Job 22:5 - Meaning and Application

Eliphaz and his friends had already judged Job, in general, as a wicked man and a hypocrite. But until now, none of them had named specific charges against him. Here Eliphaz does that plainly and boldly, accusing Job of serious crimes, which, if true, would have justified their harsh words.

He says, in effect, “We have waited too long and spoken too carefully. We have used pictures and warnings, but Job still refuses to condemn himself. So now we must tell him directly, You are the tyrant, the oppressor, the godless man we have been describing. Is your evil not great? Are your sins not endless?” Strictly speaking, only God is infinite, but Eliphaz means that Job’s sins were beyond counting and deeply wicked. Sin, because it is committed against the infinite majesty of God, carries a kind of boundless evil in it.

When Eliphaz goes this far and speaks as if he knows Job’s guilt, we should learn two things. First, we should be angry at people who wrongly judge and condemn others. If Eliphaz falsely accused Job here, he did Job nearly as great a wrong as the Sabeans and Chaldeans, who had robbed him, because a person’s good name is more precious than wealth. It is against justice, love, and friendship to spread rumors, suspicions, and bad guesses about others, especially when they are already suffering.

Second, we should pity those who are unfairly judged. Even innocent people are not safe from a false and cruel tongue. Job, whom God himself had praised as the best man in the world, is here painted by one of his friends, a wise and good man, as one of the worst people alive. So let us not be surprised if we are sometimes slandered. Let us learn to bear bad reports as well as good ones, and leave our case with God, who judges rightly.

Now Eliphaz states the particular charges. First, he accuses Job of oppression and injustice, saying that in his days of success he did not use his wealth and power to do good, but to do harm. This was completely false, as Job’s own account of his life later shows (Job 29:12, etc.), and as God’s own words about Job already had shown in chapter 1.

Eliphaz breaks this accusation into several parts, speaking as if he could bring witnesses for every one of them. He says Job had been cruel to the poor. As a ruler, he should have protected them and seen that they were cared for, but Eliphaz suspects he never showed them kindness. Instead, he claims Job demanded a pledge for a small debt and took it by force, even from his own brother, whom he should have trusted. He also says Job had stripped poor debtors of their clothes, leaving them naked, even though the law of Moses forbade such treatment (Exodus 22:26; Deuteronomy 24:13).

Eliphaz goes on to say that Job had not shown charity even to poor travelers or widows. He had not even given “a cup of cold water” to the weary who asked for it, and he had withheld bread from the hungry in their need (Proverbs 3:27). Poor widows, once their husbands were gone, had been sent away empty and grieving from Job’s door. Those who came seeking justice were turned away unheard and unhelped. Worse still, Eliphaz says the arms of the fatherless had been broken, meaning that those who could barely help themselves had been made even weaker. He does not say directly that Job did this himself, but he leaves that thought hanging in the air, and if others under him did it while he allowed it, he still bears guilt.

Eliphaz also says Job had favored the rich and powerful (Job 22:8). If a strong man was guilty, Eliphaz claims, he was never questioned. He owned the land and lived securely in it. If he brought a case that was unjust, or if a case was rightly brought against him, he still won in Job’s courts. The poor, meanwhile, were not fed at Job’s door, while the rich were welcomed and honored at his table. This is the opposite of Christ’s rule for hospitality (Luke 14:12-14), and Solomon says that one who gives to the rich will come to poverty.

Then Eliphaz turns these imagined sins into the explanation for Job’s present suffering (Job 22:10, 11). He says that people guilty of such behavior often end up in just this kind of trouble, so Job must have been guilty too. He says that God’s providence usually frustrates such people, so they find snares on every side, no matter which way they turn. Others, he says, now treat Job as harshly as he once treated the poor. He also says conscience is likely troubling Job, because no sin cries louder there than lack of mercy. So, he concludes, sudden fear is shaking Job, whether he admits it or not, because guilt of this kind must be the cause. Zophar had said something similar before (Job 20:19-20).

Eliphaz said that Job had been brought to the end of his own wisdom, so bewildered that he did not know what to do. He claimed that this was also Job’s condition now. In Eliphaz’s view, Job was walking in darkness and could not see why God was contending with him, or what his best course should be. The image is of a man covered by deep waters, lost in a dark mist and thick clouds.

He then charged Job with atheism, unbelief, and serious disrespect toward God. In Eliphaz’s mind, Job’s injustice and harsh treatment of others came from this root: a man who did not fear God would not care about people. He was treating Job as if he were an Epicurean, a person who admits that God exists but denies that God rules the world and cares about human affairs.

Eliphaz pointed to a true doctrine, one that should have kept Job from speaking so fiercely or defending himself so strongly. Is not God in the highest heaven? Of course he is. No heaven is too high for God, and in the highest heavens, where the blessed dwell and where his glory is seen, he is present in a special way. That is his throne and his court. He is above the stars, and we should think of his greatness whenever we look at the sky.

But Eliphaz said Job had used this truth badly. He accused Job of using the truth itself against religion, as if saying, “God is in heaven, so how can he know what happens on earth?” Wicked people often try to push the fear of God out of their hearts by pushing God’s sight out of the world. If they can persuade themselves that God does not know, they feel free to do what they want.

Eliphaz thought Job believed God could not see what happens so far below him, especially with dark clouds between heaven and earth. As if God had human eyes and needed a clear line of sight. But distance does not hinder the God who fills all space, just as time does not hinder the God who is eternal. The sky may seem far away to us, but it is no barrier to him.

Or, Eliphaz may have meant that God was too great to concern himself with earth at all, as if ruling this lower world were beneath him. He said, in effect, that God walks the circuit of heaven and is too occupied with his own glory to look after us. That is both foolish and sinful. It makes justice and mercy seem like a burden to the one who is infinitely wise, holy, and good.

Even the sun, which is only a creature, reaches the earth with its light and power from the high place where it moves, even through thick clouds (Psalm 19:6). If that is true of the sun, should we doubt it of the Creator?