The Explanation of Eliphaz
Job 4-5
September 13, 2015
As you know we are working our way through the book of Job.
By God’s own account, Job was “an upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil” and there was “no one like him on the earth.”
Job was the best of the best.
• Unequaled as a father
• Unequaled as a husband
• Unequaled as a man
Job was exceptional in every sense of the word.
And because of his righteousness
He was appointed for an unbelievably difficult mission.
God appointed Job to be man who would prove that
Nothing could sever the relationship between God and his child.
Satan told God that if God would afflict him and take all that he has,
And even put Job in physical pain that Job would curse God to His face.
God permitted the trial.
So we saw Job lose his wealth
We saw Job lose his children
We saw Job lose his health
But we never saw Job turn on God.
Job worshipped.
That does not mean that Job wasn’t hurting, he was.
In fact last week Job finally spoke, and it was harsh.
• We heard Job curse the day of his birth.
• We heard Job praise death as better than life.
• We heard Job question why God would create a person for such suffering.
But we always remember that Job did not sin in this.
In fact, we hold as an important foundation what God will say at the end of this book.
Job 42:7 “It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has.”
That verse serves as a plumb line by which we discern what we read.
Regardless how it may sound, we know Job is speaking what is right
While his friends are speaking what is wrong.
So even though Job’s words were raw and honest and harsh, he didn’t say anything that was wrong.
• Life is hard
• Death (for a child of God) is better
• And even though Job doesn’t know why, God does create and sustain man even in the midst of suffering.
So Job was honest, but not sinful.
Well, at the end of his lament he did ask some questions.
In particular he wanted to know why God would give and sustain life to person who suffers.
Now we see his friends feel the need to step in and answer.
Their objective is to help him see what they perceive to be the truth.
Now again (as we said a couple of weeks ago when we ended chapter 2)
Job’s friends love Job. They have gobs of compassion.
The problem is that they have bad theology
And therefore they are ineffective comforters.
We can learn about bereavement ministry from them.
So let’s listen in to the explanation of Eliphaz.
There are two main points which we’ll divide a little more.
#1 ELIPHAZ EXPLAINS THE SITUATION
Job 4:1-21
Obviously it will be easier to handle the chapter if we divide it a little,
So let’s break it into its natural divisions.
Eliphaz is going to tell you what is happening to Job,
And why it is happening.
Now obviously Eliphaz isn’t getting this information from God
Since at the end God is going to clearly say that
Eliphaz spoke what was wrong.
So right off the bat you’re learning a thing or two
About being a bad counselor.
If you come with compassion but you don’t come with God’s truth
You aren’t going to help much.
But let’s look at this situation through Eliphaz’s eyes.
1) HIS OBSERVATION (1-11)
Now you will notice that Eliphaz actually starts off his response
Pretty cordially and compassionately.
By the time they’re done
These friends of Job will be very harsh and cruel with their jabs,
But that isn’t how it starts.
In fact Eliphaz even asks Job
If he is willing to hear the explanation of his suffering.
(1-2) “Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, “If one ventures a word with you, will you become impatient? But who can refrain from speaking?”
The word translated “impatient” there actually means “weary”
Eliphaz is simply asking, “Are you able to hear what I’m saying? Do you mind if I speak?”
Because after all he has seen and heart he wants to know
“who can refrain from speaking?”
That is to say, I hope you’ll let me speak,
Because I have to address your situation.
He even starts out applauding the way
Job has handled similar situations in his life.
(3-4) “Behold you have admonished many, And you have strengthened weak hands. “Your words have helped the tottering to stand, And you have strengthened feeble knees.”
Job, you’ve been a great comforter to many who were suffering for many years.
(You can feel the “but” coming here can’t you?)
(5-6) “But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; It touches you, and you are dismayed. “Is not your fear of God your confidence, And the integrity of your ways your hope?”
He says, “You’ve been a great comfort to many who suffered, but now that you are the one who is suffering you’ve grown weary and frustrated.”
And Eliphaz even tells him why he is frustrated.
“Is not your fear of God your confidence, and the integrity of your ways your hope?”
Job you say you fear God and you say you walk in integrity
And because of that you don’t think any of these things
Should be coming upon you.
You are actually shocked, frustrated, weary, and impatient
Because you don’t think you should be suffering like this.
And Eliphaz is right.
• Job does hold to his integrity.
• And Job is confused as to why he is suffering.
