Job 22
Butler1. THEN answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,
2. Can a man be profitable unto God?
Surely he that is wise is profitable unto himself.
3. Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous?
Or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect?
4. Is it for thy fear of him that he reproveth thee,
That he entereth with thee into judgment?
5. Is not thy wickedness great?
Neither is there any end to thine iniquities.
6. For thou hast taken pledges of thy brother for nought,
And stripped the naked of their clothing.
7. Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink,
And thou hast withholden bread from the hungry.
8. But as for the mighty man, he had the earth;
And the honourable man, he dwelt in it.
9. Thou hast sent widows away empty,
And the arms of the fatherless have been broken.
10. Therefore snares are round about thee, And sudden fear troubleth thee,
11. Or darkness, that thou canst not see, And abundance of waters cover thee.
12. Is not God in the height of heaven?
And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
13. And thou sayest, What doth God know?
Can he judge through the thick darkness?
14. Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not;
And he walketh on the vault of heaven.
15. Wilt thou keep the old way
Which wicked men have trodden?
16. Who were snatched away before their time,
IN the first round of speeches the three friends exhausted the argument from the general conception of God. In the second they exhausted the argument from the operation of His providence in the world, as observed in the fate of the wicked. To the last Job had replied by a direct contradiction, adducing facts and testimony in proof that the fate of the wicked man
Whose foundation was poured out as a stream:
17. Who said unto 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;
And the innocent laugh them to scorn
20. Saying, Surely they that did rise up against us are cut off,
And the remnant of them the fire hath consumed.
21. Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace:
Thereby good shall come unto thee.
22. Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth,
And lay up his words in thine heart.
23. If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up;
If thou put away unrighteousness far from thy tents.
24. And lay thou thy treasure in the dust,
And the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks;
25. And the Almighty shall be thy treasure,
And precious silver unto thee.
26. For then shalt thou delight thyself in the Almighty,
And shalt lift up thy face unto God.
27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee;
And thou shalt pay thy vows.
28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee;
And light shall shine upon thy ways.
29. When they cast thee down, thou shalt say, There is lifting up;
And the humble person he shall save.
30. He shall deliver even him that is not innocent:
Yea, he shall be delivered through the cleanness of thine hands.
in God’s providence was in no way so uniformly miserable as the three friends had represented (chap. 21). There is, manifestly, now left but one weapon in the hands of the three friends—namely, to express openly what they had hinted at formerly in a veiled manner, and charge Job directly with great sins. This charge is made by Eliphaz in the opening speech of the third round of debate. A. B. D.—In the third cycle of debate the comforters are turned into headlong accusers. Eliphaz expresses great truths with wonderful force of language; but truths inadequate, in their application to the case of Job, to explain his suffering. Words the most sound and holy lose their value and become impertinent and injurious, when they are uttered at the wrong time, or in a wrong spirit, or with a wrong direction. D. F.
Chap. 22. It is not the general sinfulness of human nature which Eliphaz adduces against him as in his first discourse. Nor does he merely allege the language of impiety and irreverence to be found in Job’s speeches, as in his second discourse. But he makes open and direct charges of habitual and gross transgression. What a spectacle is this! and what a lesson it reads to us! This man is one whom God declared to be without his equal for piety in the earth—perfect and upright, and one that feared God and turned away from evil. And yet here are good and wise men, men of age and experience, his friends through many former years, knowing him not merely by reputation but by personal, familiar, and long acquaintance, who do not scruple to cherish the grossest and most unjust suspicions, and actually to charge upon him the most egregious misconduct. And all this they do without the slightest foundation in actual fact. We say again, What a spectacle! and what a lesson it reads to us! W. H. G.
