Job 5:8-16 – Truth must be rightly applied

Subtly and mercilessly Eliphaz went on with his insinuation that Job deserved the calamities that had befallen him. With all the subtlety, he maligned and accused Job of not being as righteous as he supposed himself to be. In these verses, he then told Job what he would do if he were in Job’s shoes. Proudly, he said that he would seek God and plead with Him. Why would he do that? It’s because God is so magnificent and wonderful. He assumed a greater-than-thou attitude. He presumed that Job did not know that God was truly great and unsearchable, and One who would do great wonders without measure. God, he said, is the One who continues to send the refreshing rain on the fields of the earth. Besides, He is the One who exalts the humble. In giving the rain, God enables the humble to experience bountiful harvest. And He is also gracious by providing safety to those who mourn and who would love and seek Him.  

However, Eliphaz insisted that God would deal differently with the proud and arrogant. He would …frustrate the plotting of the shrewd, so that their hands cannot attain success. He would capture the wise by their own shrewdness, and would quickly thwart the advice of the cunning. Those who are wise in their own eye will be confounded. Even in day light, they will grope blindly, as if they are blind. Eliphaz wanted to show Job that he, like such people, was undiscerning and hence, unable to deal with his calamities. He insisted in verses 15-16 that God would come to the defense of the poor and would rescue them from the schemes of the wicked. God has the final say over man’s life.  

Eliphaz painted three things concerning the Sovereign Lord. Firstly, He controls the weather as well as the affairs of man. Secondly, He will arrest and deal with wrongdoers. And thirdly, He will deliver those in need and are oppressed. Though what Eliphaz said were not wrong, but to apply them on Job was not accurate. For us readers of this book, we know that Job was obviously righteous. It was not as if he did not know about the sovereignty of God. He did. But here Eliphaz had already unfairly indicted him and said that God had thwarted him and divine justice had undone all his successes. All that Eliphaz said was not wrong, but by assuming that Job was guilty, he has shown how imperceptive he was. We must learn never to malign anyone till we know the exact situation. Truth must be rightly applied.