search for wisdom described?

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Job 22:1. Then Eliphaz answered Eliphaz, in this chapter, charges Job home with particular facts of cruelty and oppression, which he supposes him to be guilty of, though he cannot allege one proof of them; to which he adds the atrocious crime of atheism, and a denial or disbelief of Gods providence; and this latter he assigns as the reason of Jobs obstinacy in refusing to submit and acknowledge his guilt. He compares his wickedness to that of the mighty oppressors of the antediluvian world; to that of the inhabitants of Sodom and the cities of the plain; not obscurely intimating that his end would probably be the same as theirs, unless prevented by a speedy submission and full restitution; to which he therefore earnestly presses him, and endeavours to allure him by placing full in his view the great advantages he would probably reap from such a conduct. Heath.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 22:5. Is not thy wickedness great? This speech of Eliphaz is cruel, and very much embittered; for it was mere suspicion that Job had robbed the widow, and stripped the naked. Job replies to it more fully in chap. 29., especially with regard to the widow and the destitute.

Job 22:7. Thou hast not given water to the weary, to the traveller, when he and his beasts were fainting with thirst, in a dry and parched land. Withholding water in such a case was reckoned a cruelty of the worst description.

Job 22:15-16. Wicked menwhose foundation was overflown with a flood, in the days of Noah. The general succession of biblical critics are agreed on this reference, which is more fully noted in Job 26:5.

Job 22:30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent. What island? The Hebrew is obscure. The LXX read, He shall deliver the innocent, and save thee because of the purity of thy hands. Eliphaz thought that Job might yet regain perfect rectitude.

REFLECTIONS.

My goodness extendeth not unto thee, but to the saints that are in the earth. Eliphaz, by pleading for the poor, cuts Job to the quick; for the aged and the sick have a right to bread, the earth being the Lords. Religion is love, and charity is the first fruit of love. But before he pierced his friend with those deep wounds, he should have been sure that he was guilty. The angels are afraid of railing accusations.

The next argument of Eliphaz is founded on the deluge of Noah, which happened when the earth was in the greatest prosperity. Hast thou marked the way of wicked men,whose foundations were overflown with the flood? Oh what a time to an atheistical and epicurean world! They scoffed at the ark, and filled up the measure of their sins. The finest day turned black with rain and tempest, never known before, and the rising tides on gaining the hills washed them away, blaspheming against God, and cursing their seducers to atheism and crimes. Take heed, oh infidel christian age, for those thunderbolts of Jehovah are for the warning of posterity. From these awful characters of God, in his longsuffering goodness in the days of Noah, in his great mercy and faithfulness to that patriarch, and in his righteous vengeance on the wicked, we may learn what are his moral perfections, as discovered in the government of the world. Let us therefore aim at a life conformable to his laws, to become acquainted with the glorious person and offices of Christ, and with his work of regeneration: for this is life eternal, to know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 22. Third Speech of Eliphaz.The only new thing that Eliphaz has to say, is definitely to describe the sin of Job! Yet his mildness makes him end with bright promises.

Job 22:1-5. Is it not to Jobs advantage to be pious? Will God chasten him for anything else but sin? Eliphaz would point out that it is Job s advantage to be pious, but he completes his statement by adding that it is no advantage to God. He means that God is too exalted to take any interest in man, except to reward and punish him. Hence the cause of mans calamities cannot be in God, but only in man (Job 22:6-11).

Job 22:6-9 ascribes to Job the sins typical of the rich man.

Job 22:8, if not a gloss, seems to refer to the sin of land-grabbing (Isa 5:8).

Job 22:10 f. deduce Jobs calamities as the natural reward of his sin.

Job 22:12-20. Job argues from Gods exaltedness that He cannot see through the clouds and darkness down upon the earth (Job 22:12-14). But He punished the rebels of old time (Job 22:15 f.): apparently the reference is to the Flood, when the solid earth (their foundation) was overflowed.

Job 22:17 f. (cf. Job 21:14 a, Job 21:15 a, Job 21:16 b) breaks the connexion, and is to be removed as a gloss. Then Job 22:19 f. tells how the righteous rejoiced over the fall of the wicked (Job 22:16). With LXX we may change verbs in Job 22:19 to perfects.