2-10. The cause of God’s afflicting a man is not to be sought for in God Himself, as if it arose out of any self-seeking on His part, or any respect He had to Himself, for a man’s righteousness is no profit to God, neither is his wickedness any loss to Him. The reason of God’s treatment of men is therefore to be sought in themselves. But it is inconceivable that He should chastise a man for his piety. It must therefore be for his sins (vs. 2-5). Having by means of this syllogism confirmed his conviction of Job’s guiltiness, Eliphaz proceeds to suggest what sins Job must have committed, which are those that a powerful, irresponsible, rich ruler of his time might most naturally be guilty of (vs. 6-10). A. B. D.
2-5. If God sends punishments (so Eliphaz argues), man must have deserved them; God does not punish on His own account, still less on account of man’s piety, but on account of man’s sin, and thus for the profit of man himself. Now, Job’s sufferings are such punishments; therefore he must have grievously sinned. This series of inferences is pointed, connected, and in itself clear. But at last comes unobserved a tremendous fallacy, that sufferings are, as such, punishments. If one starts with this principle he is landed in the alternative that sufferings are sent on account of piety (which is impious to suppose) or on account of the sins of the sufferer. Ewald.
2. Can a man be profitable unto God. These words, under an interrogation couching a positive assertion, are a declaration of the impossibility of man’s being profitable to God, or (which is all one) of his meriting of God, according to the proper and strict sense of merit, which implies man’s claim or title to receive as much good from God as he had done for God. But all that any man is capable of doing is but an indispensable homage to God, and not a free oblation. That, however, which excites endeavor and sets obedience on work is not properly a belief or persuasion of the merit of our works, but the assurance of our reward. And can we have a greater assurance of this, than that Truth itself, which cannot break its word, has promised it? For the Most High and Holy One (as we may with reverence speak) has pledged His word, His name, and His honor to reward the steadfast, finally persevering obedience of every one within the covenant of grace, notwithstanding its legal imperfection. And, therefore, though we have all the reason in the world to blush at the worthless emptiness of our best duties, and to be ashamed of the poorness and shortness of our most complete actions, and, in a word, to think as meanly of them and of ourselves for them as God Himself does; yet still let us build both our practice and our comfort upon this one conclusion “as upon a rock,” that though after we have done all we are still unprofitable servants, yet because we have done all God has engaged Himself to be a gracious Master. South.
5. Here, for the first time, Eliphaz distinctly charges Job with guilt, the exact nature of which he infers from the special punishment. The wickedness must have been great, the iniquities infinite, which called for such penalties. Cook.
5-9. These specific charges are of course wholly theoretic, nor are they inaptly made. They name such things as might be done by a busy rich man like Job, through forgetfulness or indifference, or such things as may have been done in his name by servants. Any of them might take place at the gate of a prince without his knowledge. The expression, “man of the strong arm” (v. 8), by which Eliphaz characterizes such as Job, shows how he accounts for such sin; the man whose strength and wealth and whose absorption with his favored friends make him indifferent to needs and distress because removed from them. J. F. G.
He charges him with oppression and injustice; that when he was in prosperity he not only did no good with his wealth and power, but did a great deal of hurt with it. This was utterly false, as appears by the account Job gives of himself (29:12, etc.), and the character God gave of him. And yet Eliphaz branches out this charge into divers particulars, with as much assurance as if he could call witnesses to prove upon oath every article of it. For aught I know, Eliphaz, in accusing Job falsely, was guilty of as great a sin and as great a wrong to Job as the Sabeans and Chaldeans that robbed him; for a man’s good name is more precious and valuable than his wealth. It is against all the laws of justice, charity, and friendship, either to raise or receive calumnies, jealousies and evil surmises concerning others; and it is the more base and disingenuous if we thus vex those that are in distress and add to their affliction. Eliphaz could produce no instances of Job’s guilt in any of the particulars that follow here, but seems resolved to calumniate boldly and throw all the reproach he could on Job, not doubting but that some would cleave to him. H.
9. Widows . . . fatherless. For Job’s answer see chaps. 29:12, 13 and 31:16, 18. No charge could affect him more deeply, and he dwells upon it with unusual fulness in his two answers. Cook.
