Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 22:21
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
21. and be at peace ] i. e. thus shalt thou have peace, or, safety.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
21 30. Eliphaz exhorts Job to reconcile himself with God; assuring him of restoration and great felicity if he will do so.
The passage consists of two parts, first, a series of exhortations, each of which is accompanied by a promise ( Job 22:21-25); and second, a series of great promises simply ( Job 22:26-30). The exhortations are: (1) that Job should reconcile himself with God and receive His words into his heart thus should he be in peace and good would come to him ( Job 22:21-22); (2) that he should put away his evil then should he be restored ( Job 22:23); (3) that he should set his heart no more on earthly treasure, but fling it to the dust and among the pebbles of the brooks then should the Almighty be his treasure ( Job 22:24-25). The promises are: (1) that, delighting himself in the Almighty, he would be able to lift up his face to God in confidence, unashamed by afflictions ( Job 22:26); (2) he would pray unto God with the assurance of being heard, and the vows which he made to God when presenting his request he would have cause to pay, his request being fulfilled ( Job 22:27); (3) his purposes in regard to the future would stand and be realized, for the light of God would be on his ways ( Job 22:28); (4) any casting down that might happen to him would speedily be turned by God into up-raising, because of his meekness and humility ( Job 22:29); and finally, even others who had incurred guilt would be saved through his availing prayer ( Job 22:30).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Acquaint now thyself with him – Margin, that is, with God. Eliphaz takes it for granted now, that Job was a sinner wholly unreconciled to God, and unacquainted with him. This fact, he supposes, was the source of all his calamities. As long as he remained thus unreconciled to God, he must be miserable. He proceeds, therefore, in a most beautiful manner, to exhort him to be at peace with God, and portrays the benefits which would result from such a reconciliation. There are few passages in the Bible of more exquisite beauty than this, and nothing could be sounder advice, on the supposition that Job was, as he supposed, a stranger to God. In this beautiful exhortation, be shows:
(1) what he means by becoming acquainted with God Job 22:21-23; and then
(2) what would be the happy results of such reconciliation, Job 22:24-30.
The word rendered acquaint thyself hasakan – from sakan means, properly, to dwell, to be familiar with anyone, to associate with one – from the idea of dwelling in the same tent or house; and in the Hiphil, the form used here, to become familiar with anyone, to be on terms of friendship. The meaning here is, Secure the friendship of God. Become truly acquainted with him. Be reconciled to him. You are now estranged. You have no just views of him. You murmur and complain, and you are suffering under his displeasure as a sinner. But it is not too late to repent, and to return to him; and in so doing you will find peace. An acquaintance with God, in the sense of this passage, implies:
(1) a correct knowledge of his true character, and
(2) reconciliation with him.
There are two great difficulties among people in regard to God. The first is, that they have no just views of his real character. They think him harsh, stern, tyrannical. They regard his law as severe, and its penalty as unjust. They think his government to be arbitrary, and himself to be unworthy of confidence. This erroneous view must be corrected before people can be reconciled to him – for how can they be brought to lay aside their opposition to him while they regard him as unjust and severe? Secondly, even when the character of God is explained, and his true character is set before people, they are opposed to it. They are opposed to him because he is so holy. Loving sin, they cannot love one who has no sin, and who frowns on evil; and this opposition to the real character of God must be removed before they can be reconciled to him. This requires a change of heart – a change from sin to holiness; and this is the work performed in regeneration.
And be at peace – There can be no peace while you maintain a warfare with God. It is a war against your Maker, where he has control over your conscience, your intellect, your body, and all which can affect your welfare; and while this is maintained, there can be no peace. If the mind is reconciled to him, there will be peace. Peace of mind always follows reconciliation where there has been a variance, and nowhere is the peace so entire and full of joy as when man feels that he is reconciled to God. Eliphaz here has stated a doctrine which has been confirmed by all the subsequent revelations in the Bible, and by the experience of all those who have become reconciled to God; compare the notes at Rom 5:1 : It is peace, as opposed to the agitation and conflict of the mind before; peace resulting from acquiescence in the claims of God; peace in the belief that he is wholly right, and worthy of confidence; and peace in the assurances of his friendship and favor forever. This doctrine, it seems, was thus understood in the early ages of the world, and, indeed, must have been known as early as religion existed after the fall. Man became alienated from God by the apostasy; peace was to be found again only by returning to God, and in reconciliation to him.
Thereby good shall come unto thee – The benefits which he supposed would result from such reconciliation, he proceeds to state in the following verses. They relate chiefly to temporal prosperity, or to proofs of the divine favor in this life. This was in accordance with the views which then prevailed, and especially with their limited and obscure conceptions of the future state. They saw a part – we see more; and yet we by no means see all. The good which results from reconciliation with God consists in:
(1) pardon of sin;
(2) peace of conscience;
(3) the assurance that we shall have all that is needful in this life;
(4) support in trial;
(5) peace and triumph in death;
(6) a part in the resurrection of the just; and
(7) a crown incorruptible and undefiled in heaven.
No man was ever injured by becoming reconciled to God; no one is reconciled to him who is not made a better and a happier man in this life, and who will not be crowned with immortal glory hereafter.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 22:21
Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace.
Acquaintance with God
I. What it is, or implies.
1. The knowledge of Gods character and attributes. All true religion rests upon correct views of Gods character. Many persons assume that they naturally know God; but they do not feel the necessity of going to Scripture to learn the character of God. The mistake arises in part from not distinguishing carefully between the existence and the character of God. You must try your notions of Gods character and attributes by Scripture, and see whether they will stand the test.
2. But a mans knowledge may be nothing more than an intellectual knowledge, whilst his heart may be alienated from Him. He may feel no delight in Gods character, and pay no heartfelt obedience to His will.
3. In real acquaintance with God, there is communion. This means participation in something (1Co 10:16). Communion also means intercourse, converse (Psa 4:4). It is a wonderful thought, but it is true, that there can be, and is, communion between the eternal God and the believers spirit. You see some things which are implied in acquaintance with God, or knowledge of Gods character and attributes as revealed in Scripture, reconciliation of heart to Him, and communion with Him. The first requires the exercise of the understanding; the second, the surrender of the will; the third, purity of heart. What blessing is equal to this of acquaintance with God!
II. The results. And be at peace. With reference to Job. Be happy again. Eliphaz urges Job to acquaint himself with God, so that peace and joy may be restored again to his heart. To how many hearts may such words come home! Eliphaz speaks of other results. Thereby good shall come to thee. How much there is in that word good! No doubt Eliphaz thought of temporal blessings. Look at the blessings of the Christian. Sins blotted out; heart renewed; bondage changed into liberty; the power of sin broken; besetting infirmities overcome; his life made a blessing to others; death robbed of its sting. (George Wagner.)
Acquaintance with God
Acquaint. This is a very forceful word; it comes from an old Saxon root, from which we get the word ken–to know. The word cunning comes from the same root–cunnan, to know. Get to know God–to understand Him. One rendering of the text is, Acquiesce in God; another is, Join yourself to God. In the French Bible you will find that the translation is, Attach yourself to God, which is pretty nearly the same thing. Join yourself to Him; attach yourself to Him. Fall in, it seems to say, with His ways, and with His methods. (W. Williams.)
Acquaintance with God
I. Explain the nature of acquaintance with God.
1. It includes knowledge.
2. It includes friendship.
3. It includes communion.
4. It includes confidence.
II. Illustrate the benefits that result from it.
1. Peace–with God and in our own heart.
2. Good–temporal and spiritual.
3. Now–now or never. (G. Brooks.)
Acquaintance with God
I. Its nature. Men are not acquainted with God. They like not to retain God in their thoughts. Lay aside your enmity and your dread, and come and learn something of His mercy and loving kindness. Acquaint yourselves with–
1. His infinite holiness.
2. His perfect justice.
3. His boundless mercy.
4. His everlasting purposes.
II. Its benefits.
1. Peace. There is no true peace except from the knowledge of God.
2. Present and future good. Religions ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. Apply–
(1) The time of attaining it. Not tomorrow, but now.
(2) The means of obtaining it. Devout study of Gods Word.
Devout attendance at the Supper of our Lord. Intercourse with the Lords people. Perusal of good and devotional books. Ask continually for the gift of the Holy Spirit. (C. Clayton, M. A.)
The blessedness of acquaintance with God
I. The exhortation contained in the text. Naturally, we are ignorant of God; we are not at peace with God, but at enmity against Him. To acquaint ourselves with God, we must make ourselves acquainted with the revelation which God has made us respecting Himself and His will. We must make a heartfelt and experimental knowledge of Him the object of our unceasing pursuit. We must seek to be at peace with Him, by laying down our rebellion, asking pardon, and imploring the renewing and sanctifying influences of His Holy Spirit.
II. The promise with which this exhortation is enforced. Good shall come unto thee.
1. Thou shalt have that pardon and reconciliation which thou seekest.
2. Every temporal blessing which is really good for you shall be secured to you.
3. You shall be satisfied that God hears your prayers, and that His blessing rests upon your undertakings.
4. Your case shall serve as an encouragement to others to proceed in those steps which you have found to lead to such inestimable blessings.
5. Your example, and conduct, and prayers will have a tendency to do good to your country, and to bring down Gods blessing upon that.
6. The eternal good shall come to them–that complete deliverance from all evil, and that complete enjoyment of all good, which will be their portion forever. (John Natt, B. D.)
Acquaintance with God the best foundation for peace
I. The way of becoming acquainted with God. There are two kinds of knowledge–speculative and practical, or experimental–resting upon personal acquaintance. Of these two, the experimental is the only solid and satisfactory knowledge; and is as much superior to the ideal as the substance is to the shadow, as the sun in the firmament to a sun painted upon canvas, and as a living man to his picture. The reason of which is that ideal knowledge is not the perception of the things themselves present, but only the forming in our minds the images and pictures of things absent; whereas experimental knowledge is the real perception of the things themselves, present and acting upon us, and communicating themselves and their properties to us. The ideal knowledge which we have of God should excite us to endeavour after the experimental. A penitent sinner, who is sensible of Gods mercy in the forgiveness of his sins, who experiences the Divine favour in speaking peace to his soul, has a much better knowledge of the mercy, power, and goodness of God, than all the ideas of these attributes could give him as long as the world lasts. No ideal knowledge can give us either virtue or happiness. There are four ways of becoming acquainted with any person.
1. If he has written anything, to acquaint ourselves therewith. They are generally the truest and liveliest image of the mind.
2. If he be a great person, to get some opportunity of coming into his presence, and to do this as frequently and constantly as we may be permitted.
3. Readily to embrace all opportunities that are offered to us of eating at his table.
4. Living in the house, and conversing with him continually.
II. The advantages and happy effects of this acquaintance with God. These are the greatest and noblest human nature is capable of enjoying–peace and tranquillity of mind; happiness by the exercising and perfecting the noblest faculties of the soul, the understanding, and the will. The supreme happiness must consist in contemplating and possessing, in loving and enjoying the supreme Perfection, who is Beauty and Love itself, and whom truly, to know is eternal life. All happiness, consists in loving and possessing the object of our love. (V. Nalson.)
Acquaintance with God
The three friends of the patriarch Job often reasoned rightly, but on wrong principles and false assumptions. The best thing which natural religion can effect is the putting awful distances between man and God, the representing Deity as so sublimely inaccessible that the creature can only bow reverently down and adore from afar, with trembling of spirit, the mysterious Being who is the arbiter of his destinies. And it is not the province of revealed religion to take off anything from the mysteries of Godhead, nor to diminish that unmeasured separation which reason tells us must stretch between the infinite and the finite. Without bringing God down to our level, revelation shows man that he may be lifted up into communion with God Himself. Our text prescribes what we are bound to call familiarity with God. But the better I am acquainted with God, the more shall I find to wonder at. The precept, Acquaint thyself with God, would never have found a place amongst the dictates of natural religion. It is not the mere acknowledgment of the existence of God which will cause peace in the human soul. On the contrary, it may be given as a self-evident truth, that until Christ, and the scheme of redemption, through His precious death, are brought under review, the more God reveals Himself, the more will man be disturbed and distressed. Where our acquaintance with God is acquaintance with God in Christ, the closer the acquaintance, the greater will be our peace. (Henry Melvill, B. D.)
A Divine acquaintance
Two things no one will challenge.
1. That most men like to improve their acquaintance, to get familiar with such as show a higher social position, with a similar moral preference and taste to their own.
2. Any such acquaintance, to whom a man may look up, will be no small factor in giving shape and maturity to his character. The text indicates–
I. A distance, a variance of feeling, between heaven and earth. Here nonacquaintance is enmity. Man now is like to the disobedient child, Sin is nothing if it is not a perverted, a wronged, and a wronging relationship–a change on the one side from the natural to the unnatural. There is wrong relationship between heaven and earth. Sin is not only cruel in putting man at a hateful variance with his Divine Father, but it is murderously fatal. It has more than pain, there is peril of perdition.
II. Heaven desires the present and peaceful settlement of the difference.
1. Any estrangement between two who should be friends will always bring the most pain to the one who has the finest and most susceptible nature.
2. The initiative in seeking this readjustment has been taken by heaven. At the Cross He halts for audience and restoration. This He makes the one point for all negotiations–a witness of His love, and a challenge for others love and service.
III. This settlement, when effected, will certainly bring to man the highest blessedness. Thereby good shall come unto thee. Everywhere, with a fever of greed, men are seeking good. Sin pardoned is the true good.
IV. The attainment of this state demands the heartiest efforts of all men. Surely the dignity of this state makes a claim upon men. To be at peace with God will be the noblest, the safest, and the happiest of states. (Edwin D. Green.)
Acquaintance with God
I. Why we should acquaint ourselves with God. The fact is that our very salvation depends upon our knowledge of God and of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
1. That a better acquaintance with God will develop a more intense love for Him. We find a friend, and the more we study his traits of character and learn the true principles of his friendship, the more intense will become our love for him.
2. A closer acquaintance with God will develop in us a deeper work of grace. Grace and the knowledge of God are always associated in the Bible (Eph 4:15; 1Pe 2:2; 2Pe 3:18).
3. In a closer acquaintance with God, our thoughts, and our words, and our very habits of life become assimilated unto the Divine Mind and ways.
4. With our acquaintance with God grows our delight in His service (Psa 1:1-2; Psa 119:35; Psa 119:47; Psa 119:92).
II. How shall we secure this acquaintance with God?
1. Through His Word.
2. We get acquainted with God by living much with Him in prayer.
3. By persistently submitting our wills to His will. Our friends delight to confer and counsel with us so long as they feel that we are putting their counsels to practical use.
4. We get better acquainted with God by carefully noting our experiences in life.
III. What must be the consequences of such an acquaintance with God? Such an acquaintance must result–
1. In a fixedness of purpose.
2. Proficiency in His service.
3. Constant peace and joy. (J. C. Jacoby.)
The peace of knowing God
The study of Gods nature in the page of revelation is oftentimes abused, so as to give a man not peace, but trouble. But we should be aware that this is not the necessary fruit, nay, that it never need be the consequence at all, of meditation on Gospel truth. Acquaint thyself with God. Thou knowest Him not aright by nature; thou art in need of diligent study, constant prayer, frequent meditation. Thy notions of God are far from being what they ought to be. Take pains to know Him as He is. To know that God made us, and at the same time to feel that we therefore owe to Him our own existence, this is to acquaint ourselves with God. To know of the gift of Gods Son as a Saviour from sin, and to know of the Holy Spirit, the Comforter and Sanctifier, this is to acquaint ourselves with God. Then thou shalt be at peace with God and with thyself. And good shall come unto thee. Both now and hereafter. (C. Girdlestone, M. A.)
Acquaintance with God
Peace–where does it dwell? There is peace in nature. But is there peace with man? Why has man no peace? Sin is the destroyer of your peace and mine. As sin is alienation from God, the recovery of that peace is only to be sought in deliverance from sin, and in a return to the knowledge and love of Him.