Job 22:21-30. Eliphaz recommends Job to return to God, and once more promises his restoration.

Job 22:22 means that Job is to regard his sufferings as disciplinary (Job 5:17).

Job 22:29 f. is very obscure: the text is dubious. The general sense of Job 22:29 is that God casts down pride and saves the humble.

Job 22:30 as it stands seems to mean that God will deliver even him that is not innocent because of Jobs innocence (cf. Job 42:8). The conclusion of Eliphazs speech is very beautiful. Duhms comment is, however, worth giving. Humility and purity are also, according to this passage, for Eliphaz the essential elements of religion and the secure foundations of good fortune: both lie in the power of man, whose conduct God reviews and honours according to fixed principles. Theology makes salvation depend on the doing of men, religion on the heart of God.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

JOB’S SIN EXPOSED BEFORE GOD

(vv.1-8)

Eliphaz considered that he was representing God in speaking, and exposing what he imagined were the sins of Job. He first asks a question that it is well worth considering, “Can a man be profitable to God, though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?” (v.2). Certainly it is folly for anyone to think that he is doing God a favour by his righteousness, for to be perfectly right is nothing more than he should be. But in Eliphaz speaking to Job, this was beside the point, for he considered that Job was wicked, not righteous.

Eliphaz questions, “Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you, and enters into judgment with you? (v.4). Eliphaz considered this impossible, and therefore that Job did not fear God at all. But actually it was true that, because of Job’s fear of God, God was correcting him. But what Eliphaz considered God’s judgment against Job was not judgment at all, but discipline and correction.

Then Eliphaz comes out with his strong accusation against Job, though having not the slightest proof if it, “Is not your wickedness great, and your iniquity without end? (v.5). Probably Eliphaz considered that Job’s professed fear of God was total hypocrisy, and therefore Job deserved the greatest censure. Eliphaz was just the man to give that censure, for he was sure he was speaking for God. How sad was the delusion under which he was labouring! How carefully we must watch against any tendency on our own part to jump to conclusions as regards the condition of any other believer, or as regards our suspicion of anything in their life that may seem questionable. “Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (1Co 13:7).

A LIST OF ACCUSATIONS

(vv.6-17)

Eliphaz has worked himself up to such a state that he allows his imagination to run wild, daring to make a number or specific accusations against Job that were totally false. He says, “You have taken pledges from your brother for no reason, and stripped the naked of their clothing” (v.6). He did not however say what brother he was referring to, nor of what naked people Job was guilty of harming.

He also blamed Job for what he says Job had not done in regard to providing water or food for those who needed it (v.7). How did Eliphaz know this? He would have to be acquainted with all Job’s life to have any such knowledge. Of course God knew what Job had done and what he had not done, and evidently Eliphaz thought that he shared God’s knowledge!

In verse 8 Eliphaz is apparently charging that Job in the past as a mighty man possessed the land, dwelling in it as though he was honourable. But according to the principles of Eliphaz, Job must have been guilty of oppressing the widows and the fatherless.

“Therefore,” he says, “snares are all around you, and sudden fear troubles you, or darkness, so that you cannot see; and an abundance of water covers you” (vv.10-11). He first reasons backward from the fact of Job’s sufferings, seeing this trouble as the result of Job’s wickedness; then he reasons forward, telling Job that because he has been so wicked this trouble has come upon him. This kind of thing is true of many people: they argue with no basis of actual fact, but from the viewpoint of their own suppositions. Only established fact can rightly be a true basis of discussion.

GOD’S INFINITE KNOWLEDGE

(vv.12-14)

In this section Eliphaz only shows how grossly unfair he is. He accuses Job of saying what Job had not said at all. Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the stars how lofty they are” (v.12). “And you say, What does God know?” (v.13). Of course God is in the height of heaven, and Job had fully acknowledged this before (ch.9:4-12). Yet Eliphaz accuses Job of saying, “What does God know?” Job had spoken in complete contrast to this, declaring that “with Him are wisdom and strength, He has counsel and understanding” etc. (Ch.12:13).