10,11. On account of this inhuman mode of action, by which he has challenged the punishment of justice, “snares are round about” him, destruction encompasses him on every side, so that he sees no way out, and must, without any escape, succumb to it. And the approaching ruin makes itself known to him, time after time, by terrors which come suddenly upon him and disconcert him; so that his outward circumstances being deranged, and his mind discomposed, he has already in anticipation to taste that which is before him. Delitzsch.
12-20. Eliphaz, having suggested what Job’s offences must have been, now suggests under what feeling in regard to God he must have committed them. He thought God so far removed from the world that He did not observe men’s conduct. A. B. D.
12,13. The Book of Job is full of these thoughts: “Can a man be profitable to God? is it any pleasure to the Almighty that thou art righteous?” “Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars—how high they are! And thou sayest, ‘Can God know?’ ‘Can He judge through the dark cloud?’” Yet, as these old Hebrews believed, as we know, to whom the Gospel has come, even better than they, God is mindful of man. He does think of us. He never ceases to care for us. Even the host of stars—whatever grander office they fulfil in the universe—are made at the same time to be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and for years, and to be lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth. Whatever nobler purposes they may accomplish for this use, also, they were adapted by the Creator. And no one can gaze on the form and aspect of the heavens, on the perfect symmetry of that vaulted dome, in the splendor of noonday, or when pale fires are kindling in myriads upon the darkening surface of the evening sky—no one can behold this ineffable grandeur and beauty, and doubt that here is an arrangement to give joy to man. By whatever optical laws the effect is produced, for whatever ends infinitely higher than the convenience and delight of man the heavens were made, this arrangement is plain. The intention of the Creator to elevate and gratify the human mind by spreading over us the sun-lit and star-lit sky is undeniable. One motive, therefore, in the structure of the material universe was the good of man. Out of all the worlds He has erected a roof over man’s destiny. At the moment when we are awed by the revelation of His greatness we are touched by the disclosures of His condescension. G. P. Fisher.
21-30. Eliphaz exhorts Job to reconcile himself with God, assuring him of restoration and great felicity if he will do so. A. B. D.—Reconcile. This word, presupposing guilt and sin on Job’s part, is what invalidates the whole force of this beautiful passage, which is the final appeal of the friends to Job. Abstractly there is nothing whatever to be urged against the lines; but in implication, and as here applied, they gather into themselves all the charges that Eliphaz has made. J. F. G.
The passage consists of two parts: first, a series of exhortations, each of which is accompanied by a promise (vs. 21-25), and second, a series of great promises simply (vs. 26-30). The exhortations are: that Job should reconcile himself with God and receive His words into his heart—thus should he be at peace, and good would come to him (vs. 21-22); that he should put away his evil—then should he be restored (v. 23); that he should set his heart no more on earthly treasure, but fling it to the dust and among the pebbles of the brooks—then should the Almighty be his treasure (vs. 24, 25). The promises are: that, delighting himself in the Almighty, he would be able to lift up his face to God in confidence, unashamed by afflictions
(v. 26); he would pray unto God with the assurance of being heard, and the vows which he made to God when presenting his request he would have cause to pay, his request being fulfilled (v. 27); his purposes in regard to the future would stand and be realized, for the light of God would be on his ways (v. 28); any casting down that might happen to him would speedily be turned by God into upraising, because of his meekness and humility (v. 29); and finally, even those who had incurred guilt would be saved through his availing prayer (v. 30). A. B. D.—These exhortations and promises are, in and of themselves, true and most glorious. There is also somewhat in them which reflects shame on Job; they direct him to that inward peace, to that joy in God which he had entirely lost sight of when he spoke of the misfortune of the righteous in contrast with the prosperity of the wicked. But even these beauteous words of promise are blemished by the false assumption from which they proceed. The promise, the Almighty shall become Job’s precious ore [instead of gold or silver, or his lost wealth], rests on the assumption that Job is now suffering the punishment of his avarice, and has as its antecedent, “Lay thine ore in the dust and thine Ophir beneath the pebbles of the brook.” Thus do even the holiest words lose their value when they are not uttered at the right time, and the most brilliant sermon that exhorts to penitence remains without effect when it is prompted by pharisaic uncharitableness. D.