At this point Eliphaz should be going into an explanation about how sometimes even the righteous suffer, and how God uses that suffering for the accomplishment of His purposes. (like we talked about last week)
But that is not the direction Eliphaz goes.
(7-11) “Remember now, who ever perished being innocent? Or where were the upright destroyed? “According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity And those who sow trouble harvest it. “By the breath of God they perish, And by the blast of His anger they come to an end. “The roaring of the lion and the voice of the fierce lion, And the teeth of the young lions are broken. “The lion perishes for lack of prey, And the whelps of the lioness are scattered.”
Did you catch that?
Eliphaz listened to Job’s claim to be righteous.
Eliphaz looked at the obvious suffering in Job’s life.
And Eliphaz’s explanation was:
“You must not be as righteous as you think you are.”
“Who ever perished being innocent..?”
“Where were the upright destroyed?”
And do you want to see the first place Eliphaz got his inspiration?
“According to what I have seen, those who plow iniquity…harvest it.”
Eliphaz’s theology was not built on a study of God’s word.
Eliphaz’s theology was built on experience and observation.
And might I add that it was obviously limited observation.
We’ve said it many times over; the righteous do suffer.
Listen to this Psalm
Psalms 44:9-26 “Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor, And do not go out with our armies. You cause us to turn back from the adversary; And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You give us as sheep to be eaten And have scattered us among the nations. You sell Your people cheaply, And have not profited by their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, A scoffing and a derision to those around us. You make us a byword among the nations, A laughingstock among the peoples. All day long my dishonor is before me And my humiliation has overwhelmed me, Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, Because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger. All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You, And we have not dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, And our steps have not deviated from Your way, Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals And covered us with the shadow of death. If we had forgotten the name of our God Or extended our hands to a strange god, Would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart. But for Your sake we are killed all day long; We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever. Why do You hide Your face And forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul has sunk down into the dust; Our body cleaves to the earth. Rise up, be our help, And redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.”
Obviously Eliphaz had never run into those guys.
Here is Job in the midst of the most difficult suffering of his life
Eliphaz’s explanation is that
Job must not be as righteous as he claims.
WELCOME TO THE ROOTS OF THE PROSPERITY GOSPEL
The prosperity gospel maintains that
The righteous will be blessed in this life and the wicked will be cursed.
So Eliphaz looks at Job and says,
“Well, you must not be righteous”
You see his observation
2) HIS REVELATION (12-21)
I hope you caught were Eliphaz got his information.
Did you catch it?
He had a vision.
(12) “a word was brought to me stealthily”
(13) “visions of the night”
(15) “a spirit passed by my face; the hair of my flesh bristled up”
CAN WE SAY MYSTICAL?
(16) “I heard a voice”
Now some definitely won’t like this,
But trust me when I tell you that it is no coincidence that
The main proponents of the prosperity gospel
Are those in the charismatic movement.
That is not to say that all charismatics believe the prosperity gospel,
But it remains true that by in large the prosperity gospel
Has been the result of charismatic doctrine.
It is the same people that commonly claim extra-biblical revelation
(like that of revelations from visions and spirits and dreams)
Who also come up with perverted versions of the gospel like this one.
Eliphaz was a charismatic.
He didn’t have a theology based upon careful study of Scripture. He had a theology built on experience and mystical revelation.
I saw it…
I felt it…
I experienced it…
Therefore I know it must be true
Listen if you allow your experiences to translate the bible for you,
You will end up with a distorted theology too.
We use the Scripture to discern our experiences.
We use the Scripture to discern our revelations.
NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND
Eliphaz used his experiences and his mystical revelations as the grounds for his theology.
Well, what did this spirit say to him?
(17-21) “’Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? ‘He puts no trust even in His servants; And against His angels He charges error. ‘How much more those who dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth! ‘Between morning and evening they are broken in pieces; Unobserved, they perish forever. ‘Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them? They die, yet without wisdom.’”
Now, first of all, we’ve read the end
And we know that Eliphaz’s theology is wrong.
Therefore we are confident that this spirit messenger was not of God.
But honestly, we should have known that just by reading what he said.
This statement is filled with accusation, and we know who the accuser is.
But notice the question:
“Can mankind be just before God?”
“Can a man be pure before his maker?”
Obviously Eliphaz thinks the answer is no.
The spirit goes on to contend that God can’t trust man.
