Cross-less Wisdom

Job 4:1–7 ESV

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking? Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope? “Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?

Prayer

Cross-Less Wisdom

“Religious Wisdom”

Unless our wisdom keeps Christ at the center, it will be harsh, uncharitable, extremely burdensome, and ultimately is vanity.

When we think about Job’s friends, it’s important to start off by explaining several assumptions.

Initial Assumptions

Antitypical

“Negative Example”

Like every story, we will read the dialogues back and forth with Job and we will subtly place ourself in the position of Job.

We will modestly place ourself in the place of the one being accused.

And truly that may be the situation for us.

But we also need to see that like most Hebrew poetry, these friends actually should be viewed as us as well.

They act as a warning of how we shouldn’t give wisdom to others.

Prophetic

“They Point Beyond Themselves”

These friends are not simply pointing to themselves.

They are NOT simply giving us how to be a good friend guide.

They are pointing beyond themselves.

We will cover this later on…

Eliphaz

“Who Was He?”

Job 4:1 ESV

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

He is the first one of Job’s friends to talk.

This likely meant that Eliphaz was the eldest (wisest) of Job’s friends.

He is referred to as a “Temanite” in chapter 2, which was a city of Edom.

Though it doesn’t seem like it, he speaks with kindness and courtesy toward Job.

Of all the friends, Eliphaz speaks as a Theologian.

He is neither pushy nor aggressive toward him.

Though he is a sweet “older man” to Job.

This does not mean his counsel was sweet or helpful.

Crying out for Vindication: The Gospel according to Job First, Eliphaz

Eliphaz’s error lies in the content of what he believes, not so much in the way he expresses it.

Eliphaz is going to give Job three different pleas, and we will look at them in turn...

Plea From Tradition

“How The World Works”

Request for a Listening Ear

“Will You Hear?” (4:1-2)

Job 4:2 ESV

“If one ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? Yet who can keep from speaking?

He asks Job, “will it be too much for you?” (NET Bible Note)

Eliphaz is kindly beginning to speak.

Knowing that Job has just been through the wringer, kindly begins to enter in.

Appeal to Learn

“Let Me Instruct You” (4:3-6)

Job 4:3–4 ESV

Behold, you have instructed many, and you have strengthened the weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.

Eliphaz’s initial point to Job is that he was once a counselor to many people in the land.

People who were once of “weak hands”, that is hands hanging down

People who were once of “feeble knees”, that is like one who is carrying a heavy load

He was once a man who provided counsel to others, and now he is the one who needs to be counseled.

Job 4:5 ESV

But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed.

What is interesting to note is that Job and Eliphaz have started with the same world-view.

Eliphaz even appeals to Job that this is the advice that Job would have given to Eliphaz.

He appeals that if the “shoe was on the other foot” Job would respond in the same way.

He is appealing to the fact that they have both counseled others..

In verse 6, he gives a more robust worldview..

Job 4:6 ESV

Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?

Eliphaz is pleading with Job to remember the convictions they have both held to in the past.

His appeal is that God rewards the pious people with blessing.

“You know that God rewards those who sow good things”

“You know the universe is not in chaos, there is a moral order to things”

“God gives good things to good people.”

Eliphaz is not doubting that Job fears the Lord, but he is encouraging him to live out what he has told others.

He is urging him to apply to himself what he has so many times applied to other people.

The crux of what Eliphaz is hinting toward comes in verse 7.

Job 4:7 ESV

“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?

Eliphaz now gives his main point...

“You know that the righteous never perish.”

“You know that the wicked are the ones who are cut off”

“You know that ‘what you sow is what you reap’”

Retributive Justice

“The Grain of Life” (4:7-11)

Woodworking Illustration

We have phrases in our society like: Against the grain.

This come from working with wood.

Now life has a grain to it.

It has an order, that we can talk about in general terms, but there is a “grain” to life.

Proverbs has been called the book for common living.

Proverbs: Is with the grain

Ecclesiastes: Goes against the grain

Job: Is the knot in the tree

It is a “with the grain” kind of book.

Proverbs 22:8 ESV

Whoever sows injustice will reap calamity, and the rod of his fury will fail.

Psalm 37:25–26 ESV

I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing.

The Righteous Prosper

It’s simple: if you walk in righteousness, then blessing will come.

