Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
Eliphaz speaks the question in his speech in the debate with Job over the cause of his afflictions. He lays down the rule that the innocent never perish and the righteous are never cut off, making prosperity sure proof of divine favor and adversity sure proof of divine displeasure, and by it implies that Job's loss of property and children and his bodily affliction must point to secret and open sin and departure from righteousness. As a general principle that evildoers reap what they sow and that evil will at last be punished and good rewarded, the saying is true in itself, yet it rests on only limited observation. Eliphaz misapplied it to Job, for suffering does not prove a person is under God's displeasure, poverty does not prove guilt, and financial prosperity alone cannot prove right principles or divine approval, since the tents of robbers prosper while God often tries His children in the fire of affliction for their good and for the good of those who live after. The book was written to expose this argument from prosperity, so that later readers would not reject the Messiah because His poverty and life of toil and sorrow supposedly proved He could not be Emmanuel, for in the end God's way alone will be vindicated as the only way of real prosperity.
Speaker and Claim
The question belongs to Eliphaz in his speech within the debate between Job and his three friends concerning Job's afflictions. It asks whether anyone ever perished while being innocent and where the righteous were ever cut off, as part of an argument that affliction proves the sufferer has sinned. That principle was wrongly applied to Job, whom God had not condemned, and the words are not reliable as a true account of God or of Job unless supported by inspired Scripture, so they are not to be treated as an unquestionable rule. The speech to which the question belongs teaches not to despise God's chastening.
It lays down the friends' rule that the innocent never perish and the righteous are never cut off, making prosperity sure evidence of divine favor and adversity sure proof of divine displeasure. Eliphaz uses it to imply that Job's suffering must point to sin and to charge him with departure from righteousness, forfeiture of God's favor, and secret and open sins. He treats Job's loss of property and of sons and daughters and his bodily affliction as direct judgment from God, while asserting that those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same and perish by the breath of God and are consumed by His anger. The friends thus question Job's innocence and insist the innocent do not perish, declaring his sufferings to be because of sin and reflecting only limited observation and human misunderstanding of God's purposes and dealings with His children.
Its language of perishing and being cut off shows that man is mortal and corruptible, subject to perishing and being cut off, in contrast to God who alone possesses immortality.
Truth and Error
As a general rule that the innocent do not perish and the righteous are not cut off, while those who sow trouble reap it and perish under God, the saying is true in itself, with evil at last punished and good rewarded. The friends' use of it against Job reflected only limited observation. It was misapplied to Job by charging that his calamities came from terrible wickedness in his past life, though he had been counted good and very righteous, as if God knows and makes no mistakes. In fact God had not condemned Job. Suffering does not prove that a person is under God's displeasure.
God Himself declared the friends wrong for treating suffering as proof of guilt. The words of Eliphaz are therefore not reliable as a true account of God or of Job unless supported by inspired Scripture, and must not be taken as an unquestionable rule that the innocent never perish or the righteous are never cut off. Poverty and suffering do not prove guilt. The tents of robbers prosper and those who provoke God are secure.
God does often bless His children with temporal prosperity, yet wicked men also acquire large wealth. Financial prosperity alone therefore cannot render a true verdict. It cannot prove right principles, nor divinely approved methods, nor disobedience to be right.
The question where the righteous have been cut off affirms that the righteous are not taken before completing the time and work God has appointed for them. They die when God wills, after fulfilling their allotted course. The speech also teaches not to despise God's chastening.
Purpose and Application
The book of Job was written to expose the argument from prosperity, that prosperity is sure evidence of divine favor and adversity is sure proof of divine displeasure. Financial prosperity alone cannot render a true verdict, for God does often bless His children with temporal prosperity yet wicked men also acquire large wealth, and the tents of robbers prosper while those who provoke God are secure, so it cannot prove right principles, divinely approved methods, or disobedience to be right. It was written to give light so later readers would not reject the Messiah because His poverty and life of toil and sorrow supposedly proved He could not be Emmanuel, God with us. In the end God's way alone will be vindicated as the only way of real prosperity.
God was disciplining and trying Job and bringing him through the fire of affliction not simply for his own good but for the good of those who should live after. The questioning displays the great problems of overruling providence, sin and suffering. It belongs to painful conversations that, with the continued pain of boils, led almost to despair.
The verse exposes human misunderstanding of God's purposes and dealings with His children and proneness to misjudge others in the same way by thinking prosperity is evidence of God's favor. The unjust accusation that affliction must come from secret and open sins helped unsettle the sufferer. Meant to goad to desperation, it charged that calamity resulted from terrible wickedness in past life though counted good and very righteous, as if God knows and makes no mistakes.
