Wisdom · Chapter 22 of 42

Job 22

Eliphaz opens the third cycle by insisting God gains nothing from human righteousness, then escalates to open accusation. Since Job suffers, Eliphaz reasons, his sins must be great: he must have exploited the poor, stripped the naked, withheld bread and water, and crushed widows and orphans. He urges Job to submit, return to the Almighty, and be restored, promising that repentance will bring peace, treasure, and answered prayer.

What happens in Job 22

Eliphaz argues that human righteousness adds nothing to God, who gains no profit from Job's integrity. So why, he implies, would God discipline Job unless Job were wicked? He then invents charges without evidence: Job took pledges from his brothers, stripped people of clothing, withheld water and bread from the needy, sent widows away empty, and broke the arms of the fatherless. Therefore snares and sudden terror surround him. Eliphaz suspects Job thinks God too high in heaven to see through the clouds and judge.

He warns Job not to walk the ancient path of wicked men swept away by the flood. Then his tone shifts to appeal: acquaint yourself with God and be at peace, receive his instruction, lay up his words in your heart. If Job returns to the Almighty and puts away iniquity, he will be built up, treating gold like dust because God himself becomes his treasure and defense.

Job 22 in context

This begins the third and final cycle of speeches. Eliphaz, the eldest and most measured friend, now abandons restraint and fabricates concrete sins to fit his theology, since Job's suffering must, in his system, prove specific guilt. His accusations are demonstrably false; the reader knows Job's calamity has nothing to do with oppressing the poor.

Yet embedded in the speech is genuinely beautiful language about returning to God, finding him as one's treasure, and being restored, mixing cruel misjudgment with truths precious in a different mouth.

Main themes of Job 22

Job 22 (KJV)

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? 3Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him, that thou makest thy ways perfect? 4Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment? 5Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? 6For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. 8But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it. 9Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; 11Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee. 12Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! 13And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? 14Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven. 15Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? 16Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: 17Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? 18Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn. 20Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth. 21Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. 22Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. 23If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 24Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. 25Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. 26For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. 27Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. 28Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. 29When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. 30He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

Verses to carry from Job 22

“Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?”Job 22:5

“Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken.”Job 22:9

“Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.”Job 22:21

Reflection

Eliphaz shows how easily we accuse the suffering to protect our assumptions, even while speaking true words about God. Guard against forcing others' pain into your explanations. And hear the buried invitation rightly: come to know God, make peace with him, and treasure him above all gold. In Christ that peace is a gift, not a wage.

A prayer from Job 22