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Chapter 22.
Eliphaz Speaks; 3rd Speech
How can you think that God is affected by your so called righteousness. He is far above men, like stars in the heavens. He gains nothing from you even if you are wise and righteous There can only be one possible reason for your sickness.
Anyone could write a long list of your sins which have brought this suffering upon you. You took clothing from your fellowmen as deposits for loans. To the hungry and weary you refused food and water. Though you had all the riches and power to help them You refused to help widows and orphans from your vast riches. That is why you are suffering now. You thi k that God hasn’t seen all this. Will you live as they did before the flood. The people then were like you, wealthy, but they didn’t acknowledge that their riches came from God. Gold was their God, as it became yours. That is why you did not feed the hungry or look after the widows and the fatherless? So why don’t you acknowledge this and repent? God will restore your prosperity, and begin to hear you again instead of being silent as you say He is. In future you can help the poor and downcast, to lift them up. That is how God wants you to use your wealth in the future’’.
CHAPTER 23-24
Job’s eighth speech:
Well might I continue to complain, for God still has his heavy hand upon me in spite of my groanings. If only He was like a man and lived in a house, then I would know where to find him. I would go to his house and meet him face to face and present my just cause before Him. I know he would see my point of view and he would vindicate me, and administer justice on my behalf. But I don’t know where He is. I could go North, south, east or west and I would not even get a glimpse of him. I have no idea of His whereabouts or where he goes to or comes from, but He certainly knows where I go and come from, for He knows every step I have ever taken. I know that he is just trying my faith, and when he has finished trying me I will come through as gold refined in the fire. He has watched my every step throughout my whole life and he knows that I have never set foot outside the pathway of his commandments. In fact I have put his word before my daily food. But what can I do to influence God? He is God and He therefore can do anything He pleases, to man and with man. I know that he has decided to set this course of action against me and He has and will see it through to the end. It terrifies me to think what He might choose to do next. But though terrified in the dark, (perhaps like a child) I will still speak out and voice my complaint. For instance, we know that God punishes the wicked, but why doesn’t He administer the punishment at a more appropriate time. For the wicked rob, steal, and exploit the poor, and apparently nothing happens to them. They even steal children in payment for debts and yet God doesn’t seem to charge anyone with wrongdoing.
Then there are those who use the night to carry out their evil deeds. The burglar, the murderer, the adulterer, they shut themselves in during the day, and the night is their day. They are the scum of society. Eventually we know that they get their reward, for they are quickly taken to the grave. But this is only after many years of peace and ease. They live under a false sense of security for a time, then God sends his judgement upon them. But it is not easy to associate the judgement with the evil because of the lapse in time. None of you can deny that what I am saying is true.
Eliphaz Speaks; 3rd Speech
How can you think that God is affected by your so called righteousness. He is far above men, like stars in the heavens. He gains nothing from you even if you are wise and righteous There can only be one possible reason for your sickness.
Anyone could write a long list of your sins which have brought this suffering upon you. You took clothing from your fellowmen as deposits for loans. To the hungry and weary you refused food and water. Though you had all the riches and power to help them You refused to help widows and orphans from your vast riches. That is why you are suffering now. You thi k that God hasn’t seen all this. Will you live as they did before the flood. The people then were like you, wealthy, but they didn’t acknowledge that their riches came from God. Gold was their God, as it became yours. That is why you did not feed the hungry or look after the widows and the fatherless? So why don’t you acknowledge this and repent? God will restore your prosperity, and begin to hear you again instead of being silent as you say He is. In future you can help the poor and downcast, to lift them up. That is how God wants you to use your wealth in the future’’.
CHAPTER 23-24
Job’s eighth speech:
Well might I continue to complain, for God still has his heavy hand upon me in spite of my groanings. If only He was like a man and lived in a house, then I would know where to find him. I would go to his house and meet him face to face and present my just cause before Him. I know he would see my point of view and he would vindicate me, and administer justice on my behalf. But I don’t know where He is. I could go North, south, east or west and I would not even get a glimpse of him. I have no idea of His whereabouts or where he goes to or comes from, but He certainly knows where I go and come from, for He knows every step I have ever taken. I know that he is just trying my faith, and when he has finished trying me I will come through as gold refined in the fire. He has watched my every step throughout my whole life and he knows that I have never set foot outside the pathway of his commandments. In fact I have put his word before my daily food. But what can I do to influence God? He is God and He therefore can do anything He pleases, to man and with man. I know that he has decided to set this course of action against me and He has and will see it through to the end. It terrifies me to think what He might choose to do next. But though terrified in the dark, (perhaps like a child) I will still speak out and voice my complaint. For instance, we know that God punishes the wicked, but why doesn’t He administer the punishment at a more appropriate time. For the wicked rob, steal, and exploit the poor, and apparently nothing happens to them. They even steal children in payment for debts and yet God doesn’t seem to charge anyone with wrongdoing.
Then there are those who use the night to carry out their evil deeds. The burglar, the murderer, the adulterer, they shut themselves in during the day, and the night is their day. They are the scum of society. Eventually we know that they get their reward, for they are quickly taken to the grave. But this is only after many years of peace and ease. They live under a false sense of security for a time, then God sends his judgement upon them. But it is not easy to associate the judgement with the evil because of the lapse in time. None of you can deny that what I am saying is true.
