Job 22:23 Commentary and Bible Study

Eliphaz false analysis carries a false remedy. He was in fact entirely wrong as God’s intervention at the end of the book shows. Job had not departed from the Lord and his suffering was not caused by his gathering iniquity into his tents. If he had understood this, it would have left Eliphaz without explanation for what was happening and then he would have been forced to shut his mouth and remain silent in the presence of something that was too hard for him to understand. The temptation on a man who is renowned for wisdom to say something in response to every situation is very strong. His pride will not let him admit he is out of his depth. But a wise man knows his limits and when to remain silent. He can stop and let another overtake him in wisdom without feeling rankled.Verse 24 is interpreted in two opposite ways. The word translated gold refers to what is cut or dug, ore cut from the ground. Some understand Eliphaz to say that Job will lay aside the gold which he has loved too much and throw it back into the ground where it was dug from and the river bed from which it was panned. Instead of hoarding physical gold he will make the Lord his gold (verse 25). Others see the opposite: that Job will have the gold, which he has lost through his troubles, restored to him. It will be restored in such great abundance that he will count it as a thing of little consequence. God will bless him with such plenty that he will be a common place thing to him. Instead of placing his gold in a place of high security, he will lay it down in the dust as if it was of little worth to him. As it turned out, when God restored Job, he did also restore his wealth and ‘gave Job twice as much as he had before.’