Accusations of Wickedness

Job 22:1-18

1 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said:

2 "Can a man be profitable to God,
Though he who is wise may be profitable to himself?

3 Is it any pleasure to the Almighty that you are righteous?
Or is it gain to Him that you make your ways blameless?

4 "Is it because of your fear of Him that He corrects you,
And enters into judgment with you?

5 Is not your wickedness great,
And your iniquity without end?

6 For you have taken pledges from your brother for no reason,
And stripped the naked of their clothing.

7 You have not given the weary water to drink,
And you have withheld bread from the hungry.

8 But the mighty man possessed the land,
And the honorable man dwelt in it.

9 You have sent widows away empty,
And the strength of the fatherless was crushed.

10 Therefore snares are all around you,
And sudden fear troubles you,

11 Or darkness so that you cannot see;
And an abundance of water covers you.

12 "Is not God in the height of heaven?
And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!

13 And you say, What does God know?
Can He judge through the deep darkness?

14 Thick clouds cover Him, so that He cannot see,
And He walks above the circle of heaven.'

15 Will you keep to the old way
Which wicked men have trod,

16 Who were cut down before their time,
Whose foundations were swept away by a flood?

17 They said to God, 'Depart from us!
What can the Almighty do to them?'

18 Yet He filled their houses with good things;
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

Eliphaz began judging and accusing Job of being evil.  He began by questioning Job’s profit to himself or even to God, saying that his righteousness and upright ways meant nothing to God (though the first two chapters demonstrate that God called His servant upright and blameless, not Job ascribing these to himself).  He further accused Job of being punished for his sin, not because of his fear of God, another lie of the Accuser.  Eliphaz further assaulted the character of Job, saying he stole from the poor and withheld charity to others, another false accusation.  He blames the darkness of Job’s trials on Job by creating what must have been the reasons for this great suffering and loss, oblivious to God’s sovereign work in allowing the accuser to slander God by tempting and tormenting God’s upright servant.  God truly is in high in heaven, but he does see all and judge all righteously.  Job knows this, even of accused otherwise.  This bad counsel even compared Job to those who refused to hear God and who tell Him to leave them alone, because He has no right or power to tell them what to do or how to act.  He accused God and Job.  Then he dares to claim that he himself does not listen to wicked counsel after giving such evil advice to Job!  We learn what we see around us in those who deny God and accuse His people, believers of Christ and followers of God in His declared righteousness of us.  We do suffer consequences of our sin, but the adversary is also out to fool us with his ways that we might follow his temptations into sin (James 1:14-15).  May we not listen to accusations of wickedness and judge our brother by his circumstances, but see him in the righteousness of Christ by grace as we ourselves are (Psalm 32:1-2, 33:18).