Job 22 - ESV - Bible Reading / Study Notes

Job 22

Eliphaz Speaks: Job’s Wickedness Is Great

22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2   “Can a man be profitable to God?
    Surely he who is wise is profitable to himself.
3   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?
4   Is it for your fear of him that he reproves you
    and enters into judgment with you?
5   Is not your evil abundant?
    There is no end to your iniquities.
6   For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
    and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7   You have given no water to the weary to drink,
    and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8   The man with power possessed the land,
    and the favored man lived in it.
9   You have sent widows away empty,
    and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.
10   Therefore snares are all around you,
    and sudden terror overwhelms you,
11   or darkness, so that you cannot see,
    and a flood of water covers you.
12   “Is not God high in the heavens?
    See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
13   But you say, ‘What does God know?
    Can he judge through the deep darkness?
14   Thick clouds veil him, so that he does not see,
    and he walks on the vault of heaven.’
15   Will you keep to the old way
    that wicked men have trod?
16   They were snatched away before their time;
    their foundation was washed away.¹
17   They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
    and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’²
18   Yet he filled their houses with good things—
    but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
19   The righteous see it and are glad;
    the innocent one mocks at them,
20   saying, ‘Surely our adversaries are cut off,
    and what they left the fire has consumed.’
21   “Agree with God, and be at peace;
    thereby good will come to you.
22   Receive instruction from his mouth,
    and lay up his words in your heart.
23   If you return to the Almighty you will be built up;
    if you remove injustice far from your tents,
24   if you lay gold in the dust,
    and gold of Ophir among the stones of the torrent-bed,
25   then the Almighty will be your gold
    and your precious silver.
26   For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty
    and lift up your face to God.
27   You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you,
    and you will pay your vows.
28   You will decide on a matter, and it will be established for you,
    and light will shine on your ways.
29   For when they are humbled you say, ‘It is because of pride’;³
    but he saves the lowly.
30   He delivers even the one who is not innocent,
    who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”

Footnotes

[1] 22:16 Or their foundation was poured out as a stream (or river)
[2] 22:17 Hebrew them
[3] 22:29 Or you say, ‘It is exaltation’

Commentary

v1-3: Eliphaz refers to a distant God, unaffected by human affairs.

v4-11: In 4.3-4, Eliphaz commended Job for his concern for others. Here he brings an accusation of great wickedness, of endless sins. This is the most explicit accusation made against him, with sins of commission (as in v6), and sins of omission (in v7).

It seems that Eliphaz has become frustrated that Job's arguments have not been defeated, so he stoops to personal criticism. He states that Job's present sufferings are the direct result of his sins, "that is why..." (v10).

v12-14: The further accusation, that Job regards God as ignorant. No man, says Eliphaz, can set himself up against God and prosper.

v15: Eliphaz accuses Job of following the path of wicked men.

v16: This may be a reference to the flood at the time of Noah, when many were carried away.

v17-18: See 21.14-16; Eliphaz quotes Job's own words about the prosperity of the wicked; he claims that these things are true in Job's life and attitude; he is the wicked one whose house was filled with good things. Eliphaz distances himself from your counsel, "the counsel of the wicked."

v19-20: The argument continues, the righteous rejoice than a wicked man is suffering. This was the man who had mistreated them, v6-9.

v21-30: The challenge to repentance. This is consistent with the belief that Job has sinned. It is true that repentance is the route to blessing.