Job 22 Study Notes

22:1-3 Eliphaz began his speech with a series of rhetorical questions that expected a negative answer. Job’s righteousness would not fill up a deficiency in God.

22:4-5 Previously Eliphaz had told Job that his piety would see him through his ordeal (4:6-7) after God’s discipline had run its course (5:17-18). Now he accused Job of wickedness (see vv. 6-9). Later, Job defended himself against these charges (31:16-17).

22:6 Eliphaz charged Job with social crimes. He said Job had taken as collateral the outer garments or cloaks of those who were in debt to him. These should have been returned to the person each night as protection against the cool night air (Ex 22:26-27). Job later refuted Eliphaz’s charge (see note at Jb 31:19-20).

22:7-8 Eliphaz accused Job of insensitivity. Although Job was a powerful and influential man, his actions showed he was not concerned about the needy. He supplied neither water nor food to them despite their circumstances (Is 58:7; Mt 10:41-42).

22:9 Eliphaz cited Job for failing to provide for widows and orphans. Care of the oppressed served as a standard of common decency and social obligation in the ancient Near East (Dt 14:28-29; 24:17-22; Jms 1:27). The alleviation of their need was of concern to God (Dt 10:17-18; 27:19).

22:10-11 Eliphaz applied Bildad’s remarks (18:8-11,18) metaphorically to Job’s situation. Job’s misdeeds had so ensnared him that he was overwhelmed like water that flooded the soul (27:20; Ps 69:15).

22:12-14 Eliphaz argues that if God controlled the vast universe (see note at 1Kg 8:27-30), he would know all about mankind. Eliphaz suggested that Job interpreted the same fact (God’s control of the vast universe) in the opposite way: God was too distant to see man’s actions. Eliphaz misrepresented Job’s position, for Job had complained that God scrutinized his actions (Jb 7:12,17-20; 9:17-18; 10:4-8; 13:27). The total darkness Job felt was his inability to get through to God (19:7-8).

22:15-16 Eliphaz implied that Job was treading the same route to destruction that had overtaken man since ancient times (Gn 7:20-24; 19:24-25). Contrary to Job’s observation that the wicked defied God but were seldom punished (Jb 21:15-16), the witness of time confirms that in God’s judgment they suffer the loss of everything.

22:17 The defiant ones Job said were permitted to prosper (21:14) were the very ones Eliphaz said died prematurely. Experience shows that neither man was entirely correct.

22:18 Eliphaz may here be agreeing with Job (21:16) that God filled the houses of the wicked with good things, but since they did not acknowledge God, their prosperity was short-lived. Their defiance of God (v. 17) is repulsive. Alternately, Eliphaz is saying that Job’s statement that God had blessed the wicked is the counsel of the wicked that is to be repudiated.

22:19-20 Eliphaz confirmed Zophar’s counsel (20:26-29) that the wicked would lose everything in a fiery end. The righteous would rejoice at this justice (Ps 52:1-7).

22:21-22 Eliphaz argued it was in Job’s best interest to learn from God’s discipline (5:17-26). Job should take to heart God’s wisdom that his friends had conveyed to him (Ps 78:2-4). Knowledge comes from God’s mouth (Pr 2:6).

22:23-25 The verb return connotes turning from self to God with a deliberate choice to abandon sin and godlessness in order to live in submission to God and his standards (Jr 23:5; Ac 2:38). The verb translated renewed is literally “be built up.” It implies a successful, godly lifestyle. The gold of Ophir was highly prized in the ancient Near East (1Kg 9:28), but Job should throw away his precious gold and let God be his treasure (Ps 16:5; Is 33:6; Mt 13:44; 19:21; Php 3:7-9; 1Tm 6:6).

22:26-27 Job had complained that he could get no answer from God when he prayed (13:20-24; 19:7-8). Eliphaz restated that when Job had submitted to God’s discipline and had been renewed, he would enjoy restored fellowship with God (5:17-26).

22:28 Eliphaz suggested that when Job was restored, his plans would no longer be frustrated. Rather than the darkness he now experienced (vv. 10-11; 19:8), the light of God’s presence and guidance would shine on all he did (Ps 27:1; 56:13; 89:15; 1Jn 1:7).

22:29-30 With renewed fellowship with God, Job would become a blessing to others. God would hear Job’s prayers, and Job would be a winsome example of godliness.