Job22to24: JOB IGNORES ELIPHAZ'S SLANDER

Introduction. Read Job22to24

Job and his friends have reached deadlock. Neither side is willing to shift their position. In his third speech Eliphaz has no new arguments and as so often happens in theological disputes he resorts to abuse. Job no longer bothers to respond to his accusations. He turns from his friends and addresses God.

(A) Eliphaz's slander.

(1) Eliphaz accuses Job of sins he did not commit. 22v1to11.

The Temanite begins by saying that God cannot be influenced by what we do. By this he means God is not like an earthly judge whose decisions can be affected by all sorts of considerations: public opinion, the desire for advancement, financial backhanders, bias and prejudice. God will be influenced by what we do in the sense he approves of righteousness and disapproves of wickedness but he will arrive at his judgments impartially without being influenced by matters irrelevant to our case.

Eliphaz then makes a series of quite unfounded accusations. He accuses Job of:

  • Taking a person's clothes as security for a loan and leaving him naked for no good reason.

  • Denying water to the thirsty and food to the hungry.

  • Showing no pity to widows or orphans

Eliphaz concludes that Job's heartlessness is the reason for his distress. He says: "You sent widows away empty handed and broke the strength of the fatherless. That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you." v9and10.

COMMENT.

When people are unable to justify their opposition to a good man rationally they will invent lies about him to justify their antagonism. This is what happened at the trial of Jesus. The religious leaders, Jesus' sworn enemies, said to Pilate: "We have found this man subverting our nation. He opposes payment of taxes to Caeser and claims to be Christ, a king." Lk23v2. The same thing happened at Paul's trial before Felix. The lawyer, Tertullus, representing the Jewish High Priest, Ananias, said: "We have found this man to be a troublemaker, stirring up riots among the Jews all over the world. He is the ringleader of the Nazarene sect and even tried to desecrate the temple." Act24v5to7. Paul was also misrepresented and criticised by legalistic Jewish "super apostles" from Jerusalem. He spent almost the whole of his second letter to Corinth defending his reputation.

Eliphaz's tactic is much in use today. False accusations of blasphemy are made against Christians in countries like Pakistan. In this way Muslims can settle old scores and dispossess Christians of home, land and livelihood.

In Britain militant secularists accuse Christians of brain washing their children - as if teaching them about Jesus is a kind of conditioning. You might just as well accuse David Attenborough of brain washing his TV audience by insisting on a regular basis that the enormous variety of living things is the outcome of evolution.

However, Christians are not immune from make false accusations. In his book, 'Let God be God', Ray Stedman describes the experience of his wife to be, Elaine, as a relatively new Christian. She attended a church where the pastor was very authoritarian. From time to time the pastor seemed to contradict the plain teaching of Scripture. When Elaine challenged the pastor about what he said he became very angry. He accused her of things she had never done and threatened to charge her with heresy before the church. It was enough to put Elaine off Christianity for life!

Many years ago my uncle Stephen was the pastor of a Baptist Church in Cromer. I can remember paying him a visit with my parents as a very small boy. We walked along the beach after a storm and it was covered with dead mackerel. It is one of my earliest memories. But I digress! My uncle discovered that one of the deacons of his church, a married man, was carrying on with a young woman. He tackled the deacon about it who immediately called a church meeting and denounced Stephen for making unwarranted accusations and being an arrogant busybody. The church believed the deacon! My uncle, a gifted singer and preacher, resigned and was lost to the ministry for ever - although he did valuable work for the Methodist Church in Chessington.

(2) Eliphaz accuses Job of ignorance and presumption. See22v12to20.

(a) Eliphaz accuses Job of believing God is so remote from an earth shrouded in cloud and darkness that he doesn't know what is happening.

This is untrue of Job. He never accused God of being in ignorance of what was happening on earth but of not providing an explanation of what was happening to him.

