Read Job 22:1-24-25.

Introduction⤒🔗

Eliphaz (unjustly) charges Job with being a wicked man (22:5); consequently, he instructs Job to seek God and return to Him: “Submit to God and be at peace [with him]” (22:21).

Job’s response is that he desires to draw near to God, but God has hidden Himself and cannot be found. Job laments, “If only I knew where to find him, so that I might come to his throne!” (23:3)

Job is struggling with the question, Why does God hide Himself from the believer?

Later in his speech, Job ponders the question, “Since [our] times are not hidden from the Almighty, why do those who know him never see his days [of judgment]?” (24:1) Job is asking: Since He knows all things, and nothing is hidden from His eyes, why does the LORD not display His glory by performing mighty acts of deliverance for His people and by bringing judgment upon the wicked?

In between these two perplexing questions, Job once again grapples with the question, Why am I, a God-fearing man, being subjected to such suffering? Why do the righteous suffer?

When the person and purposes of God are hidden, it causes great agony to the Christian’s soul. Such was the experience of Job as he asks some of the perplexing questions that burdened his mind and made his heart heavy.

Let us consider the perplexing questions posed by Job in this passage, and, by the guidance of the Holy Spirit, let us consider some biblical answers to such questions. (In this present study we will address the first question, in our next study we will take up the other two questions.)

Why Does God Hide Himself from the Believer?←⤒🔗

In the opening verses of chapter twenty-two, Eliphaz seems to be arguing that there is no compelling, utilitarian reason why God would feel obligated to enter into communion with a man; there is no benefit that God would derive from such a relationship. He asks, “Can a man be of any benefit to God?” (22:2) Man’s finite wisdom is surely not profitable to the God of all wisdom (22:2b). Man’s righteousness is of no gain to the Almighty (22:3).

The implication of Eliphaz’s teaching, (expressed by means of his rhetorical questions), is that if God chooses to enter into fellowship with man, it is strictly a matter of grace, not of necessity; it is not because God needs man’s fellowship or derives any new and added benefit to His already all-sufficient being. But if there is to be fellowship between God and man, it must be on the basis of righteousness; and Eliphaz’s next question is intended to confront Job with his lack of such righteousness: “Does he arraign you for your piety, [is that why] he enters into judgment with you?” (22:4) It is obvious that God is not entering into judgment against Job because of Job’s piety. The reason for the arraignment must be because of Job’s transgressions; indeed, Eliphaz charges that Job’s wickedness is great: “Is not your wickedness great? Is there no end to your iniquities?” (22:5)

In support of his claim, Eliphaz confronts Job with the following unsubstantiated “evidence:” “you demanded security from your brothers for no reason” (22:6a)—Job has wrongfully deprived his neighbor of his property; “you stripped men of their clothing, leaving them naked” (22:6b)—Job has been ruthless in his dealings with others; “you gave no water to the weary, and you withheld food from the hungry” (22:7)—Job has shown neither hospitality nor mercy, even though he had the means available to come to the aid of those in need (22:8); “you sent widows away empty-handed” (22:9a)­ Job has given them no charity to support themselves and their children; indeed, far from being charitable, Job has cruelly taken advantage of the helpless, he has crushed the arms of the fatherless (22:9b).

According to Eliphaz, this is why such calamities have befallen Job; this is why Job now finds himself engulfed in darkness with the floodwaters overwhelming him (22:10-11). Eliphaz assumes that Job must be guilty of such offenses and transgressions, else why would God bring His judgment against him? As his earlier rhetorical question implies, God does not arraign a man because of his piety (22:4). (Note: In Job 31:16-23 Job will maintain that the opposite of Eliphaz’s accusations has been true of him.)

Eliphaz further charges Job with foolishly, even blasphemously, thinking he can hide his conduct from God (22:12-20). He reminds Job that God occupies the heights of heaven (22:12a). From that vantage point God can behold all things, as opposed to being so far away that He does not know what is happening on the earth, as Eliphaz supposes Job to assume, for he charges Job with posing the question, “What does God know?” (22:13a) Eliphaz charges Job with thinking that God cannot see through the thick clouds so as to observe and judge man’s evil deeds done in the dark (22:13b-14). Entertaining such foolish notions about God, Job is encouraged to keep walking on “the hidden path, the way that evil men have walked” (22:15), doing so without repentance.