I. In what sense are we to acquaint ourselves with God? To what kind of knowledge does the text refer? Is it required for our peace that we should know Him as He is? Shall we strain our puny minds to span the countless ages of the eternity of the past? Surely eternity, self-existence, omnipotence, infinite and essential wisdom, holiness and love, these are depths which even angels can only desire to look into. Is it then to know Him in His counsels and ways–to understand His dealings in providence and grace? No. How often have His people to trust and not to trace! How seldom does He vouchsafe to show to them the thing that He does! How then shall man acquaint himself with God? This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. To know God as a reconciled Father in Christ, is saving, sanctifying, comforting, peace-speaking knowledge of God to your souls and mine. It is a knowledge which changes, warms, strengthens and cheers the heart.
II. By nature we are not thus acquainted with him. We are not talking of an intellectual, but, if I may say so, of a moral, a spiritual, knowledge. Sin must ever involve ignorance of God. The unrenewed heart cannot have the rich, experimental knowledge of the true child of God. Examine well, then, the character of your acquaintance with God, your religious knowledge.
III. The manner in which the more spiritual acquaintance is to be gained. Turn to the Bible. See in Jesus of Nazareth, God with us.
IV. The happy result promised as attendant upon this acquaintance with God. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. (John C. Miller, M. A.)
Peace and good by acquaintance with God
These are the words of a heathen thinker. The words are true in substance. They are wise, far-sighted words. This sage made a grand mistake in the application of this truth to his friend Job.
1. Is there such a thing among men as peace–a deep and true peace–without any acquaintance with God? 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. It is useless to approach such men with arguments for the existence of God, or in favour of any of His attributes. For they are in a state which no abstract argument can well reach. We may take them on the side of the text, and ask, How about peace? Is his whole nature at peace? He says, 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 an end of me. If we are to live again, we shall be prepared for it when it comes: why should we trouble about the matter now? Is this answer true? I say it is not. If it be true, then it comes to this, that one man is essentially different from another man. Not merely circumstantially, but in very nature. Any peace a man may have 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. Suppose the case of those who have no doubt of the existence of God, but cannot be said, in any true sense, to be acquainted with Him. Are any such at peace? Again the answer is No. Indeed, such 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. If God exists, clearly our relations to Him, and His relations to us, are of first importance. Suppose one convinced of the Divine existence, and yet destitute of any true idea of the Divine character, what is the result? It may be this or that, according to temperament, or circumstances, but it never is peace. It may be a silent distrust, or a habitual alienation, or a more active antipathy, or an undefined dread, or an awful, but most uncheerful and uncomfortable sense of solemnity, or a settled despondency, or the falling shadow of a black despair; but it never is peace. Those who are imperfectly acquainted with God look at some of the attributes separately, but never at the centre and essence of the character, where all the attributes meet. They never see that God is love. The text literally means, dwell with God. Dwell with Him in the same tent or home. To come to God in Christ is to come home: to enter the tent of the Divine presence.
2. Thereby good shall come to thee. Good of every kind, and especially of the best kind. In fact, the state itself is the good begun. By far the greatest good that can be done to a man is the making of himself good. This is done by bringing him into intimate acquaintance and reconciliation and friendship with God. No man is good who avoids the society of God. The reconciled soul is the receptive soul, receptive of God, and of His truth and love. This good that comes is, in fact, nothing less than all the benefits and blessings of the Gospel. (A. Raleigh, D. D.)
Acquaintance with God
I. All counsels that a man may give, or his fellow receive, there is none so important as that of cultivating acquaintance with God. Acquaintance signifies more than a bare knowledge. Acquaintance with God is included in three particulars.
1. In a spiritual knowledge of the being of God.
2. In a union of will, and a union of way, with that of God.
3. In a perpetual communion with God.
II. Of all times, seasons, and opportunities, there is no time like the present to cultivate acquaintance with God. Consider–
1. That this matter is important.
2. That there is no time like the present time.
3. That the future is quite uncertain.
4. That the longer a man lives in sin, the farther he goes from God.
III. Of all the benefits which man receives, or God bestows, there are none like those blessings that follow acquaintance with God. Good shall thereby come unto thee.
1. All the good in nature.
2. All good in grace.
3. All the good in glory. How miserable must be the state of that man who has no acquaintance with God. (T. Jones.)
On acquaintance with God
I. The proper methods of acquainting our own selves with God.
1. The first step is to acquire a competent knowledge of His nature, His attributes, and His will. We need not commend an inquiry into the metaphysical essence of the Supreme Being. But a competent knowledge of the moral nature of the Deity is both possible and necessary to us. In nature, and in the Scriptures, Gods infinite wisdom and almighty power, His perfect purity and holiness, His justice and faithfulness, His goodness and mercy, His general and particular providence, His determined resolution finally to punish incorrigible wickedness, and to award sincere though imperfect obedience, are set forth with such plainness that the most moderate understanding may gain all requisite intelligence concerning His Divine nature and attributes. Gods will, and all that He requires from us, is laid down with equal plainness.
2. A sincere repentance of our past transgressions. This is a necessary consequence of the former step toward an acquaintance with God. The result of our inquiries will be, that He is a Being of the most perfect purity and holiness. All unreasonable and vicious conduct must be offensive in His sight. While we continue in impenitence, we have the greatest reason to be overwhelmed with terror and dismay. But the repentance must be sincere and universal, extending to all the particulars of our duty and Gods commands.
II. When we have acquired an acquaintance with God, we must be careful to preserve and improve it, by frequent prayer and devotion. Prayer and religious meditation is the proper food of our souls. This maintains that communion with God without which whatsoever is good in us will quickly languish and decay. (R. Richmond, LL. D.)
The advice of Eliphaz
This is all the three friends could, in substance, say. It is difficult to read the exhortation of another man. We are, indeed, apt to put into all reading our own tone, and thereby sometimes we may do grievous injustice to the authors or speakers whom we seek to interpret. One canon of good reading, however, may surely be this, that when a man so seer-like, so prophet-like as Eliphaz, concluded his controversy with Job, observing the suffering and the sorrow of the patriarch, he would be sure to drop his voice into the music of consolation, and would endeavour, whilst speaking words of apparently legal and mechanical preciseness, to utter them with the tone of the heart, as if in the very sorrow was hidden a gracious Gospel, and as if duty might, by some subtle power, be turned into the most precious of delight. All hortatory words may be spoken with too much voice, with too strong a tone, so as to throw them out of proportion in relation to the hearer, whose sorrow already fills his ears with muffled noises. Let us imagine Eliphaz–eldest of the counsellors, most gracious of the speakers–laying his hand, as it were, gently upon the smitten patriarch, and approaching his ear with all the reverence of affectionate confidence, and giving him these parting instructions. Then the exhortation becomes music. The preacher does not thunder his appeal, but utters it persuasively, so that the heart alone may hear it, and the soul be melted by the plea. May it not be so with us also? We do not need the strong exhortation, but we do need the consolatory appeal and stimulus. You may frighten a man by calling out very loudly when he is within one inch of a brink; the nearer the man is to the precipice, the more subdued, the less startling, should be your appeal: you might whisper to him as if nothing were the matter; you might rather lure his attention than loudly and roughly excite it; and then when you get firm hold of him bring him away to the headland as urgently and strongly as you can. May it not be that some hearts may be so far gone that one rude tone from the preacher would break up what little hope remains? Should we not rather sometimes sit down quite closely to one another and say, softly, Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace? think of what all thy life comes to, poor soul, and see if even now, just at the very last, the flickering lamp cannot be revived, and made strong and bright: come, let us pray. Never regard the Gospel as having come roughly, violently, but as always coming like the dawn, like the dew, like music from afar, which, having travelled from eternity, stops to accommodate itself to the limitations of time. Still the exhortation has the strength within it. Speak it as you may, it is the strongest exhortation that can be addressed to human attention. When the tone is softened it is not that the law has given up the pursuit of the soul, has ceased to press its infinite claims upon the trespasser. Do not mistake the persuasion of the Gospel for the weaknesses of the preacher, and do not regard the errors of the preacher as implying in any degree defect on the part of his message. Eliphaz tells Job what he must do; let us read his bill of directions. Acquaint now thyself with Him. Here is a call to mental action. Job is invited to bethink himself. He is exhorted to put himself at the right point of view. Instead of dealing with social questions and personal details, the seer invites the smitten patriarch to betake himself to the sanctuary and to work out the whole solution in the fear and love of God. There are amongst ourselves questions that are supreme and questions that are inferior. Who would care for the inferior if he could solve the supreme, and fill himself with all the mystery of Deity? What are all our inventions, arts, sciences, and cleverest tricks, and boldest adventures into the region of darkness, compared with the possibility of knowing human thought–the power of removing the veil that separates man from man, and looking into the arcana of another soul? But this is kept back from us. We are permitted to dig foundations, to build towers and temples; we are permitted to span rivers with bridges, and bore our way through rocky hills; but we cannot tell what the least little child is thinking about. All other learning would be contemptible in comparison with an attainment so vast and useful. This is the explanation of men spending their days over crucibles, in hidden places, in darkened dungeons, seeking in the crucible for the particular Something that would dissolve everything that was hard, and reveal everything that was dark. This is the meaning of the quest in which men have been engaged for the Sangreal, the philosophers stone–that marvellous and unnamable something which, if a man had, he would open every kingdom and be at home in every province of the universe. You cannot kill that mysterious ambition of the human heart. It will come up in some form. It is the secret of progress. All this leads to the uppermost thought, namely, that if a man could acquaint himself with God, live with God, would not that be the very highest attainment of all? If he could enter the tabernacles of the Most High, and survey the universe from the altar where burns the Shechinah, what would all other attainments and acquisitions amount to? Yet this is the thing to be aimed at–grow in grace; grow in all life; for it means, in its fruition, acquaintance with God, identification with God, absorption in God, living, moving, having the being in God; taking Gods view of everything; made radiant with Gods wisdom, and calm with Gods peace. Assuming that to be a possibility, how all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory thereof, fade away into the dim distance! How grandly some of the old seers now and again touched the vital point; and how the ages have thrilled with their touch, knowing that at last they had left detail and cloud and mystification, and touched the very pulse of things. Here stands the great truth, the eternal verity: until we have acquainted ourselves with God, by means prescribed in Gods own Book, our knowledge is ignorance, and our mental acquisitions are but so many proofs of our mental incapacity. Eliphaz therefore lifts up the whole discussion to a new level. He will not point to this wound or that, to the sore, boil, or blain, to the withering skin, to the patriarchs pitiful physical condition; he begins now to touch the great mystery of things–namely, that God is in all the cloud of affliction, in all the wilderness of poverty, and that to know His purpose is to live in His tranquillity. (Joseph Parker, D. D.)
Peace through the knowledge of God
Here, if our received version is correct, Eliphaz hits upon one of the profoundest thoughts in religion, the significance and value of which each new step in the revelation of God to men has more and more disclosed. The principle is, that a more true and full knowledge of God is the cure for every phase of human unrest. Spiritual disquiet lies outside of God. He who does not know God as He is at all, lies open to every incursion of religious disquietude; whether through superstitious fear, or through conscience, or through doubt, or through passion, or through discontent, or through any other of the numberless and sometimes nameless alleys by which disturbance is forever assailing the souls of men. On the other hand, the more truly and the more fully anyone knows by acquaintance the personal God, the more is he rid of sources of inward dispeace.
1. Of what sort must our knowledge of God be? It is possible to know as a friend by personal intercourse, one whom we are by no means able fully to understand. A little child knows his father; but he does not comprehend, or embrace in his knowledge, the fulness of that fathers capacities. It is not through the intellect alone, or best, that the Infinite God is knowable by any creature. It is through the personal affections, through conscience, and through the spiritual faculty of faith. There are three stages to be observed in a mans knowledge of God.
(1) Certain true notions respecting the Divine Being and His character must be presupposed, before I can approach Him with that personal approach which is the basis of acquaintanceship.
(2) Given a fairly correct notion of the almighty and righteous God, whose name is Love, 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, and to obey, is the road to real acquaintance with Him.
(3) Such a moral acquaintanceship with God ekes out even the imperfection of our intellectual notions regarding Him. Much must forever remain that we cannot know. Intimacy with a good person breeds confidence, and confidence gives peace. Those who know God as a friend will put their trust in Him.
2. Show, by two or three instances, how Gods growing revelation of Himself to man has been followed in experience by a corresponding increase of peace in their souls. Take, for illustration, two items from the Old Testament manifestation of Jehovah to the Hebrew people, and two from the better revelation in His Son, which, as Christians, we enjoy.
(1) The fundamental truth, which it took nearly a thousand years to teach the chosen nation, is the unity of God. So entirely has this splendid truth taken possession of the modern world, Christian, Jewish, and Mohammedan–that we absolutely fail to conceive of the ancient heathen habit of thought on the subject. This doctrine of the unity of God brought a beginning of peace to the worlds heart.
(2) The unrest created by the heathen creed of many gods, with limited powers and overlapping provinces, was immensely increased by the selfish partiality, venality, and passionateness generally ascribed to the Divine character. To the gods were imputed the passions of men, and of very bad men, too; so that anything was worship which could be supposed to influence a fickle, corrupt, or facile will. This wretched degradation of deity bred dispeace of soul. It is impossible to know the secret mind of one who is unfair, or open to unrighteous influence. I cannot count on his friendship. But Jehovah is just, impartial, Consistent. What may be called Gods absolute integrity, embracing His truth or faithfulness; His justice, or the equality of His administration and its coincidence with law; and His unchangeableness, as one inaccessible to unfair influence–this is the grand moral discovery of the Old Testament. To such a God, upright men do not appeal in vain.
(3) Until God was pleased to make, through Christ, a further disclosure of Himself, we never could be perfectly at peace. Through all pre-Christian religions, and 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, the only idea possible till God taught us better, is that man has to work on God through some means or other, so as to change repulsion or aversion into favour. This false and heathenish notion is still widespread among us. But it brings no peace. We can never be sure that our effort has succeeded. Expiation does not come by our successful efforts to work on Divine placability, or to deserve Divine grace, or to buy off or beg off Divine resentment. It is Gods own act, dictated by His sole charity, wrought by His sole passion.
(4) We are led still nearer to perfect peace by a more recent revelation, that of the Third Person. God is the Holy Ghost, who freely, gladly stoops to inform our warring and sin-sick souls. With infinite patience He stays by us while we fight or sin. 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 we shall have the full repose that follows conquest. (J. Oswald Dykes, D. D.)
The highest knowledge and the greatest good
Ignorance of God is the secret of all opposition to God. It is impossible for any man to know God message to those who are ignorant of His name. Do not misjudge His character any longer. Do not blaspheme the name that you would bless, if you did but understand the God that it represents.
I. An exposition of the text. There are two or three translations of this sentence: Acquaint now thyself with Him, or Acquiesce in Him–surrender that will of yours. The first step to salvation is an absolute surrender of the will. Another rendering is, Join yourself to God. The French translation has it: Attach yourself to God. Fall in with His ways, and with His methods. This is particularly practical advice to us as Christian workers. But there is a special force in the Saxon word acquaint, from which we get the word ken, to know. Get to know God–to understand Him. Know Him intellectually, for this is the pioneer of all other blessings. We can only become acquainted with God as He reveals Himself. Become acquainted with Him morally. Yield your hearts to Him. Know Him socially by walking with Him. Know God the Son, as well as God the Father. Your acquaintance with Him must begin at the Cross. And know God the Holy Spirit, as a Sanctifier, Comforter, Teacher, yea, as an abiding, tender Guide, and as a Power to help us in our Christian work.
II. Enforce this exhortation. The text speaks to us individually. And it must be acquaintance with Him–with Himself.
III. The promise of the text. The first good is, Thou shalt be established; the second, Evil shall be removed from thy dwelling; the third is, delight in God, and an uplifted face. (W. Williams.)
Acquaintance with God
I. An acquaintance with God, the best support under afflictions. The exceeding corruption and folly of man is in nothing more manifest than in his averseness to entertain any friendship or familiarity with God. In all cases where the body is affected with pain or sickness, we are forward enough to look out for remedies. Yet notwithstanding that, we find and feel our souls disordered and restless, tossed and disquieted by various passions, and notwithstanding that we are assured from other mens experience, and from our own inward convictions, that the only way of regulating these disorders is to call off our minds from too close an attention to the things of sense, and to employ them often in a sweet intercourse with our Maker, the Author of our being, and Fountain of all our ease and happiness; yet we are strangely backward to lay hold of this safe, this only, method of cure; we go on still nourishing the distemper under which we groan, and choose rather to feel the pain than to apply the remedy.
