Today the truck parks at the beginning of the story of Job. In thumbnail form: Job, a contemporary (it is thought) of Abraham, was very rich and very faithful. So much so that, when Satan made his usual rounds of "accusing the brethren", God mentioned how he was the greatest of the holy men of the age. Satan responds that if God took away all the prosperity and all the hedges He put around Job, he would curse God. God, who had something He needed to prove to Job ( not Satan), allowed Satan to do anything but take his life. In short order, all his wealth was stolen or destroyed, his seven sons and 3 daughters were killed, and he broke out in boils. Just to make his betrayal complete, Satan had his wife speak his own words to Job- "Curse God and die!"- but he would not.
It's then that three friends from afar off came to visit him in his calamity. For seven days, they sat together in silence. Job finally breaks the silence- cursing not God, but the day he was born. Everything he had was gone, everyone he loved was gone, the person he trusted most told him to die, and he was in exquisite pain- who wouldn't?
But when he was done, his friend Eliphaz began the debate. Now, we are going to hit 3 references to wisdom here, and the first one- which God pointed me to this morning- isn't even in the Old Testament:
1Co 3:18 Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
1Co 3:19 For the wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness...
And that second verse there is actually quoting a second reference in our story! But having brought this up, did Eliphaz think himself wise? Let him tell it:
Job 5:27 Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.”
So yeah, he was pretty confident. But what he had searched out was deeply flawed. It revolved around the thought in that day, of what David Jeremiah called, "The principle of divine retribution." Basically, it went like this: If you were good, God blessed you; if you were bad, God punished you. Even back then, truly wise men knew that isn't the way this all fell out in life. But let's take a look at what Eliphaz said.
First he describes how, whenever others fell into disaster Job was there for them, upholding them with his words and sharing their burdens- and now, that HE was being hit by it, he was whining. Dr Jeremiah gave us in his study Bible a list of what those suffering REALLY need- #1 was, "They don't need sarcasm, they need support." Fail #1 for Eliphaz.
So why did he go this route? Well, he tells how he had received a vision in the night...
Job 4:12 “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.
Job 4:13 Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
Job 4:14 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.
Job 4:15 A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.
Job 4:16 It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:
Job 4:17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?
Job 4:18 Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error;
Job 4:19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.
Job 4:20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
Job 4:21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?’
Though I saw this in no commentaries, I believe this, too, was Satan. It certainly captures his style- just enough truth to get you to listen, but then subtly twisted. Think about this- a man (Eliphaz) who claims that good men get good things, now espousing a story that claims EVERYONE gets the bad end. The one thing he does get right- the bad DO die without wisdom (which is the other reference).
Just before this, though, he spends vv 7-11 explaining how this NEVER happens to the innocent. Jeremiah's rule #2- They don't need logic; they need love. And his vision? Rule #3- they don't need experiences, they need encouragement.
Logic and this Divine retribution theory lead him to describe "the foolish taking root", which is a thinly veiled attempt to get Job to equate his situation to that of an unrepentant sinner, right down to the phrase, "His sons are far from safety." In other words: If this doesn't happen to the innocent, and Job thinks he's innocent, but they actually happen to the evil, then Job MUST have sinned. Rule #4- They don't need assumptions, they need assurances.
Then Eliphaz really messes up:
Job 5:8 “As for me, I would seek God, and to God would I commit my cause..."
Really? Because you HAD the opportunity to beseech God for your friend BEFORE you opened your mouth. Rule #5- they don't need advice, they need affirmation. But he's been taking advice from Satan the whole time, and Satan's goal is to get Job to curse God.But having now drawn the line from Job's misfortune to Job's alleged sin, he tries (in his mind) the 'kind approach':
Job 5:17 “Behold, blessed is the one whom God reproves; therefore despise not the discipline of the Almighty.
Job 5:18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.
Final of Dr Jeremiah's rules- they don't need pious platitudes, they need powerful principles.
But now that Eliphaz has broken all six rules, let us backtrack to what he said that Paul quoted earlier:
Job 5:13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.
At the beginning, I asked, Did Eliphaz think himself wise? At the end, I ask, How do we know the love of God was STILL with Job in this? Because he saw through Eliphaz's pomposity:
Job 6:14 “He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
Job 6:15 My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away,
Job 6:16 which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself.
Job 6:17 When they melt, they disappear; when it is hot, they vanish from their place.
Whatever Eliphaz was- pompous fool, pawn of Satan, he was NOT kind. His wisdom was folly.
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