Reading
SAA Notes
Verse 7 contains the heart of what Eliphaz believes – good happens to good people, bad to bad. Eliphaz can say such wonderful words eg 5:17, yet heap false guilt upon his friend. Eliphaz sees God disciplining Job for sin, not Job suffering because he lives in a world broken by sin.
SJA Notes
* Mighty God Above, please bring Your comfort speedily to those of us Your people who are mourning.
“Remember: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off?”
Eliphaz, the first of Job’s friends to speak, does so with passion and power.
Imagine that for at least seven days you have been thinking this situation through – and now the great debate begins.
Why did these terrible things happen to Job?
For Eliphaz, at the core of his response is that bad things only happen to people who do bad things.
If you are innocent and upright, you will be free from any sorrow or loss.
“As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.”
This is a very limited and frail theology, one that is not true to scripture.
What does Eliphaz do with truths such as what the psalmist wrestles with in Psalm 73,
“For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked,”
And,
“Behold, these are the wicked; always at ease, they increase in riches.”
How does the reverse-prosperity doctrine of Eliphaz hold up with the suffering and persecution of the saints?
Eliphaz is forgetting the spiritual realities, those that we cannot see, but that are true and real.
The psalmist knows the truth of the matter, we read down further in Psalm 73,
“My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”
We have this hope, founded in our King Jesus, God the son who won us an inheritance like no other – An eternal hope beyond what we see!
* Father God,
You are our strength and portion forever – Thank You!
You work for the good of Your people, us – Thank You!
And You work good through bad, which we see most clearly at the cross, where You saved us.
Thank You Lord!
Amen.