I. What this Scripture phrase implies. Wherein does the duty consist? We are prone by nature to engage ourselves in too close and strict an acquaintance with the things of this world, which immediately and strongly strike our senses. To check and correct this ill-tendency, it is requisite that we should acquaint ourselves with God, that we should frequently disengage our hearts from earthly pursuits, and fix them on Divine things. This is only general; it may be useful to mention some particulars wherein it chiefly consists. In order to begin and improve human friendships, five things are principally requisite–knowledge, access, a similitude of manners, an entire confidence and love; and by these also the Divine friendship, of which we are treating, must be cemented and upheld.
II. This is the only way to a perfect tranquillity and rest of mind. And be at peace. Honour, profit, and pleasure, are the three great idols to which the men of this world bow, and one or all of these are generally aimed at in every friendship they make; and yet, though nothing can be more honourable, profitable, or pleasing to us, than an acquaintance with God, we stand off from it, and will not be tempted even by these motives, though appearing to us with the utmost advantage, to embrace it. Can anything improve, and purify, and exalt our natures more than such a conversation as this, wherein our spirits, mounting on the wings of contemplation, faith, and love, ascend up to the first principle and cause of all things, see, admire, and taste His surpassing excellence, and feel the quickening power and influence of it? In what conversation can we spend our thoughts and time more profitably than in this?
III. The most proper season for such a religious exercise of our thoughts is when any sore trouble or calamity overtakes us. Now, when the wise Disposer of all things hath thought fit to pour out afflictions upon thee. At such times our soul is most tender and susceptible of religious impressions, most apt to seek God, to delight in approaching Him, and conversing with Him. The kind and chief design of God, in all His severest dispensations, is to melt and soften our hearts to such a degree as He finds necessary in order to the good purposes of His grace. We are, by nature, indigent creatures, incapable of ourselves to content and satisfy ourselves; and therefore are ever looking abroad for somewhat to supply our defects and complete our happiness. How can the pious sons and daughters of affliction better employ themselves than in looking up to Him that hath bruised them, and possessing their souls in patience? Let us, throughout the whole course of our lives, take care to make the thoughts of God so present, familiar, and comfortable to us here, that we may not be afraid of appearing face to face before Him hereafter. (F. Atterbury, D. D.)
The true source of peace of mind
Of all earthly comfort, the firmest basis and the principal constituent is peace of mind. Without this, neither power, nor riches, nor even life itself, can yield any substantial or lasting satisfaction. If our peace of mind be destroyed, all pleasure is destroyed with it. No sufficient remedy was discovered by the efforts of unassisted reason: we may therefore inquire what aid can be derived from Divine revelation.
1. To acquaint ourselves with God, in the sense in which our Scriptures teach, and require the acquaintance, we shall soon perceive to be no difficult task, if we engage in it with zeal and diligence, and take those Scriptures for our instructor and guide. Of the Supreme Being we certainly have not the faculties to comprehend the Eternal power and Godhead. The misfortune is, we attach ourselves so entirely to the business and the pleasures of our present state, that we are unwilling to turn our thoughts to the greater and better objects of our care. Hence negligence produces many of the effects and mischiefs of ignorance. We must not only make God the subject of inquiry and speculation; we must seriously reflect on the relation in which we stand to this Creator and Ruler of the world, and what His providence is doing every day. In the Bible such laws are prescribed for our conduct, as, if duly observed, would render human life a constant scene of virtue, piety, and peace. More than half our sufferings are the effect of our own misconduct. From the Bible we learn that our present state is the time and place of trial for our faith and conduct. When this life has come to an end, then each will be adjudged to an eternal allotment of happiness or misery, proportioned to his vice or virtue, to his piety or his profaneness. Even this is not the whole of our information and advantages. We are offered, upon our repentance and amendment, the pardon of our sins of error and infirmity, through the merits and mediation of a Redeemer.
2. Of this acquaintance with our God, the declared intention, and the promised effect, are to be at peace–at peace in our own minds. The perplexities of life can only be satisfactorily explained, and the afflictions of life patiently endured, by acquainting ourselves with God, and obtaining this acquaintance by the assistance of his own revelation. It is universally allowed that the human mind is never fully satisfied with what human life can bestow upon us. In the midst even of riches, authority, and honours, some want is still felt, something new is still sought, something better is still desired. Even when we know that we have offended God by the transgression of His laws, when our conscience afflicts us with the sense of guilt and the apprehension of its punishment–under these unhappy circumstances, and most especially under these, to acquaint ourselves with God is the only expedient for us to be at peace. It is, indeed, in the hour of calamity, under the pressure of affliction, that this acquaintance with our God is most necessary, and will most avail us. It is when accident or sickness or poverty has deprived us of worldly comfort or of worldly hope, it is then our trust in Providence, and that only, will support our sinking spirits, speak peace to our minds, and teach us that patient submission which must be at once our duty and consolation. It was under such circumstances that Eliphaz gave to Job the advice of the text. (W. Barrow, LL. D.)
God is worthy of confidence
Man became alienated from God by the apostasy, and consequently miserable; and peace was to be found again only by reconciliation with Him. There are two great difficulties in the minds of men. The one is, they have no just views of the character and government of God; and the second is, if His true character is made known to them, they have no pleasure in it, no confidence in it. Both these difficulties must be removed before man can be reconciled to his Maker. No small part of the difficulty will be removed if we can show him that the character of God is such as to deserve his confidence.
I. The liability to error on our part in judging of the character and government of God. The great evil in this world is a want of confidence in God–a want of confidence producing the same disasters there which it does in a commercial community and in the relations of domestic life. The great thing needful to make this a happy world is to restore confidence in the Creator–confidence, the great restorer of happiness everywhere. Now, man can never be reconciled to God unless this confidence shall be restored. In disputes between you and your neighbour, the great thing for you to do is to restore to his mind just confidence in yourself–to explain matters. This is what is to be done in religion. It is to convince men that God is worthy of confidence. Why should a man wish to cherish any hard thoughts of God without the shadow of reason? In our estimate of God, are we in no danger of being influenced by improper feelings? See four sources of danger on this point.
1. We are in danger of being governed in our views of God by mere feeling, rather than by sober judgment and calm investigation.
2. We are often in circumstances where we are in danger of cherishing hard thoughts of God. They may make us feel that His government is severe and arbitrary.
3. We always regard ourselves as the aggrieved and injured party. We do not allow ourselves to suppose it possible that God should be right and we be wrong.
4. Back of all this is the fact that We are not pleased with the character of God when it is understood. By nature we have no pleasure in God. All the views of the Divine character which are formed under influences like these are likely to be wrong.
II. The real difficulties of the case. Such as a man might find who would wish to see such evidence as would enable him to put unwavering confidence in God. There are many things which such a man cannot understand. Such as, that sin should have been allowed to come into the system formed by a holy God. That misery should come into the universe, and that death, with many forms of woe, has been commissioned to cut down one whole race. That the immortal mind should be allowed to jeopard its infinite welfare. That any should suffer forever. That since God can save men, and will save a part, He has not purposed to save all. These, and kindred difficulties, meet the mind when we think on this great subject. They are real, not imaginary difficulties.
III. The evidences that he is worthy of confidence. They are, God Himself as revealed; and the government of God as–
1. One of law.
2. Stable and firm.
3. The arrangements of this government tend to promote the welfare of His subjects.
4. They provide for the evils that arise from the violation of law.
5. In the plan of recovery none are excluded.
6. Those who know Gods character best are found to repose most confidence in Him. (A. Barnes, D. D.)
How good comes to man
These are strange words to be addressed to a man renowned for piety and integrity! Job and the Almighty were by no means strangers to each other. How comes it, then, that Eliphaz says to Job, Acquaint now thyself with Him? God appears to have given him over to Satan for the time being, because that evil spirit had alleged that the piety of Job was maintained only for selfish ends. Dr. Stanley Leathes says: It may be presumed that Satan challenged the Almighty in the case of Job, and that the Almighty accepted his challenge. It must, however, be carefully noted that the reader only, and not the several characters in this discussion, is supposed to be acquainted with this fact: for had it appeared openly at any point of the argument, there would at once have been an end to the discussion, The several speakers were shooting arrows in the dark; the reader only occupies a vantage-ground, in the light afforded by a knowledge of the secret.
I. The fact of estrangement.
1. The witness of conscience. That there is more unrest in the world than there is of peace and contentment, few would deny. What is the cause of the dissatisfaction? The popular replies are, We work at such high pressure. There is so much competition in commercial life that daily toil becomes a daily struggle. There is too much worry, and too little recreation; etc., etc. But are these replies satisfactory? As a matter of experience, does recreation make for contentment? Do our worries cease as our possessions increase? One thing we know, that humanity is adrift from its God. Unacquaintance with Him explains much of the joylessness and impotence in human life today.
2. The witness of the world. To the questions, Why should there be so much mutual suspicion in mens hearts? Why so much strife? The world itself bears witness that it has turned away from its Creator and its King.
3. The witness of God Himself. If God calls, there is a need for the call; and He, with lament and sorrow, says to the children of men, Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die?
II. The estrangement may end. Acquaint now thyself with Him. But what things are necessary to a reconciliation that shall be both just and abiding? There are two ways in which sin may be dealt with. First, to condone it; secondly, to forgive it. The Almighty, being a God of Justice, cannot do the former. We see then that–
(1) Reconciliation is based on Divine pardon.
(2) Pardon is assured through the atonement of Christ.
III. The estrangement may end now. Acquaint now thyself with Him. But on certain conditions. And they are–
1. Repentance.
2. The forsaking of sin. (F. Burnett.)
How good comes to man
I. The results of this acquaintanceship, or the effects of reconciliation,–be at peace; thereby good shall come unto thee. What is this good which is as the gateway of peace? Is it a gift or an experience? How does it come? Am I but the passive object of the Divine pity? Have I to stand and wait, or to strive and obtain? The enriching of my life with good is Gods work; it is also my work. There is a human power in the Divine life. I must arise and return to the Father, ere He can receive me.
II. The possession of good is seen in contentment of mind. Discontent is more common than contentment. Is there no such thing as a righteous and justifiable ambition? Our text says that by making the acquaintance of God, we become the possessors of good. Material good or spiritual good? Both. The God who graciously invites my friendship, and offers His, is interested in my whole being. With the Bible–the story of man and his God–before us, and the testimony of men around us, we may reply that man, in making the acquaintance of God, is not a loser, but a gainer. Acquaintance with God has opened unto him the gates of peace and prosperity.
III. The possession of good is seen in an abundance of spiritual life. This life, that is life indeed, includes–
1. Sonship.
2. Joint-heirship with Christ.
3. Daily power for daily need. (F. Burnett.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 21. Acquaint now thyself with him] Perhaps the verb hasken should be translated here, treasure up, or lay up. Lay up or procure an interest now with him, and be at peace. Get the Divine favour, and then thou wilt be at peace with God, and have happiness in thy own soul.
Thereby good shalt come unto thee.] bahem, “in them,” shall good come unto thee. That is, in getting an interest in the Divine favour, and in having thy soul brought into a state of peace with him; thereby, in them, that is, these two things, good will come unto thee. First, thou wilt have an interest in his favour, from which thou mayest expect all blessings; and, secondly, from his peace in thy conscience thou wilt feel unutterable happiness. Get these blessings now, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Reader, hast thou these blessings?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
With him, i.e. with God, as appears both from Job 22:23, where he is expressed, and from the nature of the thing, there being no other way to happiness. Renew thy acquaintance and converse with God by prayer, which thou hast restrained, Job 15:4. and repentance for all thy sins, and true humiliation under his hand, and hearty compliance with all his commands, and diligent care to serve and enjoy him; and be no longer estranged from God, as thou now art.
Be at peace: this is either,
1. A promise, the imperative being put for the future of the indicative mood, and so thou shalt have peace, i.e. prosperity and happiness. Or rather,
2. A counsel or command; If God be an enemy to thee, as thou sayest he is, reconcile thyself to him by true repentance, and earnestly seek his favour and friendship, and do not provoke him further by thy false and wicked speeches of him, or by thy froward carriage to him: and whereas thou art full of unquietness and rage against God, learn to possess thy soul in patience, give over murmuring against him, and get a composed, and quiet, and submissive mind and heart; which is called peace, Jdg 6:23; 19:20; Isa 57:21. Thus far is the command or exhortation; now followeth the promise.
Thereby, i.e. by following these counsels.
Good shall come unto thee; thou shalt be freed from all thy calamities, and enjoy all the happiness which thy heart can desire.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
21. Eliphaz takes it forgranted, Job is not yet “acquainted” with God; literally,”become a companion of God.” Turn with familiarconfidence to God.
and beSo thoushalt be: the second imperatively expresses theconsequence of obeying the first (Ps37:27).
peaceprosperity andrestoration to Job; true spiritually also to us(Rom 5:1; Col 1:20).
good (1Ti4:8).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace,…. Not with the righteous and innocent, but with God, as Job 22:22 show: from severe charges and censures, Eliphaz proceeds to advice and exhortations, and seems to be in a better temper, and to talk in a more kind and gentle manner, only he goes upon a false supposition and mistaken notion, that Job was a bad man; had he had a proper object to have directed his discourse to, it would have been excellently said; and, as it is, is not without its use: this first exhortation supposes unacquaintance with God, and an estrangedness from him; which is the case of every man from the womb, and in a state of nature and unregeneracy. Acquaintance with God begins at conversion, when he is made known, not only as the God of nature and providence, but as the God of grace and peace in Christ; and it is carried on by prayer, which is a converse with God, and by attendance on his worship and ordinances, in which men walk before him, and have fellowship with him: this is sometimes interrupted and dropped for a while, through temptation or sin; when there arises on account thereof a shyness and backwardness to draw nigh unto God, until he calls and invites them to take with them words, and return unto him; an acquaintance with God is not kept up when prayer before him is restrained; which Eliphaz charges Job with, Job 15:4; and when saints forsake the assembling of themselves together, or neglect public worship, or grow indifferent to it; and it is renewed again by prayer, and a fresh attendance on the above things; in which frequent visits are made between God and his people, mutual secrets communicated, a holy freedom, familiarity, and boldness contracted, and communion with God enjoyed: men may also acquaint themselves with him yet more and more by the contemplation of his works, by reading and hearing his word, and by conversation with good men, ministers, and others. The Jewish commentators h generally interpret it, “use” or “accustom thyself with him”, to walk in his ways, and observe his commands: “and be at peace”; not make his peace with God, which a creature cannot do; only Job’s living Redeemer could do that, and he has done it; but be easy and still under the afflicting hand of God, quietly submit to it, and patiently endure it, and not murmur at it; or, as Aben Ezra interprets it, as a promise of God, “thou shalt be in peace”, or “thou shalt have peace”; all outward prosperity and happiness, which is often signified by this word; or inward peace of mind, which comes from God, and through an acquaintance with him, and from Christ, his blood, righteousness, and sacrifice, by whom the acquaintance with God is opened and maintained; and it is had in a way of duty, in attendance on the ordinances of God, which are paths of peace; and also eternal peace hereafter, when acquaintance with God will be no more dropped, nor interrupted, but continue for ever:
thereby good shall come unto thee: temporal good things, necessary and convenient, the promise of which is annexed to godliness, or an acquaintance with God; spiritual good things, the blessings of grace, all things pertaining to life and godliness, and eternal good things; that far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, which afflictions, peaceably and patiently borne, work for and bring unto.
h Aben Ezra, Ben Gersom, Bar Tzemach.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
21 Make friends now with Him, so hast thou peace;
Thereby good will come unto thee.
22 Receive now teaching from His mouth,
And place His utterances in thy heart.
23 If thou returnest to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up again;
If thou puttest away iniquity far from thy tents.
24 And lay by in the dust the gold ore,
And under the pebbles of the brooks the gold of Ophir.
25 So shall the Almighty be to thee gold ore in abundance,
And silver to thee of the brightest lustre.
