Job 22

Job 22 opens the third round of debate between Job and his friends. In the preceding chapter, Job 21, Job countered that the wicked also prosper and die in peace. This chapter is Eliphaz's reply to that argument.

Outline

• Verses 1–5: Eliphaz states that human righteousness brings no profit to the Almighty. God rebukes Job, he says, not because of his piety but because his wickedness is great.
• Verses 6–11: He lists specific charges: Job has taken pledges from his brother, stripped the naked of their clothing, and mistreated widows and orphans. For this reason, he says, snares, fear, and darkness have overtaken Job.
• Verses 12–20: He rebukes Job for supposedly thinking that God is hidden by the clouds and cannot see ("Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not," Job 22:14). He says that the wicked of old were cut down before their time, and that the righteous see it and rejoice.
• Verses 21–30: He urges Job to be reconciled to God and to put iniquity far from his tent. He promises that if Job casts away his gold, the Almighty will become his treasure, his prayers will be answered, and light will shine on his ways.

Key Verses

• Job 22:21: "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee." This summarizes the remedy Eliphaz offers.
• Job 22:5: "Is not thy wickedness great?" Here the friends' reasoning that suffering is the direct result of sin appears most bluntly.
• Job 22:29: "He shall save the humble person." This connects with the theme, found in many places in Scripture, that God exalts the humble.

Characters and Places

• Eliphaz: A Temanite and one of Job's three friends. He is the first to speak and speaks at the greatest length.
• Job: In this chapter he is the one being addressed.
• Ophir: A land known as a source of fine gold. Its exact location is uncertain.

Points for Reflection

• The truthfulness of the accusations: The charges in verses 6–9 are Eliphaz's conjectures; the text does not present these sins as fact. On the contrary, Job 1 introduces Job as "perfect and upright," and Job denies such sins in Job 31. In Job 42:7–10, God declares that the friends did not speak what was right.
• When good words are misapplied: The exhortation in verses 21–28 is, in itself, pious counsel, and it is therefore sometimes quoted out of context as a passage of blessing. Many interpreters, however, read it critically because it is directed at an innocent sufferer.
• Echoing Job's words: Verse 18, "the counsel of the wicked is far from me," repeats exactly what Job said in 21:16.
• The paradox of verse 30: Verse 30 says that even the guilty will be delivered through the one whose hands are clean. Some read this as foreshadowing the conclusion of the book, in which Job prays for his friends.
• The structure of the third round: In this round, Bildad's speech (Job 25) is brief, and Zophar does not give a third speech. Various interpretations have been offered for this arrangement.