“He puts no trust even in His servants; and against His angels He charges error. How much more those who dwell in houses of clay..?”
That is to say if God doesn’t trust angels He surely doesn’t trust men
Who are nothing more than clay with life in them.
The spirit goes on to talk about
• Man’s humble beginning “foundation is in the dust”
• Man’s humiliating end “crushed before the moth”
• Man’s pathetic life in between “between morning and evening they are broken in pieces.”
Furthermore “They die, yet without wisdom”
So this spirit contends that man is pathetic, formed of dirt,
And therefore there is no way any of them
Can be considered just before God, let alone trustworthy to Him.
Now is that true?
And the answer is “NO”
“Can mankind be just before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker?”
Yes, if God justifies him.
Does God trust man at all?
He did Job.
What else do you think it meant when God lifted up Job before Satan and said, “Have at him, but he won’t deny me.”
God was trusting Job.
This Spirit is lying and Eliphaz is passing his message on to Job.
Eliphaz’s point?
Job, let me explain the situation.
• I know you think you’re righteous,
• But if that were true you wouldn’t be suffering.
• In reality, no one can be righteous before God.
• The reason you are suffering is because you are sinful.
That is Eliphaz’s explanation of the situation.
It is the prosperity gospel.
It has no other recourse.
If it credits righteous living as the source of blessing
Then it must credit sinful living as the source of suffering
(even when it doesn’t have a clue what the sin was)
And that is what Eliphaz did.
AND THAT IS NOT COMFORT
Eliphaz Explains the Situation
#2 ELIPHAZ EXPLAINS THE SOLUTION
Job 5:1-27
I’m betting you can already guess the solution.
Eliphaz thinks Job’s suffering is a result of his sin,
So the solution should be obvious.
But let’s break it down a little further.
There are three things that Eliphaz wants Job to do.
1) TAKE INVENTORY (1-7)
He asking Job to get honest about the realities of his life.
(1) “Call now, is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn?”
Do you know what Eliphaz is saying?
“You are alone”
Not only have you sinned against God,
But because of your sin you have made it were not a single “holy one”
Will want to come within 10 feet of you.
You’ve really messed up here Job.
And then he even begins to take a crack
At what sins Job must have committed.
(2-3) “For anger slays the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple. “I have seen the foolish taking root, And I cursed his abode immediately.”
Eliphaz kind of gives a backward diagnosis there.
Job is an angry man, a foolish man, and a jealous man
Why would Eliphaz say that?
• Did he see Job get angry? No
• Did he see Job in jealousy? No
• Has he witnessed Job in some other foolishness? No
Then why would he say such thing?
Because he can’t imagine such horrific circumstances
Would come upon a person unless that is what they were.
Eliphaz says, this is what happens to the fool Job.
(4-5) “His sons are far from safety, They are even oppressed in the gate, And there is no deliverer. “His harvest the hungry devour And take it to a place of thorns, And the schemer is eager for their wealth.”
Did catch all those?
According to Eliphaz, if a man is a fool with anger and jealousy, this is what will happen to him.
• His sons will die
• His crops will be destroyed
• Thieves will steal his wealth
Talk about hitting Job below the belt.
That’s like going to the home of someone who has cancer and saying, “Fools get cancer”
This is a cold jab by Eliphaz.
And again you see his reasoning.
(6-7) “For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble sprout from the ground, For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward.”
“This kind of stuff doesn’t happen for no reason”
This kind of affliction doesn’t just pop up out of the ground.
You obviously are an angry, jealous, fool.
Look at it Job
Look at what happened
Take a little inventory
Take Inventory
2) TRUST GOD (8-16)
Boy you have to love that advice.
“But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God;”
Here is a person who just lost all of his possessions, all of his children, his health, and this person says, “You ought to be praying.”
Thanks
And then Eliphaz explains why he thinks Job should seek God.
Because God is powerful
(9-10) “Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number. “He gives rain on the earth And sends water on the fields,”
Because God is merciful
(11) “So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety.”
Because God is just
(12-14) “He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd, So that their hands cannot attain success. “He captures the wise by their own shrewdness, And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted. “By day they meet with darkness, And grope at noon as in the night.”
Because God is a Savior
(15-16) “But He saves from the sword of their mouth, And the poor from the hand of the mighty. “So the helpless has hope, And unrighteousness must shut its mouth.”
