Job 15:17-35 - Homiletics

Eliphaz to Job: 2. More wisdom from the ancients.

I. THE EXCELLENCE OF THIS WISDOM .

1 . Old ; i.e. derived from a remote antiquity. The traditionary lore about to he cited by Eliphaz had been manufactured by primeval sages, from whom it had been carefully transmittal to the "wise men" who had told it to Eliphaz. The "fathers," "unto whom alone the earth was given," and "among whom no stranger passed," were either patriarchal descendants of Noah prior to the time of Peleg, when the earth was divided ( Genesis 10:25 ), or the early progenitors of the Arabian races.

2 . Pure ; i.e. unmixed with foreign elements. Whether the ancients were pre-Pelegites or post-, the fact to which Eliphaz calls attention remains unaltered. "Purity of race was from the earliest times considered by the sons of the East as the sign of highest nobility" (Delitzsch). That this isolation of the Arabian fathers would tend to preserve the current of primitive tradition pure and unalloyed, and might even favour the healthy development of independent views, "derived from their own experience and undisturbed by foreign influence," can scarcely be questioned, it would seem also as if in the world's infancy other methods of conserving Divine truth were impracticable. At least Israel was separated from the other nations of the earth in order to serve as a depositary for the gospel promise in order to preserve it till the fulness of the times. Hence she was forbidden to make marriage or other alliances with the nations around for fear of learning their ways. But now the truth of God, under the Christian dispensation, has been revealed with such clearness and fulness of illumination, that it does nor require to be hedged about by safeguards of race, nationality, etc.; though it is still true Christian people that "evil communications corrupt good manners" ( 1 Corinthians 15:33 ).

3 . Certain ; i.e. verified by experience. In the preceding colloquy Eliphaz had treated Job to wisdom he had learnt in ecstatic vision ( Job 4:12 ); here he lays before him the results of observation through the ordinary channels of information. He does not claim for his approaching utterances the high authority of messages from the spirit-world; still, he guarantees their veracity on the double testimony of eye and ear. What the wise men had reported to his sense of hearing he had taken care to verify by the organ of seeing; so that practically he seems to say, "In the mouth of two witnesses is every word established."

II. THE PURPORT OF THIS WISDOM . Briefly, it is the dogma that a moral order exists in the world, that good always comes to the good, and in particular that evil never fails to overtake the evil.

1 . The wicked man ' s doom. Painted in lurid colours, as consisting mainly in two things.

(a) Self-inflicted. "The wicked man writhes or torments himself" (verse 20). Conscience always is its own avenger. Gagged for a season, it eventually speaks out with greater power because of previous repression. "No man ever offended his own conscience, but first or last it was revenged upon him for it" (South).

(b) Excruciatingly painful, like the pains of parturition. "Conscience is a thousand swords" ('King Richard III .,' act 5. sc. 2). "Methought a legion of foul fiends environed me" (ibid; act 1. sc. 4). "The mind that broods o'er guilty woes is like the scorpion girt by fire" (Byron 'Giaour').

(c) Never ceasing; the anguish of the stricken wretch continuing "all his days." Except in rare instances, this part of Eliphaz's description can scarcely be regarded as literally correct. Yet it teaches that, from one end of life to the other, the wicked man enjoys no security against his guilty fears, which may spring forth upon him at any moment, the exact instant when they shall do so being hidden from his view (verse 20).

(d) Horribly terrifying; filling him with dismal forebodings of evil. The sound of approaching calamity ever ringing in his ears (verse 21), every footfall appears to be that of a destroyer: "How is't with me, when every noise appals me?" ('Macbeth,' act 2. sc. 2); and "The wicked flee when no man pursueth" ( Proverbs 28:1 ). His imagination suggests, even in the midst of prosperity, that the devastator is upon him (verse 21), that every one who finds him shall slay him ( Genesis 4:14 ), that his destruction will be sudden and complete—a fate reserved for unbelievers in the great day of the Lord ( 1 Thessalonians 5:3 ). His guilty conscience peopling the dark with assassins causes him to live in constant terror of the sword (verse 22)—"Thus conscience does make cowards of us all" ('Hamlet,' act 3. sc. 1). His feeble spirit agonized by fears of starvation even in the midst of abundance (verse 23), roams abroad in search of bread, saying, "Where is it?" and he becomes a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, like another Cain ( Genesis 4:12 ), and like wicked men generally whose evil hearts are restless as the troubled sea ( Isaiah 57:20 ). His crowding fears of impending calamity so unman him that when trouble and anguish gather round like royal armies prepared for battle, they paralyze him with dread, and render resistance or escape impossible (verse 24).

2 . The wicked man ' s crime.

III. THE APPLICATION OF THIS WISDOM .

1 . A wicked insinuation. "Let not him that is deceived" (verse 31), i.e. Job. Eliphaz charges Job with a false confidence in his own integrity. Though not true of Job, it is certain that of many it is not false. Hence the propriety of self-examination as to the grounds on which our assurance rests. If it rest on the Spirit's witness to our faith in Christ, it is good and will never disappoint our expectations; if it is based on any of those "vanities" alluded to by Eliphaz, it is false, and will eventually overwhelm us in despair.

2 . An excellent admonition. "Let him not trust in vanity." Everything outside of God and his favour, on which a human soul grounds its confidence of safety, or in which it thinks to find happiness, is vanity—moral excellence, evangelical fervour, general philanthropy, intellectual power, social position, commercial credit, political influence, no less than successful wickedness and unchecked antagonism to God. Yet the human heart is insanely prone to clasp these to its bosom, saying, "Be thou my confidence," instead of trusting in the living God. But to do so is the merest self-deception. For none of these things, nor all of them, can satisfy a human soul. Only God can so occupy the heart as to fill it with happiness and render it secure. God alone is the saint's portion and trust.

3 . A fearful prediction. "Vanity," probably in the sense of calamity, "shall be his recompense" (verse 31). And this reward, for which the self-deceived man toils, shall be paid:

Learn:

1 . That the true Divider of countries to nations and of lands to individuals is God. A man can receive nothing except it be given him from above.

2 . That if the intercourse of peoples and tribes with one another be productive of good, it is by no means unattended with danger. Sinful practices and opinions are more easily adopted than their opposites.

3 . That the way of transgressors is commonly as hard to themselves as to their victims. "Evil pursueth sinners."

4 . That the fiercest enemy a soul has to encounter is an awakened conscience. It is hard to contend against a foe through whose face God looks.

5 . That the biggest coward upon earth is a bragging tyrant who oppresses the weak. Man's moral strength rises in proportion to the meekness with which he can endure, not the cruelty with which he can inflict, wrong.

6 . That the man who thinks to conquer God in battle is a fool. The way to victory with God is by faith and prayer, humility and submission.

7 . That a fat body may become the grave of a lean soul. The man that would have a prosperous and luxuriant soul must keep the body under.

8 . That the best-deceived man on earth is he who trusts in earthly vanities. If he who trusts in his own heart is a fool, what must he be who trusts in unsubstantial nothingness?

9 . That wicked men's families are often ruined by their parents. A father should lead his child to heaven by holy deeds, not point him the way to hell by transgression.

10. That the ultimate perdition of ungodly men is sure. "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God."