Job 22-24
1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied: 2 “Can a man be of benefit to God? Can even a wise person benefit him? 3 What pleasure would it give the Almighty if you were righteous? What would he gain if your ways were blameless?
4 “Is it for your piety that he rebukes you and brings charges against you? 5 Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?
6 You demanded security from your relatives for no reason; you stripped people of their clothing, leaving them naked. 7 You gave no water to the weary and you withheld food from the hungry, 8 though you were a powerful man, owning land— an honored man, living on it.9 And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of the fatherless.
10 That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you,11 why it is so dark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you. 12 “Is not God in the heights of heaven? And see how lofty are the highest stars!
13 Yet you say, 'What does God know? Does he judge through such darkness? 14 Thick clouds veil him, so he does not see us as he goes about in the vaulted heavens.' 15 Will you keep to the old path that the wicked have trod? 16 They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood. 17 They said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?'
18Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things, so I stand aloof from the plans of the wicked. 19 The righteous see their ruin and rejoice; the innocent mock them, saying, 20 'Surely our foes are destroyed, and fire devours their wealth.'
21 “Submit to God and be at peace with him; in this way prosperity will come to you. 22 Accept instruction from his mouth and lay up his words in your heart. 23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent 24 and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines, 25 then the Almighty will be your gold, the choicest silver for you.
26 Surely then you will find delight in the Almighty and will lift up your face to God. 27 You will pray to him, and he will hear you, and you will fulfill your vows.28 What you decide on will be done, and light will shine on your ways. 29 When people are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!' then he will save the downcast.30 He will deliver even one who is not innocent, who will be delivered through the cleanness of your hands.”
Job 23
1 Then Job replied: 2 “Even today my complaint is bitter; his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning. 3 If only I knew where to find him; if only I could go to his dwelling! 4 I would state my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments. 5 I would find out what he would answer me, and consider what he would say to me. 6 Would he vigorously oppose me? No, he would not press charges against me. 7 There the upright can establish their innocence before him, and there I would be delivered forever from my judge.
8 “But if I go to the east, he is not there; if I go to the west, I do not find him. 9 When he is at work in the north, I do not see him; when he turns to the south, I catch no glimpse of him. 10 But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. 11 My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. 12 I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread.
13 “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases. 14 He carries out his decree against me, and many such plans he still has in store. 15 That is why I am terrified before him; when I think of all this, I fear him. 16 God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me. 17 Yet I am not silenced by the darkness, by the thick darkness that covers my face.
Job 24
1 “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
2 There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen. 3 They drive away the orphan's donkey and take the widow's ox in pledge. 4 They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children. 6 They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked. 7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold. 8 They are drenched by mountain rains and hug the rocks for lack of shelter. 9 The fatherless child is snatched from the breast; the infant of the poor is seized for a debt. 10 Lacking clothes, they go about naked; they carry the sheaves, but still go hungry.11 They crush olives among the terraces; they tread the wine presses, yet suffer thirst. 12 The groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out for help. But God charges no one with wrongdoing.
13“There are those who rebel against the light, who do not know its ways or stay in its paths. 14 When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up, kills the poor and needy, and in the night steals forth like a thief. 15 The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk; he thinks, 'No eye will see me,' and he keeps his face concealed. 16 In the dark, thieves break into houses, but by day they shut themselves in; they want nothing to do with the light.
17 For all of them, midnight is their morning; they make friends with the terrors of darkness.18 “Yet they are foam on the surface of the water; their portion of the land is cursed, so that no one goes to the vineyards. 19 As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow, so the grave snatches away those who have sinned. 20 The womb forgets them, the worm feasts on them; the wicked are no longer remembered but are broken like a tree. 21 They prey on the barren and childless woman, and to the widow they show no kindness.
22 But God drags away the mighty by his power; though they become established, they have no assurance of life. 23 He may let them rest in a feeling of security, but his eyes are on their ways. 24 For a little while they are exalted, and then they are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like heads of grain. 25 “If this is not so, who can prove me false and reduce my words to nothing?”