The relationship of the verbs , , and Arab. sakana , has been already discussed on Job 22:2: the Hiph. signifies to be on friendly terms with any one; to enter into, or to stand in, an intimate relationship to any one (Psa 139:3); then also (as the Greek ) to get accustomed to, to be used to (Num 22:30). The second imper. is consecutive, as e.g., Pro 3:4: and have as the result of it peace (Arab. fa’aslam ) = so shalt thou have peace, Ges. 130, 2. In Job 22:21 the first thing to be done is to clear up the form or (according to another reading which is likewise well attested) . Olshausen (in Hirz. and in his Gramm.) and Rdiger (in Thes. p. 11, suppl.) explain this form the same as the other forms which come under consideration in connection with it, viz., ( veniat ), Deu 33:16, and , Keri ( et venisses , addressed to Abigail), 1Sa 25:34, as errors in writing; whereas Ew., 191, c, sees in the erroneous form = with a superfluous feminine termination, in an extension of the double feminine by the unaccented ah of intention, and in a transfer of the inflexion of the perf. to the fut. Confining ourselves to the form which occurs here, we refer to what was said above: is not a forma mixta from and , but the mistaken double feminine with suff., the ah of which, although the tone is on the penult., is not He voluntativum, as Isa 5:19, but He femin. The exception of such double feminines is made as certain in Hebrew by the regular form ( = with a second feminine termination), and by examples like Pro 1:20; Eze 23:20, and also Jos 6:17; 2Sa 1:26; Amo 4:3 (comp. even Olsh. in his Gramm. S. 449), as the double plural and its further formation by a feminine termination in Arabic. It is therefore unnecessary, with Olsh. and Rd., after the precedent of the ancient versions, to read (which is found in 19 Codd. in de Rossi): proventus tuus bonus erit . The suff. in , as Isa 64:4; Eze 23:18, comp. , Isa 38:16, is intended as neuter, as the fem. is used elsewhere (e.g., Isa 38:16, ): by it, i.e., by such conduct, good (prosperity) shall come to thee, and indeed, as the construed with the acc. implies, in a sudden change of thy previous lot, coming about without any further effort on thy part. In the certainty that it is God’s word which he presents to his friend (the very certainty which Eliphaz also expresses elsewhere, e.g., Job 15:11), he further admonishes him (Job 22:22) to receive instruction from God’s mouth ( as Pro 2:6), and to allow His (God’s) utterances a place in his heart, not to let them die away without effect, but to imprint them deeply on his mind.
Job 22:23 If he return to the Almighty ( as freq., e.g., Isa 19:22, comp. Isa 45:24, instead of the otherwise usual , of thorough and complete conversion), he will be built up again, by his former prosperity being again raised from its ruins. , to build, always according to the connection, has at one time the idea of building round about, continuing to build, or finishing building (vid., on Job 20:19); at another of building up again (Job 12:14; Isa 58:12), referred to persons, the idea of increasing prosperity (Mal 3:15), or of the restoration of ruined prosperity (Jer 24:6; Jer 33:7), here in the latter sense. The promissory is surrounded by conditional clauses, for Job 22:23 (comp. Job 11:14) is a second conditional clause still under the government of , which is added for embellishment; it opens the statement of that in which penitence must be manifested, if it is to be thorough. The lxx translates , i.e., , which Ewald considers as the original; the omission of the (which the poet otherwise in such connections has formerly heaped up, e.g., Job 8:5., Job 11:13) is certainly inconvenient. And yet we should not on that account like to give up the figure indicated in , which is so beautiful and so suited to our poet. The statement advanced in the latter conditional clause is then continued in Job 22:24 in an independent imperative clause, which the old versions regard as a promise instead of exhortation, and therefore grossly misinterpret. The Targ. translates: and place on the dust a strong city (i.e., thou shalt then, where there is now nothing but dust, raise up such), as if could be equivalent to or , – a rendering to which Saadia at least gives a turn which accords with the connection: “regard the stronghold (Arab. ‘l – hsn ) as dust, and account as the stones of the valleys the gold of Ophir;” better than Eichhorn: “pull down thy stronghold of violence, and demolish ( ) the castles of thy valleys.” On the other hand, Gecatilia, who understands proportionately more correctly of treasures, translates it as a promise: so shalt thou inherit treasures (Arab. dchayr ) more numerous than dust, and gold ore (Arab. tbr’ ) (more than) the stones of the valleys; and again also Rosenm. ( repones prae pulvere argentum ) and Welte interpret Job 22:24 as a promise; whereas other expositors, who are true to the imperative , explain ni aestimare , and pulveris instar (Grot., Cocc., Schult., Dathe, Umbr.), by falsely assigning to here, as to elsewhere, a meaning which it never has anywhere; how blind, on the other hand, since the words in their first meaning, pone super pulverem , furnish an excellent thought which is closely connected with the admonition to rid one’s self of unjust possessions. , like Arab. tibr (by which Abulwalid explains it), is gold and silver ore, i.e., gold and silver as they are broken out of the mine, therefore (since silver is partially pure, gold almost pure, and always containing more or less silver) the most precious metal in its pure natural state before being worked, and consequently also unalloyed (comp. Arab. ndr and nudar , which likewise signifies aurum argentumve nativum , but not ab excidendo , but a nitore ); and “to lay in the dust” is equivalent to, to part with a thing as entirely worthless and devoid of attraction. The meaning is therefore: put away from thee the idol of previous metal with contempt (comp. Isa 2:20), which is only somewhat differently expressed in the parallel: lay the Ophir under the quartz ( agreeing with ) of the brooks (such as is found in the beds of empty wdys), i.e., place it under the rubble, after it has lost for thee its previous bewitching spell. As cloth woven from the filaments of the nettle is called muslin, from Mossul, and cloth with figures on it “damask, ” (Amo 3:12), from Damascus,
(Note: We leave it undecided whether in a similar manner silk has its name ( ), Armenian metaks, Aramaic , , from Damascus (Ewald and Friedr. Mller).)
and aloes-wood Arab. mndl , from Coromandel; so the gold from Ophir, i.e., from the coast of the Abhra, on the north coast of the Runn (Old Indian Irina, i.e., Salt Sea), east of the mouth of the Indus,
(Note: Thus has been explained by Lassen in his pamphlet de Pentapotamia, and his Indische Alterthumskunde (i. 539). The lxx ( Cod. Vat.) and Theodot. have , whence Ges. connects Ophir with Arrian’s and Edrisi’s Sufra in Guzerat, especially since Sofir is attested as the Coptic name for India. The matter is still not settled.)
is directly called . When Job thus casts from him temporal things, by the excessive cherishing of which he has hitherto sinned, then God himself will be his imperishable treasure, his everlasting higher delight. He frees himself from temporal ; and the Almighty, therefore the absolute personality of God himself, will be to him instead of it , gold as from the mine, in rich abundance. This is what the contrast of the plur. ( without Jod plur. is a false reading) with the sing. implies; the lxx, Syriac version, Jerome, and Arabic version err here, since they take the of as a preposition.
The ancient versions and lexicographers furnish no explanation of . The Targ. translates it , and accordingly it is explained by both (strength) and (height), without any reason being assigned for these significations. In the passage before us the lxx transl. from , in the Targum signification to blow, forge; the Syriac versions, argentum computationum ( ), from in the Targum-Talmudic signification to double (= Hebr. ). According to the usage of the language in question, , from the Hiph. of which is formed, signifies to become feeble, to be wearied; but even if, starting from the primary notion, an available signification is attained for the passage before us (fatigues = toilsome excitement, synon. ) and Psa 95:4 (climbings = heights), the use of the word in the most ancient passages citable, Num 23:22; Num 24:8, , still remains unexplained; for here the notion of being incapable of fatigue, invincibility, or another of the like kind, is required, without any means at hand for rightly deriving it from , to become feeble, especially as the radical signification anhelare supposed by Gesenius (comp. from the root ) is unattested. Accordingly, we must go back to the root , , discussed on Psa 95:4, which signifies to rise aloft, to be high, and from which , or with a transposition of the consonants (comp. and ), acquires the signification of standing out, rising radiantly, shining afar off, since , to become weary, is allied to the Arab. wgf , fut. i; this ( ), on the other hand, to Arab. yf’ , ascendere, adolescere , Arab. wf , elatum, adultum esse , and Arab. wfa , eminere , and tropically completum, perfectum esse . Thus we obtain the signification enimentiae for . In Psa 95:4, as a numerical plur., it signifies the towerings (tops) of the mountains, and here, as in the passages cited from Numbers, either prominent, eminent attributes, or as an intensive plur. excellence; whence, agreeing with Ewald, we have translated “silver of the brightest lustre” (comp. , eminentia , splendor, Eze 28:7).
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Good Counsel of Eliphaz; Encouragements to Return to God. | B. C. 1520. |
21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. 22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. 23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 24 Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. 25 Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. 26 For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. 27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. 28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. 29 When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. 30 He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
Methinks I can almost forgive Eliphaz his hard censures of Job, which we had in the beginning of the chapter, though they were very unjust and unkind, for this good counsel and encouragement which he gives him in these verses with which he closes his discourse, and than which nothing could be better said, nor more to the purpose. Though he thought him a bad man, yet he saw reason to have hopes concerning him, that, for all this, he would be both pious and prosperous. But it is strange that out of the same mouth, and almost in the same breath, both sweet waters and bitter should proceed. Good men, though they may perhaps be put into a heat, yet sometimes will talk themselves into a better temper, and, it may be, sooner than another could talk them into it. Eliphaz had laid before Job the miserable condition of a wicked man, that he might frighten him into repentance. Here, on the other hand, he shows him the happiness which those may be sure of that do repent, that he might allure and encourage him to it. Ministers must try both ways in dealing with people, must speak to them from Mount Sinai by the terrors of the law, and from Mount Sion by the comforts of the gospel, must set before them both life and death, good and evil, the blessing and the curse. Now here observe,
I. The good counsel which Eliphaz gives to Job; and good counsel it is to us all, though, as to Job, it was built upon a false supposition that he was a wicked man and now a stranger and enemy to God. 1. Acquaint now thyself with God. Acquiesce in God; so some. It is our duty at all times, especially when we are in affliction, to accommodate ourselves to, and quiet ourselves in, all the disposals of the divine Providence. Join thyself to him (so some); fall in with his interests, and act no longer in opposition to him. Our translators render it well, “Acquaint thyself with him; be not such a stranger to him as thou hast made thyself by casting off the fear of him and restraining prayer before him.” It is the duty and interest of every one of us to acquaint himself with God. We must get the knowledge of him, fix our affections on him, join ourselves to him in a covenant of friendship, and then set up, and keep up, a constant correspondence with him in the ways he has appointed. It is our honour that we are made capable of this acquaintance, our misery that by sin we have lost it, our privilege that through Christ we are invited to return to it; and it will be our unspeakable happiness to contract and cultivate this acquaintance. 2. “Be at peace, at peace with thyself, not fretful, uneasy, and in confusion; let not thy heart be troubled, but be quiet and calm, and well composed. Be at peace with thy God; be reconciled to him. Do not carry on this unholy war. Thou complainest that God is thy enemy; be thou his friend.” It is the great concern of every one of us to make our peace with God, and it is necessary in order to our comfortable acquaintance with him; for how can two walk together except they be agreed? Amos iii. 3. This we must do quickly, now, before it be too late. Agree with thy adversary while thou art in the way. This we are earnestly urged to do. Some read it, “Acquaint thyself, I pray thee, with him, and be at peace.” God himself beseeches us; ministers, in Christ’s stead, pray us to be reconciled. Can we gainsay such entreaties? 3. Receive the law from his mouth, v. 22. “Having made thy peace with God, submit to his government, and resolve to be ruled by him, that thou mayest keep thyself in his love.” We receive our being and maintenance from God. From him we hope to receive our bliss, and from him we must receive law. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Acts ix. 6. Which way soever we receive the intimations of his will we must have our eye to him; whether he speaks by scripture, ministers, conscience, or Providence, we must take the word as from his mouth and bow our souls to it. Though, in Job’s time, we do not know that there was any written word, yet there was a revelation of God’s will to be received. Eliphaz looked upon Job as a wicked man, and was pressing him to repent and reform. Herein consists the conversion of a sinner–his receiving the law from God’s mouth and no longer from the world and the flesh. Eliphaz, being now in contest with Job, appeals to the word of God for the ending of the controversy. “Receive that, and be determined by it.” To the law and to the testimony. 4. Lay up his word in thy heart. It is not enough to receive it, but we must retain it, Prov. iii. 18. We must lay it up as a thing of great value, that it may be safe; and we must lay it up in our hearts, as a thing of great use, that it may be ready to us when there is occasion and we may neither lose it wholly nor be at a loss for it in a time of need. 5. Return to the Almighty, v. 23. “Do not only turn from sin, but turn to God and thy duty. Do not only turn towards the Almighty in some good inclinations and good beginnings, but return to him; return home to him, quite to him, so as to reach to the Almighty, by a universal reformation, an effectual thorough change of thy heart and life, and a firm resolution to cleave to him;” so Mr. Poole. 6. Put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle. This was the advice Zophar gave him, ch. xi. 14. “Let not wickedness dwell in thy tabernacle. Put iniquity far off, the further the better, not only from thy heart and hand, but from thy house. Thou must not only not be wicked thyself, but must reprove and restrain sin in those that are under thy charge.” Note, Family reformation is needful reformation; we and our house must serve the Lord.
II. The good encouragement which Eliphaz gives Job, that he shall be very happy, if he will but take this good counsel. In general, “Thereby good shall come unto thee (v. 21); the good that has now departed from thee, all the good thy heart can desire, temporal, spiritual, eternal good, shall come to thee. God shall come to thee, into covenant and communion with thee; and he brings all good with him, all good in him. Thou art now ruined and brought down, but, if thou return to God, thou shalt be built up again, and thy present ruins shall be repaired. Thy family shall be built up in children, thy estate in wealth, and thy soul in holiness and comfort.” The promises which Eliphaz here encourages Job with are reducible to three heads:–
1. That his estate should prosper, and temporal blessings should be bestowed abundantly on him; for godliness has the promise of the life that now is. It is promised,
(1.) That he shall be very rich (v. 24): “Thou shalt lay up gold as dust, in such great abundance, and shalt have plenty of silver (v. 25), whereas now thou art poor and stripped of all.” Job had been rich. Eliphaz suspected he got his riches by fraud and oppression, and therefore they were taken from him: but if he would return to God and his duty, [1.] He should have more wealth than ever he had, not only thousands of sheep and oxen, the wealth of farmers, but thousands of gold and silver, the wealth of princes, ch. iii. 15. Abundantly more riches, true riches, are to be got by the service of God than by the service of the world. [2.] He should have it more sure to him: “Thou shalt lay it up in good hands, and hold that which is got by thy piety by a surer tenure than that which thou didst get by thy iniquity.” Thou shalt have silver of strength (for so the word is), which, being honestly got, will wear well–silver like steel. [3.] He should, by the grace of God, be kept from setting his heart so much upon it as Eliphaz thought he had done; and then wealth is a blessing indeed when we are not ensnared with the love of it. Thou shalt lay up gold; but how? Not as thy treasure and portion, but as dust, and as the stones of the brooks. So little shalt thou value it or expect from it that thou shalt lay it at thy feet (Acts iv. 35), not in thy bosom.
(2.) That yet he shall be very safe. Whereas men’s riches usually expose them to danger, and he had owned that in his prosperity he was not in safety (ch. iii. 26), now he might be secure; for the Almighty shall be thy defender; nay, he shall be thy defence, v. 25. He shall be thy gold; so it is in the margin, and it is the same word that is used (v. 24) for gold, but it signifies also a strong-hold, because money is a defence, Eccl. vii. 12. Worldlings make gold their god, saints make God their gold; and those that are enriched with his favour and grace may truly be said to have abundance of the best gold, and best laid up. We read it, “He shall be thy defence against the incursions of neighbouring spoilers: thy wealth shall not then lie exposed as it did to Sabeans and Chaldeans,” which, some think, is the meaning of that, Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacle, taking it as a promise. “The iniquity or wrong designed against thee shall be put off and shall not reach thee.” Note, Those must needs be safe that have Omnipotence itself for their defence, Ps. xci. 1-3.