Why did Eliphaz then accuse Job as he did? Because he thought he discerned this attitude underneath what Job actually said. He considered that Job was hiding something in “the deep darkness,” and thought that God could not see it because clouds covered Him (v.14). Whatever it was that Job had been guilty of, Eliphaz could not see it, though that did not keep him from condemning Job.

THE WAY OF THE WICKED

(vv.15-18)

Eliphaz now asks Job if he will keep to the old way the wicked men have trodden (v.15), for he is sure that Job is bent on a wicked course. He says these wicked men had been cut down before their time, with their foundations swept away by a flood (v.16). He totally ignores what Job had argued in his answer to Zophar, that many wicked men had been cut down (ch.21:7-17), for he had no answer for this. He admits that the Almighty had fitted the houses of the wicked with good things, though they had said to God, “Depart from us” (vv.17-18). But he considered that the wicked would be cut down before their time, like Job was being cut down, and thus he side-steps the fact that many wicked men fill out their lives in pleasure without any infliction of trouble. He says “the counsel of the wicked is far from me.” But the counsel of the wicked was just as far from Job as from Eliphaz, though Eliphaz wanted by this statement to show himself in contrast to Job!

THE PUNISHMENT OF THE WICKED

(vv.19-20)

Eliphaz considered himself righteous and speaks of the righteous being glad at the punishment of the wicked. This will be true when God’s judgments are in the earth, such as is seen in Rev 18:20 concerning the false woman Babylon, over whose judgment the righteous will greatly rejoice. Did Eliphaz think he was right in rejoicing over Job’s sufferings, and actually laughing at him? (v.19).

When he says, “Surely our adversaries are cut down, and the fire consumes their remnant” (v.20), was he not inferring that Job was his adversary, since Job had been “cut down” and was suffering the fire of God’s punishment? Thus he really considered that Job was an enemy of God, not a believer at all.

APPEALING TO JOB TO REPENT

(vv.21-25)

The advice of Eliphaz to Job is now seen in telling him to acquaint himself with God and be at peace (v.21). He was flatly refusing to believe that Job knew God at all, and was therefore sure Job needed to be converted to have good come to him. At least he did not consider Job’s case hopeless, but Job would have to take his advice and “return to the Almighty.” He urged Job to receive instruction from God. It is surely right to lay up God’s words in our heart, but to accept the words of Eliphaz as God’s word is a different matter. Job had not left the Almighty, therefore to tell him to return was insulting (vv.22-23). Let us never treat a suffering believer as an unbeliever.

The fact that Job was suffering was proof to Eliphaz that Job had departed from God, and if he would return he would be built up, with all iniquity being removed from him. He would be greatly blessed with the finest gold. He adds that “the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver” (v.25). This reminds us of the words of the Lord to Abram, “Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield and your exceeding great reward” (Gen 15:1). But it does not seem likely that Eliphaz was personally enjoying the blessing of realising God Himself as his own true wealth. If so, he would not have been so unfairly representing God.

A BRIGHT FUTURE – IF

(vv.26-30)

Now Eliphaz paints a lovely picture of the prospect of the godly man, an incentive to cause Job to repent. It is wonderful to have “delight in he Almighty” and to lift up one’s face to God, to truly pray to Him with confidence that He will bear (vv.26-27). Eliphaz adds also, “You will pay your vows.” If Job had made vows, he had likely paid them, though today the Lord Jesus tells believers not to make vows at all (Mat 5:33-37).

“You will also declare a thing, and it will be established for you; so light will shine in your ways” (v.28). In other words, what is spoken in faith will have positive results, and the ways of a believer will be manifest as “in the light.” If one is cast down, yet has confidence that eventual exaltation will come, then God will save that humble person (v.29). Eliphaz allows the fact that a believer may be cast down, but he does not apply this to Job unless Job will take his advice to repent. But if so, then he tells Job that he will be in a position to help others, even to the point of delivering those who are innocent (v.30). In fact, Eliphaz was seeking to do this very thing for Job, considering that the purity of his own hands would deliver Job, if only Job would repent.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

1. Eliphaz’s third speech ch. 22

In his third speech Eliphaz was even more discourteous than he had been previously.

