Job 22:15 - Meaning and Application

Eliphaz has already tried to prove Job guilty by putting Job’s sins, as he saw them, in order before him. Now he tries to wake Job up to his misery and danger because of sin by pointing to the sinners of the old world. In other words, he is saying, “Your condition is bad now, but if you do not repent, it will become worse, just as it did for them.” He means those who were swept away by the flood (Job 22:16) and those whose survivors were destroyed by fire (Job 22:20), meaning the people of Sodom. Scripture often joins these two examples together to warn a careless world, as our Lord does (Luke 17:26, etc.) and as the apostle Peter does (2 Peter 2:5, 2 Peter 2:6).

Eliphaz wants Job to mark the old path that wicked people have walked (Job 22:15) and see where it ended. There is, indeed, an old way that wicked people have trodden. Sin entered early in human history, almost as soon as religion did. Even though this way is old, broad, and well-traveled, it is still a dangerous road, and it leads to destruction. It is wise for us to look at it carefully so we will not dare to walk in it.

Eliphaz may also be answering Job’s words about the prosperity of the wicked. He seems to be saying, “You may find a few cases where a wicked person ends his life in peace, but what about those two great examples of final judgment, the drowning of the whole world and the burning of Sodom?” These were massive destructions, and Eliphaz thinks Job can see his own situation reflected in them like in a mirror.

First, Eliphaz points to the ruin of those sinners (Job 22:16). They were “cut down out of time,” meaning they were cut off in the middle of life, before their natural years were done. In that age, many of them might have lived much longer in the course of nature, so their sudden destruction was even more painful. They were cut down and hurried into eternity. Their foundation, the earth they trusted in and built their hopes on, was overflown with a flood, the flood brought on the world of the ungodly (2 Peter 2:5).

Those who build on sand choose a foundation that will be covered when the rains come down and the floods rise (Matthew 7:27). Then their building must fall, and they perish in its ruins. Only later do they see how foolish they were.

Second, Eliphaz points to their sin, which brought that ruin (Job 22:17). They said to God, “Depart from us.” Job had spoken of some who said this and still prospered (Job 21:14). But Eliphaz says these people did not prosper in the end. They learned by bitter experience what it means to defy God. Those who choose to give full control to their appetites and passions usually begin here: they say to God, “Depart.” They cast off religion, hate its thoughts, and want to live without God in the world. They avoid his word and silence conscience, which is his deputy in the soul.

Some understand this as showing the justice of their punishment. They told God to depart, so what else could the Almighty do but cut them off? Those who will not submit to God’s gentle rule must expect to be broken by his strong rod. Others take it as showing the wrongness of their sin: “What has the Almighty done against them? What evil have they found in him, or how has he wearied them?” (Micah 6:3; Jeremiah 2:5). Others take it as showing the reason behind their sin: they say to God, “Depart,” while asking what the Almighty can do to them. What has he done to deserve our service? What can he do, either in judgment to make us miserable or in mercy to make us happy? This is the kind of thinking described in Zephaniah 1:12.

Eliphaz answers that with one word, calling God the Almighty. If he is truly Almighty, then what cannot he do? It is no surprise when people throw off all religion if they neither fear God’s wrath nor desire his favor.

Third, Eliphaz stresses how serious their sin was: yet God had filled their houses with good things (Job 22:18). The people of the old world and the people of Sodom had plenty of the pleasures of life. They ate, drank, bought, and sold, as Luke 17:27 says. So they had no excuse for asking what the Almighty could do for them, because they lived on his kindness. They had no reason to tell him to depart after he had been so good to them. Many people have full houses but empty hearts, and that is a sure mark of ruin.

Fourth, Eliphaz makes a protest about the beliefs and ways of such wicked people: “But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.” Job had said the same thing (Job 21:16), and Eliphaz will not be behind him. If they cannot agree on every point about God, they still agree in rejecting the way of people who live without God in the world. Those who differ on some religious questions, and even argue over them, should still stand together against atheism and irreligion. They must make sure their disputes do not weaken their unity or zeal in that common cause of God, which is a righteous cause.

Fifth, Eliphaz describes the satisfaction the righteous will have in this. They will see the wicked destroyed (Job 22:19). They will observe it and take notice of it (Hosea 14:9). They will be glad, not because they enjoy human misery or gain some earthly advantage, but because God is glorified, his word is fulfilled, oppressors are broken, and the oppressed are set free. They will also see sin shamed, atheists and unbelievers confounded, and a warning given to others to avoid such wicked ways.

Indeed, they may laugh them to scorn, that is, they may rightly do so in a holy way, as God does (Psalm 2:4; Proverbs 1:26). They will use the occasion to show the folly of sinners and how ridiculous their ideas are, even if those sinners call themselves wise. “This is the man who did not make God his strength,” and see what came of that (Psalm 52:7). Some understand this of righteous Noah and his family, who watched the destruction of the old world and rejoiced in it, just as they had grieved over its wickedness. Lot, who saw the fall of Sodom, had reason to rejoice too (2 Peter 2:7, 2 Peter 2:8).

They will also see themselves set apart from such judgment (Job 22:20). Their substance has not been cut down, as theirs was, and as Job’s was. They continue to prosper, and they take that as a sign that heaven favors them and that they are in the right. The same rule that Eliphaz uses to condemn Job, he uses to praise himself and his friends. Job’s substance is cut down, so he is wicked; ours is not, so we are righteous. But that is a false rule. No one can tell love or hatred by everything that happens before them.

If others are destroyed and we are not, then instead of judging them and exalting ourselves, as Eliphaz does here, we should thank God. We should also let it warn us and prepare ourselves for the same kinds of troubles.