Eliphaz speaks the question in his speech in the debate with Job over the cause of his afflictions. He lays down the rule that the innocent never perish and the righteous are never cut off, making prosperity sure proof of divine favor and adversity sure proof of divine displeasure, and by it implies that Job's loss of property and children and his bodily affliction must point to secret and open sin and departure from righteousness. As a general principle that evildoers reap what they sow and that evil will at last be punished and good rewarded, the saying is true in itself, yet it rests on only limited observation. Eliphaz misapplied it to Job, for suffering does not prove a person is under God's displeasure, poverty does not prove guilt, and financial prosperity alone cannot prove right principles or divine approval, since the tents of robbers prosper while God often tries His children in the fire of affliction for their good and for the good of those who live after. The book was written to expose this argument from prosperity, so that later readers would not reject the Messiah because His poverty and life of toil and sorrow supposedly proved He could not be Emmanuel, for in the end God's way alone will be vindicated as the only way of real prosperity.
Speaker and Claim
The question belongs to Eliphaz in his speech within the debate between Job and his three friends concerning Job's afflictions. It asks whether anyone ever perished while being innocent and where the righteous were ever cut off, as part of an argument that affliction proves the sufferer has sinned. That principle was wrongly applied to Job, whom God had not condemned, and the words are not reliable as a true account of God or of Job unless supported by inspired Scripture, so they are not to be treated as an unquestionable rule. The speech to which the question belongs teaches not to despise God's chastening.
It lays down the friends' rule that the innocent never perish and the righteous are never cut off, making prosperity sure evidence of divine favor and adversity sure proof of divine displeasure. Eliphaz uses it to imply that Job's suffering must point to sin and to charge him with departure from righteousness, forfeiture of God's favor, and secret and open sins. He treats Job's loss of property and of sons and daughters and his bodily affliction as direct judgment from God, while asserting that those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same and perish by the breath of God and are consumed by His anger. The friends thus question Job's innocence and insist the innocent do not perish, declaring his sufferings to be because of sin and reflecting only limited observation and human misunderstanding of God's purposes and dealings with His children.
Its language of perishing and being cut off shows that man is mortal and corruptible, subject to perishing and being cut off, in contrast to God who alone possesses immortality.
Truth and Error
As a general rule that the innocent do not perish and the righteous are not cut off, while those who sow trouble reap it and perish under God, the saying is true in itself, with evil at last punished and good rewarded. The friends' use of it against Job reflected only limited observation. It was misapplied to Job by charging that his calamities came from terrible wickedness in his past life, though he had been counted good and very righteous, as if God knows and makes no mistakes. In fact God had not condemned Job. Suffering does not prove that a person is under God's displeasure.
God Himself declared the friends wrong for treating suffering as proof of guilt. The words of Eliphaz are therefore not reliable as a true account of God or of Job unless supported by inspired Scripture, and must not be taken as an unquestionable rule that the innocent never perish or the righteous are never cut off. Poverty and suffering do not prove guilt. The tents of robbers prosper and those who provoke God are secure.
God does often bless His children with temporal prosperity, yet wicked men also acquire large wealth. Financial prosperity alone therefore cannot render a true verdict. It cannot prove right principles, nor divinely approved methods, nor disobedience to be right.
The question where the righteous have been cut off affirms that the righteous are not taken before completing the time and work God has appointed for them. They die when God wills, after fulfilling their allotted course. The speech also teaches not to despise God's chastening.
Purpose and Application
The book of Job was written to expose the argument from prosperity, that prosperity is sure evidence of divine favor and adversity is sure proof of divine displeasure. Financial prosperity alone cannot render a true verdict, for God does often bless His children with temporal prosperity yet wicked men also acquire large wealth, and the tents of robbers prosper while those who provoke God are secure, so it cannot prove right principles, divinely approved methods, or disobedience to be right. It was written to give light so later readers would not reject the Messiah because His poverty and life of toil and sorrow supposedly proved He could not be Emmanuel, God with us. In the end God's way alone will be vindicated as the only way of real prosperity.
God was disciplining and trying Job and bringing him through the fire of affliction not simply for his own good but for the good of those who should live after. The questioning displays the great problems of overruling providence, sin and suffering. It belongs to painful conversations that, with the continued pain of boils, led almost to despair.
The verse exposes human misunderstanding of God's purposes and dealings with His children and proneness to misjudge others in the same way by thinking prosperity is evidence of God's favor. The unjust accusation that affliction must come from secret and open sins helped unsettle the sufferer. Meant to goad to desperation, it charged that calamity resulted from terrible wickedness in past life though counted good and very righteous, as if God knows and makes no mistakes.