Eliphaz momentarily digresses in order to solemnly remind Job that such men “were cut off before their time” (22:16); i.e. as a judgment from God they met with swift and premature death. Eliphaz proceeds to describe these wicked men as “commanding” God to depart from them because they see no utilitarian benefit to be derived from His fellowship (22:17). Their insane blasphemy has caused them to view things in an up-side-down fashion: it is God who derives no utilitarian benefit by entering into fellowship with man (22:2-3). Such wicked men fail to perceive that it is God who has “filled their houses with good things” (22:18a); all the blessings of prosperity that these men enjoy are the result of the goodness and graciousness of the very God whom they spurn. Eliphaz distances himself from the mind of such men, the very mention of their attitude is repulsive to him, so he testifies, “I stand far removed from the thinking of the wicked!” (22:18b) Indeed, the righteous shall witness God’s judgment upon them and rejoice when God takes vengeance against them (22:19-20).

Having identified Job as a wicked man who thinks his ways are hidden from God and who has no desire to fellowship with God, Eliphaz now urges Job to repent (22:21-30). Job is instructed to “acquaint [himself] with [God] and be at peace [with him]” (22:21). Job is to gain a right understanding of the person of God, which will lead him to submit to the Almighty. He is instructed to return to the LORD (22:23) and seek His mercy. This is the very counsel the prophet Isaiah gives to the wicked:

Seek the LORD while he may be found; call to him while he is near. ⁷Let the wicked man forsake his way, and let the unrighteous man [forsake] his thoughts. Let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him. [Let him return] to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isa. 55:6­ -7

Job is to submit himself to God: “Accept instruction from his mouth and put his words into your heart” (22:22). Eliphaz assures Job that if he returns to the Almighty and turns away from sin he will be blessed (22:23). Job should treat his wealth as a worthless thing—viewing the fine gold of Ophir as though it were merely rocks in the ravine—and by so doing the Almighty will be his treasure (22:24-25). Eliphaz gives this counsel to Job because he fears that it is Job’s love of earthly wealth that is the chief cause of his iniquitous life.

If Job heeds Eliphaz’s counsel he can be assured of entering into fellowship with God. Job will delight himself in the Almighty, and he shall lift up his face to God (22:26). Job’s prayer will be heard (22:27); especially, his prayer for deliverance from his present condition of affliction. Job shall experience the blessing of having divine light shed upon his pathway (22:28); he will have God’s guidance, leading him into the way of life and blessing. Job will become a source of blessing to others; able to be used by God to encourage and uplift those who are downcast (22:29). Indeed, by virtue of his righteousness, which is of great value before God, Job will become an intercessor and mediator for others (22:30). Compare Eliphaz’s assertion with James 5:16b, “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.”

To sum up his position: Eliphaz is convinced that Job finds himself in spiritual darkness, estranged from God, because of his sin. Indeed, Eliphaz maintains that Job chooses the darkness; Job wants to hide from God, so that his sinful deeds are not exposed (cf. 22:12-20).

But in fact, Job’s situation is the exact opposite of Eliphaz’s diagnosis. Job is a righteous man who shuns evil; yet, despite his life of godliness, he appears to be shunned by God—consigned by God to spiritual darkness.

Job now responds to Eliphaz’s counsel by crying out, “If only I knew where to find [God], so that I might come to his throne!” (23:3) Eliphaz has instructed Job to seek God and return unto Him (22:21). Job’s response is that he earnestly desires to draw near to God, but God has hidden Himself from Job (23:3). In anguish of soul, Job explains his plight: in whichever direction he turns in his effort to find God, he fails to meet Him; God hides himself (23:8-9).

What light do the Scriptures shed upon this perplexing question, Why does God hide Himself from the believer?

First, be assured that it is impossible to be removed from God’s presence; as the Apostle Paul testifies before the Athenians, “in him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, “’For we are also his offspring.’” (Acts 17:28) It is significant that Paul alludes to a verse of poetry composed by a pagan Greek poet in support of his teaching concerning man’s relationship to God, namely, that we owe our existence to Him and ever live out that existence in His presence. The fact that Paul alludes to a Greek poet as supporting collaboration for his teaching about man’s relationship with God emphasizes the fact that such theological knowledge is derived from natural, or general, revelation, it is not solely revealed by means of special revelation. Because man has been made in the image of God and designed for fellowship with his Creator, all men “know” God (Ron. 1:21). At the very least, this means that all men are innately aware of God’s existence and their accountability to Him.

