Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite?
The question belongs to the accusing third speech of Eliphaz, the first of the three friends. In it Job is charged with great wickedness and with endless, vast, countless iniquities without limit. The charge stands together with further accusations of egoism and self-conceit and of exploiting the poor, withholding food and water, and turning against the widow and the fatherless.
It expresses the contention that Job was not innocent and upright but was covering sin, and that his great affliction and suffering proved he had sinned and had fallen out of God's favor and under God's displeasure. The charge was unjust, untrue, false, misapplied, and a mistaken explanation of his suffering. The specific wrongs alleged are contradicted by Job's own account of helping and defending the poor, widows, and orphans, and the accusation is a misrepresentation of one whose upright character is affirmed by his defense and by God's testimony.
The words were truly spoken and faithfully recorded, but what was said was not true in Job's case. The friends spoke from their own wisdom and observation because they had never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted, and they misapplied the generally true principle that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded. Adversity, affliction, and suffering do not prove that a person is wicked or under God's displeasure or should be discouraged.
Together with the other accusations, the charge caused Job to fasten his eyes on circumstances, to lose sight of God, to lose his footing, and to answer back with impatient words of self-defense and self-justification. Job knew his own integrity and did not charge God foolishly even though he could not understand God's dealings. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself forever, bringing comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers and blessing to Job.
The question belongs to the accusing third speech of Eliphaz, the first of the three friends. In it Job is charged with great wickedness and with endless, vast, countless iniquities without limit. The charge stands together with further accusations of egoism and self-conceit and of exploiting the poor, withholding food and water, and turning against the widow and the fatherless.
It expresses the contention that Job was not innocent and upright but was covering sin, and that his great affliction and suffering proved he had sinned and had fallen out of God's favor and under God's displeasure. The charge was unjust, untrue, false, misapplied, and a mistaken explanation of his suffering. The specific wrongs alleged are contradicted by Job's own account of helping and defending the poor, widows, and orphans, and the accusation is a misrepresentation of one whose upright character is affirmed by his defense and by God's testimony.
The words were truly spoken and faithfully recorded, but what was said was not true in Job's case. The friends spoke from their own wisdom and observation because they had never known a thoroughly good man to be so afflicted, and they misapplied the generally true principle that evil is ultimately punished and good is ultimately rewarded. Adversity, affliction, and suffering do not prove that a person is wicked or under God's displeasure or should be discouraged.
Together with the other accusations, the charge caused Job to fasten his eyes on circumstances, to lose sight of God, to lose his footing, and to answer back with impatient words of self-defense and self-justification. Job knew his own integrity and did not charge God foolishly even though he could not understand God's dealings. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out what would glorify Himself forever, bringing comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers and blessing to Job.