Job 22

Job 22:1-30 . AS BEFORE, ELIPHAZ BEGINS.

1. Eliphaz shows that man's goodness does not add to, or man's badness take from, the happiness of God; therefore it cannot be that God sends prosperity to some and calamities on others for His own advantage; the cause of the goods and ills sent must lie in the men themselves ( Psalms 16:2 , Luke 17:10 , Acts 17:25 , 1 Chronicles 29:14 ). So Job's calamities must arise from guilt. Eliphaz, instead of meeting the facts, tries to show that it could not be so.

2. as he that is wise--rather, yea the pious man profiteth himself. So "understanding" or "wise"--pious ( Daniel 12:3 Daniel 12:10 , Psalms 14:2 ) [MICHAELIS].

3. pleasure--accession of happiness; God has pleasure in man's righteousness ( Psalms 45:7 ), but He is not dependent on man's character for His happiness.

4. Is the punishment inflicted on thee from fear of thee, in order to disarm thee? as Job had implied
will he enter . . . into judgment?--Job had desired this ( Job 13:3 Job 13:21 ). He ought rather to have spoken as in Psalms 143:2 .

5. Heretofore Eliphaz had only insinuated, now he plainly asserts Job's guilt, merely on the ground of his sufferings.

6. The crimes alleged, on a harsh inference, by Eliphaz against Job are such as he would think likely to be committed by a rich man. The Mosaic law ( Exodus 22:26 , Deuteronomy 24:10 ) subsequently embodied the feeling that existed among the godly in Job's time against oppression of debtors as to their pledges. Here the case is not quite the same; Job is charged with taking a pledge where he had no just claim to it; and in the second clause, that pledge (the outer garment which served the poor as a covering by day and a bed by night) is represented as taken from one who had not "changes of raiment" (a common constituent of wealth in the East), but was poorly clad--"naked" ( Matthew 25:36 , 2:15 ); a sin the more heinous in a rich man like Job.

7. Hospitality to the weary traveller is regarded in the East as a primary duty ( Isaiah 21:14 ).

8. mighty--Hebrew, "man of arm" ( Psalms 10:15 ; namely, Job).
honourable--Hebrew, "eminent, or, accepted for countenance" ( Isaiah 3:3 , 2 Kings 5:1 ); that is, possessing authority. Eliphaz repeats his charge ( Job 15:28 ; so Zophar, Job 20:19 ), that it was by violence Job wrung houses and lands from the poor, to whom now he refused relief ( Job 22:7 Job 22:9 ) [MICHAELIS].

9. empty--without their wants being relieved ( Genesis 31:42 ). The Mosaic law especially protected the widow and fatherless ( Exodus 22:22 ); the violation of it in their case by the great is a complaint of the prophets ( Isaiah 1:17 ).
arms--supports, helps, on which one leans ( Hosea 7:15 ). Thou hast robbed them of their only stay. Job replies in Job 29:11-16 .

10. snares--alluding to Job's admission ( Job 19:6 ; compare Job 18:10 , Proverbs 22:5 ).

11. that--so that thou.
abundance--floods. Danger by floods is a less frequent image in this book than in the rest of the Old Testament ( Job 11:16 , 27:20 ).