Eliphaz’s Third Speech: Repent and Prosper: Job: The Wisdom of the Cross [Job 22]

{Pray}

Repent is a message we hear throughout the bible from the OT prophet, to Jesus, to the NT apostles. “REPENT!” MAY BE A GRACIOUS INVITATION, but it may also be a cruel and manipulative imposition. The final section of Eliphaz’s final speech is, on the face of it, a beautiful exhortation and invitation to repent (vv. 21–30). How easy it would be to use a passage like this to point our hearts to warm to the invitation to make God our gold, to find delight in him, and to enjoy his blessings. But when we read this text in the context in which Eliphaz says it, we will see that it is not a spiritual invitation to intimacy but rather it’s more of an integrity violator of a repentant person. But that is to jump ahead of ourselves.

Eliphaz begins not with an invitation but with an accusation. He says to Job in effect, “You have definitely sinned.” He goes on to say, “and don’t think God can’t see you,” along with a warning that God will most definitely punish sinners. Only then does he give his invitation to repent.

You Have Definitely Sinned (vv. 1–11)

This is an extraordinarily blunt section. In it Eliphaz explicitly charges Job with gross sin. He does it face-to-face, up close and personal. He begins with a doctrinal presupposition (vv. 1–4), continues with a general accusation (v. 5), and expands this with particular charges (vv. 6–9) before drawing his conclusions (vv. 10, 11).

The Doctrinal Presupposition: God Is Dispassionate and Consistent (vv. 1–4)

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?” (vv. 1–4)

While the rest of this speech is not difficult to understand, the opening verses seem puzzling to us. In verse 2 Eliphaz asks whether anything human beings can do can be of benefit to God. The word for “man” (geber) emphasizes a strong man or warrior. In parallel with “he who is wise” Eliphaz is asking if even the strongest and wisest people, those with the most to offer, can benefit God (and, by implication, if any human being can benefit God). He is asking whether we can ever put God in our debt, so that God is in some manner obligated to behave toward us in a certain way. He implies that we cannot.

Verse 3 takes this and applies it specifically to human virtue: however righteous (v. 3a) or “blameless” (v. 3b) we may be, we cannot give any gift to God in a way that means he owes us one. The thought is that God is dispassionate; he reacts to human virtue or wickedness with entire consistency. He is not affected by our piety or our sin.

It therefore follows that the reason for the blessing or suffering we experience must lie entirely with us. If we are blessed, it is because we are virtuous; if we are cursed, it is because we are sinful. It is unthinkable (v. 4) that God would be punishing Job because of, or in spite of, his piety (“your fear of him”).

So runs Eliphaz’s logic. It seems very orthodox. The problem is that we—the readers—know that in some strange, deep, and wonderful way the glory of God is dependent upon Job’s continuing piety. If Job is shown to be wicked, or only superficially pious, a man who worships God only for what he can get out of God, then the honor of God is cast into doubt. The perseverance of this saint will bring glory to God!

But Eliphaz does not know this, and so he continues to follow his logic to its terrible conclusion.

The General Accusation: You Are a Gross Sinner (v. 5)

Is not your evil abundant?

There is no end to your iniquities. (v. 5)

Back at the start of his first speech, Eliphaz had made the charitable assumption that Job is pious (4:3, 4). Now, for the first time in the book, he explicitly accuses him of being an impenitent and guilty sinner. This has been heavily hinted at but never spoken aloud. It has been the elephant in the room; now it is publicly named. Not only is Job a sinner—he is an “abundant” sinner with “no end to [his] iniquities.” He is a massive, gross, overwhelming, guilty sinner. Eliphaz points the finger with certainty, like a prosecuting attorney in a courtroom drama.

