Pious Judgment - Job 22

Pious Judgment

Job 22:17-18 (ESV)

17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

In chapter 22 of Job, one of Job’s friends, Eliphaz, gives his final speech to Job.   Eliphaz is caught in the mindset that only wicked suffer.  So, since Job was suffering, Job was wicked.  They had no context in their mind for the suffering of the innocent (which we know Job was based upon the first two chapters of the book).   Eliphaz begins this chapter by outlining all the things Job has apparently, in his eyes, done wrong.  He states:

Job 22:6-9 (ESV)

6 For you have exacted pledges of your brothers for nothing
and stripped the naked of their clothing.
7 You have given no water to the weary to drink,
and you have withheld bread from the hungry.
8 The man with power possessed the land,
and the favored man lived in it.
9 You have sent widows away empty,
and the arms of the fatherless were crushed.

All of these Job denies in chapter 23.   Yet, Eliphaz is on a mission to fit Job’s situation INTO HIS theology.   As Eliphaz describes Job’s life it is interesting to note that in chapter two of the book we read the Eliphaz came from a far distance to talk to Job.  It is interesting the depth of knowledge of Job’s life (in the above condemnation) that Eliphaz claims to have.   

As Eliphaz unfolds Job’s life he begins to compare it with the life of the wicked.   His theory is that if he can make that connection (they look the same) then he has a reason for Job’s suffering (the sin the same).  But, note what he says in verses 17-18.   He states that the wicked live in contempt of God (not Job, based upon chapter one) and they claim that God is not in their affairs (not Job, based upon chapter one).   Then Eliphaz makes a bold statement.   He tells us that the wicked don’t recognize that it is God who gives them good things, prosperity.  This, too, is not Job based upon chapter’s one and two.   He goes on to say that the “counsels of the wicked is far from” him.  In our vernacular we would say, “Not that I know what the wicked life is like.”   Eliphaz is a pompous and pious soul who, instead of bringing comfort to Job, desires to condemn Job.   It is true that the wicked act as though God is not there.  It is true they fail to give glory for their blessings, that only He can give.   But, it is not true that JOb is wicked.   The pious (Eliphaz) love to claim knowledge of righteousness, but not experience of evil.   Their counsel is often judgmental at best and condemning at most.  Job will defend himself in the next chapter.  But, he should not have to.  It is the pious who demand a defense from their accused.