PM June 18th Job 22

June 18th Job, 22

22v1-30 Eliphaz accuses Job

1: Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, 2: Can a man be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself? 3: Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that thou art righteous? or is it gain to him that thou makest thy ways perfect? 4: Will he reprove thee for fear of thee? will he enter with thee into judgment? 5: Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? 6: For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7: Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. 8: But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it. 9: Thou has sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10: Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; 11: Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee. 12: Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! 13: And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? 14: Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven. 15: Hast thou marked the old way which wicked men have trodden? 16: Which were cut down out of time, whose foundation was overflown with a flood: 17: Which said unto God, Depart from us: and what can the Almighty do for them? 18: Yet he filled their houses with good things: but the counsel of the wicked is far from me. 19: The righteous see it, and are glad: and the innocent laugh them to scorn. 20: Whereas our substance is not cut down, but the remnant of them the fire consumeth. 21: Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee. 22: Receive, I pray thee, the law from his mouth, and lay up his words in thine heart. 23: If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up, thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles. 24: Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brooks. 25: Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver. 26: For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. 27: Thou shalt make thy prayer unto him, and he shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. 28: Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. 29: When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person. 30: He shall deliver the island of the innocent: and it is delivered by the pureness of thine hands.

Job, 23

23v1-24v25 Job talks to God

1: Then Job answered and said, 2: Even to day is my complaint bitter: my stroke is heavier than my groaning. 3: Oh that I knew where I might find him! that I might come even to his seat! 4: I would order my cause before him, and fill my mouth with arguments. 5: I would know the words which he would answer me, and understand what he would say unto me. 6: Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me. 7: There the righteous might dispute with him; so should I be delivered for ever from my judge. 8: Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: 9: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: 10: But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. 11: My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept, and not declined. 12: Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. 13: But he is in one mind, and who can turn him? and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth. 14: For he performeth the thing that is appointed for me: and many such things are with him. 15: Therefore am I troubled at his presence: when I consider, I am afraid of him. 16: For God maketh my heart soft, and the Almighty troubleth me: 17: Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.

Job, 24

1: Why, seeing times are not hidden from the Almighty, do they that know him not see his days? 2: Some remove the landmarks; they violently take away flocks, and feed thereof. 3: They drive away the ass of the fatherless, they take the widow's ox for a pledge. 4: They turn the needy out of the way: the poor of the earth hide themselves together. 5: Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children. 6: They reap every one his corn in the field: and they gather the vintage of the wicked. 7: They cause the naked to lodge without clothing, that they have no covering in the cold. 8: They are wet with the showers of the mountains, and embrace the rock for want of a shelter. 9: They pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor. 10: They cause him to go naked without clothing, and they take away the sheaf from the hungry; 11: Which make oil within their walls, and tread their winepresses, and suffer thirst. 12: Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them. 13: They are of those that rebel against the light; they know not the ways thereof, nor abide in the paths thereof. 14: The murderer rising with the light killeth the poor and needy, and in the night is as a thief. 15: The eye also of the adulterer waiteth for the twilight, saying, No eye shall see me: and disguiseth his face. 16: In the dark they dig through houses, which they had marked for themselves in the daytime: they know not the light. 17: For the morning is to them even as the shadow of death: if one know them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death. 18: He is swift as the waters; their portion is cursed in the earth: he beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. 19: Drought and heat consume the snow waters: so doth the grave those which have sinned. 20: The womb shall forget him; the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered; and wickedness shall be broken as a tree. 21: He evil entreateth the barren that beareth not: and doeth not good to the widow. 22: He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. 23: Though it be given him to be in safety, whereon he resteth; yet his eyes are upon their ways. 24: They are exalted for a little while, but are gone and brought low; they are taken out of the way as all other, and cut off as the tops of the ears of corn. 25: And if it be not so now, who will make me a liar, and make my speech nothing worth?

In Today’s Bible reading Eliphaz accuses Job and Job does not answer rather he prays to the Lord. Let’s hear what Eliphaz has to say. Eliphaz states the sins that he believes Job to be guilty of. They are… 1. You have oppressed your brother taking his clothes as a pledge. 2. You have refused to give water to a thirsty man and refused to give bread to the hungry. 3. You have sent away widows who need your support and you have ability of the orphans to support themselves you have broken. This is why God has causes you to suffer. If these things were true then Job was certainly guilty. He said to Job You think that God is in heaven and that he cannot see you. He advises Job to acquaint himself with the Lord and be in peace and good things will come to him. He says hear the law of the Lord and store up the Word of God in your heart. He says if you return to the Lord your God then he will hear you but you must put away iniquity far from you. Then you will be wealthy again. God will defend you and you will have plenty of money. Then you will be delighted in the Lord and when you pray he will hear you. Then you will plan to do a thing and it will be done. And the light of God will shine on all your ways. You will be an example of restoration of the humble. These charges are serious - so Job speaks to the Lord. He says to the Lord if only l could find you and plead my case to you. He says to the Lord wherever l go l do not feel your presence. Bu Lord you know the path that l walk and when you have tried me l will come out like gold purified in a furnace. He says the Lord has troubled me at his presence and when l think of him l am afraid. God makes my heart soft. There certainly are wicked men on the earth, thieves, hardhearted, robbers, who leave the naked unclothed. They take away babes from their mothers. They take away food from the hungry. They murder the poor and needy and the steal in the night. The adulterer waits for evening thinking no one will see me and they cover their faces. In the dark they dig holes to get in houses which they have searched out the day before. They are the terror of the shadows of the murderer. They are like a swift flowing stream - passing away. Their own mothers will forget them. He will be destroyed in the grave and none will remember him afterward. He says bad things to the woman that has no children and curses the woman with no husband anymore. The evil man will be cut down.

Steve