Particular Charges: The Abuses of Power (vv. 6–9)

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. (vv. 6–9)

Eliphaz expands on this general accusation by spelling out some of the sins Job has supposedly committed. They focus on the abuse of power. According to verse 6 he has demanded security from his own kin (the meaning of “brothers”) without any valid cause (the meaning of “for nothing”), strong-arming them into parting with things that are vital to their daily life and well-being; this is the meaning of “stripped the naked of their clothing,” taking from them the outer clothing that is necessary to keep them warm (as forbidden for Israel in Exodus 22:26, 27 and Deuteronomy 24:6, 10, 11).

According to verse 7 he has refused to share the basic necessities of existence (“bread” and “water”) with the destitute (cf. Matthew 25:42, 43). Verse 8 portrays Job as “the man with power” who is a landowner (“possessed the land”), a privileged man (“the favored man”). He holds all the cards in his hand, which makes his refusal to help others and his abuse of privilege all the more despicable. According to verse 9 he has pushed around the most vulnerable people in society, “widows” and “the fatherless” who have no one to defend them. (To crush “the arms” means to destroy their strength.)

What a despicable picture of tyranny and despotism this is. Here is Job, “the greatest of all the people of the east” (1:3), throwing his weight around, enjoying his privileged position, walking all over the weak, and exploiting his power for his own enjoyment. So it is not surprising that God is punishing him.

Conclusion: This Is Why You Are Suffering (vv. 10, 11)

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. (vv. 10, 11)

“Therefore”—this is why, here is very good reason to explain why—“snares are all around you” (v. 10). “No wonder you find yourself in God’s trap and unable to escape. It is small surprise you are experiencing the ‘terror’ (v. 10) of Hell sweeping over you, that your light is turned to ‘darkness’ (v. 11) and the floods of chaos and disorder are washing over the solid ground you had thought was so secure. Of course these terrible things are happening to you. What else could you expect in light of your abundant evil?” It is all so obvious, or is it? It would be, if we did not know from the narrator (1:1) and twice from God himself (1:8; 2:3) that it is not true. When Job defends himself vigorously against these accusations (chapter 31) he is telling the truth.

But Eliphaz is in full flood, and we must not interrupt him further.

God Will Definitely Punish Sinners

(So Don’t Identify with Them) (vv. 12–20)

Eliphaz piles up his arguments with two more that stress God’s certain punishment of sinners.

Don’t Think God Can’t See You (vv. 12–14)

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.” (vv. 12–14)

Eliphaz now compares two different ways of understanding the transcendence of God. His own understanding (v. 12) is that God is supremely high, right up at the zenith of the sky, above the highest stars. He is so high that he can see everything, rather as we might climb a tall building or a high mountain to get a good view. God has a perfect view of the world. He is “a God of seeing” (Genesis 16:13).

“But you say …” Job’s understanding of transcendence (or so Eliphaz suggests, vv. 13, 14) is that because God is above this world, with “the deep darkness” (v. 13) and “thick clouds” swirling around him, the clouds that veil his presence from us also veil our actions from him, “so that he does not see,” (v. 14). He cannot know what is going on upon earth, for he is separate from earth, too far away to see or know. There he is, walking around “on the vault of heaven,” wandering to and fro in the clouds, unaware of what happens on earth (v. 14). He is a distant god, like the watchmaker god of the eighteenth-century Deists. “I expect he set things ticking at the beginning, but he has no knowledge of it or interest in it now.”

This is exactly the view of the wicked in Psalm 73: “And they say, ‘How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?’ ” (Psalm 73:11). Eliphaz says this is Job’s view. He continues by warning Job not to line himself up with these wicked people, these practical atheists who live as if God cannot see them.

Don’t Team up with Those on Death Row (vv. 15–20)

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.” (vv. 15–20)

“Job, what you are doing is nothing new! You are joining ‘the old way,’ but not the good old way [cf. Jeremiah 6:16]; this is the well-worn path trodden by the wicked [v. 15]. And what happened to them? They died young, ‘snatched away before their time’ [v. 16]; even if they thought their lives rested on firm foundations, the floods washed them away. Don’t think you will do any better. People who behave like this are on death row; how stupid to line yourself up with them.”