"He [Eliphaz] made three serious accusations against Job: he is a sinner (Job 22:1-11), he is hiding his sins (Job 22:12-20), and he must confess his sins and repent before God can help him (Job 22:21-30)." [Note: Wiersbe, p. 47.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

D. The Third cycle of Speeches between Job and His Three Friends chs. 22-27

In round one of the debate Job’s friends probed his intellect, and in round two they probed his conscience. In round three they probed specific issues.

"The lamentable fact is that the friends endorsed Satan’s view of Job as a hypocrite. Thinking to defend God, they became Satan’s advocates, insisting that he whom God designated as His servant belonged to the devil." [Note: Kline, p. 477.]

We could summarize the criticisms of Job’s three companions in their speeches as follows.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

God’s disinterest in Job 22:1-5

Job 22:2 should end "Him" (i.e., God) rather than "himself" (i.e., the wise man).

These verses reveal Eliphaz’s very deficient concept of God. To him, God did not delight in fellowship with man or in blessing man. His only reason for intervening in life was to punish people when they misbehaved. Many people today share this unfortunate view of God. Truly God does not need people, but He delights in our righteousness and fellowship, and He loves us.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

XIX.

DOGMATIC AND MORAL ERROR

Job 22:1-30

ELIPHAZ SPEAKS

THE second colloquy has practically exhausted the subject of debate between Job and his friends. The three have really nothing more to say in the way of argument or awful example. It is only Eliphaz who tries to clinch the matter by directly accusing Job of base and cowardly offences. Bildad recites what may be called a short ode, and Zophar, if he speaks at all, simply repeats himself as one determined if possible to have the last word.

And why this third round? While it has definite marks of its own and the closing speeches of Job are important as exhibiting his state of mind, another motive seems to be required. And the following may be suggested. A last indignity offered, last words of hard judgment spoken, Job enters upon a long review of his life, with the sense of being victorious in argument, yet with sorrow rather than exultation because his prayers are still unanswered: and during all this time the appearance of the Almighty is deferred. The impression of protracted delay deepens through the two hundred and twenty sentences of the third colloquy in which, one may say, all the resources of poetry are exhausted. A tragic sense of the silence God keeps is felt to hang over the drama, as it hangs over human life. A man vainly strives to repel the calumnies that almost break his heart. His accusers advance from innuendo to insolence. He seeks in the way of earnest thought escape from their false reasoning; he appeals from men to God, from God in nature and providence to God in supreme and glorious righteousness behind the veil of sense and time. Unheard apparently by the Almighty, he goes back upon his life and rehearses the proofs of his purity, generosity, and faith; but the shadow remains. It is the trial of human patience and the evidence that neither a mans judgment of his own life nor the judgment expressed by other men can be final. God must decide, and for His decision men must wait. The author has felt in his own history this delay of heavenly judgment, and he brings it out in his drama. He has also seen that on this side death there can be no final reading of the judgment of God on a human life. We wait for God; He comes in a prophetic utterance which all must reverently accept; yet the declaration is in general terms. When at last the Almighty speaks from the storm the righteous man and his accusers alike have to acknowledge ignorance and error; there is an end of self defence and of condemnation by men, but no absolute determination of the controversy. “The vision is for the appointed time, and it hasteth toward the end, and shall not lie: though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not delay. Behold, his soul is puffed up, it is not upright in him: but the just shall live by his faith.” {Hab 2:3-4}

Eliphaz begins with a singular question, which he is moved to state by the whole tenor of Jobs reasoning and particularly by his hope that God would become his Redeemer. “Can a man be profitable unto God?” Not quite knowing what he asks, meaning simply to check the boldness of Jobs hope, he advances to the brink of an abyss of doubt. You, Job, he seems to say, a mere mortal creature, afflicted enough surely to know your own insignificance, how can you build yourself up in the notion that God is interested in your righteousness? You think God believes in you and will justify you. How ignorant you must be if you really suppose your goodness of any consequence to the Almighty, if you imagine that by making your ways perfect, that is, claiming an integrity which man cannot possess, you will render any service to the Most High. Man is too small a creature to be of any advantage to God. Mans respect, faithfulness, and devotion are essentially of no profit to Him.