2. That his soul should prosper, and he should be enriched with spiritual blessings, which are the best blessings.
(1.) That he should live a life of complacency in God (v. 26): “For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty; and thus the Almighty comes to be thy gold by thy delighting in him, as worldly people delight in their money. He shall be thy wealth, thy defence, thy dignity; for he shall be thy delight.” The way to have our heart’s desire is to make God our heart’s delight, Ps. xxxvii. 4. If God give us himself to be our joy, he will deny us nothing that is good for us. “Now, God is a terror to thee; he is so by thy own confession (Job 6:4; Job 16:9; Job 19:11); but, if thou wilt return to him, then, and not till then, he will be thy delight; and it shall be as much a pleasure to thee to think of him as ever it was a pain.” No delight is comparable to the delight which gracious souls have in the Almighty; and those that acquaint themselves with him, and submit themselves entirely to him, shall find his favour to be, not only their strength, but their song.
(2.) That he should have a humble holy confidence towards God, such as those are said to have whose hearts condemn them not, 1 John iii. 21. “Then shalt thou lift up thy face to God with boldness, and not be afraid, as thou now art, to draw near to him. Thy countenance is now fallen, and thou lookest dejected; but, when thou hast made thy peace with God, thou shalt blush no more, tremble no more, and hang thy head no more, as thou dost now, but shalt cheerfully, and with a gracious assurance, show thyself to him, pray before him, and expect blessings from him.”
(3.) That he should maintain a constant communion with God, “The correspondence, once settled, shall be kept up to thy unspeakable satisfaction. Letters shall be both statedly and occasionally interchanged between thee and heaven,” v. 27. [1.] “Thou shalt by prayer send letters to God: Thou shalt make thy prayer” (the word is, Thou shalt multiply thy prayers) “unto him, and he will not think thy letters troublesome, though many and long. The oftener we come to the throne of grace the more welcome. Under all thy burdens, in all thy wants, cares, and fears, thou shalt send to heaven for guidance and strength, wisdom, and comfort, and good success.” [2.] “He shall, by his providence and grace, answer those letters, and give thee what thou askest of him, either in kind or kindness: He shall hear thee, and make it to appear he does so by what he does for thee and in thee.” [3.] “Then thou shalt by thy praises reply to the gracious answers which he sent thee: Thou shalt pay thy vows, and that shall be acceptable to him and fetch in further mercy.” Note, When God performs that which in our distress we prayed for we must make conscience of performing that which we then promised, else we do not deal honestly. If we promised nothing else we promised to be thankful, and that is enough, for it includes all, Ps. cxvi. 14.
(4.) That he should have inward satisfaction in the management of all his outward affairs (v. 28): “Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee,” that is, “Thou shalt frame all thy projects and purposes with so much wisdom, and grace, and resignation to the will of God, that the issue of them shall be to thy heart’s content, just as thou wouldst have it to be. Thou shalt commit thy works unto the Lord by faith and prayer, and then thy thoughts shall be established; thou shalt be easy and pleased, whatever occurs, Prov. xvi. 3. This the grace of God shall work in thee; nay, sometimes the providence of God shall give thee the very thing thou didst desire and pray for, and give it thee in thy own way, and manner, and time. Be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” When at any time an affair succeeds just according to the scheme we laid, and our measures are in nothing broken, nor are we put upon new counsels, then we must own the performance of this promise, Thou shalt decree a thing and it shall be established unto thee. “Whereas now thou complainest of darkness round about thee, then the light shall shine on thy ways;” that is, “God shall guide and direct thee, and then it will follow, of course, that he shall prosper and succeed thee in all thy undertakings. God’s wisdom shall be thy guide, his favour thy comfort, and thy ways shall be so under both those lights that thou shalt have a comfortable enjoyment of what is present and a comfortable prospect of what is future,” Ps. xc. 17.
(5.) That even in times of common calamity and danger he should have abundance of joy and hope (v. 29): “When men are cast down round about thee, cast down in their affairs, cast down in their spirits, sinking, desponding, and ready to despair, then shalt thou say, There is lifting up. Thou shalt find that in thyself which will not only bear thee up under thy troubles, and keep thee from fainting, but lift thee up above thy troubles and enable thee to rejoice evermore.” When men’s hearts fail them for fear, then shall Christ’s disciples lift up their heads for joy, Luke xxi. 26-28. Thus are they made to ride upon the high places of the earth (Isa. lviii. 14), and that which will lift them up is the belief of this, that God will save the humble person. Those that humble themselves shall be exalted, not only in honour, but in comfort.
3. That he should be a blessing to his country and an instrument of good to many (v. 30): God shall, in answer to thy prayers, deliver the island of the innocent, and have a regard therein to the pureness of thy hands, which is necessary to the acceptableness of our prayers, 1 Tim. ii. 8. But, because we may suppose the innocent not to need deliverance (it was guilty Sodom that wanted the benefit of Abraham’s intercession), I incline to the marginal reading, The innocent shall deliver the island, by their advice (Ecc 9:14; Ecc 9:15) and by their prayers and their interest in heaven, Acts xxvii. 24. Or, He shall deliver those that are not innocent, and they are delivered by the pureness of thy hands; as it may be read, and most probably. Note, A good man is a public good. Sinners fare the better for saints, whether they are aware of it or no. If Eliphaz intended hereby (as some think he did) to insinuate that Job’s prayers were not prevailing, nor his hands pure (for then he would have relieved others, much more himself), he was afterwards made to see his error, when it appeared that Job had a better interest in heaven than he had; for he and his three friends, who in this matter were not innocent, were delivered by the pureness of Job’s hands, ch. xlii. 8.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
4. Repent, and restoration will be certain. (Job. 22:21-30)
TEXT 22:2130
21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:
Thereby good shall come onto thee.
22 Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth,
And lay up his words in thy heart.
23 If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up,
If thou put away unrighteousness far from thy tents.
24 And lay thou thy treasure in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks;
25 And the Almighty will be thy treasure,
And precious silver unto thee.
26 For then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty,
And shalt lift up thy face unto God.
27 Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee;
And thou shalt pay thy vows.
28 Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee;
And light shall shine upon thy ways.
29 When they cast thee down, thou shalt say, There is lifting up;
And the humble person he will save.
30 He will deliver even him that is not innocent:
Yea, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thy hands.
COMMENT 22:2130
Job. 22:21Eliphaz entreats Job to reconcile[248] or yield (agree with Godverb means be accustomed toNum. 22:30; Psa. 139:3) himself to God, promising him great material felicity in rewardJob. 5:17-27; Job. 11:13-19. This results in Jobs submission to God; then he will be at peace.[249] Eliphaz still claims that the rewards of the righteous constitute its attraction.
[248] See W. B. Bishai, Journal Eastern Studies, 1961, pp. 258ff, for defense of acquiesce. Pope concurs and translates yield to; see also Blommerdes remarks.
[249] S. N. Kramer, Harvard Theological Review, 19S6, pp. 59ff.
Job. 22:22The only occurrence of the word Torah in Job is here. It means instruction or revelation and is one of the most precious words in the Old Testament. (Torah is not to be confused with the legalistic view of nomos, esp. see Romans and Galatians, which dominated Rabbinic Judaism in the time of Jesus and Paul.)[250] His words is parallel in line two and reflects a scribe taking dictation from God.[251]
[250] See Kittel nomos, article, Vol. IV; I. D. Strauss, Theology of Promise (New Testament Theology Syllabus); R. N. Longenecker, Paul, Apostle of Liberty (Baker reprint, 1976), esp. chapter 4, pp. 86105; I. Munck, Paul and Salvation of Mankind (John Knox Press, E. T., 1959); H. Ridderbos, Pauline Theology (Eerdmans, 1976); and W. D. Davies, Paul and Rabbinic Judaism (Harper Torch); and H. I. Schoeps, Paul (E. T., Westminster, 1961), esp. chapter 5, pp. 168ff.
[251] M. Dahood, Biblica, 1966, pp. 108ff.
Job. 22:23If you become reconciled to God, you will be built up (reading teaneh for tibbaneh). The passive form of the verb build (b ny) is used in Jer. 12:16; Mal. 3:15 of persons made prosperous, implying here healing or restoration.
Job. 22:24Eliphaz is promising Job the restoration of his wealth if he will but return to God. God will make his gold as common as dirt. The word translated treasure in A. V. means ore, or that which is dug out of the earth. The text has only Ophir which symbolizes the highly prized gold from that locationGen. 2:11 ff; Gen. 10:29. Gold and precious stones will be his in abundance.
Job. 22:25Eliphaz exhorts Job to make God, not gold or silver, his treasure. Job vigorously responds to this charge in Job. 31:24 ff, though Eliphaz means that Gods favor brings wealth. Dhorme is probably correct in claiming that your gold, which is the plural of the word in Job. 22:24 a, is gold as it leaves the crucible, i.e., ingots of gold. The word rendered precious probably means heaps of, i.e., a large amount of silver (see Brown, Driver, and Briggs).[252]
[252] See this suggestion by W. F. Albright, JBL, 1944, p. 215, n. 47.
Job. 22:26Eliphaz asserts that if Job will make God his treasure, then he will be able to lift up his head in confidence as in Job. 10:15; Job. 11:15; Job. 27:10; Isa. 58:15; and delight yourself[253] in Psa. 37:4 in God alone. The metaphor of face to face implies the fact of reconciliation.
[253] G. R. Driver, Vetus Testamentum, III, 1955, 84.
Job. 22:27Gods silence will be broken, and His presence will be restored to JobGen. 28:20 ff and Psa. 66:13 ff. If the prayer was answered, the one making the request would make a vow to sacrifice to GodIsa. 58:8-9.
Job. 22:28If Job would return to God, the light of constant success would shine on his way. Instead of darkness, he would walk in lightJob. 19:8; Job. 22:11. If Job will decree a thing and it will stand for you means that God will fulfill his purpose.
Job. 22:29The righteous man (Heb. saddiq) has great influence with GodGen. 18:21-33. Daniel, Noah, and Job were credited with great powers of influenceEze. 14:14; Eze. 14:20; but is emphatically rejected by Eze. 14:12 ff; Ezekiel 18 and Jer. 31:29-30. Here we see an early form of the Rabbinic concept of Zekut Abot, which gradually develops into the Roman Catholic theology of the merits of the saints.[254]
[254] See R. Gordis, Journal Near Eastern Studies, 1945, pp. 5455; and StrackBillerbeck, Kommentor Zum Neuen Testament, Vol. I, 1922, 429ff on Mat. 6:19 ff. The Rabbinic concept suggested that an ordinary Israelite could draw on the supererogatory merits of the patriarchs; R. Gordis, Corporate Personality in Job, Journal Near Eastern Studies, 1945, pp. 54ff; N. M. Sarna, A Crux Interpretum in Job XXII, 30,JNES, 1956, pp. 118ff.
Job. 22:30The Hebrew i naki can be rendered as island of the innocent or him that is not innocentas A. V. The first line then means that by the cleanness of Jobs hands, the wicked shall be deliveredJob. 42:8; Gen. 18:27 ff; and 1Sa. 12:23.[255] The vicarious life and prayer is unquestionably set forth, though many commentaries attempt to remove the vicarious element.[256]
[255] M. Dahood, Biblica, 1968, p. 363; also J. K. Zink, Uncleanness and Sin in Job. 14:4 and Psa. 51:7, Vetus Testamentum, 1967, pp. 354361.
[256] For how the negative in the first line and the rhetorical question in the second line, are explained, see C. Thexton, Expository Times, 19661967, pp. 342ff.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(21) Acquaint now thyself with him.As he himself had done in Job 5, and as Zophar had done in Job 11, Eliphaz proceeds to give Job some good advice. Thereby good shall come unto thee, or Thereby shall thine increase be good; or perhaps he means that peace and rest from the obstinate questionings he was disturbed with would come to him thereby.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
Third double strophe A FINAL ADMONITION TO REPENTANCE REPENTANCE INSURES RESTORATION OF THE DIVINE FAVOUR, Job 22:21-30.
a. He who lives for God, and sacrifices his all, shall find in God abiding treasures and an inexhaustible mine of bliss, Job 22:21-25.
21. Acquaint now thyself . The idea that lies at the root of this verb is, of associating or dwelling together, (GESENIUS. Thes., 953;) thence of friendship, which leads the Germans to render, make friends with God.
Our translators have happily rendered it. acquaint thyself; now, in the sense of entreaty.
And be at peace With God and with thyself; for the one implies the other. The former verb expresses the making, the latter, the preservation, of peace.
Good A word bandied in the debate. See note Job 20:21. Also sermons in loc. by Archbishops Atterbury and Sumner.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
An Admonition to Repent
v. 21. Acquaint now thyself with Him, v. 22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, v. 23. If thou return to the Almighty, v. 24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, v. 25. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense, v. 26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, v. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, v. 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, v. 29. When men are cast down, v. 30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Job 22:21. Acquaint now thyself, &c. Humble thyself, I pray thee, before him, and make restitution. Heath.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
DISCOURSE: 473
ACQUAINTANCE WITH GOD
Job 22:21. Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace.
IN estimating the characters and conduct of men, we must make great allowance for their prejudices and mistakes. Unless we take into our consideration the erroneous idea which Jobs friends had conceived respecting the dealings of Providence with men, we shall be ready to view them in a most unfavourable light. Even with this allowance we scarcely know how to account for the extreme uncharitableness of Eliphaz. He is not content with accusing Job of secret sins that could be known to God only, but he brings plain and positive charges against him of open visible crimes, no one of which could with even a shadow of truth be imputed to him. We regret to see such inconsistency in a man, whom yet we are constrained to consider as pious: and we turn from this painful view of him, to notice the excellent advice, which, though still under a mistaken apprehension of Jobs character, he gave him. To a person under any circumstances, an acquaintance with God is most desirable, but more especially under such a dark and afflictive dispensation as that which Job at this time experienced. That we may invite you all to seek it, we propose to shew,
I.
Wherein an acquaintance with God consists
[There is a knowledge of God which may be obtained from the works of creation: but this must of necessity be extremely partial and defective. They display his wisdom, and power, and goodness; but they exhibit no traces of that perfection which we so greatly need to be acquainted with, namely, his mercy in pardoning sin. It is from revelation only that we can learn his true character as a just God and a Saviour: and for a discovery of him in that endearing new, we must look at him as exhibited to us in the Gospel of his Son. It is in the face of Jesus Christ that all his glory shines [Note: 2Co 4:6.]. It is in the cross of Christ that all his perfections are made to unite and harmonize: it is there alone that we can see mercy and truth met together, and righteousness and peace kissing each other. This then it is which constitutes a true knowledge of God; it is an acquaintance with the great work of redemption; a view of God in Christ Jesus reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them ]
II.
What is that measure of acquaintance with him which we as sinners are privileged to enjoy
[It is not a mere speculative knowledge of these things, but an actual participation of them in our own souls: it is not an hearing of God with our ears, but a seeing of him with our eyes, as Job speaks; I mean, with the eye of faith, which is privileged to behold Him who is invisible [Note: Heb 11:27.]. By faith we have a fellowship, yea a most intimate and endearing fellowship, with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. God will come and manifest himself to us, as our God, our Father, and our Friend [Note: Gen 5:21.]. By his Spirit he will enable us to cry, Abba, Father. He will dwell in us, and walk with us: Christ will live in us, even as his heavenly Father lived in him; insomuch that he himself will be our life [Note: Joh 6:56-57. with Col 3:4.]. What nearer intimacy can be conceived? yet this it is our privilege to enjoy: this union with him, this committing of our souls to him, this receiving of all needful communications out of his fulness, this living entirely by faith in him as our Saviour and our God; this, I say, is that measure of acquaintance with him which we ought to seek, and may actually possess [Note: Gal 2:20.] ]
III.
