Eliphaz: Can we be of any use to God?
1Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
2Can we be of any use to God?
Only himself a wise man benefits.
3 ① What would the Almighty gain if you were upright?
What profit if you were blameless in your ways?
4Is it for your piety that he reproves
and brings you to judgment?
5Is it not for your great wickedness,
for there is no end to your sins?
6Without any need you kept your kinsmen’s goods
and stripped them naked of their clothing.
7You denied drink to the thirsty
and withheld bread from the hungry.
8The powerful control the land
and allot it to their cronies.
9You have sent widows away empty-handed
and crushed the arms of orphans.
10No wonder snares are round about you
and sudden terror makes you dismayed,
11you are blinded by darkness
and covered by flood.
12Is not God above the heavens?
See how lofty are the highest stars.
13Yet you say, “What does God know?
Can he see through deep shadows?
14He cannot see for thick clouds veil him
as he walks upon the vault of the heavens.”
15Will you keep to the old path
that the wicked have trod?
16In a moment they were carried off
and their foundation washed away.
17They said to God, “Away from us!
What can the Almighty do to us?”
18He had filled their houses with good things,
but the thoughts of the wicked were far from him.
19The righteous see their ruin and are glad,
the innocent laugh at them and say,
20“Now the great have come to nothing,
fire has devoured their heritage.”
21Come to terms with God and make peace;
in this way you will prosper.
22Listen to his teaching
and keep his words in your heart.
23If you return humbled to the Almighty,
if you drive injustice from your tent,
24then you will look on gold as dust,
gold of Ophir as pebbles from a stream.
25For the Almighty will be your gold
and your sparkling silver.
26For then you will delight in the Almighty
and lift up your face to God.
27You will pray to him and he will hear,
and you will fulfill your vows.
28You will succeed in your decision,
and light will shine upon your way.
29For God brings down the proud
and saves the downcast.
30He who rescues the innocent,
will rescue you too if your hands are clean.
- Job 22,3 Eliphaz' speeches are repetitious: if Job suffers, it is because he has sinned. He must have oppressed his neighbor in spite of his reputation for integrity. Yet, note the list of sins that Job might have committed: it is always a matter of oppressing the weak or failing to assist them. Jesus will say nothing new when, in Matthew 25:40 he condemns to eternal punishment those who failed to provide bread and water to those in need. The commentary on vv. 29-30 can be found with Isaiah 2:6-22.