One must say that Eliphaz opens a question of the greatest interest both in theology or the knowledge of God, and in religion or the right feelings of man toward God. If man as the highest energy, the finest blossoming, and most articulate voice of the creation, is of no consequence to his Creator, if it makes no difference to the perfection or complacency of God in Himself whether man serves the end of his being or not, whether man does or fails to do the right he was made to love; if it is for mans sake only that the way of life is provided for him and the privilege of prayer given him, -then our glorifying of God is not a reality but a mere form of speech. The only conclusion possible would be that even when we serve God earnestly in love and sacrifice we are in point of fact serving ourselves. If one wrestles with evil, clings to the truth, renounces all for righteousness sake, it is well for him. If he is hard hearted and base, his life will decay and perish. But, in either case, the eternal calm, the ineffable completeness of the Divine nature are unaffected. Yea, though all men and all intelligent beings were overwhelmed in eternal ruin the Creators glory would remain the same, like a full-orbed sun shining over a desolate universe.

“We are such stuff

As dreams are made of, and our little life

Is rounded by a sleep.”

Eliphaz thinks it is for mans sake alone God has created him, surrounded him with means of enjoyment and progress, given him truth and religion, and laid on him the responsibilities that dignify his existence. But what comes then of the contention that, because Job has sinned, desolation and disease have come to him from the Almighty? If mans righteousness is of no account to God, why should his transgressions be punished? Creating men for their own sake, a beneficent Maker would not lay upon them duties the neglect of which through ignorance must needs work their ruin. We know from the opening scenes of the book that the Almighty took pleasure in His servant. We see Him trying Jobs fidelity for the vindication of His own creative power and heavenly grace against the scepticism of such as the Adversary. Is a faithful servant not profitable to one whom he earnestly serves? Is it all the same to God whether we receive His truth or reject His covenant? Then the urgency of Christs redemptive work is a fiction. Satan is not only correct in regard to Job but has stated the sole philosophy of human life. We are to fear and serve God for what we get; and our notions of doing bravely in the great warfare on behalf of Gods kingdom are the fancies of men who dream.

“Can a man be profitable unto God?

Surely he that is wise is profitable to himself.

Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous?

Or is it gain to Him that thou makest thy ways perfect?

Is it for thy fear of Him that He reproveth thee,

That He entereth with thee into judgment?”

Regarding this what are we to say? That it is false, an ignorant attempt to exalt God at the expense of man, to depreciate righteousness in the human range for the sake of maintaining the perfection and self-sufficiency of God. But the virtues of man, love, fidelity, truth, purity, justice, are not his own. The power of them in human life is a portion of the Divine energy, for they are communicated and sustained by the Divine Spirit. Were the righteousness, love, and faith instilled into the human mind to fail of their result, were they, instead of growing and yielding fruit, to decay and die, it would be waste of Divine power; the moral cosmos would be relapsing into a chaotic state. If we affirm that the obedience and redemption of man do not profit the Most High, then this world and the inhabitants of it have been called into existence by the Creator in grim jest, and He is simply amusing Himself with our hazardous game.

With the same view of the absolute sovereignty of God in creation and providence on which Eliphaz founds in this passage, Jonathan Edwards sees the necessity of escaping the conclusion to which these verses point. He argues that Gods delight in the emanations of His fulness in the work of creation shows “His delight in the infinite fulness of good there is in Himself and the supreme respect and regard He has for Himself.” An objector may say, he proceeds, “If it could be supposed that God needed anything; or that the goodness of His creatures could extend to Him; or that they could be profitable to Him, it might be fit that God should make Himself and His own interest His highest and last end in creating the world. But seeing that God is above all need and all capacity of being added to and advanced, made better and happier in any respect; to what purpose should God make Himself His end, or seek to advance Himself in any respect by any of His works?” The answer is-“God may delight with true and great pleasure in beholding that beauty which is an image and communication of His own beauty, an expression and manifestation of His own loveliness. And this is so far from being an instance of His happiness not being in and from Himself, that it is an evidence that He is happy in Himself, or delights and has pleasure in His own beauty.” Nor does this argue any dependence of God on the creature for happiness. “Though He has real pleasure in the creatures holiness and happiness; yet this is not properly any pleasure which He receives from the creature. For these things are what He gives the creature.” Here to a certain extent the reasoning is cogent and meets the difficulty of Eliphaz; and at present it is not necessary to enter into the other difficulty which has to be faced when the Divine reprobation of sinful life needs explanation. It is sufficient to say that this is a question even more perplexing to those who hold with Eliphaz than to those who take the other view. If man for Gods glory has been allowed a real part in the service of eternal righteousness, his failure to do the part of which he is capable, to which he is called, must involve his condemnation. So far as his will enters into the matter he is rightly held accountable, and must suffer for neglect.