Now we must compare Job’s testimony with that of the Psalmist. Job has protested,

⁸I go forward and he is not there; [I turn] backward, but I do not perceive him. ⁹When he is at work on the left, I cannot behold him; he turns to the right, [but] I cannot see him. 23:8-9

The Psalmist, on the other hand, proclaims,

⁷Where can I go from your Spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? ⁸If I ascend into heaven, you are there; If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! ⁹If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the utmost part of the sea, ¹⁰Even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. ¹¹If I say, 'Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me shall be night;' ¹²Even the darkness does not conceal [anything] from you, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both the same [to you]. Psl. 139:7-12

Notice that Job speaks about God, he employs the third person pronoun in referring to God; the Psalmist speaks to God, he employs the second person pronoun in referring to God. In the midst of his intense experience of spiritual darkness, Job is not conscious of God’s personal presence; however, he cannot escape his innate knowledge of God: Job speaks of God’s active presence (“he is at work”), although he is unable to personally interact with God. Notice the terms Job uses when describing his present lack of conscious communion with God: he speaks of not perceiving Him, not beholding Him, not seeing Him. The use of such terms indicates that Job does have an innate awareness of God’s omnipresence, even though at present his personal communion with God has been suspended. Thus, we must understand Job’s protest, “I go forward and he is not there,” to be the testimony of a man who, due to his present experience of spiritual darkness, has been deprived of conscious communion with God—a situation that is excruciatingly painful for a man who has heretofore walked with God in devotion to Him and intimate fellowship with Him.

The Psalmist, on the other hand, addresses God directly because he has a conscious awareness of God’s omnipresence: sometimes by direct spiritual communion with God, (as is evidently the case at the time of composing Psalm 139), always, by the acceptance of God’s testimony recorded in His written Word, the Holy Scriptures.

If, in the providence of God, we as believers should ever find ourselves in a spiritual state like that of Job, we must rely upon the covenantal promise God has so graciously afforded us in permanent, written form: He himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Heb. 13:5). We do well to heed the Apostle Peter’s exhortation concerning the Scriptures: “we have the absolutely reliable prophetic word. It is good for you to adhere to it as a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star arises in your hearts” (2 Peter 1:19). Note: The Scriptures are called the “prophetic word” because, as the Apostle Paul assures us, “all Scripture is given by inspiration of God” (2 Tim. 3:16). “The prophetic word” is not primarily a word that foretells the future, it is primarily a word spoken by God, being communicated by His prophets or apostles.

Second, we must realize that even God’s apparent absence is a form of His omnipresence. In Job 23:16-17 Job cries out,

¹⁶God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me, ¹⁷because I was not cut off in the presence of the darkness, nor did he conceal the thick darkness from my face.

Job finds himself engulfed in darkness, seemingly separated from God; yet he seems to have some comprehension that somehow God is present. To state it another way, Job feels that the darkness has cut him off from God, but yet he senses that God is present in the darkness.

In the very darkness that has hidden God from view, Job has had an encounter with God; the same type of encounter with God that Abraham experienced at the time God made a covenant with him. Concerning that experience we read in Genesis 15:12-13,17,

¹²And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and a horror of great darkness [lit., terror, great darkness] fell upon him. ¹³And [God spoke] to Abram... ¹⁷when the sun had set, and dense darkness prevailed, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed...

Note: The “smoking fire pot” and “the flaming torch” are representative of God’s presence, very much the same as the cloud and pillar of fire by which the Lord led the children of Israel through the wilderness.

In the light of the Genesis passage, note, again, Job’s testimony:

God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me, ¹⁷because I was not cut off in the presence of the darkness, nor did he conceal the thick darkness from my face.

Like Abraham, Job has, indeed, had an encounter with God: an encounter with God in the divine darkness of His sovereign, inscrutable being and the terror-inducing awesomeness of His person. At the same time, it was an encounter with God in His mercy and compassion: the divine darkness shrouded the intolerable brilliance of His majesty and the unbearable brilliance of His infinitely holy being (cp. 1 Tim. 6:16, where God is described as “dwelling in unapproachable light.”)