If you walk in wickedness, then folly will be what you reap.

Now this is the grain of life, but not the end of the story.

Eliphaz takes this position, with no caveat....

Job 4:8 ESV

As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.

Take for example Paul on the island of Malta.

Paul and his associates were journeying and they crashed on the island of Malta.

The people were kind to them until...

Acts 28:3–4 ESV

When Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and put them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened on his hand. When the native people saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer. Though he has escaped from the sea, Justice has not allowed him to live.”

Why would these people have thought this?

The Wicked Suffer

Because they take a similar line of reasoning as Eliphaz.

Paul is reaping bad things, so he must have sown bad things.

Or take for example in John 9:1-2

John 9:1–2 ESV

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

So there is again the same underlying assumption as Eliphaz.

Here is someone who has experienced a bad situation, that means someone must have done something wrong for this to happen.

Now to be fair to Eliphaz, the Bible does teach what is called: Retributive Justice.

Which is the fact that the righteous will prosper and the wicked will suffer.

Galatians 6:7 ESV

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

This is what is taught all over the Proverbs.

And this idea I would argue is what could be called going with the grain of life.

The grain of life is how God designed the world to operate.

But Job’s whole situation goes against the grain of life.

His situation moves in a different direction than how life normally operates.

And Eliphaz’s theology does not account for it!

Eliphaz now gives an example of those who do wicked receiving what they have sown.

What’s important to see here is that Eliphaz never directly accuses Job of this, he merely implies it.

“[Wink, wink, nudge, nudge] I’m talking about you here...”

Job 4:9 ESV

By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.

What Eliphaz does not understand though is when the retributive justice will come to pass.

It will be in the New Heaven’s and the New Earth that true justice will ultimately be done.

[Insert the Gospel of Jesus Christ… ]

Colossians 1:24–29 ESV

Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

Cross-less wisdom centers on being harsh and demanding.

Unless our wisdom keeps Christ at the center, it will be harsh, uncharitable, extremely burdensome, and ultimately is vanity.

Cross-Centered Wisdom Allows Us to Be Sensitive

Eliphaz has another plea for Job...

Plea from Mysticism

“Secret Knowledge from Above” (Job 4:12-5:7)

Eliphaz now gives a terrifying “vision” that was brought to him.

It’s in moments like this I want to pause and warn us.

When someone brings us something of a dream or a vision, we should never just receive it wholesale.

We must always test it like 1 John 4:1 tells us to do.

1 John 4:1 ESV

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world.

We don’t just accept any vision from anybody.

A Spirit Told Me

“Divine Knowledge” (4:12-16)

Job 4:12–16 ESV

“Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:

I want us to notice several things.

It’s possible this spirit really did come to Eliphaz.

But more important than the question, “Did it happen?” should be...

From what source is this message?

Eliphaz is a Dangerous Man

He’s a dangerous man because this message is actually a tool of the enemy to sway Job.

He’s a dangerous man because it seems there is some amount of authority in what he is saying.

Notice how detailed and specific Eliphaz is about the vision.

He describes how he feels

What the experience was like.

Where he was at.

But then notice what was said to him.

A Special Source

“Authority from Above” (4:17-21)

Job 4:17 ESV

‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?

The truth that Eliphaz has just said is extremely vague.

It does not mean it was directed for Job, but that’s how Eliphaz is applying it.

The question is, “Is man holier than God?”

Of course this is NOT what Job is saying.

Job 4:18 ESV

Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;

He says that even his angels, those who minister in his presence He charges with errors.

He finds faults even in heavenly beings.

Job 4:19–20 ESV

how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth. Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.

Those who dwell in clay are humans who are fragile and made from the dust.

The same dust they were made from is where they will return.

Half Truth = Whole Lie

Job I. Introduction: Definition of a Friend

Eliphaz was a dangerous man because he only spoke part of the truth. But he did not speak the whole truth, and knowing only part of the truth is dangerous. Further, what truth he did speak was spoken at the wrong time in the wrong spirit.

His logic is,

“You need to be honest with yourself, Job, you are a a mortal man. God is immortal, and the two will never meet!”

Plead Your Case

“Anybody There?” (5:1-7)

This next little section can be simply deduced to the fact that Job does not have anybody he can call on to answer him.