(b) The Temanite suggests Job has forgotten the lessons of history. Evil men were: "Carried off before their time. ...... They said to God, 'Leave us alone!' ... Yet it was he who filled their house with good things ...... . The righteous see their ruin and rejoice .... ." 22v16to19. I am afraid this is a very selective view of history. Many evil men lived long and happy lives.

COMMENT.

In a discussion of theological matters it is all too easy to accuse your opponents of having an inadequate understanding of God. This is particularly true of disagreements over the ultimate fate of the wicked. Those who believe in universal salvation accuse others who oppose this view of limiting the love of God. But would God be loving if he left men and women with no choice in the matter? I have heard proponents of the belief that the wicked suffer never ending torment say that those who disagree with them have no conception of God's holiness and hatred of sin. But if God hates sin so much is he going to leave millions sinning in the bitterness of their souls, howling their imprecations for ever more? It is inconceivable that a holy God would ever put up with that.

Many of us are very ignorant of history! Many assumptions made about the past are completely unfounded. They are not based on facts. I can remember attending a Sociology seminar when I was a student teacher at the London Institute of Education. I said, with no evidence to back me up at all, that marriages were more stable and family life better in the Victorian era. My Sociology lecturer lent me a small blue book on the subject. It was an eye-opener. I was just believing about the past what I wanted to believe. I knew more people attended church in the Victorian era than in the 1960's so I assumed family life would be better then.

I am afraid, very much afraid, that many Christians hold views in ignorance of the facts.

(3) Eliphaz urges Job to repent. See 22v21to30.

Eliphaz is the most evangelical of Job's three "friends". He does offer good advice to the ungodly:

  • Submit to God for peace and prosperity.

  • Live by God's word.

  • Repent of any wickedness.

  • Delight in God rather than material wealth.

  • Pray in the knowledge he hears.

Eliphaz assures Job that if he follows his advice he will be a great blessing to others. "When men are brought low and you say, 'Lift them up!' then he(God) will save the downcast. 22v29.

The mistake Eliphaz made was to give good advice to the wrong man. Job's suffering was not a consequence of an ungodly life but the very opposite. Job's predicament was the result of God commending him to Satan for his godliness.

COMMENT.

It is a mistake to ascribe all the problems, difficulties and failures in an individual's life to personal sin and inadequacies. Calamities can occur because of the sin of others. Disasters strike because of the way the world is. We might think we could design a safer world because we are totally unaware of the repercussions of a world without earthquakes or hurricanes. We lack God's creative genius!

One of the things that really annoys me is the tendency to blame a church leader for lack of growth and declining numbers in the congregation. Jesus, who lived and worked in Nazareth for most of his life, could do few miracles there because of the inhabitant's lack of faith. Jesus wasn't at fault! He moved on.

(B) Job questions God.

Job seems to give up on his friends. He does not respond to Eliphaz. He has heard it all before. Instead Job turns his attention toward God. He identifies and comments upon four attributes of God: his elusiveness, unpredictability, inaction and control.

(1) God's elusiveness. see 23v1to12.

(a) Job expresses his frustration. He was suffering; he was in great trouble and his complaint was bitter. The patriarch wanted to make his case before God and to hear God's judgment. Job was convinced that God would acquit him of wrong and restore his fortune. The trouble was Job could not find God anywhere - not east or west, north or south. It seemed to Job that God had abandoned him.

In his book, 'Job for Everyone', John Goldingay makes it clear that Job and other Biblical characters did not so much feel forsaken as consider they were forsaken because God did not act on their behalf. Saul and Sampson through their own folly were abandoned in this sense. After Sampson gave in to Delilah and his hair was cut off we read in Judges16v20: But he did not know that the LORD had left him. This had disastrous consequences for Sampson.

I think this is often the experience of Christians. Unlike Sampson they may be in serious distress through no fault of their own. When C.S Lewis lost his wife he also felt abandoned by God. He wanted God to do something for his grief - to make him feel better. But God left him to it. Lewis' faith was severely tested.

