Job 15:34 Commentary and Bible Study

This is the first principle of Eliphaz’ view of God’s government – ‘the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery’ – but it is not borne out by reality. Eliphaz insists that hypocrites naturally flock together [in congregations], and plan together in secret, but their plans fail, and their schemes are thwarted by the Lord. God brings all their efforts to nothing. Evil men may offer bribes in secret, but God causes a fire to burn up them and their works, so that the righteous are not hurt by them. What then of those of die at the hand of the wicked? What of those who crush God’s people and grind the faces of the poor (Isaiah 3:15)? This picture simply is not true to life, as Job points out later. Eliphaz wants to believe that ultimate justice is delivered on earth so that God’s government of this world is neat and tidy and nothing is outstanding, but this is not the way the Scripture portrays justice in this world. On the contrary, the Day of Judgment will be the answer to many unsolved crimes and much incomplete justice. If his words are understood to include that final day, then every believer would endorse them, but he uses them in a different way and tries to make earthly judgments the test of men and women’s character.So Eliphaz continues with his simplistic story to the end, crudely writing Job off as a man who conceives only trouble, who has no good within him, who is incapable of producing anything that is not futile or deceptive. It becomes increasingly difficult to see these as the words of a man of God, for he sets out his position quite comprehensively, and leaves no room for an evangelical understanding of life, even though the evangelical would agree that faith must produce good works. ‘As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools’ (Proverbs 26:9).What will Job say in answer to all of this? The case made by the three friends seems strong, and Job is outnumbered and has an up-hill task to answer their criticisms, because he himself does not understand why God is treating him in this way?