Job 22:1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered,
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 that you are righteous?
Or does it benefit him that you make your ways blameless?
4 Is it for your piety that he reproves you,
that he enters with you into judgment?
5 Isn’t your wickedness great?
Neither is there any end to your iniquities.
6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for nothing,
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You haven’t given water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth.
The honorable man, he lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10 Therefore snares are around you.
Sudden fear troubles you,
11 or darkness, so that you can not see,
and floods of waters cover you.
12 “Isn’t God in the heights of heaven?
See the height of the stars, how high they are!
13 You say, ‘What does God know?
Can he judge through the thick darkness?
14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see.
He walks on the vault of the sky.’
15 Will you keep the old way,
which wicked men have trodden,
16 who were snatched away before their time,
whose foundation was swept away by the flood,
17 who said to God, ‘Depart from us;’
and, ‘What can the Almighty do for us?’
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 ridicule them,
20 saying, ‘Surely those who rose up against us are cut off.
The fire has consumed their remnant.’
21 “Acquaint yourself with him, now, and be at peace.
By it, good will come to you.
22 Please 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 put away unrighteousness far from your tents.
24 Lay your treasure in the dust,
the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks.
25 The Almighty will be your treasure,
and precious silver to you.
26 For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty,
and will lift up your face to God.
27 You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you.
You will pay your vows.
28 You will also decree a thing, and it will be established to you.
Light will shine on your ways.
29 When they cast down, you will say, ‘be lifted up.’
He will save the humble person.
30 He will even deliver him who is not innocent.
Yes, he will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
Again, Eliphaz starts out on the wrong foot. First, he does not answer the contradictions that Job has pointed out in the formula. Why? He didn’t answer, most likely because he didn’t have an answer. We frequently see people deflect when they cannot answer a direct question, a question that contradicts the narrative that they are clinging to.
Second, because Job rejected the simplistic formula, Eliphaz accuses Job of being conceited. Job considers himself blameless. v.3 Notice that rather than answering Job’s honest objection Eliphaz turns things around by attacking Job. Ad hominem arguments are an old stand-by. Hurling insults at someone and attacking their character, is an easy fallback position when you can’t answer their arguments.
Third, in an attempt to get Job to confess Eliphaz asks, “Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?” v.3 By asking this question Eliphaz is trying to get Job to realize that his righteousness does not bring any pleasure to God.
Is his assumption correct?
No, in fact God was very pleased with Job’s righteousness. It was because of Job’s righteousness that God first pointed out his servant Job to Satan. God bragged about Job saying,
“There is none like him on earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil.” Job 1:8
God does find pleasure in our obedience?
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10
We keep his commandments and do what pleases him. 1 John 3:22b
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Hebrews 13:16
Enoch…was commended as having pleased God. Hebrews 11:5
God finds pleasure in your obedience! Scriptures teach that God is glorified when we are obedient.
Don’t you find pleasure in the obedience of your children?
It was Christ who said, “If you love me you will keep my commandments.” John 14:15 Now don’t be confused here. We are not saved by obedience to God. We are saved by the blood of the Lamb of God: Christ’s death on our behalf. In Job’s time the sacrifices that he offered looked forward to the future sacrifice of Christ. We are not saved by our good works: It is by grace you were saved, not by good works. Ephesians 2:8-9 However, it is pleasing to God when those who are saved by grace express their gratitude to God by living lives that are pleasing to him.
The Christian’s Spirit-enabled obedience should surely flow from a heart bursting with gratitude for what Christ has done on our behalf in his sinless life, propitiatory death, and Hell-conquering resurrection. Through His sufferings, “especially on the cross,” Christ has “delivered me from the anguish and torments of hell.” (Jon Payne, Gospel Reformation Network, 10-21-24, quoting the Heidelberg Catechism Q.44).
Having misdiagnosed the situation Eliphaz begins to reprimand Job by citing the behaviors that he believes God must be punishing Job for: corrupt business practices, taking pledges…for nothing v.6, exploiting the poor, stripping …their clothes v.6, greed, withholding bread…water v.7, and neglecting the widows…fatherless. v.9 But again Eliphaz was wrong because later we will find out that, instead of attacking the poor, Job rescued the poor who cried out and the fatherless who had no helper. Job 29:12
Next Eliphaz attacks Job’s theology. Because Job refused to confess, admitting his sins, Eliphaz sets out to teach Job that his understanding of God is wrong. “You must think that God doesn’t see your sins because God is in the heights of heaven v.12, thick clouds are a covering to him, so that he doesn’t see. v.14 If you persist in that attitude, if you keep the old way, which wicked men have trodden, who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was swept away by the flood v.15-16, you will also be snatched away.” Eliphaz is reminding Job about what happened to those irredeemably wicked people of old who rebelled against God. They were all swept away by the flood in the time of Noah.
It is ironic that the man who doesn’t understand God is trying to instruct Job, the man God called blameless and upright. Unfortunately the same irony is often true today. Self-righteous “religious” people who have been compromised with false beliefs, having a form of godliness but denying its power, 2 Timothy 3:5, will attack those who are obedient followers of God.
Eliphaz advises Job:
“Acquaint yourself with [God], now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you.
Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart.” v.21-22
Eliphaz should heed his own instruction. He should acquaint himself with God. He should receive instruction from Job.