Job 22: Temanitis

Job 22:21 "Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you."

Eliphaz continues to hammer the point home that Job was wicked. And should Job submit to God, his prosperity will be restored.

We begin with the idea that God doesn't owe anyone anything. Agreed. But its injustice to apply this to Job. Job doesn't feel God owes him anything. Never did. Asks certain things of God. Wishes certain things from God, but never accuses God of not paying what Job is owed. God doesn't need man's righteousness. What little man's righteousness benefits God, so greatly does God's righteousness benefit man. 

Eliphaz then launches into accuser mode, pointing fingers at Job for ludicrous offenses that never happened. And Eliphaz had no basis for this attack. It was all very comical to read, if I didn't picture Job getting madder and madder and more and more offended. 

Then Eliphaz says to repent of these things.

This is the lynchpin of why Eliphaz's "wisdom" cannot be abided. We know Job did nothing to bring about his tragedy. But this is what Eliphaz believes about Job (and God, kinda), so the obverse must be true: Reaching out and forging a treaty with God will certainly restore the wealth and blessings Job enjoyed before. Eliphaz is in no position to make this promise.

I wonder if pagan culture was seeping in here. Where devotees would rise and fall and perceive punishment and blessing from their idols, based solely on their deeds. We've read with the kings and judges that God blessed the righteous and disciplined the wicked. Also, despite the wicked kings in the Davidic line, God kept his promise to David.

It looks like bad advice to tell someone who is suffering that they need to confess their sins to God, if the belief is that this suffering is a direct result of these sins.

Job 15: Eliph-Sass

Job 15:31 "Let him not deceive himself by trusting what is worthless, for he will get nothing in return."

Eliphaz can't keep silent anymore. He's had enough of Job's bluster and sarcasm. And who wouldn't. When someone denigrates the advice and "wise council" you dish out, don't you want to respond? Eliphaz goes on the offensive, knowing that the only reason anyone goes through bogus stuff is because he has sinned.

Eliphaz is the one who claimed to have special revelation from God about these sorts of things, and it's comical and sad at the same time, because what Eliphaz advises here has absolutely nothing to do with what God is actually doing with Job.

Does God punish sin? Sure. Was Job there when God created everything? No. Is man pure? No, of course not. It is as though Job was eating a hot dog and Eliphaz hands him a spoon, because that's what one eats with. Completely spurious "help."

Job 5: Eliphaz-tronaut

Job 5:8 "But if it were I, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him."

Eliphaz continues his speech to Job. The first few verses talk about trouble that has come to a person. Eliphaz doesn't specifically mention Job, but unsafe children...a stolen harvest...these are things that happened to Job. Which makes it kind of unsettling when Eliphaz mentions a fool being suddenly cursed. Was Job suddenly cursed, as Eliphaz says with some certainty? Not exactly.

Hey, Eliphaz seems to ask. Why don't you consult God about it? Lay your case before him. Seems like good advice, but practical? Not exactly. When we don't have any idea what God is doing, and it's painful, we want to know what the deal is. We have this idea of God, of how good we are as people, and think it insane that this good God would bring calamity on our innocent heads. Even that suggests that bad things only happen because of our behavior. A sense of self cannot be driven by our circumstances, because we are not our circumstances.

So to lay one's cause before God requires a man to know certain things about God. In verses 8 through 20, Eliphaz demonstrates his knowledge, his estimation of God. It seems to be a lot of God frustrating mans plans, and God putting man in his place, really just showing off his power.

It's good to be disciplined by God, but Eliphaz starts making promises on His behalf that may or may not be fulfilled, and place God under no obligation to fulfill them. Then to ask Job to apply these promises to himself...seems a bit presumptuous.

Job 4: Eliphaz Speaks Up

Job 4:17 "Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?"

Eliphaz is the first to venture his opinion. I suppose I can't really consider his speech here "scripture" in the traditional sense, as it is spoken just by some guy (albeit wise-sounding), not a priest or a prophet or anything. So anything he (or the other two) say should probably be taken with a grain of salt. We also need to keep in mind that we know why God allowed this to happen to Noah, and chances are good Job's friends won't nail it exactly, though they may touch on truths.

That said, what do you say to a guy who is mourning, cursing his birth, who no longer has family, whose wife is no option? He really has no one to go to. 

I guess he starts out kinda strong. Job's example did not go unnoticed. Also, of course someone struck with so much pain and discouragement is probably right to mourn. 

To make a claim that the innocent have never perished and the upright have never been destroyed is a bit shaky to me. Without getting into semantics about definitions of "innocent" and "upright," sure the upright have perished. Noah, for one. He didn't exactly end well, especially one of his sons.

To suggest that Job somehow is reaping what he sowed (v. 8), is false. Who can claim to know what others do in secret? Besides, this is something he claimed to have observed, thereby going on personal experience, not necessarily God's truth.

Then Eliphaz claims to have had a vision in which an angel tells him some stuff. His description of the vision is pretty intense, and a troubling read. He is asked if a mortal can be more righteous than God, which, of course he cannot. It is meant to put man in his obvious place. Man is dirt. But we already knew that (Ge. 2:4). His speech goes on in chapter 5.