God does not always seem there when you need him. There are many trials and tribulations where Christians long for God to intervene: Personal illness, the chronic illness of a loved one, failure in ministry, unemployment, financial problems, vicious persecution. But God does not act. He is nowhere to be found. It appears that in your greatest need God has abandoned you.

When I cared for my father his dementia worsened month after month. I prayed to God that he would stabilise my father and halt the decline. It was very difficult to cope with and very little help or advice was available. I prayed that God would help me but week after week he was nowhere in evidence. No help was forthcoming. Where was God!

One evening when my father would not go to bed I picked him up to carry him to his bedroom. He clung to the banister. I pulled him roughly away and tore open his little finger which bled profusely. I patched the wound up but a few days later I discovered my father's little finger had gone white. I felt guilty about it and worried. I didn't want him to get gangrene on top of everything else. It was a Saturday and no doctors were available and so I needed to get my father to casualty. He was proving so un-co-operative I had little chance of getting him into the car. But about 9pm on the Saturday evening a strange, eerie calm befell father. I got him to the hospital, into a wheelchair and to A and E. There was virtually no one there. We were seen straight away by a very sympathetic doctor and nurse. They could see I was under strain. My father didn't have gangrene. His finger was stitched up. Still calm I got him home and to bed. I am absolutely sure that in this instance God acted. He knew how guilty I felt and how upset I was and he took pity on me.

In spite of his frustration Job made a remarkable confession of faith. In all his difficulties Job kept God's way, obeyed his commands and treasured the words of his mouth more than his daily bread. He believed that God was testing him and he would be purified as gold is refined in the furnace.

There is no doubt that many are prepared for God's service through suffering. That was true of Joseph, Moses, Samson, Peter and Paul.

On Dec 12th 2013 I read the obituary of Alison Davis a woman severely disabled from birth with spina bifida and hydrocephalus who later developed emphysema, osteoporosis and arthritis. Confined to a wheelchair from the age of 14, she needed full-time care. Gradually Alison saw that she had a worthwhile future as she converted to Roman Catholicism and became more involved in charity work. In 1995 Alison set up Enable, a charity for disabled children in the Indian state of Andhra Pradash. In 2001 the charity opened its first new home, named after her. Alison used to say, "Every time I go to India I think 'I don't know if I can do this anymore.' Then I see all the children, lined up waiting to see me, and I know it is all worthwhile. They call me 'Mummy'." It is unlikely Alison Davis would have achieved what she did for the handicapped and disadvantaged without suffering herself.

However, it is very important to acknowledge that not all suffering proves advantageous to the sufferer or, even, to others. It is not always appropriate to quote the words of James: Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete not lacking anything. James1v2to4.

When refining gold some care is needed by the smelter. If the heat is too fierce and prolonged it will burn away the gold altogether.

(2) God's unpredictability. See 23v13to17.

Job says of God: "I am terrified of him." v15. He is apprehensive over what God has planned for him next. "Many such plans he still has in store." v14. Job feels helpless before God's power, unable to influence him who does whatever he pleases. v13. I am not sure Job would have taken much comfort from the words of the Psalmist: As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers we are dust. Ps103v13and14.

God may seem more like a sergeant putting raw recruits through their paces than a loving father. As day follows day and the endurance tests get harder and harder the recruit may well fear what is coming next. Will it be the test that finally breaks his resolve and during which he breaks down?

I felt like this caring for my father as his weakness and dementia worsened. I wondered how bad it was going to get and whether eventually I would no longer be able to cope. I was frightened and did not entirely trust God and this made the situation worse.

Moses felt like this during his leadership of the Children of Israel in the wilderness. They were always complaining and rebelling. He said to God on one occasion: "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me." Ex17v4.

Christians facing intense, demonic persecution in the Middle East and North Africa - in Syria, Iraq and Egypt - must wonder how much worse it is going to get before God says, "Enough."