Passing to the next part of Eliphazs address we find it equally astray for another reason. He asks “Is not thy wickedness great?” and proceeds to recount a list of crimes which appear to have been charged against Job in the base gossip of ill-doing people.

Is not thy wickedness great,

And no limit to thy iniquities?

For thou hast taken pledges of thy brother for nought

And stripped the naked of their clothing.

Thou hast not given water to the weary.

And thou hast withholden bread from the famished.

The man of might-his is the earth;

And he that is in honour dwelt therein.

Thou hast sent widows away empty,

And the arms of the orphans have been broken.

The worst here affirmed against Job is that he has overborne the righteous claims of widows and orphans. Bildad and Zophar made a mistake in alleging that he had been a robber and a freebooter. Yet is it less unfriendly to give ear to the cruel slanders of those who in Jobs day of prosperity had not obtained from him all they desired and are now ready with their complaints? No doubt the offences specified are such as might have been committed by a man in Jobs position and excused as within his right. To take a pledge for debt was no uncommon thing. When water was scarce, to withhold it even from the weary was no extraordinary baseness. Vambery tells us that on the steppes he has seen father and son fighting almost to the death for the dregs of a skin of water. Eliphaz, however, a good man, counts it no more than duty to share this necessary of life with any fainting traveller, even if the wells are dry and the skins are nearly empty. He also makes it a crime to keep back corn in the year of famine. He says truly that the man of might, doing such things, acts disgracefully. But there was no proof that Job had been guilty of this kind of inhumanity, and the gross perversion of justice to which Eliphaz condescends recoils on himself. It does not always happen so within our knowledge. Pious slander gathered up and retailed frequently succeeds. And Eliphaz endeavours to make good his opinion by showing providence to be for it; he keeps the ear open to any report that will confirm what is already believed; and the circulating of such a report may destroy the usefulness of a life, the usefulness which is denied.

Take a broader view of the same controversy. Is there no exaggeration in the charges thundered sometimes against poor human nature? Is it not often thought a pious duty to extort confession of sins men never dreamed of committing, so that they may be driven to a repentance that shakes life to its centre and almost unhinges the reason? With conviction of error, unbelief, and disobedience the new life must begin. Yet religion is made unreal by the attempt to force on the conscience and to extort from the lips an acknowledgment of crimes which were never intended and are perhaps far apart from the whole drift of the character. The truthfulness of John the Baptists preaching was very marked. He did not deal with imaginary sins. And when our Lord spoke of the duties and errors of men either in discourse or parable, He never exaggerated. The sins He condemned were all intelligible to the reason of those addressed, such as the conscience was bound to own, must recognise as evil things, dishonouring to the Almighty.

Having declared Jobs imaginary crimes, Eliphaz exclaims, “Therefore snares are round about thee and sudden fear troubleth thee.” With the whole weight of assumed moral superiority he bears down upon the sufferer. He takes upon him to interpret providence, and every word is false. Job has clung to God as his Friend. Eliphaz denies him the right, cuts him off as a rebel from the grace of the King. Truly, it may be said, religion is never in greater danger than when it is upheld by hard and ignorant zeal like this.

Then, in the passage beginning at the twelfth verse, the attempt is made to show Job how he had fallen into the sins he is alleged to have committed.

“Is not God in the height of heaven?

And behold the code of the stars how high they are

And thou saidst-What doth God know?

Can He judge through thick darkness?

Thick clouds are a covering to Him that He seeth not,

And He walketh on the round of heaven.”