So Eliphaz charges that Job is a sinner
And therefore should humble himself and seek God
Who is merciful and powerful and just and able to save.
I told you the prosperity gospel was tricky.
This is why so many have difficulty exposing it.
When you read what Eliphaz said there you walk away saying, “Eliphaz is right. You should seek God. God is powerful and merciful and just and a savior.”
That’s right.
So what is the problem?
Eliphaz has right doctrine that is misapplied.
• God does set the lowly on high.
• God does lift those who mourn to safety.
• God does frustrate the shrewd
• God does keep them from success
ETERNALLY, BUT NOT ALWAYS IN THE HERE AN NOW
Remember this was the confusion that plagued Asaph.
Psalms 73:3-9 “For I was envious of the arrogant As I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no pains in their death, And their body is fat. They are not in trouble as other men, Nor are they plagued like mankind. Therefore pride is their necklace; The garment of violence covers them. Their eye bulges from fatness; The imaginations of their heart run riot. They mock and wickedly speak of oppression; They speak from on high. They have set their mouth against the heavens, And their tongue parades through the earth.”
Asaph believed God to help the lowly and frustrate the wicked too.
That’s why he had so much trouble with the reality he saw around him.
God will settle every score in eternity,
But it isn’t always promised right here and now.
Eliphaz is trying to take an eternal promise
And turn it into a present reality.
And that is one of the major problems with the prosperity gospel.
Someday we’ll be in glory where there will be
No more sin or sickness or poverty or pain or curse.
But that reality is not promised for today.
• Today, real genuine Christians have money problems.
• Today, real genuine Christians get sick, and some even die.
• Today, real genuine Christians have pain and sorrow and frustration
But it’s like Paul said:
2 Corinthians 4:16-5:1 “Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, 18 while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. For we know that if the earthly tent which is our house is torn down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
Eliphaz is confused about the timing of God’s promises
And because of that, he is a horrible source of comfort to Job.
He has told Job he had better take inventory of his sin,
And then trust God.
3) TURN FROM SIN (17-27)
Make sure you don’t forget what God already said about Job.
Job 1:8 “The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, fearing God and turning away from evil.”
Turning away from sin is something Job did routinely.
But look at what Eliphaz says
(17-18) “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.”
You should be happy that God has punished you so severely
And learn from it and repent.
The same God who inflicts pain also gives relief.
He wounded you and He’ll heal you,
But you had better learn your lesson.
And then look at all the promises Eliphaz gives to Job.
14 times Eliphaz uses the word “will”
(19-26) “From six troubles He will deliver you, Even in seven evil will not touch you. “In famine He will redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword. “You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of violence when it comes. “You will laugh at violence and famine, And you will not be afraid of wild beasts. “For you will be in league with the stones of the field, And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you. “You will know that your tent is secure, For you will visit your abode and fear no loss. “You will know also that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth. “You will come to the grave in full vigor, Like the stacking of grain in its season.”
There’s the prosperity gospel for you.
Job, if you’d just repent of your sin
Then God would just take out His eraser and make it all go away.
If you’d just live right
You’d never worry about famine or sword or gossip
or violence or wild beasts or any loss of any kind.
You’d just have blessing piling up and flowing over.
Ever heard that message before?
Ever offered that message before?
Now, I do need to bring some balance here.
There are times in Scripture when we are adamantly commanded
To confront the sin of our brother.
That occurs when our brother’s sin is obvious.
In those instances we take evidence of his sin to him and command him to repent so that he can continue in fellowship in the church.
But we can never approach someone who is suffering,
Without any evidence of sin, and just assume that
This all happened because they must have messed up.
And we have no right to promise anyone
That if they’ll just repent it will all go away.
THE SUFFERING OF A CHRISTIAN IS NOT THE RESULT OF SIN.
• They are already declared righteous before God.
• They are already pleasing because of the cross.
Job was NOT suffering because of his sin
And yet that is exactly what Eliphaz accused him of.
(27) “Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is. Hear it, and know for yourself.”
Can you see the cruelty of the prosperity gospel?
Can you see the pitiful source of comfort it brings to the bereaved?
Please, Please, Please begin to eradicate
The prosperity gospel out of your mind.
It is a pitiful source of comfort to those who suffer
And it will leave you hopeless when the suffering is yours.
Job was the most righteous man on earth and Eliphaz
(with no proof whatsoever)
Just told him that the solution was for him to repent.
Unbelievable.