I have to say that God enabled me to look after my father till he died; Moses led the Israelites to the border of the Promised Land; persecution has eased and all but disappeared in states where it was endemic, like the USSR and China.

I take comfort from the high priestly prayer Jesus made for those that love him as recorded in John 16. His asks God to protect his followers from the evil one. I believe God answers that prayer and that my faith will hold and my salvation is assured. It is very distressing when our faith is severely tested - like Job's was - but we should always remember Jesus is not in the business of losing disciples.

(3) God's inaction. See 24v1to17.

Job spends a considerable time questioning why God does not intervene to prevent injustice. He wants God to be more proactive. First of all the patriarch details the plight of the rural poor who are dispossessed of land and livestock and left to forage for food on wasteland. This is something that happened during the enclosure movement in England. Poor peasants lost their tiny strips of arable land and moved to live next to the commons on the margins of the parish where they could graze a cow or a goat.

The rural poor had scarcely any clothing, their children were taken into slavery to pay their debts and they were forced to work for next to nothing. There was a time when things were not much better in England.

In the city crime and immorality were rife. Adultery, theft and murder took place under the cover of darkness.

COMMENT:

A common complaint against God is: "Why does he let bad things happen? Why doesn't he intervene to right wrongs? Why doesn't God stand up for the oppressed?"

When I was a boy growing up in Brockley I was occasionally verbally abused by a foul mouthed braggart. I would complain to my father expecting him to do something about it. But my father NEVER did. He left me to fight my own battles! In this he was very unlike many protective parents today and quite like God our heavenly father.

There are three answers to the questions posed above:

(a) God is not responsible for man's inhumanity to man. Men are responsible for the ills Job details. God does not condone injustice. His law prohibits exploitation of the poor. For example a labouring man had to be paid daily. No one could be sued for their undergarments. Olives, grapes and grain should be left for the poor to glean. It was not God's fault if men saw fit to ignore his law.

(b) God cannot keep intervening to right wrongs without severely curtailing our freedom of action and undermining our responsibility for our actions.

(c) It is perfectly within the power and ability of men to administer justice, to put an end to exploitation of the poor and to stamp out urban violence. In other words it is NOT God's responsibility but ours.

When a young man came to Jesus and asked him to tell his brother to share the inheritance with him Jesus response was sharp: "Man who appointed me a judge or arbiter between you?" Lk12v14. This was not Jesus' role - and nor is it God's.

Since Job's day there have been unimaginable horrors - none more so than in the 20th century. But the argument still holds. These horrors were perpetrated by man. They are man's fault and men must deal with them. We cannot blame God for our own inadequacies.

(4) God's ultimate control. See 24v18to25.

Several commentators think these verses are inconsistent with Job's views. He has lamented that the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper - so he is unlikely to take satisfaction from God always bringing an end to a wicked life. We must remember that embedded in Job's many complaints there are flashes of faith.

Job does recognise that God puts a limit on how much wickedness a man can achieve. In the end he will die and that will put an end to his evil ways. He says: "As heat and drought snatch away the melted snow so the grave snatches away those who have sinned." 24v19. "God drags away the mighty by his power; ..... they are cut off like ears of corn." v23and24.

The ultimate death of the wicked is a great safety valve and an immense blessing. Sometimes a wicked king of Judah died and was succeeded by one who: Did what was right in the eyes of the Lord.

In my own lifetime the death of Stalin was a great blessing. It led to greater and greater freedom in the USSR. Mao tse Tung's death in China began the process by which the persecution of Christians greatly eased.

Evil dictators don't last forever - thank God!

We sing by faith:

          God is still on the throne,
          And He will remember His own;
          Though trials may press us and burdens distress us,
          He never will leave us alone;
          God is still on the throne,
          And He will remember His own;
          His promise is true, He will not forget you;
          God is still on the throne.

ANY COMMENTS FOR JOHN REED: E-mail jfmreed@talktalk.net

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