Job imagined that God whose dwelling place is beyond the clouds and the stars could not see what he did. To accuse him thus is to pile offence upon injustice, for the knowledge of God has been his continual desire.

Finally, before Eliphaz ends the accusation, be identifies Jobs frame of mind with the proud indifference of those whom the deluge swept away. Job had talked of the prosperity and happiness of men who had not God in all their thoughts. Was he forgetting that dreadful calamity?

Wilt thou keep the old way

Which wickedmen have trodden?

Who were snatched away before their time,

Whose foundation was poured out as a stream:

Who said to God, Depart from us;

And what can the Almighty do unto us?

Yet He filled their houses with good things:

But the counsel of the wicked is far from me!

One who chose to go on in the way of transgressors would share their fate; and in the day of his disaster as of theirs the righteous should be glad and the innocent break into scornful laughter.

So Eliphaz closes, finding it difficult to make out his case, yet bound as he supposes to do his utmost for religion by showing the law of the vengeance of God. And, this done, he pleads and promises once more in the finest passage that falls from his lips:-

Acquaint now thyself with Him and be at peace:

Thereby good shall come Unto thee.

Receive, I pray thee, instruction from His mouth,

And lay up His words in thy heart.

If thou return to Shaddai, thou shalt be built up;

If thou put iniquity far from thy tents:

And lay thy treasure in the dust,

And among the stones of the streams the gold of Ophir;

Then shall Shaddai be thy treasure

And silver in plenty unto thee.

At last there seems to be a strain of spirituality. “Acquaint now thyself with God and be at peace.” Reconciliation by faith and obedience is the theme. Eliphaz is ignorant of much; yet the greatness and majesty of God, the supreme power which must be propitiated occupy his thoughts, and he does what he can to lead his friend out of the storm into a harbour of safety. Though even in this strophe there, mingles a taint of sinister reflection, it is yet far in advance of anything Job has received in the way of consolation. Admirable in itself is the picture of the restoration of a reconciled life from which unrighteousness is put far away. He seems indeed to have learned something at last from Job. Now he speaks of one who in his desire for the favour and friendship of the Most High sacrifices earthly treasure, flings away silver and gold as worthless. No doubt it is ill-gotten wealth to which he refers, treasure that has a curse upon it. Nevertheless one is happy to find him separating so clearly between earthly riches and heavenly treasure, advising the sacrifice of the lower for what is infinitely higher. There is even yet hope of Eliphaz, that he may come to have a spiritual vision of the favour and friendship of. the Almighty. In all he says here by way of promise there is not a word of renewed temporal prosperity. Returning to Shaddai in obedience Job will pray and have his prayer answered. Vows he has made in the time of trouble shall be redeemed, for the desired aid shall come. Beyond this there shall be, in the daily life, a strength, decision, and freedom previously unknown. “Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee.” The man who is at length in the right way of life, with God for his ally, shall form his plans and be able to carry them out.

“When they cast down, thou shalt say, Uplifting!

And the humble person He shall save.

He will deliver the man not innocent:

Yea he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thine hands.”

True, in the future experience of Job there may be disappointment and trouble. Eliphaz cannot but see that the ill will of the rabble may continue long, and perhaps he is doubtful of the temper of his own friends. But God will help His servant who returns to humble obedience. And having been himself tried Job will intercede for those in distress, perhaps on account of their sin, and his intercession will prevail with God.

Put aside the thought that all this is said to Job, and it is surely a counsel of wisdom. To the proud and self-righteous it shows the way of renewal. Away with the treasures, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, that keep the soul from its salvation. Let the Divine love be precious to thee and the Divine statutes thy joy. Power to deal with life, to overcome difficulties, to Serve thy generation shall then be thine. Standing securely in Gods grace thou shalt help the weary and heavy laden. Yet Eliphaz cannot give the secret of spiritual peace. He does not really know the trouble at the heart of human life. We need for our Guide One who has borne the burden of a sorrow which had nothing to do with the loss of worldly treasure but with the unrest perpetually gnawing at the heart of humanity, who “bore our sin in His own body unto the tree” and led captivity captive. What the old world could not know is made clear to eyes that have seen the cross against the falling night, and a risen Christ in the fresh Easter morning.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary