Job 22:25 Commentary and Bible Study

The Almighty God will be to Job as gold and silver. This sounds like a man who sets earthly things above spiritual things. In fact God will later restore to Job all the earthly loss he had suffered and more (42:10-13), but this can only ever be a token of his eternal blessing; the Lord himself is our exceedingly great reward. Although in the time of the patriarchs God did bless with material blessings – and a man of God may learn to handle such things and put them to good use – this is hardly the first indication to be mentioned of the favour of God. Job’s treasure is in heaven and where his treasure is, there his heart is also. How much more precious to the believer is the Lord than gold. He cannot perish for he gives life to all, but even the most enduring riches of this world will pass away. God is an inexhaustible source of pleasure while gold has limited power to bring happiness, indeed it may bring misery for all the reasons that Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes, for there is a great gap between the gold held in the hand and the cheering of the heart. The unbeliever does not understand this equation or, if he does, chooses in an act of self-deception not think about it. Gold cannot comfort in bereavement; it cannot replace lost loved ones for it is itself dead. Gold cannot remove guilt or diminish the prospect of future judgment, and it cannot redeem the soul for it is worth nothing like enough; it has no currency in the world to come. It cannot even always be kept in this life, for thieves break in and steal. It cannot buy love or even friendship. Robert Maxwell, for all his money, felt the awful loneliness of having none that cared about him. It cannot buy righteousness, kindness or gentleness, or any of the products of refined character. It cannot sanctify the soul, but may corrupt it further. Nevertheless Eliphaz holds out the benefit of delight in God on false pretences. Job is asked to do what he cannot do and what God would not want him to do in order to gain this benefit. Job is being tempted away from evangelicalism.