21. Acquaint thyself with God and be at peace. Our daily holy walking is a daily acquainting ourselves with God; every step of a holy life is both toward and with God. Caryl.—The life of true religion is a heart knowledge of God; such a thorough appreciation of the excellence and beauty of His character as really contents and satisfies the soul, even when earthly sources of happiness fail. In the knowledge of God, in the appreciation of God, in the enjoyment of God, in communion with God, but in nothing short of this man can find rest. E. M. G.—All holiness is so connected with this growing knowledge of God, that there can be none without it. All happiness, all enjoyment of spiritual privileges, hangs upon it. “This is life eternal, to know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent.” Would you have “grace and peace multiplied unto you?” it must be in the same way—“through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord.” “Then shall you know, if you follow on to know the
Lord.” The smallest degree of this blessed knowledge attained will assuredly kindle in you an ardent desire for more. Every step you take in it is a step nearer heaven; a wading deeper into that ocean of bliss without a bottom or a shore—God, your God, in Christ. Goode.
The knowledge of God is gained, as the knowledge of man is gained, by living much with Him. Seek not so much to pray as to live in an atmosphere of prayer, lifting up your heart momentarily to Him in varied expressions of devotion as the various occasions of life may prompt, adoring Him, thanking Him, resigning your will to Him many times a day, and more or less all day; and you shall thus, as you advance in this practice, as it becomes more and more habitual to you, increase in that knowledge of God which fully contents and satisfies the soul. So, also, the knowledge of God may be obtained from studying His mind as given us in the Holy Scriptures. It is through His Word that God speaks to us, as it is through prayer that we speak to God; for which reason he who would cultivate acquaintance with God must cultivate a taste for the Holy Scriptures, not merely a literary antiquarian taste (though as a mere piece of ancient literature the Bible is the most wonderful book in the world), but a devotional taste. There is a study of Scripture which is analogous to ejaculatory prayer; a study which inweaves the Word into the daily life of the Christian; a rumination which can be carried on without book, and which is more or less continual.
Again, the discipline of life will very much contribute, under God’s blessing, toward the knowledge of God. When God’s people desire to have Him in their hearts He advances into the centre of their life. He trains them by what is called their fortunes, by reverses, by tears, by trials, by manifold temptations, by touching them in their sensitive part, sometimes by a sunshine of prosperity, which makes their heart expand in gratitude to Him. Those, then, who desire to have a practical and experimental, as distinct from a speculative knowledge of Him, will study Him in these His dealings; they will try to discern the lesson of every part of their own experience, if haply it may teach them something of Him with whom they have to do, and will thus have His wisdom, power, and love impressed upon them in a way in which nothing short of experience can impress. E. M. G.
Christ is truth for the understanding, authority for the will, love for the heart, certainty for the hope, fruition for all the desires, and for the conscience at once cleansing and law. Fellowship with Him is no indolent passiveness, nor the luxurious exercise of certain emotions, but the contact of the whole nature with its sole adequate object and rightful Lord. A. M.
Draw nearer, O my soul, to the Lord of love, and be not seldom and slight in thy contemplation of His love and loveliness. Dwell in the sunshine, and thou wilt know that it is light and warm and comfortable. Distance and strangeness cherish thy doubts. “Acquaint thyself with Him and be at peace.” Look up, often and earnestly look up, after thy ascended glorified head. Think where, and what He is, and what He is now doing for all His own, and how once abased, suffering love is now triumphant, reigning, glorified love; and therefore not less now than in all its tender expressions on earth. Baxter.