The benefits resulting from it
[Who can ever fully declare what is implied in peace with God? Verily it is a peace that passeth all understanding But there is peculiar emphasis in the word Now; acquaint now thyself with God, and be at peace. What was the estimate which Eliphaz had formed of Jobs character? He viewed Job as the vilest hypocrite upon earth, and considered him as punished by God with most signal vengeance: yet he said to him, Acquaint now, now, notwithstanding all thy vileness; now, in the midst of all these judgments; even now acquaint thyself with God; and so shall good come unto thee. This was indeed a just view of God, though an erroneous view of the poor afflicted saint. This is the view we should ever have of God in Christ Jesus: we should see him ready to bestow his richest mercies even on the chief of sinners, and as determined never to cast out any who come unto him. Be it known then, that, if only we will acquaint ourselves with God as he is revealed to us in the Gospel of his Son, there is not a good which God himself can bestow, which he will not richly communicate to us; nor is there a condition, either of sin or suffering, in which that acquaintance with him shall not be effectual for the restoration of our souls to peace. Were we the vilest of the human race, our iniquities should be blotted out and were we in a condition a thousand times more deplorable than that of Job, it should turn all our sorrows into joy [Note: Son 2:3.] ]
Address
Acquaint now yourselves with God,
1.
Ye who are in a state of sin
[Seek him in reading, meditation, prayer, &c.]
2.
Ye who are in a state of suffering
[Doubt not his willingness or sufficiency.]
Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)
(21) Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. (22) Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
There is a great deal of sound truth, and sound gospel, in this advice of Eliphaz. An acquaintance with GOD, must be the only foundation for true peace with him. He that cometh to GOD must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Heb 11:6 . Reader! until we know GOD in CHRIST, and by the teachings of his blessed SPIRIT are made sensible of our need of him, we shall neither be conscious we need peace, or ever seek or desire it! Hence how earnestly doth the Apostle pray the Church, as an ambassador of CHRIST, to be reconciled to GOD, in the righteousness and death of JESUS. 2Co 5:20 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 22:21-30
21. Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart.
23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles.
24. Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks.
25. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver.
26. For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God.
27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows.
28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways.
29. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person.
30. He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.
Reconciliation and Results
That is all the three friends could, in substance, say. It is difficult to read the exhortation of another man. We are, indeed, apt to put our own tone into all reading, and thereby sometimes we may do grievous injustice to the authors or speakers whom we seek to interpret. Of one thing, however, we may be quite sure, namely, that when a man so seer-like, so prophet-like as Eliphaz, concluded his controversy with Job, observing the suffering and the sorrow of the patriarch, he would be certain to drop his voice into the music of consolation, and would endeavour, whilst speaking words of apparently legal and mechanical preciseness, to utter them with the tone of the heart, as if in the very sorrow were hidden a gracious gospel, and as if duty might, by some subtle power, be turned into the most precious of delight. All hortatory words may be spoken with too much voice, with too strong a tone, so as to throw them out of proportion in relation to the hearer, whose sorrow already fills his ears with muffled noises. Let us imagine Eliphaz eldest of the counsellors, most gracious of the speakers laying his hand, as it were, gently upon the smitten patriarch, and approaching his ear with all the reverence of affectionate confidence, and giving him these parting instructions: then the exhortation becomes music; the preacher does not thunder his appeal, but utters it persuasively, so that the heart alone may hear it, and the soul be melted by the plea. May it not be so with us also? We do not need the strong exhortation, but we do need the consolatory appeal and stimulus. We may frighten a man by calling out very loudly when he is within one inch of a brink; the nearer the man is to the precipice, the more subdued, the less startling, should be the appeal: we might whisper to him as if nothing were the matter, rather lure his attention than loudly and roughly excite it; and then when we get firm hold of him bring him away to the headland as urgently and strongly as we can. May it not be that some hearts are so far gone that one rude tone from the preacher would break up what little hope remains? Should we not rather sometimes sit down quite closely to one another and say softly, “Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace”: think of what all thy life comes to, poor soul, and see if even now, just at the very last, the flickering lamp cannot be revived and made strong and bright: come, let us pray? Who can tell in what tone the Lord said, “Come now, and let us reason together,” as if we were equals; for the time being let us be as brothers; let the case be stated on both sides, and argued out with all the urgency and zeal of truest love? Never regard the Gospel as having come roughly, violently, but as always coming like the dawn, like the dew, like music from afar, which having travelled from eternity stops to accommodate itself to the limitations of time. Still the exhortation has the strength within it. Speak it as we may, it is the strongest exhortation that can be addressed to human attention. You may soften it as to tone, you may pray God for many days that when you do come to utter your message you may speak it without offence, lovingly, tenderly, with a voice full of tears; yet, even when so spoken, the Gospel has within it fire and sword and force almighty. When the tone is softened, it is not that the law has given up the pursuit of the soul, or has ceased to press its infinite claims upon the trespasser. Do not mistake the persuasions of the Gospel for the weaknesses of the preacher, and do not regard the errors of the preacher as implying in any degree defect on the part of his message.
Eliphaz tells Job what he must do; let us read his bill of directions: “Acquaint now thyself with him.” Here is a call to mental action. Job is invited to bethink himself. He is exhorted to put himself at the right point of view. Instead of dealing with social questions and personal details, the seer invites the smitten patriarch to betake himself to the sanctuary, and to work out the whole solution in the fear and love of God. There are amongst men questions that are supreme and questions that are inferior. Who would care for the inferior if he could solve the supreme, and fill himself with all the mystery of Deity? What are all our inventions, arts, sciences, and cleverest tricks, and boldest adventures into the region of darkness, compared with the possibility of knowing human thought the power of removing the veil that separates man from man, and looking into the arcana of another soul? But this is kept back from us. We are permitted to dig foundations, to build towers and temples; we are allowed to span rivers with bridges, and bore our way through rocky hills; but we cannot tell what the least little child is thinking about. Given the possibility that a man may, by a certain process of study, qualify himself to read all that is in our minds, who would not avail himself of that opportunity with eagerness and gratitude! All other learning would be contemptible in comparison with an attainment so vast and useful. This is the explanation of men spending their days over crucibles, in hidden places, in darkened dungeons, seeking in the crucible for the particular Something that would dissolve everything that was hard, and reveal everything that was dark. This is the meaning of the quest in which men have been engaged for the Sangreal, the philosopher’s stone that marvellous and unnamable something which, if a man had, he would open every kingdom and be at home in every province of the universe. You cannot kill that mysterious ambition of the human heart. It will come up in some form. It is the secret: of progress. Even when men say they have renounced the quest, they may be most busily engaged in the pursuit; when they seem to be most practical and soberminded, and to have given up all thought whatever of sitting upon the circle of the heavens, there may be something in their hearts which says, You are only resting awhile; even yet you will receive the secret, and turn it to highest uses. All this leads to the uppermost thought, namely, that if a man could acquaint himself with God, live with God, would not that be the very highest attainment of all? If he could enter the tabernacles of the Most High, and survey the universe from the altar where burns the Shekinah, what would all other attainments and acquisitions amount to? Yet this is the thing to be aimed at: grow in grace; grow in all life; for it means, in its fruition, acquaintance with God, identification with God, absorption in God; living, moving, having the being in God; taking God’s view of everything; made radiant with God’s wisdom, and calm with God’s peace. Assuming that to be a possibility, how all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory thereof, fade away into the dim distance! How grandly some of the old seers now and again touched the vital point; and how the ages have thrilled with their touch, knowing that at last they had left detail and cloud and mystification, and touched the very pulse of things! Here stands the great truth, the eternal verity: until we have acquainted ourselves with God, by means prescribed in God’s own book, our knowledge is ignorance, and our mental acquisitions are but so many proofs of our mental incapacity. Eliphaz, therefore, lifts up the whole discussion to a new level. He will not point to this wound or that, to the sore boil or blain, to the withering skin, to the patriarch’s pitiful physical condition; he begins now to touch the great mystery of things, namely, that God is in all the cloud of affliction, in all the wilderness of poverty, and that to know his purpose is to live in his tranquillity.
Then Eliphaz says “Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth”: do not have second-hand references, do not be content with what other people have said; but go straight to the fountainhead: there is a law a law of event, accident, progress, providence, retribution; a law of light and darkness; a law that comes and goes like the revolving seasons: there may be even now, poor Job, some scraps of written law: consider everything; take in knowledge from every quarter; if light shall shine from unexpected points, look for it, examine it; if it be light indeed, receive it, and be thankful for it. We need the strong word Law just as we need great corner-stones in the building, and solid beams here and there in the edifice. There may be in the building an abundance of colour, and gold, and fine artistic display; but somewhere in the building, if it have to stand winter and summer, there must be iron, solid woodwork, massive blocks of stone, and great beams of wood. So in the life-house there may be decoration, intellectual accomplishment, all manner of fancy characteristics and advantages, but if that life-house is to stand when the sea roars, when the mountains shake, when all things are tried, there must be in it depth, solidity, massiveness, obedience to the geometry of the universe, complete harmony with all the forces that secure the stability and permanence of material things. We cannot escape this pressure. We speak about the law as if it infringed liberty; whereas the law is the very secret of liberty, its security, and its crown. Is there any law in our spiritual life, any sovereignty in the very charity which softens our heart? Is there any righteousness behind to account for the beauties that are scattered upon the surface? Is the blossoming at the top of the tree fastened on artificially? or does it come up from the black root and tell that its life is hidden in the sun? We have read of men who, having received the word of God gladly, went out and forgot all about it, and became their old selves again, because there was no deepness of earth let us say now, because there was no law, righteousness, sovereignty, government, founded upon wisdom and upon the innermost and completest knowledge of human nature.
“And lay up his words in thine heart”: dispossess the heart of all bad notions by filling it with all true ideas; do not have one little corner in the heart where you can put a sophism; let the heart be so stored with Christly words and Christly wisdom that there shall be no room in it for any superstition. That is the only plan of true education, and the only guarantee of ultimate complete manhood. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.” Do not have part of God’s word and part of some other word locked up in the heart together, like the ark as it was locked up with Dagon; but fill the whole heart with God’s words: they are music, they are law, they are gospel, they are light, they are comfort, they are bread for the hungry, and living water for burning thirst. Feed upon the divine word. Lord, evermore give us this bread! Eliphaz is now a gospel preacher, a great evangelist; he cannot tell the whole range of what he is saying; the morning is not the midday, the spring is not the autumn; but it lies in the right line of it; the autumnal golden glory will come in due time: “in the process of the suns” we shall see the words of Eliphaz completed in the words of Christ.
“If thou return to the Almighty” certain results will accrue. What are those results? Reconstruction: “thou shalt be built up.” Comforting word! We know what it is to be shattered, broken all to pieces, to have lost our squareness and completeness, our hold of things and our entire status, and we know by bitter experience what it is to be clashed to atoms. Sin leaves no man whole; evil-doing is destruction: it tears a man as it were limb from limb, and delights in seeing him broken up, thrown into hopeless incoherence. The very first thing true religion does is to gather a man up again; it seems to say to him, We must begin with reconstruction: what are you? where are you? let us grapple with the reality of the situation, however tragical, however hopeless it may be. To tell a man that he may be built up again is to give him hope. Say to some poor overthrown one, Come now! you are not always to live like this: there is hope for you; even you can be put in joint again, even you can be gathered up by the miracle of the Holy Ghost working within you, the miracle of grace: even you can be made a man, and at first the answer may be sullen not because of obduracy of heart, but because of hopelessness of spirit but the man will turn the words over in his heart, he will take them home with him; when the feast spread for the body is all consumed he will say, I have bread to eat that these people know not of: a good brave man told me in the city today that I, even I, could be built up again: oh, God of heaven, is that true? is that a possible miracle? can this bewildered head be made steady again? and can these lips pray any more? Who can tell what the angels may say to the soliloquist then? Man likes to think that he can be built up, re-established, and comforted with great consolation. This is what the Gospel says, or it is no gospel: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy.” What are they? that the lost may be found, that the dead may live: believest thou this? All things are possible unto him that believeth. Say, in all broken-heartedness for that is the beginning of strength “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”
Then Eliphaz, working according to the light of his time, makes Job a great promise of silver and gold; he says:
“Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir [see note, p. 234] as the stones of the brooks. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver” ( Job 22:24-25 ).
Was the motive a bad one? Nothing of the kind; otherwise the whole of the Old Testament is vitiated by the suggestion. The Lord has always worked upon this plan of promising men what they could understand, of accommodating his kingdom to some form, parabolic or material, which might touch the imagination and even the senses of the people whom he addressed. Thus the Lord said unto Abram: Arise, come away, and I will give thee a land flowing with milk and honey. Was that an appeal to a selfish motive? Certainly not. It was the only appeal which Abram could then understand. The Lord promised the patriarchs length of days. Now we would not have length of days, for we are weary of old grey time. The period comes when a man says, When is the upper door going to be opened? I would not live alway; I have seen every revolution of this little wheel, and I am tired of watching the tautology; I know spring and summer, and autumn and winter, and birth and marriage, and death, and weal and woe, and loss and gain, and book-keeping and balancing, and profit and disadvantage, and sickness and recovery and dissolution: I am tired of watching that mocking monotony: when will the golden gates swing back, and let me pass where the light is purer, and where the service is without weariness? Did God, then, appeal to a poor motive when he promised length of days? The answer is, Certainly not; he made the only possible appeal that is, the only appeal that could be understood. When life was new, men liked to have plenty of it an abundance of years; yea, life is represented in the ancient books as extending over centuries four and five, and six and eight, and nine centuries, and one man lived nearly a thousand years! So Eliphaz was talking in Old Testament language, in ancient and early terms, when he promised Job heaps of gold and plenty of silver “the gold of Ophir,” or “Ophir,” which is a symbolical term for gold which could be laid up like the stones of the brooks great stones, small stones, thousands and countless numbers of stones of gold. Now we have come to know that we cannot take away one little pebble with us, that at best we have but the handling of the mocking stuff for a few years, and then, however anxious we may be to begin the next world rich with gold, we must start God’s next world without a single penny. Eliphaz was not appealing to selfish motive, to mean ambition; nor was he degrading the kingdom of peace and light and pureness when he thus promised Job reward of gold and silver; he was speaking up to his last point of light and attainment. Now, what is promised to us? All heaven! Blessed be God, we have been born at a period when the next word is “heaven.” That brings us very near to God’s ultimate purpose. Abram was born in a time when a land flowing with milk and honey filled his imagination. Old Testament men lived in times when length of days was the only possible notion of duration. We live in a time when life and immortality have been brought to light in the Gospel, and now we want no lands flowing with milk and honey, or Ophir, or silver in plentifulness, except for immediate convenience and transient purposes. We seek a country out of sight. We attest the progress of spiritual civilisation by being afflicted with an ambition which nothing can satisfy but God’s own dwelling-place the very heavens of eternity.
Then Eliphaz promised Job a plentiful intercourse with God:
“For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows” ( Job 22:26-27 ).
But Eliphaz also points out a result which is full of practical instruction:
“When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person” ( Job 22:29 ).
The meaning is, when you are right with God, you will be a fountain of consolation and strength to weak men. Why, here is an anticipation of the time when the whole commandment of God, ranging over every point of life, shall be divisible into two thoughts the love of God, and the love of neighbour. “When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up.” And thou shalt prove it, for thou shalt say, I too was cast down, and behold I am lifted up; I too was broken in pieces, and now I am built and established, and I enjoy a sense of incorporation with the whole scheme of things planned, fashioned, and formed by the Living One. This is the test of our piety. How do weak men regard us? Do they say when listening to us, That is the man who will help me in trouble; that is the counsellor to whom I should go were I in perplexity; that is the man to whom I would tell all the tale of sin and shame, had I such a tale to relate; I would seek him out, and he would receive me and listen to me; he might insist that I told him everything that is in my heart, but having done so, he would put his strong arms around me and say, Wanderer, prodigal, foolish soul, even yet there is hope for thee! Our piety is a pretence if it be not available to men who are in distress, in weakness, and in hopelessness. This is the mystery of the divine kingdom, that it does not run up into metaphysics only, and lose itself in transcendent thoughts, but that, having been up there amid the transfiguring glory, it comes down to heal the sick and show the wanderer the way straight home.
Note
Ophir is a seaport or region from which the Hebrews, in the time of Solomon, obtained gold in vessels which went thither in conjunction with Tyrian ships from Ezion-geber, near Elath, on that branch of the Red Sea which is now called the Gulf of Akabah. The gold was proverbial for its fineness, so that “gold of Ophir” is several times used as an expression for fine gold (Psa 45:10 ; Job 28:16 ; Isa 13:12 ; 1Ch 29:4 ); and in one passage ( Job 22:24 ) the word “Ophir” by itself is used for gold of Ophir, and for gold generally. In addition to gold, the vessels brought from Ophir almug wood and precious stones.
