Eliphaz Continues: God Blesses those Who Seek Him
“Call out if you please, but who will answer? To which of the holy ones will you turn? For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed. His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender. The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from the thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth. For distress does not spring from the dust, and trouble does not sprout from the ground.
Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward. However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and lay my cause before Him—the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number. He gives rain to the earth and sends water upon the fields. He sets the lowly on high, so that mourners are lifted to safety. He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success. He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning. They encounter darkness by day and grope at noon as in the night. He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth and from the clutches of the powerful. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.
Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal. He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in battle from the stroke of the sword. You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and will not fear havoc when it comes. You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth. For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you.
You will know that your tent is secure, and find nothing amiss when inspecting your home. You will know that your offspring will be many, and your descendants will be like the grass of the earth. You will come to the grave in full vigor, like a sheaf of grain gathered in season. Indeed, we have investigated, and it is true! So hear it and know for yourself.”
If Job were not already tempted to strangle Eliphaz, this last round of platitudes might push him over the edge. How many insults can one man take? ““Call out if you please, but who will answer? To which of the holy ones will you turn? For resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple. I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed. His sons are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.” Remember that Eliphaz is saying all this stuff to a man who is covered with running sores that itch so badly he has to take a broken piece of pottery to scratch the sores, making them larger and more painful. (Is it possible that Job has the worst case of shingles ever recorded? Shingles can definitely cause itchy stingy burning drive-you-crazy pain.)
Eliphaz implies that Job is a fool indulging in resentment and envy; allegedly, this is the reason all Job’s children have died in a tragedy. Thanks for nothing, Eliphaz! Then Eliphaz tries to extricate himself from the hole he has just dug for himself by stating, “Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.” So, Eliphaz, you’re telling Job that his suffering is simply part of the human condition? If that’s so, why aren’t you more sympathetic?
“However, if I were you, I would appeal to God and lay my cause before Him—the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.” At this point, Job is probably ready to respond in exasperation. We don’t know how long Job has suffered, so why wouldn’t Job have already appealed to God?
Eliphaz goes on to praise God, perhaps in hopes that God will not punish him for the presumptuous way in which he has already spoken to Job. “Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal. He will rescue you from six calamities; no harm will touch you in seven.” Again, Eliphaz is speaking as if Job has no knowledge or experience of God. Correction and discipline are one thing; however, Job is physically miserable and emotionally bereft. Eliphaz speaks as someone who has never incurred the discipline or correction of God and therefore is speaking blithely but ignorantly.
“Indeed, we have investigated, and it is true! So hear it and know for yourself.” Finally, Eliphaz triumphantly ends his discourse. Who is the “we” referred to in this statement and how have these individuals conducted their investigations? Obviously, none of Job’s friends have suffered the way he is suffering now, so what is Eliphaz trying to accomplish? Eliphaz is attempting to assume a spiritual authority to which he has no right.
APPLICATION: In American grocery stores, many of the fruits and vegetables may be packaged in containers covered with clear plastic wrap referred to as “shrink wrap.” This wrapping material adheres closely to the items packed and protects them from water, dirt, etc. People who have never suffered severe losses may live shrink-wrapped lives; nothing bad has touched them, and they mistake lack of experience for spiritual virtue. Eliphaz has obviously led a shrink – wrapped life!
Once more, we see Eliphaz switching back and forth between lecturing and uttering praises to God, perhaps in hopes that God will be deceived and not understand what a hypocrite Eliphaz actually is. (Spoiler alert: it doesn’t work!)
“Blessed indeed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. For He wounds, but He also binds; He strikes, but His hands also heal.” While it is tempting to quote this statement, many times it’s not true. What about believers in Muslim countries who are beheaded? What about believers in northern Nigeria who are slaughtered during church services? One evangelist in a closed country has suffered a major spinal injury after a motorcycle accident. While this man is recovering, he still has a long way to go and may never make a complete recovery. Does God play favorites?
Once more, I must refer to Edith Schaeffer’s excellent book entitled Affliction. Written in 1978, this book details the variety of ways in which believers may suffer and the variety of ways in which God heals or meets sufferers in the midst of their afflictions. So there are those people who are healed miraculously, indicating that the grace of God is sufficient for divine healing. But there are far more people who are not healed miraculously but who are given the grace to endure whatever suffering comes to them.
At the time Mrs. Schaeffer wrote this book, her husband, Francis Schaeffer, had just been diagnosed with Lymphoma, the cancer that eventually killed him. Yet Francis Schaeffer and C. Everett Koop co-authored the magnificent book Whatever Happened to the Human Race? and then embarked on a national tour across America in which they showed a film based on the book and conducted in – depth discussions and study sessions. The book highlighted the twin threats of abortion and euthanasia and emphasized that once people at one end of the age spectrum were declared as dispensable, it was only a short jump to declare people at the other end of that spectrum similarly dispensable. Sadly, Schaeffer and Koop were correct, and we are now reaping the horrible results of fifty years of abortion in America.
So, we leave Eliphaz pontificating while Job scratches his sores and wonders what he ever did to deserve such a non-friend. But there are more “friends” yet to weigh in and we will hear from more of them.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, deliver us from behaving like Eliphaz and help us to tolerate anyone who comes to us behaving in that vein. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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