Third, we may confidently rely on the LORD’s assurance, given in His Word, that He is ever-present with us:

I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Jn. 14:18

I am with you always, [even] to the end of the age.Matt. 28:20b

We may confidently rely on the divine assurance, although the divine presence may not always be evident. In the days of the Judges Gideon questioned whether the LORD had abandoned His people; he even goes so far as to declare, “the LORD has cast us off” (Judg. 6:13). Then, unexpectedly, the Angel of the LORD made Himself known to Gideon (Judg. 6:14). After Gideon had offered a sacrifice, “the Angel of the LORD departed out of his sight” (Judg. 6:21). It was, what we might term, an experiential departure, but not an actual departure. (This is reminiscent of the difference between Job 23:8-9 and Psl. 139:7-ff.)

Conclusion←⤒🔗

At such times when we share in the agonizing experience of Job, may we take heart from the Lord’s own word of promise to us as recorded in John 16:22:

So it is that you [will] now have grief; but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and no one will take your joy away from you.

May we, by God’s grace, imitate our faithful Savior who, even in His darkest hour, entrusted Himself to His heavenly Father: “Jesus called out with a loud voice, ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’” (Lk. 23:46).

Discussion Questions←⤒🔗

1. What questions does Eliphaz pose to Job in Job 22:1-3? What is Eliphaz implying by means of these questions? Do you agree with Eliphaz, that there is no compelling reason for God to enter into fellowship with man, there is no divine necessity for God to do so? Note Psl. 50:12 What has motivated God to receive us into His fellowship? See Jas. 1:18,

Then Eliphaz the Temanite responded, ²Can a man be [of any] benefit to God? No, although the man who acts wisely does benefit himself. ³What asset is it to the Almighty if you are innocent, or what gain does he derive from your claim that your ways are blameless? Job 22:1-3

If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is mine, and all its fullness. Psl. 50:12

Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of his creatures. Jas. 1:18

2. How does Eliphaz describe God in Job 22:12? According to Eliphaz, what evil conclusion has Job drawn from God’s “remoteness”? See Job 22:13-14 Have you ever been tempted to entertain such thoughts? How does Scripture correct such a foolish view? See Psl. 11:4,

Is not God in the heights of heaven? And consider the distant stars, how high they are!Job 22:12

So you say, 'What does God know? Can he judge through the thick clouds? ¹⁴Thick clouds hide [us from] him so that he cannot see as he walks around on the zenith of the heavens.'Job 22:13-14

The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven; his eyes behold, his eyelids test the sons of men. Psl. 11:4

3. How does Eliphaz describe the attitude of evil men? See Job 22:17 Are you, like evil men, only interested in what God can do for you, or are you like the Psalmist? See Psl. 42:1-2; Psl. 63:1 What do wicked men fail to realize? See Job 22:18a As a Christian, do you appreciate the blessings God has bestowed upon you? See Jas. 1:17,

They said to God, 'Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do for us?' ^18aYet it was he who filled their houses with good things!?Job 22:17-18a

As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for you, O God. ² My soul thirst for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? Psl. 42:1-2

O God, you are my God; earnestly will I seek you; my soul thirsts for you... Psl. 63:1

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights...Jas. 1:17

4. What counsel does Eliphaz give Job in Job 22:21-22? Although it is intended for Job, whom Eliphaz unjustly views as a wicked man, is this not also good counsel that every Christian needs to hear? Do you, as a Christian, heed this counsel?

Acquaint yourself with [God] and be at peace [with him]; the benefits you will thereby derive will be good. ²²Accept instruction from his mouth and put his words into your heart. Job 22:21­-22

5. What does Eliphaz counsel Job to do in Job 22:24? By doing so, what will Job receive in exchange? See Job 22:25-26 Eliphaz is assuming that Job has made an idol of his riches; have you fallen into such idolatry, or can you make the same testimony as the Psalmist? See Psl. 73:25-26,

Lay your gold nuggets in the dust, even the fine gold of Ophir, lay them among the rocks in the ravines. ²⁵Then the Almighty will be your gold, [he will be] the choicest silver to you. ²⁶Then you will delight in the Almighty, you will lift up your face to God. Job 22:24-26

Whom have I in heaven [but you]? And [there is] none upon earth [that] I desire besides you. ²⁶My flesh and my heart fail; [But] God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.Psl. 73:25­-26