Eliphaz: The Wisdomless Counselor

Intro:

Beginning of our 3rd and final round of interactions between Job and His friends. In this weeks text we will look at the Oldest and “wisest” of Job’s friends Eliphaz

Eliphaz Background again:

Chapter 4-5: He claims that Job should cling to his integrity (4:6) and simply repent & be restored (5:17-27)

Chapter 15: After hearing Job speak some more he becomes a little less gracious towards the idea that Job has any integrity left

Says he no longer fears God (15:4), alludes to the idea that Job drinks Injustice like water, and that Only the Wicked could say the things Job has (15:17-35),

This week Eliphaz will attempt one last time to reason with His old friend, unfortunately as we will see Eliphaz has nothing more to say. He will rather lean on his faulty wisdom to attempt to lead Job to a fruitful solution. In this way we will see today How not to deal with believing friends in the midst of adversity, we will also see through Eliphaz’s faulty logic how we can properly lead people to the truth of Christ and hope through life's trials and temptations.

Now before we begin there is one little note that I want to make on the character of Eliphaz and that is the city where he originates from: Teman

-This city adds a little more weight to why the reader at first glance is expect to head Eliphaz’s words not only is he the wisest but the city of Teman according to Jeremiah is a city of known for it’s Wisdom.

-If there would be anyone who could properly help Job it would be him, but as we have seen time and again Eliphaz can’t get his mind wrapped around a God who would allow a righteous man to suffer, So from this man of Wisdom will come nothing of profit for this suffering saint.

Rather; We see his wisdom turn to folly for he does 3 things in this text that we need to be aware of and ensure that we are not doing the same:

1. He wrongly assess his friends character (1-11)

2. He wrongly asses His friends words (12-20)

3. He wrongly offers a faulty solution (21-30)

So Let’s look at each of these this week and see how we are properly called to live out the faith with those who suffer

I. He wrongly assess his friends character (1-11)

Job 22:1–11 ESV

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you? Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities. For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing. You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it. You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed. Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

There is something beautiful about community and friendship. When gathered with true friends we usually feel we can be the most open and honest, because we assume that those who hear our words truly know our character and as such will loving direct us to truth, or in a state of suffering offer a balm to our souls, through hearing our pleas and praying with us .

But for a true friend to offer a true word and to love us well they must first know us to some degree. They must know our faith, our life, our struggles and our temptations.

The assumption is that Job thought His friends knew him, but as each step unfolds we see they hardly understand him, and even more they don’t understand his faith or his desire to cling to integrity

-They must have rejoiced with him in the times of plenty but now as his words turn mournful and confused they become more hostile. As his pleading for understanding and an audience with God to lay before Him his innocence they become more repulsed: for who is man to talk back to God......right? (there is a part of us that see where the friends are coming from)

-So we must remember always that it is God who told us about the character of Job:

-He’s not just like any other God fearer: there is no like him on the face of the earth......

Job 2:3 ESV

And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.”

Job 2:2:3

-So when Eliphaz Opens His mouth at the begging of this final plea we immediately see his error:

Job 22:1–11 ESV

Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: “Can a man be profitable to God? Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty if you are in the right, or is it gain to him if you make your ways blameless? Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you and enters into judgment with you? Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities. For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing and stripped the naked of their clothing. You have given no water to the weary to drink, and you have withheld bread from the hungry. The man with power possessed the land, and the favored man lived in it. You have sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless were crushed. Therefore snares are all around you, and sudden terror overwhelms you, or darkness, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

-He systematically pulled apart each of the things God had said about Job and claimed them to be false through a series of Questions:

-Each one leads with the assumption that God gains nothing if these things are true of Job, and He would take no notice to bring calamity on you if they were, therefore you must be pursing evil.

-Now this is a very complex Hebrew sentence which is often debated on its exact wording, but they all seem to point to this reality that Eliphaz doesn't believe Job as is seen by his continued attack on Job’s character.

-Eliphaz clearly lays out before Job a series of accusation of His evil ways: (These sinful ways are mirrored in where God lays out the ways of the wicked)

Ezekiel 18:5–13 ESV

“If a man is righteous and does what is just and right— if he does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God. “If he fathers a son who is violent, a shedder of blood, who does any of these things (though he himself did none of these things), who even eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols, commits abomination, lends at interest, and takes profit; shall he then live? He shall not live. He has done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon himself.

-H

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They are very basic charge that a man in Job’s position must not have gotten there by pure happenstance, but rather there must be some dubious events at play. So he appeals to ANET social norms.

-As we have already noted these things are not true and over the remaining chapter Job will lay out that these accusation are false and that he remains blameless

-Remember God pointed to Job to be tested because these things were not true about Him. God knew His servant Job. He knew that he was a righteous man, not for all that God had given Him but because of who God was. He held fast to God and walked blamelessly. So for Job’s friend to now throw these charges at him would have been a shock to anyone in Job’s position and as a reader it should shock us as well, for there is not reason for these charges except that Eliphaz cannot fathom again why else these things would be happening to Job and for Job to refuse to listen to there council simply meant he was hiding something deeper.

-Application: How many here have every been going through trials and your friends just can’t understand it. Always searching for a reason for the life that has befallen you:

-Christ suffered greatly not for any wrong that he had done but so that we would not suffer the torment of Gods wrath;

-He suffered the true Darkness on Calvary for us, absorbing the wrath of God. The snares had surrounded Christ, the darkness overwhelmed Him the crushing waves of God’s wrath was upon Him for us. Her suffered in righteousness for us. He was offered the world by Satan in desert and trusted the plan of the father a plan to suffer. A false kingdom was laid before him and was rejected for the Father’s will is better that the kingdoms of this world. Righteousness is better than positions, even better than a “good name”

-I say all this to point to the reality that when we become like Christ we may suffer unjustly Like Him and like Job in righteousness, not for Sin but for Righteousness sake:

1 Peter 3:13–17 ESV

Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil.