The precise geographical situation of Ophir has long been a subject of doubt and discussion. The two countries which have divided the opinions of the learned have been Arabia and India, while some have placed it in Africa. There are only five passages in the historical books which mention Ophir by name; three in the Book of Kings (1Ki 9:26-28 , 1Ki 10:11 , 1Ki 22:48 ), and two in the Book of Chronicles (2Ch 8:18 , 2Ch 9:10 ). The latter were probably copied from the former. In addition to these passages, the following verse in the Book of Kings has very frequently been referred to Ophir: “For the king ( i.e. Solomon) had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks” ( 1Ki 10:22 ). But there is not sufficient evidence to show that the fleet mentioned in this verse was identical with the fleet mentioned in 1Ki 9:26-28 , and 1Ki 10:11 , as bringing gold, almug trees, and precious stones from Ophir. If the three passages of the Book of Kings are carefully examined, it will be seen that all the information given respecting Ophir is that it was a place or region accessible by sea from Ezion-geber on the Red Sea, from which imports of gold, almug trees, and precious stones were brought back by the Tyrian and Hebrew sailors. Smith’s Old Testament History.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Job 22:21 Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
Ver. 21. Acquaint now thyself with him ] Accommoda te nunc illi, assuesce cum illo. Converse with God in a humble familiarity; set him at the right hand, Psa 16:8 , be ever at his hand, ut famulus seu accensus, as attendant upon his person. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and let him direct thy paths, Pro 3:6 . Ask counsel at his mouth, aim at his glory, be thou in his fear all the day long, Pro 23:17 . Account it thine happiness to be in communion with him, and conformity to him in all parts and points of duty. The Lord is with you if you be with him, 2Ch 15:3 .
And be at peace
Thereby good shall come unto thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job
KNOWLEDGE AND PEACE
Job 22:21
In the sense in which the speaker meant them, these words are not true. They mean little more than ‘It pays to be religious.’ What kind of notion of acquaintance with God Eliphaz may have had, one scarcely knows, but at any rate, the whole meaning of the text on his lips is poor and selfish.
The peace promised is evidently only outward tranquillity and freedom from trouble, and the good that is to come to Job is plainly mere worldly prosperity. This strain of thought is expressed even more clearly in that extraordinary bit of bathos, which with solemn irony the great dramatist who wrote this book makes this Eliphaz utter immediately after the text, ‘The Almighty shall be thy defence and-thou shalt have plenty of silver!’ It has not been left for commercial Englishmen to recommend religion on the ground that it produces successful merchants and makes the best of both worlds.
These friends of Job’s all err in believing that suffering is always and only the measure of sin, and that you can tell a man’s great guilt by observing his great sorrows. And so they have two main subjects on which they preach at their poor friend, pouring vitriol into his wounds: first, how wicked he must be to be so haunted by sorrows; second, how surely he will be delivered if he will only be religious after their pattern, that is, speak platitudes of conventional devotion and say, I submit.
This is the meaning of our text as it stands. But we may surely find a higher sense in which it is true and take that to heart.
I. What is acquainting oneself with God?
So then the objective revelation having been made, we must on our part embrace that revelation as ours. The act of so accepting begins with the familiar act of faith, which includes both an exercise of the understanding, as it embraces the facts of Christ’s revelation of the Father, and of the will as it casts itself upon and submits to Him. But that exercise of faith is but the point which has to be drawn out into a golden line, woven into the whole length of a life. And it is in the continuity of that line that the average Christian so sadly fails, and because of that failure his acquaintance with God is so distant. How little time or thought we give to the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ! We must be on intimate terms with Him. To know God, as to know a man, we must ‘live with’ Him, must summer and winter with Him, must bring Him into the pettinesses of daily life, must let our love set to Him, must be in sympathy with Him, our wills being tuned to make harmony with His, our whole nature being in accord with His. That is work more than enough for a lifetime, enough to task it, enough to bless it.
II. The peace of acquaintance with God.
Knowledge of God as He really is brings peace, because His heart is full of love. We do but need to know the actual state of the heart of God towards us to be lapped and folded in peace that nothing outside of God and ourselves can destroy. If we lived under the constant benediction of the deepest truth in the universe, ‘God is love,’ our peace would be full. That is enough, if we believe it to bring peace. The thought of God which alarms and terrifies cannot be a true thought. But, alas! in proportion as we know ourselves, it becomes difficult to believe that God is love. The stings of conscience hiss prophecies to us of that in God which cannot but be antagonistic to that in us which conscience condemns. Only when our thought of God is drawn from the revelation of Him in Jesus Christ, does it become possible for any man to grasp in one act of his consciousness the conviction, I am a sinner, and the conquering conviction, God is Love, and only Love to me. So the old exhortation, ‘Acquaint thyself with God and be at peace,’ comes to be in Christian language: ‘Behold God in Jesus, and thou shalt possess the peace of God to keep thy heart and mind.’
Knowledge of God gives peace, because in it we find the satisfaction of our whole nature. Thereby we are freed from the unrest of tumultuous passions and storms of self-will. The internecine war between the better and the worse selves within ceases to rage, and when we have become God’s friends, that in us which is meant to rule rules, and that in us which is meant to serve serves, and the inner kingdom is no longer torn asunder but is harmonised with itself.
Knowledge of God brings peace amid all changes, for he who has God for his continual Companion draws little of his supplies from without, and can be tranquil when the seas roar and are troubled and the mountains are cast into the midst of the sea. He bears all his treasures with him, and need fear no loss of any real good. And at last the angel of peace will lead us through the momentary darkness and guide us, after a passing shadow on our path, into ‘the land of peace wherein we trusted,’ while yet in the land of warfare. Jesus still whispers the ancient salutation with which He greeted the company in the upper room on the evening of the day of resurrection, as He comes to His servants here, and it will be His welcome to them when He receives them above.
III. The true good from acquaintance with God.
‘All is right that seems most wrong
If it be His sweet will.’
Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren
Acquaint. This is the false theology of Eliphaz. Compare Job 42:8.
good = blessing. Most codices, with Aramaean, Septuagint, Syriac, and
unto = upon. Vulgate, read “thy gain shall be blessing”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 22:21-30
Job 22:21-30
“Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:
Thereby good shall come unto thee.
Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth,
And lay up his words in thy heart.
If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up,
If thou put away unrighteousness far from thy tents.
And lay thou thy treasure in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
And the Almighty will be thy treasure,
And precious silver unto thee.
For then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty,
And shalt lift up thy face unto God.
Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he will hear thee;
And thou shalt pay thy vows.
Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee;
And light shall shine upon thy ways.
When they cast thee down, thou shalt say,
There is lifting up;
And the humble person he will save.
He will deliver even him that is not innocent:
Yea, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thy hands.”
This final shot from Eliphaz was loaded with the most slanderous insinuations against Job. Exactly as some rabble-rouser will preach “non violence,” in such a manner as to cause violence, Eliphaz pretended to be talking about repentance, forgiveness and blessings, but what he was really doing was heaping charge after charge upon the head of Job.
Job 22:21 stated that Job did not know God.
Job 22:22 stated that Job rejected God’s law.
Job 22:23 stated that he had left God, and that he dwelt in unrighteousness.
Job 22:24 stated that gold was his treasure.
Job 22:25 implied that he loved silver, not God.
Job 22:26 stated that he did not delight in God.
Job 22:27 stated that his prayers were not heard, and that he was not paying his vows.
Job 22:28 stated that Job was in darkness.
Job 22:29 stated that he was soon to be cast down.
Job 22:30 stated that Job was not innocent, and that his dirty hands needed cleaning!
May God deliver all of us from that kind of “consolation” and “comforting” from our friends!
E.M. Zerr:
Job 22:18-21. Again Job was bidden to take a lesson from the experiences of the generations who lived before him.
Job 22:22-23. Eliphaz came directly to his old theory and exhorted Job to repent.
Job 22:24-30. This whole paragraph is on the same line. If Job would acknowledge his sins and make amends then the Lord would abundantly bless him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Acquaintance with God
Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:
Thereby good shall come unto thee.
Job 22:21.
In the sense in which the speaker meant them, these words are not true. They mean little more than It pays to be religious. What kind of notion of acquaintance with God Eliphaz may have had, one scarcely knows, but, at any rate, the whole meaning of the text on his lips is poor and selfish. The peace promised is evidently only outward tranquillity and freedom from trouble, and the good that is to come to Job is plainly mere worldly prosperity. This strain of thought is expressed even more clearly in that extraordinary bit of bathos, which with solemn irony the great dramatist who wrote this book makes Eliphaz utter immediately after the text, The Almighty shall be thy defence andthou shalt have plenty of silver! It has not been left for commercial Englishmen to recommend religion on the ground that it produces successful merchants and makes the best of both worlds.
These friends of Jobs all err in believing that suffering is always and only the measure of sin, and that one can tell a mans great guilt by observing his great sorrows. And so they have two main subjects on which they preach at their poor friend, pouring vitriol into his wounds: first, how wicked he must be to be so haunted by sorrows; second, how surely he will be delivered if he will only be religious after their pattern, that is, speak platitudes of conventional devotion and say, I submit. That is the meaning of the text as it stands. But there is a higher sense in which it is true.
I.
Acquaintance with God
1. The knowledge of God which the Bible insists upon as essential to peace and salvation, consists in personal or heart acquaintance with Himsuch acquaintance as involves transformation of character and radical change of spiritual environment, as well as change of relationship to God, thereby introducing man into a new and blessed life of peace and enjoyment of all good. Acquaint now thyself with himnot with His works, not with His ways, not even with His words, life-giving and soul-uplifting though these bebut with Himself! We must be on intimate terms with God. To know Him, as to know a man, we must live with Him, must summer and winter with Him, must bring Him into the pettinesses of daily life, must let our love set to Him, must be in sympathy with Him, our wills being tuned to make harmony with His, our whole nature being in accord with His. That is work more than enough for a lifetime, enough to task it, enough to bless it.
We and God have business with each other; and in opening ourselves to His influence our deepest destiny is fulfilled.1 [Note: William James.]
When we speak of knowledge of God, do we not always mean something very far short, from the nature of the case, of comprehension? Surely we do. In one sense we never know God. In another, as all Christians believe, This is Life Eternal, to know Thee, the only True God. Knowledge of God, in the sense of comprehending Him, is always impossible. Do we really comprehend even each other? Do we not feel each other just as we feel God? and then take our feelings to pieces and find that they include, or are based on, a recognition of certain qualities in the person who excites them? And is not this recognition really knowledgesuch knowledge as may be expressed in propositions? And if so, how does it differ in kindI admit that it differs enormously in degreefrom the knowledge that we have about God? Certainly our highest knowledge of God is only apprehensive, yet it is knowledge, as far as it goes, and it may be set forth in propositions. Even the most shadowy Theism includes at least one tremendous affirmative propositionhowever this may be qualified. And this proposition makes this Theism a Theology as well as a Religion. Nor can I see any priori difficulty in supposing that God may have furnished the mind of primitive man with some feeling or instinct about Himselfa feeling which would be irrational if not based on knowledge of some kind. Why should He have done this less easily than He has given all men the sense of right and wrong? Does not this sense of right and wrong itself imply God? Is it not a law? and does not a law imply a Law-giver?1 [Note: Life and Letters of H. P. Liddon, 233.]
2. Personal acquaintance with God is possible.
(1) Jesus Christ confidently and constantly affirmed the possibility of soul-saving personal acquaintance with God, and maintained that His disciples actually enjoyed such acquaintance or experimental knowledge. His appeals to His disciples were all based on the assumption that they knew God after a spiritual manner, and were thereby distinguished from the world which knew Him not. Indeed, so prominent is experimental knowledge of God as the basis of true discipleship in the Gospels, and especially in the Fourth Gospel, that it may be regarded as the supreme condition of eligibility to the privileges and blessings of the Kingdom of God.
(2) The Apostles confirm our Lords teaching on this point. Johns First Epistle is practically a positive affirmation and doctrinal setting forth of the great truth that all true believers personally and experimentally know God. Hereby we do know that we know him. We know that we are in him. I write unto you because ye know him. He that knoweth God heareth us. That we may know that is true. Paul says: That I may know him the Gentiles that know not Goddistinguishing between them and believers who do know Him. I know whom I have believed.
(3) Further, good men in all the Christian ages, belonging to many lands, of various races and nationalities, while differing in regard to a thousand things, and perhaps having very little in common so far as material surroundings are concerned, have harmoniously testified, as a fact of experience, that they knew God. Men of purity of life, of force of characterdistinguished among their fellows in many instances for probity, benevolence, intelligence, and usefulnesspositively affirm with unswerving confidence, persistence, and absolute absence of unworthy motive that they know God; that they enjoy spiritual commerce and personal communion with Him; that He constantly reveals Himself in their consciousness and to their spirits in peace and power and answer to prayer.
God can reveal Himself, and can be known. Spirit with spirit can meet; to a person a Person can speak. Had mans attitude remained normal his apprehension of God would have been continuous and, to the extent of its widening range, unclouded. There are faculties in man which render him capable of this. But, as things are, the knowledge of God has been arrested and confused and sometimes destroyed. The light shining in the darkness has been as good as lost. Yet it has been universal, and hints of the truth have never been altogether absent from any age or race of men; and in Israel a medium of revelation was found, chiefly in its great moral personalitiesthe prophetswhich enabled God to let the real truth of His being and character shine forth with increasing clearness. In this way preparation went on for the final unveiling of God in Christ as Spirit, light, and love.1 [Note: Life of Principal David W. Simon, 339.]
I dare say that you remember the often quoted saying of Lessing, that the Christian religion had been tried for eighteen centuries, and that the religion of Christ remained to be tried. It seems rather boastful and extravagant, but it expresses the spirit in which any new movement for the improvement of theology must be carried on. It means that Christians should no longer be divided into Churchmen and Nonconformists, or even into Christians and non-Christians, but that the best men everywhere should know themselves to be partakers of the Spirit of God, as He imparts Himself to them in various degrees. It means that the old foolish quarrels of science with religion, or of criticism with religion, should for ever cease, and that we should recognize all truth, based on fact, to be acceptable to the God of truth. It means that goodness and knowledge should be inseparably united in every Christian word or work, that the school should not be divorced from the Church, or the sermon from the lesson, or preaching from visiting, or secular duties from religious ones, except so far as convenience may require. It means that we should regard all persons as Christians, even if they come before us with other names, if they are doing the works of Christ.1 [Note: Life and Letters of Benjamin Jowett, ii. 362.]
Can man by searching find out God? Yes! There is no need to seek Him in the unreachable heavens, or in the depths of the invisible darkness to look for Him. He is here in the life, and intelligence, and beauty of Nature. He is here in the conduct of the world. He is here in the sense I have of my own righteousness before Him. He is here in the sense of an absolute justice, even though that justice punish me. He is here, O God! how deeply, dearly, how intensely, in my undying, unquenchable trust that He is mine and I am His for ever.2 [Note: Stopford A. Brooke, Sunshine and Shadow, 7.]
I have just read that testimony by Goethe that you have quoted from Professor William James. I am about seventy-fourhis age. My circumstances have not been nearly so favourable as his, but I am thankful to be able to speak much better of life in this world than he does. I have had many sorrows, and though I am not of sanguine disposition, life has been a joy to me, and is so still. Two great beliefs give me rest from the worry and dissatisfaction which torment so many: (1) that God is a Person. I cannot define the specific sense in which He is a Person. And (2) that God is Love. He must be love. An Agnostic will confess that if there be a Creator He must at least be the equal of His highest creation. It is a logical absurdity to say that any creature can love more than God loves. If, therefore, there is anything in creation that I cannot harmonize with love, it is because of my limited faculties. All must be right. When this, the great burden of Bible teaching, is heartily received, how much of perplexity and pain is taken out of the life!3 [Note: John Brash: Memorials and Correspondence, 70.]
3. Acquaintance with God is mans highest and most glorious privilege. Do we not count it a privilege to know earths great men and women? How often have we heard the note of pride in the voice when one has been able to say of some distinguished person, I know him; I am acquainted with him; I am on terms of familiarity with him, even of affection! And there is a glow on the face, and a light in the eye, which seems to give the lucky man a reflected glory. When we admire some one greatly, we count it an honour to know him personally, and especially to be known by him; and we can conceive no higher privilege than to live on terms of intimate fellowship with him. What, then, must be the nature of his privilege who walks with God as did Enoch, who is the friend of God as was Abraham? There cannot possibly be a higher privilege than that.