And be at peace. Is there such a thing among men as peace, a deep and true peace, without any acquaintance with God? Suppose the case of one possessing high intelligence allied with all the ordinary virtues of human life, but who lacks entirely any personal faith in God as a person. If you ask if his nature is at peace, he answers, Yes; I have no fear, no trouble, except that which comes by ignorance or inattention to law. Life is not long; I shall soon be in the dust, and that will be the end of me. I am at peace. The peace of such a man may be calmness, indifference; but cannot be the same thing as comes into a soul and flows through it and down into its far depths as the result of acquaintance with God. A. R.
Thereby good shall come unto thee. The heavenward look draws new strength from the source of all our might. In our work, contemplating as it ought to do exclusively spiritual results, what we do depends largely on what we are, and what we are depends on what we receive, and what we receive depends on the depth and constancy of our communion with God. “The help which is done upon earth He doeth it all Himself.” A. M.
22. Receive the law from His mouth. Having made thy peace with God, submit to His government, and resolve to be ruled by Him, that thou mayest keep thyself in His love. Lay up His word in thine heart. It is not enough to receive it, but we must retain it (Prov. 3:18). We must lay it up as a thing of great value, that it may be safe; and we must lay it up in our hearts as a thing of great use, that it may be ready to us when there is occasion. H.
26-29. These words can be regarded as describing the sweet and wonderful prerogatives of the devout life. So understood, they may rebuke and stimulate and encourage us to make our lives conform to the ideal here. Life may be full of delight and confidence in God (v. 26). When we “delight” in a thing or a person, we recognize that that thing or person fits into a cleft in our hearts and corresponds to some need in our natures. We not only recognize its good, sweetness, and adaptation to ourselves, but we actually possess the sweetness that we recognize and the good which we apprehend in it. And so these things, the recognition of the supreme sweetness and all, perfect adaptation and sufficiency of God to all that I need; the suppression of tastes and desires which may conflict with that sweetness, and the actual enjoyment and fruition of the sweetness and preciousness which I apprehend—these things are the very heart of a man’s religion. He is the truly devout man who not only knows God to be great and holy, but feels Him to be sweet and sufficient; who not only fears, but loves; who not only seeks and longs, but possesses; or, in one word, true religion is delighting in God. And herein is supplied a very sharp test for us. Do our tastes and inclinations set toward Him, and is He better to us than anything beside? Is God to me my dearest faith, the very home of my heart, to which I instinctively turn? Is the brightness of my day the light of His face? Do I worship because I think it is duty, and are my prayers compulsory and mechanical; or do I worship because my heart goes out to Him? And is my life calm and sweet because I “delight in the Lord”?
The next words will help us to answer. “Thou shalt lift up thy face unto God.” That is a clear enough metaphor to express frank confidence of approach to Him. And unless we have that confidence in Him, not because of our merits, but because of His certain love there will be no “delight in the Lord.” And there will be no such confidence in Him unless we have “access with confidence by faith” in that Christ who has taken away our sins, and prepared the way for us into the Father’s presence, and by whose death and sacrifice, and by it alone, we sinful men, with open face and uplifted foreheads, can stand to receive upon our visage the full beams of His light, and to expatiate and be glad therein. Such a life of delighting in God will be blessed by the frankest intercourse with Him (v. 27). These are three stages of this blessed communion that is possible for men. And note, prayer is not regarded in this aspect as duty, nor is it even dwelt upon as privilege, but as being the natural outcome and issue of that delighting in God and confident access to Him which have preceded. That is to say, if a man really has set his heart on God, and knows that in Him is all that he needs, then, of course, he will tell Him everything. As surely as instinctive impulse, which needs no spurring from conscience or will, leads us to breathe our confidences to those that we love best, so surely will a true love to God make it the most natural thing in the world to put all our circumstances, wants, and feeling into the shape of prayers. They may be in briefest words. They may scarcely be vocalized at all, but there will be, if there be a true love to Him, an instinctive turning to Him in every circumstance; and the single-worded cry, if it be no more, for help is sufficient. When the desires of our heart are for God, and for conformity to His will, as they will be when we “delight ourselves in Him,” then we get our hearts’ desires. There is no promise of our being able to impose our wills upon God, which would be a calamity, and not a blessing, but a promise that they who make Him their joy and their desire will never be defrauded of their desire nor robbed of their joy. And so the third stage of this frank intercourse comes. “Thou shalt pay thy vows.” All life may become a thank offering to God for the benefits that have flowed unceasing from His hands. First a prayer, then the answer, then the rendered thank-offering. And so, in swift alternation and reciprocity, is carried on the commerce between heaven and earth, between man and God. The desires rise to heaven, but heaven comes down to earth first. And prayer is not the initial stage, but the second in the process. God first gives His promise, and the best prayer is the catching up of God’s promise and tossing it back again whence it came. Then comes the second downward motion, which is the answer to prayer, in blessing, and on it follows, finally, the reflection upward, in thankful surrender and service, of the love that has descended on us in answer to our desires.