The description of the wicked in verse 17 closely echoes the way Job himself has described them (21:14). You know they are wicked by what they say to God, even though all their good things in life come from him (22:18a). Eliphaz had determined to steer well clear of their words and their ways (v. 18b, “the counsel of the wicked is far from me”). In terms of Psalm 1, “I, Eliphaz, am not going to walk in the counsel of the wicked. Not me!”

And, in Eliphaz’s view, when God does punish the wicked, those who are “righteous” will rejoice (vv. 19, 20). We will be “glad” (v. 19); we will mock them and laugh them to scorn (as God does in Psalm 2). We will see them “cut off” and all they are and have “consumed” by “fire,” and we will shout for joy. “So if I were you, Job, I would steer well clear of them” (v. 20).

Eliphaz feels he has made his case against Job. Since God is dispassionate, Job’s sufferings must indicate that Job is a very serious sinner, walking in the old path of sinners heading for judgment. Eliphaz has warned Job in no uncertain terms. If Eliphaz were giving Job a good cop, bad cop interview, he has played the bad cop; now it is time for the good cop part of the routine, the soft appeal.

If You Repent, God Will Abundantly Bless You (vv. 21–30)

Eliphaz’s appeal begins with an exhortation and condition (vv. 21–24) before waxing eloquent about the blessings (vv. 25–30).

The Exhortation and Condition: If You Repent … (vv. 21–24)

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 … (vv. 21–24)

To “agree with God” (v. 21a) means to “come to terms” with him or to submit or “yield” to him in a way that leads to “peace” with God rather than pitting yourself against him, as Eliphaz thought Job was doing. Peace with God is the key issue. Job longs to be at peace with God (and will in due course discover that he is at peace with God). If you do that, says Eliphaz, then “good will come to you” (v. 21b), the blessings expounded in verses 25–30. Again this is very close to Satan’s motivation: submit to God for the good things you will get from him. But it is very subtle and subversive. The language of verse 22 is of a man learning wisdom. Instead of being an obstinate fool, be humble and receptive. Be receptive to his instruction (torah), and take his words to heart.

Verse 23 explicitly uses the language of repentance: “If you return [shub, repent] to the Almighty …” and specifically “if you remove injustice far from your tents” (“injustice” refers to all the abuses of power of which Eliphaz has accused him, vv. 6–9). If verse 23 speaks of repentance from unjust deeds, verse 24 speaks to the heart, using the language of idolatry.

“Gold” has been Job’s god, or so Eliphaz implies. To “lay gold in the dust”—even the very finest gold, the legendary gold of the ancient east, is to take those things, people, and projects that are most dear to us, the things we value most, and lay them in the dust from which they came (v. 24). “With such a gesture a person makes a statement that the wealth of this world has no claims on his affections.”

So there is the condition: repent, turn from your wicked ways, dethrone the evil idols in your heart, and turn back to God, submitting to his word and his ways. If you do that, then countless blessings will be yours.

The Blessings: Then God Will Abundantly Bless You (vv. 25–30)

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. (vv. 25–30)

The blessings may be divided into four. First, there is the delightful presence of God (vv. 25, 26). When the idols have been dethroned, the Almighty God will be Job’s treasure, his “gold and … precious silver” (v. 25). His relationship with God will be one of “delight” rather than terror (v. 26). To “lift up [the] face” is an idiom (v. 26). The expression is used by Abner when he says to Asahel that if he were to kill him, “How then could I lift up my face to your brother Joab?” (2 Samuel 2:22), or as we would say, “I wouldn’t be able to look him in the eye.” Zophar has spoken of this as parallel with being secure and without fear (Job 11:15). So Job will be able to stand in the presence of God safely, without fear, in right relationship with God. This is of course what Job so deeply longs for.

Second, as a consequence of this right relationship Job’s prayers will be heard (v. 27). God will not only hear his prayer in the sense of being aware of what he has asked, but in the sense of hearing to respond (along the lines of the old word heed). To “pay your vows” (v. 27b) means to fulfill vows of thanksgiving after answered prayer, as Jonah says: “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay” (Jonah 2:9). So if Job repents, his life will be a succession of answered prayers.

