OPHAR never speaks again, and now we hear Eliphaz for the last time. It seems strange to us that he should raise such questions as he does in these first few verses, concerning the way of man before God. He does not appear to have much sense of what is due to Him. He asks, “Can a man be profitable unto God?” and then adds, “surely it is unto himself that the wise man is profitable,” “Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to Him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?” he continues. Had Eliphaz never considered some of those godly men of old, such as Noah, to whom God had said, “for thee have I seen righteous before Me in this generation"? Gen. 7:11And the Lord said unto Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark; for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation. (Genesis 7:1). Did not God value this? We see from the story of the ark and the flood that God did value Noah’s faithful walk before Him. And God was pleased with Job also, the very man they were reproaching so, as we read in the opening verses of the book.
Eliphaz then turns on Job and makes more false accusations. He says, “Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?” He was pursuing the same line—evil surmisings and false reasonings. “For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for naught, and stripped the naked of their clothing. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.... Thou hast sent widows away empty.” Therefore, he says, these things have come upon Job, and he points him to the paths of the ancient evil men who were carried away before their time. The righteous see these things happening to evil men, says Eliphaz, and the innocent laugh them to scorn.
After this Eliphaz counsels Job. “Acquaint [reconcile] 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 words in thine heart. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity from thy tabernacles."...
All this was good advice, only it applied more to Eliphaz himself than to Job. It is sad that through the deceitfulness of the heart one can be really blind to his own need before God, and yet attempt to counsel others. But such counsel never gets to the root of the difficulty, None of the three friends had been able to discover the real reason why God dealt with Job as He did, and all their reasonings only showed how very satisfied they were with themselves. They only saw things from man’s moral viewpoint, and could see no other reason for Job’s trials than that he deserved God’s chastening on account of his evil ways. They were unable to see that it was a refining process which Job refers to in the next chapter.
Eliphaz continues: “If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, ... Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defense, and thou shalt have plenty of silver,” Job’s return and restoration came sooner and in a way Eliphaz and his friends had not expected, and it turned to their shame. “Even him that is not innocent shall He deliver; yea, he shall be delivered by the pureness of thy hands.” There was more truth in this than Eliphaz realized, for he and his two friends were certainly not innocent, and it was they who were delivered later on only through the intercession of Job, who was more righteous than they.
ML-05/22/1960