Eliphaz reminds Job where trouble comes from, specifically, “Rebellious fools!”

I want to highlight one thing from this section though…

Eliphaz’s questions are meant to stir us up a bit.

Job 5:1 ESV

“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

Eliphaz’s question screams at us.

The question looms large like a ginormous shadow.

The shadow, though unknown to him, is the shadow of the cross.

The shadow is of the cross and it beckon’s an answer.

Eliphaz wasn’t the only one who struggled to understand of an innocent sufferer.

Peter Rebuking the Lord

Matthew 16:21–23 ESV

From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

For Peter, he didn’t have a view of the cross in his mind.

He refused to acknowledge that the way of the kingdom could be the way of suffering.

Cross-less wisdom is extremely burdensome.

It’s a wisdom that leaves you feeling weighty.

Cross-Centered Wisdom Allows Us to Be Sympathetic

Unless our wisdom keeps Christ at the center, it will be harsh, uncharitable, extremely burdensome, and ultimately is vanity.

Plea to Follow God

“Recognize and Submit” (Job 5:8-27)

The plea to follow God comes in two parts..

Plea for Humility

“Acknowledge You’re Wrong!” (5:8-16)

Job 5:8 ESV

“As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause,

He’s saying...

“Don’t be a wise guy here… submit to God, because that’s what I would do.”

Again in this verse we can see that Eliphaz is imply that Job has somehow NOT done this.

Bring Your Case to God

Job 5:9–11 ESV

who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: he gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields; he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

We need to see again that Eliphaz is bringing many good and true things to Job.

The problem is he is viewing Job’s issue as one dimensional and it is a truth applied at the wrong time.

Job 5:12–16 ESV

He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end. They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night. But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts her mouth.

Paul even in another place, 1 Corinthians 3:19 quotes from this passage of Eliphaz.

1 Corinthians 3:19 ESV

For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness,”

What Paul is picking up there, likely with some irony is that the wisdom of this world is folly.

Which leads to the second piece that Eliphaz is trying to get Job to agree to...

Plea for Submission

“Submit Yourself to God” (5:17-27)

Job 5:17–19 ESV

“Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty. For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal. He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil shall touch you.

Again Eliphaz brings back to Job the same thing he has been hinting at.

“God disciplines those He loves.”

Which is again true and right.

But the problem is again with the assumption.

The problem is that Eliphaz is assuming that Job has done something to be disciplined!

You and I deserve to be disciplined..

That’s what Hebrews 12 is talking about.

But not so in Job’s situation.

God Delivers Sinners

The rest of the verses really bring home this truth.

Job 5:20–22 ESV

In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. You shall be hidden from the lash of the tongue, and shall not fear destruction when it comes. At destruction and famine you shall laugh, and shall not fear the beasts of the earth.

Job 5:26 ESV

You shall come to your grave in ripe old age, like a sheaf gathered up in its season.

All of this is fine and dandy, but the raging assumption is that Job has done something wrong.

He hasn’t done anything wrong.

Job 5:27 ESV

Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.”

Hardly could these men have known how incorrect they were.

Hardly could they have known what God was doing through this event.

Cross-less wisdom may seek to bring “comfort” but it is always focused on tearing down.

Cross-Centered Wisdom Allows Us to Be Supportive

We have talked about how this book is prophetic.

These friends, even in their “half-truth” wisdom, are prophetic.

Theses friends stand in judgment over their friend who sits on his ash heap throne.

Cross-less Wisdom

“Utter Vanity”

They are prophetic of those who would one day stand around the throne of the cross upon which the King of Glory died.

Luke 22:37 (ESV)

For I tell you that this Scripture must be fulfilled in me: ‘And he was numbered with the transgressors.’

Those friends who once shouted His praises when He came into the city were the same ones who cried out...

“Crucify Him!”

And they did so with and eventually counted among those who deserved to suffer.

Eliphaz also brings up several questions that not only point us to Jesus, they scream His name!!

Job 4:7 ESV

“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?

Job 4:17 ESV

‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?

Job 5:1 ESV

“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?

Our Messiah has come.

Our righteousness has come.

1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.

1 Corinthians 1:22–24 ESV

For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

There is now a way for me and you to be able to stand pure before our maker.

And it’s to be covered by the blood of Christ.

It’s to be given His righteousness for us!