But the blessing is not only presence and prayer—it is also prosperity (v. 28). When Job makes a decision about something, it will happen (v. 28a). God’s light will shine on his ways (v. 28b); wherever he goes will be filled with light and life and will be free from darkness and death.

The final blessing is that Job will become a source of blessing to others through his intercessory prayers (vv. 29, 30). The translation of the last part of verse 29a is difficult. When people are “humbled” or brought low, what will Job say? Some commentators translate Job’s words with the sense of “Lift them up!” (NET), i.e., a prayer for them to be rescued, and this fits with verse 30. Job prays for people who are brought low, and through his prayers God’s salvation comes to them (v. 29b). God rescues those who were guilty (v. 30a) through Job’s innocence and right relationship with God (v. 30b). Job will be a patriarchal mediator, like Abraham for Sodom (Genesis 18:20–33). Ironically this is precisely what Job will end up doing for guilty Eliphaz and his friends (Job 42:7–10)!

Taking Stock of Eliphaz’s Speech

What are we to make of this final speech by Eliphaz? It is a tour of logic and rhetorical power. As with all the comforters’ speeches, it does contain truth. God does see what happens on earth. God does want men and women to turn to him in humble repentance. God does bless the penitent with right relationship with him.

So what is the problem? The problem is that Job is already penitent, he is already a repentant believer. He is a believer walking morally in the light. And yet he is experiencing deep darkness. Just as the wicked often prosper in this age (Job 21), so the righteous sometimes suffer in this age, with a suffering they do not deserve.

To call on a penitent believer to repent of sins he is not aware of is to pressure him to compromise his integrity. The well-calibrated conscience, informed and convicted by the Spirit of God, will prompt the believer to repent day by day of the sins of which he or she is made aware. But to press this believer to repent of sins he has not committed is a violation of his integrity. This is better illustrated in the Lord Jesus.

In an even greater way no one could convict the Lord Jesus of sin (John 8:46), and yet he suffered for sinners. In a disgusting display of injustice, in Matt. 26; Mark 14; Luke 22; and John 18, those are all when Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin and they pressed Him to admit His wrong doing, they pressed Him to admit sin in His life…but Jesus knew no sin [2 Cor. 5:21]. Of course they brought in false witnesses that didn’t even agree on their witness, which violated the law in Deut. where testimony had to be established by two or more witnesses agreeing.

They accused Jesus of blasphemy and sentenced him to death…which again was violating their own law. The point being in their constant urging Jesus to admit wrong doing, they themselves were the ones in the wrong…for Jesus knew no sin in His life, but gave His life as a ransom for sin.

Job’s comforters press Job to admit wrong in his life and admit you don’t know God…but we know that Job did know God and Job was an upright man in the sight of God…i.e. Job was justified before God by faith. Like Matthew Henry suggested. The counsel Eliphaz gives to Job is good, God does see us, we shouldn’t align ourselves with sinners, we should repent and turn to God…the problem was Eliphaz made the wrong assumption that Job was a stranger and enemy to God…which he was not.

Therefore slander came upon Job by his comforters. The warning Henry gives is… let us beware not to be slanders of the brethren ourselves, how often do Christian brothers and sisters slander one another in a similar manner as Job’s comforters slander him.

If a Christian is suffering don’t assume it is because they have done something wrong to deserve the suffering. Pray for them, go to them, comfort and be a benefit and a blessing to them…don’t slander. Job didn’t deserve the slandering he received, Jesus didn’t deserve the slander of his peers either, don’t assume the worst automatically in your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Let us examine ourselves, whether or not we are slanderers or sufferers and be watchful and prayerful of the trap of falling into the slanderers role which is not honoring to God. As we will see at the end of the book the sufferer, God will lift up…the slanderer, God will rebuke.