When the light is in the west,
When the day goes home to rest,
When the busy pulse of city life in mart and lane beats low,
Then in earths garden lonely
I hear Thy footsteps only,
And the ancient words to me are new, Be still, and thou shalt know.
Thou hast been walking here
Each hour of every year;
Twas not the evening coolness brought Thy presence to my side:
But in my hearts great flutter
The day was darkness utter,
And I missed thee in my madness, and I passed Thee in my pride.
Thy holy, heavenly will
Must bid my heart be still
Ere it can catch a note so low as ripples in Thy rest;
For in its constant quiver
I cannot hear the river
That glides, to make Thy city glad, from gardens of the blest.
Why should I wait for even
To snatch a glimpse of heaven,
When the river from the garden can refresh the heated way?
Let but Thy stillness stealing
Impart its sweet revealing,
And through the fire Ill walk with Thee in coolness of the day.1 [Note: George Matheson, Sacred Song of Solomon , 6.]
4. If you would know God, you must study Him in the person, and the character, and the life, and the work of His Son. As Christ Himself expresses it, Christ is the Word. And as a mans words represent and declare the man,so that you cannot know the man, the invisible mind of the man, but by the words he speaks,so Christ represents and declares the invisible Father.
For us Jesus Christ is the Revealer. What men know of God apart from Him is dim, shadowy, indistinct; it lacks certainty, and so is not knowledge. I venture to say that there is nothing between cultivated men and the lose of certain knowledge of God and conviction of His Being but the historical revelation of Jesus Christ. The Christ reveals the inmost character of God, and that not in words but in deeds. Without Him no man knows God; No man knoweth the Father save the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him.1 [Note: A. Maclaren.]
This morning I arose a little after seven oclock, in possession of my reason and of my health, and not without aspirations of soul towards the communion of God; but poor and heartless when compared with those experiences of the Psalmist, whose prayers prevented the dawning of the morning, and his meditations the night-watches; and my soul being afflicted with downwardness, and wandering of spirit, and coldness of heart, towards the God of my salvation, in the morning, which is as it were a new resurrection, it was borne in upon my mind that it arose in a great measure from my not realizing with abiding constancy the Mediator between me and God, but breaking through, as it were, to commune with Him in my own strengthwhereby the lightning did scathe my soul, or rather my soul abode in its barrenness, unwatered from the living fountain, in its slavery unredeemed by the Captain of my salvation, who will be acknowledged before He will bless us, or rather who must be honoured in order that we may stand well in the sight of the Father.2 [Note: Life of Edward Irving, i. 255.]
5. What do we lose if we have not this personal acquaintance with God?
(1) Without acquaintance with God our thoughts of Him will be false thoughts. We shall have no just view of His real character. Some think Him harsh, stern, tyrannical. They regard the law as severe, and its penalties as unjust. They say that His government is arbitrary, and He Himself unworthy of confidence. Therefore, when they are disappointed, baulked in their expectations, denied their hearts desire, when trouble finds and sorrow lays a heavy hand upon them, they curse God. Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. How mournful is the lament of Jesus: O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee! The world had not understood God, and men had misrepresented Him; had charged Him with folly; had blasphemed His holy name; had taken it in vain; had wandered far into the darkness of unbelief. But Jesus knew the Father, and therefore, though His face was marred more than any mans, and His form than the sons of men; though He was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; yet with the shadow of the cross heavy upon Him, He kept bright in His faith and serene in His trust; and He could pray, O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me. And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.
None can have low thoughts of Thee, but they that know Thee not.1 [Note: Andrew Wellwood.]
From Tungwa we went to Makuta. One afternoon I was strolling about the town. Seeing some women making pottery, I went over to them and sat down under the gables of the house, for the sun was hot. We soon changed the subject of conversation, although they were much interested in what I told them of making pots in England. Then we talked of the work at Tungwa, and how some there had learned of Jesus and were trusting in Him. I was speaking of the love of God, and how anxious He was to change our hearts and to fit us to go and live with Him in the Blessed Home above; how ready He was to help and bless all who sought Him, when the sister of one of the Tungwa lads who had been with us some time, and is now a member of the Church, spread out her hands and cried most pathetically, Oh God! where are You, that I may know You? My eyes fill up even now, somehow or other, as I think of her cry. We talked on for some time, and I tried to assure her that He was very near, and would hear her whenever she spoke to Him. Then we talked of Jesus and His great love, and the other women joined in, much interested, and wished that there was some one to teach them at Makuta.2 [Note: W. Holman Bentley, 320.]
(2) A man without the knowledge of God is simply so far an imperfect man. He is only partially educated, only partially developed. He is like a person who has not the colour sense and cannot see the beauty of the autumn leaves; or like a person who has a defect of the brain and cannot put two ideas together; or like a person who, having had a very narrow experience, can form no opinion of things beyond his ken, and judges the whole world by the little town in which he lives or the people according to the neighbours whom he knows. A man without a knowledge of God is simply a man who has left out of his study the most important and also accessible of all truths, that piece of knowledge which is not so much a branch of the tree as the root of the tree itself, the knowledge upon which all sound living and all sound thinking must ultimately depend; for one who has missed God in the universe has found himself in a universe which has no key, no meaning, no goal, nothing intelligible, and his own mind therefore reflects the meaninglessness and the chaos of the godless universe in which he imagines that he lives.
Acquaint thyself with God, if thou wouldst taste
His works. Admitted once to His embrace,
Thou shalt perceive that thou wast blind before:
Thine eye shall be instructed; and thine heart,
Made pure, shall relish with divine delight
Till then unfelt, what hands divine have wrought.1 [Note: Cowper.]
II.
The Peace which comes from Acquaintance with God
Personal acquaintance with God brings peace to the soul. This peace is twofold:
1. It is peace with God.The enmity of the carnal mind is slain, Divine love has vanquished the spirit of opposition, all barriers are broken down; the soul glides from the storm-swept sea of doubt, fear, and uncertainty into the calm haven of Gods assured forgiveness and acceptance. The disquieted conscience finds rest from upbraiding; being justified by faith, the believer now has peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation to him, he has passed out of death into life.
From a boy I had been led to consider that my Maker and I, His creature, were the two beings, luminously such, in rerum natura. I will not here speculate, however, about my own feelings. Only this I know full well now, and did not know then, that the Catholic Church allows no image of any sort, material or immaterial, no dogmatic symbol, no rite, no sacrament, no Saint, not even the Blessed Virgin herself, to come between the soul and its Creator. It is face to face, solus cum solo, in all matters between man and his God. He alone creates; He alone has redeemed; before His awful eyes we go in death; in the vision of Him is our eternal beatitude.1 [Note: J. H. Newman, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, 195.]
Dear Angel, say,
Why have I now no fear at meeting Him?
Along my earthly life, the thought of death
And judgment was to me most terrible.
I had it aye before me, and I saw
The Judge severe een in the Crucifix.
Now that the hour is come, my fear is fled;
And at this balance of my destiny,
Now close upon me, I can forward look
With a serenest joy.2 [Note: J. H. Newman, Verses on Various Occasions, 244.]
2. It is also the peace of God.Gods peace is not merely a negative thing, not merely the removal of enmity and dispersion of wrath. It is like music. Harmony is the perfection of sound, not the absence of sound. The return of the soul in penitence and faith to God, and its union with Him in peace leads at once to harmonious commerce and reciprocal affection between the two spiritsfinite and infinite. As the Divine Rewarder lifts upon those who diligently seek Him the light of His countenance all tumult subsides, peace at once takes possession and establishes its sovereignty. The immutable promise is, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee. The perfect attitude of trust, with the mind unwaveringly stayed upon God as the sure support and never-failing help, secures perfect permanent peace.
The central thought of religion is of a peace that is beyond the unrest of life, of a harmony that transcends all its discords, of a unity of purpose which works through all the conflict of the forces of nature, and the still more intense conflict of the wills of men.3 [Note: Edward Caird.]
Acquaint thyself with God!
Know thou His tender love;
So shall the healing sunshine fall
Upon thee from above.
Acquaint thyself with God!
In Him alone is peace,
Rest for the weary child of time,
And everlasting bliss.
Acquaint thyself with God!
Choose thou the better part;
So shall His heavenly sunlight be
The day-spring of thy heart.
Acquaint thyself with God!
He bids thee seek His face,
That thus thy youthful soul may taste
The sweetness of His grace.
Acquaint thyself with God!
In Jesus and His cross
Read there that love which makes all loss
But gain, all gain but loss.
Acquaint thyself with God
In childhoods joyous prime;
So shall thy life a foretaste prove
Of heavens long summer-time.1 [Note: Hymns by Horatius Bonar, 162.]
III.
The True Good which comes from Acquaintance with God
1. Eliphaz was only thinking, on Old Testament lines, that prosperity in material things was the theocratic reward of allegiance to Jehovah. But we have a better meaning breathed into his words, since Jesus has taught us what is the true good for a man all the days of his life. Acquaintance with God is, not merely procures, good. To know Him, to clasp Him to our hearts as our Friend, our Infinite Lover, our Source of all peace and joy, to mould our wills to His and let Him dominate our whole selves, to seek our well-being in Him alonewhat else or more can a soul need to be filled with all good? Acquaintance with God brings Him in all His sufficiency to inhabit otherwise empty hearts. It changes the worst, according to the judgment of sense, into the best, transforming sorrow into loving discipline, interpreting its meaning, fitting us to bear it, and securing to us its blessings. To him that is a friend of God,
All is right that seems most wrong
If it be His sweet will.
Gooda little word, but how pregnant! What manifold treasures are wrapped up in it! Spectrum analysis has revealed wondrous things to us concerning Gods starry hosts; but who will analyse for us this single word good as it comes from the Fathers lips and leaps from His heart?1 [Note: J. E. Robinson.]
The infinite goodness which I have experienced in this world inspires me with the conviction that eternity is pervaded by a goodness not less infinite, in which I repose unlimited trust.2 [Note: E. Renan, Recollections of my Youth, 329.]
2. Thereby good shall come to thee. Good of every kind, and especially of the best kind. In fact, the state itself is the good begun. No good can ever come to a man from without, in the shape of possession of any kind, which can for a moment be compared with the blessedness of being good. There is a beautiful prayer in one of the Psalms to this effect. Do good, O Lord, unto those that be good. That short sentence is a religious philosophy as well as a prayer. For until a man is good, good of the highest kind God cannot do him. He can fill his veins with health, and his coffers with gold, and his rooms with pictures, and his gardens with flowers, and his fields with fruits, and his life with comfort and outward peace; but one thrill of the holy peace of this text, and of the Saviours legacy, he can never have, so long as he is unthankful and evil. These things are just hung about him, or thrown in his way; they are not in the man himself.3 [Note: A. Raleigh, The Way to the City, 237.]
The beginning of religion seems to me to be, first, resignation, and, secondly, trust in God. O rest in the Lord. This is a true word for the departing one as well as for the survivor. The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God, and there shall no torment touch them. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. It is weak and wrong to rebel against the order of nature, which is also the will of God, or to seek to know things which no one has ever known. Sympathy is a precious help, but our chief support must be the thought of God.4 [Note: B. Jowett, Life and Letters, ii. 449.]
Literature
Dinwoodie (J.), Outline Studies, 126.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions: Esther, Job, 49.
Morgan (G. C.), Christian Principles, 22.
Parkinson (R.), in Practical Sermons, i. 39.
Raleigh (A.), The Way to the City, 229.
Salmond (C. A.), For Days of Youth, 193.
Simeon (C.), Works, iv. 418.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Evening by Evening, 129.
Vaughan (J.), Sermons in Christ Church, Brighton, 1st Ser., 42.
Christian World Pulpit, lxx. 289 (Horton); lxxx. 140 (Tattersall).
Church of England Magazine, xliv. (1858) 344 (Clayton).
Church of England Pulpit, xxx. 1. (Kerr-Smith); xlii. 175 (Naylor); xliii. 133 (Maturin).
Clergymans Magazine, 3rd Ser., xii. 159 (Burrows).
Preachers Magazine, xii. 81 (Whittleton).
Fuente: The Great Texts of the Bible
Acquaint: 1Ch 28:9, Joh 17:3, 2Co 4:6
him: that is, God
be at peace: Isa 27:5, Isa 57:19-21, Mat 5:25, Act 10:36, 2Co 5:20, Phi 4:7, Eph 2:14-17
Reciprocal: Gen 13:2 – General Job 5:8 – seek Job 8:5 – thou wouldest Job 11:13 – prepare Job 33:24 – Then Job 36:11 – If Pro 9:12 – General Ecc 7:12 – wisdom Isa 48:17 – which teacheth Luk 12:58 – give Rom 2:10 – and peace
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
SPIRITUAL ACQUAINTANCE
Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace.
Job 22:21
I. We may learn much of God in nature.Everywhere the world is beautifulsea and sky, wave and grass, flower and sea-shell, wood and river; but how much poorer it would be if it did not speak from every leaf of its great picture-bookreminding us of the missals of the Middle Agesof the Eternal God. As by studying the pictures, or books, of an illustrious man whom we have never seen, so by contemplating the works of God we may know Him. The invisible things of God are made known by the works of His handsHis eternal power and Godhead.
II. We may learn much of God also from great and good men who have lived in every age of the world and in every land.Where is the country whose history is so dead that it has not had some such men to show? And we must always believe that the light which shone in them, amid a good deal of ignorance and mistake, was just borrowed from Christ Himself. In them we have simply the sunlight before the sunrise.
III. But after all, the only way of acquainting ourselves with God is by looking into the face of Jesus Christ.Christ spoke the words of God, and that was much. Christ was the Word of God, and that was vastly more. The Incarnate Word of God is the real Light of the world. All other men are fragments of the One Man. In each there is some failure, some plan, something that we dare not imitate. But Jesus Christ is perfect Man, as He is also, by His essential nature, the Eternal God; and in His perfect humanity the Eternal God is declared. He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. He said to Philip, How sayest thou then, Show us the Father?
We must, first, be at peace with God by confessing ourselves worthless sinners, and taking our stand on His finished work, and then, being at peace with God through faith, we may go on to know God, according to His Divine promise, I have declared thy name to those whom Thou hast given Me, and will declare it.
Illustration
To acquaint oneself with God is no light and easy task; it involves an intercourse which must be not only personal, but profound. There are many persons in the world whom we may know by name, by hearsay, even by sight. But we never properly begin to be acquainted with them until we get upon what are called speaking terms. So one primary method of spiritual acquaintance with God is the method of prayer. Only as we master this method, step by step, and grow familiar with its conditions and its results, do we come to understand the inward meaning of the will of the Father, and to realise those deep abysses of judgment and mercy in which the foundation of every prayer is laid.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Job 22:21. Acquaint now thyself with him That is, with God, as appears both from Job 22:23, where he is expressed, and from the nature of the matter in hand, there being no other way to happiness. Renew thy acquaintance with God by prayer, and repentance for all thy sins, and true humiliation under his hand, and hearty compliance with all his commands, and diligent care to serve and enjoy him. It is our honour, that we are made capable of this acquaintance; our misery, that by sin we have lost it; our privilege, that through Christ we may return to it; and our unspeakable advantage, to renew and cultivate it. And be at peace At peace with God, and at peace with thyself; not fretful or uneasy. Good shall come unto thee All the good thou canst desire, temporal, spiritual, eternal.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
22:21 Acquaint now thyself {q} with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.
(q) He exhorts Job to repentance, and to return to God.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
Job’s need to repent 22:21-30
This appeal sounds almost tender. However, Eliphaz had been very condemning in what he had just accused Job of doing and thinking. Job did not need to repent, as Eliphaz suggested (Job 22:23). He was not suffering because he had sinned greatly.
We should not use this type of approach when appealing to the unsaved today because God does not require reformation before He will accept a sinner. Furthermore, He does not promise physical prosperity to those who repent. Again, Eliphaz’s basic retribution theology led him to misrepresent God and misunderstand life.