Snapshot 24 Nothing Comes from Nothing – Nothing Ever Could
(Obscure Sound of Music Refence)
Job 22-24
Chapter 22
Terminex is back up. What does this matter to God if you are righteous or wise?
This is sort of a weird argument. God does not benefit from your suffering if you are wise and good. Does that mean God gets some pleasure or benefit in punishing evil? I think Terminex completely misunderstands the nature of God. And we know that Satan and not God is actually at work here. Satan DOES take pleasure in attacking good and wise things. It is kind of his gig.
Terminex goes on: Your sin is not your purity. You are wicked and have endless sins, am I right? You ripped people off, you withheld food and water from people, and hurt widows.
Wait, what??? This got oddly specific. Does his friend have any proof of this? Is it a rumor? Did he see any of it? No. But his friend is making assumptions to justify the suffering of Job. I think this is a normal human reaction. We like to separate ourselves from suffering and death. He had a heart attack – well, he didn't exercise and I think he might have smoked one summer in the 1990s. She lost her husband -well, she gained weight after the third baby and probably was too busy with the kids to meet his needs. We do it without really noticing sometimes, but we do it. We like suffering to have a reason that does not apply to us. But suffering is universal.
I read once that we know suffering is universal because of the cross. Jesus the innocent, the thief who was repentant and the thief who was unrepentant all hung next to each other on the crosses. Suffering impacted the innocent and guilty alike. I think this makes a high impact picture. But I would go further. While the suffering was the same, I also know that the results were different in each case. The suffering of perfect Jesus brought salvation. The suffering of the repentant man brought hope and freedom. The suffering of the unrepentant man brought only death. We all will suffer. We will all die. Depend on it. But the suffering does not have to lead to destruction.
Back to Job. This is really dangerous material. The friends have gone from twisting truth to this. How is that supposed to convince Job, who knows this is a lie? It is no longer for Job's benefit. Job being a sinner is the only way Eliphaz can square this situation with his own religiosity. He ignores truth and spouts prosperity doctrine instead. Do good to get good, Job. Relationship with God is a transaction.
If you look carefully at verse 23-24, there is an accusation of idol worship:
23 If you return to the Almighty, you will be restored: If you remove wickedness far from your tent 24 and assign your nuggets to the dust, your gold of Ophir to the rocks in the ravines,
Get rid of your idols, Job. Wow, Terminex is making really bold lies here. Job has to be completely furious at this point. I personally would have taken a swing at the guy. Spoiler, Job does not.
Job 23
Job ignores Terminex completely. Bigger man than I am. He is still focused on God. If only I could find God to argue my innocence before Him. Am I being tested? I will be refined like gold. I have not departed from God. Job is scared of God.
I completely understand this. We do not know God's plans and wonder how much pain they will cause us personally. Things can be good but hurt in the making. Like a baby or chemo. I want God to use me, but I do not want to hurt. When I suffer, I often cannot see God's love or feel His hand. God included Job in the Bible to let me know that He understands this. He wants me to know I am not abandoned in my pain.
Job 24
Job complains about God. Why is there no set judgment day? Bad people are doing bad things, but they live. There are good people suffering and hard workers going without. People are crying out for help – but God does not show up. There are thugs who come out at night.
Then Job suddenly changes his focus in verse 18. Bad guys are foam on the water and that bubble is going to pop. God may allow evil to prosper, but He is watching.
Job is telling Eliphaz that his platitudes do not hold up to real-life experience. Real life experience is that life is not fair, no matter who you are. The friends all think that they have the situation and God all figured out. They have tried to box God in and could not explain God acting outside of their expectations. They know it all. They do not seek God's wisdom in this situation.
During his response in this chapter and the last, Job stops focusing on his friends and begins to focus on God. In vivid word pictures he asks some of the hardest of life's questions:
-Where is God when I most need Him?
-Why is God silent?
-Why do bad people prosper?
Job focuses on the last one and says that bad people will be punished in the end (this is probably directed at his friends at this point). But the other questions go unanswered.