Hebrews 2:8–11 ESV

putting everything in subjection under his feet.” Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers,

Hebrews 2:8-

-So in Jobs case why do bad things happen to Good people? Because a truly “good person” is good because of his God not because of his circumstances

TR: Eliphaz wrongly understood Job’s character because He couldn’t understand Job’s God and because he could understand these two things he wrongly hears what Job has to say:

II. He wrongly asses His friends words (12-20)

Job 22:12–20 ESV

“Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are! But you say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the deep darkness? Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see, and he walks on the vault of heaven.’ Will you keep to the old way that wicked men have trod? They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away. They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’ and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’ Yet he filled their houses with good things— but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them, saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off, and what they left the fire has consumed.’

So after attacking Job’s character and by Proxy God. He now attacks Jobs words. Now what is so important in this text is that the words he ascribes to Job and the argument is not one he has actually made, but rather a distortion of the words he said.

-Eliphaz wasn’t actually listen to the words, because he couldn’t fathom them, because again the God that Job was describing was a God he could not fathom being real, So while Eliphaz will say some true things he will also say some false things just as most false teachers do, for we know in the End God condemn the words they used to describe Him (42:7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.) . Therefore he tries to correct what he thinks Job is saying, by wrongly applying Job’s thoughts.

-So Eliphaz Reminds Job correctly that he is not Like us and he Is in the heavens far beyond us, but not in a deistic way: He charges Job with walking down a path to wickedness simply by stating that wickedness exist today and goes seemingly unpunished.

-In this Eliphaz as we have seen is not listening clearly he has ascribed wickedness to Job already and now he warns Job ultimately not to walk any further down the path, by Job pointing out the flaws in their arguments Eliphaz believes he has begun to defend the way of the wicked in their prosperity, when in actuality He was pointing out that their view of God was too simplistic and that the world is more complicated than they thought.

-His warning is simply that I will not listen to wicked men for their end is destruction (just as those killed by the flood an assumption I will make on the text)

-In this Eliphaz as we have seen is not listening clearly he has ascribed wickedness to Job already and now he warns Job ultimately not to walk any further down the path, by Job pointing out the flaws in their arguments Eliphaz believes he has begun to defend the way of the wicked in their prosperity, when in actuallity He was pointing out that theire view of God was too simplistic and that the world is more complicated than they thought.

-His thoughts are truly but as they are being wrongly applied here to Job causes them to have no power and lead no where. He has no answer to Job’s point that the wicked don’t always (in this life) get the judgment you think they do and if they did the world would look very different. Your theology is wrong and doesn’t match reality for if you believe this is all there is then you will need to see justice done here and now, Job seems to be pointing to the fact that that is not the case for Him. His trust is in God and His judgments thus he will wait on God and continue to simply ask the question.

Going back to the judgment of God on the wicked is actually delayed for righteousness sake that they may repent and believe (quick ill. Manasseh )

TR; In the end we see his inability to understand Jobs character and words leads him to wrongly bring forth a solution:

III. He wrongly offers a faulty solution (21-30)

Job 22:21–30 ESV

“Agree with God, and be at peace; thereby good will come to you. Receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty you will be built up; if you remove injustice far from your tents, if you lay gold in the dust, and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed, then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty and lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you, and you will pay your vows. You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you, and light will shine on your ways. For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’; but he saves the lowly. He delivers even the one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

So in the end the solution Eliphaz describes is one most of us would probably give: Repent. However as we see this is not the solution for Job

-He has done nothing wrong to turn from. This calamity is a result of his righteousness not sinfulness.

-He is in the midst of seeking instruction from the Lord as to what to do (and he will be answered by God)

-However there is a subtly to Eliphaz’s call that we would not hold too.

Christ calls us to repent and believe ()

Eliphaz calls him to repent and prosper (Since the physical blessings were working he now appeals to his spiritual influence)

-His solution is to tempt Job with a greater spiritual power

-He doesn’t call Job to repentance for righteousness sake, but as a solution to his problems and a promise of a greater power.

Again Job never loses his desire to know God. he still calls out to God, He is still clinging to God to solve his dilemma. He knows that God is in heaven that his redeemer lives, that the one who will mediate his case is God himself, He just doesn’t understand how it works....... Nor do any of us

So in the end he tempts Job with a new option, Forsake your case with God clearly you have sinned, Repent (you are no righteous like God says you are) and look God will then be able to use you in new and awesome ways.

Think of all the influence you can have: you can be a very popular speaker, maybe write a book. {People will come to you to be prayed over and freed from there sins, don’t you want all that power. what seems good on the surface hides a sinful deception underneath.

As we see next week Job does not fall into this trap: he Knows who He is and who his God is and will plea to Him.

So do you know who you are and who your God is, or is your relationship with him conditional, is your pleas to Him to understand or to gain. Eliphaz offered Job spiritual power and influence over his own integrity. What is your relationship with God worth to you. Is it worth suffering as Christ suffered.

-Job reminds us that Suffering is real for the saints and Eliphaz speech shows us what happens when people who don’t truly know God try to instruct us about how we should come to God. So in trials cling to God and go to those who will bring comfort and truth as they lead you to the whole counsel of God and labor with you through the trial.

romans 5:

Romans 5:1–5 ESV

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.