Eliphaz
is of the opinion that Job has done evil and is suffering for it. Hence,
ELiphaz in this first speech insinuates that Job’s suffering is from God and is
part of God’s discipline to bring Job back to the path of righteousness.
Therefore, Job should not complain but take it in his strides, do a
self-examination, and repent of his sins: “Behold, happy is the man whom God
correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty” (Job
5:17).
Eliphaz
appealed to his own observation, and said that though the wicked for a time
seem to be prosperous, yet he had observed that they were soon overtaken with
calamity and cut down: “I have seen the foolish taking root: But suddenly I
cursed his habitation” (Job 5:3). Obviously, he was referring to Job that
he was once prosperous but now a total wreck.
Eliphaz
said moreover: “Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and
know it for your good” (Job 5:27, ESV). He means: Those were his
observations and these are his conclusions; so Job, listen as they are for your
own good.
Eliphaz
didn’t have the book of Job like we do and so, he couldn’t have understood all
the facts about Job and his suffering. Hence, though he had made a fine speech,
but they were filled with many inaccuracies.
Many
conclusions are flawed because of poor observations or inaccurate past training
and pre-conditioning. Many today still think like Job’s friends that one
suffers because of one’s sin. How did they get this idea? Probably from lessons
passed down from generations; they were taught that way and so they think that
way.
We
have an example in John chapter 9. When the disciples of Jesus saw a man who
was born blind, they asked Jesus: “Master, who did sin, this man, or his
parents, that he was born blind?” (John 9:2). Where did they get this idea
from? From the world, of course! They were simply repeating what others
had said or what they had been taught.
Another
example: Scientists have for a long time concluded that the universe is
billions of years old based on observations on certain processes they observe
happening today. They came up with the theory of uniformitarianism. It is a doctrine
that says that processes that operated in the remote geological past are not
different from those observed now.
The
Scripture expressly condemns uniformitarianism. Peter prophesied that this
erroneous view would be adopted in the last days by scoffers, men walking after
their own lusts, who imagine that "all things continue as they were
from the beginning of creation." The apostle Peter goes on to write,
"For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens
were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, by which the
world that then existed perished, being flooded with water" (2 Peter
3:5–6).
In
other words, the plain teaching of Scripture is that this world’s history has
not been one of uniform natural and geological processes from the beginning.
According to the Bible, there were at least two global events that shaped the
whole world: one is the Creation itself and the other a catastrophic worldwide
flood in Noah’s time. These two events are sufficient to answer any questions
the sceptics and unbelievers will have, that is, if only they are sincere in
trying to find the truth. But when men remove God from their equation and
depend on their own “observations”, they can never arrive at the truth.
Our
Lord says: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life”
(John 5:39). If we want the truth, we have to search it out. Observations and
experience cannot bring out the truth; only the word of God can:
“The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the
LORD is sure, making wise the simple” (Psalm 19:7).
Jimmy Lau
Psa
119:97 Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
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