Such a life will know neither failure nor darkness. “Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee, and the light shall shine upon thy ways” (v. 28). I decree a thing—if I am a true Christian, and in the measure in which I am—only when I am quite sure that God has decreed it. And it is only His decrees, registered in the chancery of my will, of which I may be certain that they shall be established. There will be no failures to the man whose life’s purpose is to serve God, and to grow like Him. To serve Him, and to fall into the line of His purpose, and to determine nothing, nor obstinately want anything until we are sure that it is His will; that is the secret of never failing in what we undertake. So with the promise of light to shine upon our paths. It is “the light which never was on sea or land;” and you and I, if we delight ourselves “in the Lord,” will have an unsetting sun to light our paths; “and at eventide,” and in the mirkest midnight, “there will be light” in the darkness.
Lastly, such a life will be always hopeful, and finally crowned with deliverance (v. 29). “When they cast thee down, thou shalt say, There is lifting up.” Even in a blessed life times will come when the path plunges downward into some valley of shadow. But even then the traveller will bate no jot of hope. He will in his heart say Up even while sense says Down. The devout life is largely independent of circumstances, and is upheld and calmed by quiet certainty that the general trend of its path is upward, which enables it to trudge hopefully down an occasional dip in the road. And the issue of all will be, “He will save the humble person”—namely, the man who is “lowly of eyes” in conscious unworthiness, even while he lifts up his face to God in confidence in his Father’s love. The “saving” meant here is, of course, temporal deliverance from passing outward peril. But we may permissibly give it wider and deeper meaning. Continuous partial deliverances lead on to and bring about final full salvation. For to the soul which has delighted itself in God, and looked in His face with frank confidence, and poured out its desires to Him, and been the recipient of numberless answers, and the seat of numberless thank-offerings, has travelled along life’s common way in cheerful godliness, has had the light of heaven shining on the path, and has found an immortal hope springing, a heaven of endless blessedness and close communion with God is the only possible ending. A. M.
There is nothing but religion, or the life in God, that can be looked to for the completion of a soul. And it has three great advantages that differ it from everything else: It takes hold of the soul’s eternity and its sin, to raise up, harmonize, inwardly purify, glorify and settle it, in a rest of everlasting equilibrium in God. It takes hold of all possible conditions and callings, completing as truly the menial as the employer, the bondman as the master, the unlettered as the scholar, the man that is grimed
by labor as the man of leisure or the monk in his cell. It completes one degree of capacity as certainly as another, preparing even the feeblest to fill out its measure as roundly and blissfully as the highest. Such is religion, the great all-formative grace for man. Nothing but this can even dare to promise any fit completion of humanity. All the harmonies, all the great inspirations, all the immovable and immortal confidences, all the contacts of infinity and seals of infinite possessorship, are here. H. B.