42. Experienced-Based Theology

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Hymns: RHC 50 Jesus, My Lord, My God, My All; 134 Why Do I Sing About Jesus?; 137 Thanks to God            

Job 15:17-35

17 I will show thee, hear me; and that whichI have seen I will declare; 18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:19 Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them. 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all hisdays, and the number of years is hidden to the oppressor. 21 A dreadful sound isin his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying,Where is it?he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle. 25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty. 26 He runneth upon him, evenon hisneck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on hisflanks. 28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, andin houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. 30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. 31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. 32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. 34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall bedesolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. 35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

Experience-Based Theology

OUTLINE

  • Experience-based theology continues (15:17-35)
    • Quoting Ancient Wisdom (15:17-35)

                  i.          Suffering is the result of wickedness (15:17-20) 

                 ii.          Punishment of the wicked delineated (15:21-24)

                iii.          Wicked resisting God futilely (15:25)

                iv.          The prosperous wicked be judged (15:26-35)

INTRODUCTION

Job is charged with gross sin – one who drinks iniquity with water! Eliphaz claims he is right in his assessment of Job’s predicament. 

Eliphaz, having reproved Job for his answers, here comes to maintain his own thesis, upon which he built his censure of Job. His opinion is that those who are wicked are certainly miserable, whence he would infer that those who are miserable are certainly wicked, and that therefore Job was so. [Matthew Henry]

The remainder of this chapter is a violent declamation, designed to overwhelm Job with the proofs of personal guilt. Eliphaz professes to urge nothing which had not been handed down from his ancestors, and was the result of careful observation. What he says is made up of apothegms and maxims that were regarded as containing the results of ancient wisdom, all meaning that God would punish the wicked, or that the wicked would be treated according to their deserts. The implied inference all along was, that Job, who had had so many proofs of the divine displeasure, must be a wicked man. [Barnes]

  1. Quoting Ancient Wisdom (15:17-35)
  2. Suffering is the result of wickedness (15:17-20) 
  3. Punishment of the wicked delineated (15:21-24)
  4. Wicked resisting God futilely (15:25)The prosperous wicked be judged (15:26-35)

17 I will show thee, hear me; and that which I have seen I will declare; 18 Which wise men have told from their fathers, and have not hid it:

Which wise men have told from their fathers – Which they have received from their ancestors and communicated to others. Knowledge among the ancients was communicated chiefly by tradition from father to son. They had few or no written records, and hence, they embodied the results of their observation in brief, sententious maxims, and transmitted them from one generation to another.

And have not hid it – They have freely communicated the result of their observations to others. [Barnes]

19Unto whom alone the earth was given, and no stranger passed among them.

Unto whom alone the earth was given, Who were intrusted with the government of whole kingdoms and nations; and therefore not mean men, but persons of great consequence, and to be credited; being such as were appointed by God, and by him put into such an high office, for which they were qualified by him; and being observed to be such by men, were made choice of by them to take the government of them: this is not to be restrained to the land of Canaan, and to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to whom it was given, and to their posterity; and who it is very probable at this time did not yet enjoy it; but it respects more and larger tracts of land, and the rulers of them, and at a greater distance of time, and very likely Noah and his sons, to whom the whole earth was given, and by whom it was replenished, and among whom it was divided; this seems opposed to what Job had said, (v24).  

and no stranger passed among them; either there was no wicked man among them, a stranger to God and godliness; or an enemy that invaded them, passed through them, disturbed and dispossessed them of their power and substance; which shows how wise and good men are regarded by the Lord, and not distressed and afflicted as wicked men be; as well as serves to strengthen the credit of their character, and the report received and derived from them by tradition, and tacitly glances at Job’s distress and disturbance by the Chaldeans and Sabeans; next follows the account of the things either seen by Eliphaz, or handed down from such credible persons now described. [Gill]

21 A dreadful sound is in his ears: in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, and he is waited for of the sword. 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid; they shall prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.

As a result of Job’s wickedness, Eliphaz charged Job, he is not surprised that Job is going through such great pain, losss and torment.

25 For he stretcheth out his hand against God, and strengtheneth himself against the Almighty.

For one with such arrogance to fight against God, it is no wonder that such calamity had befallen him.

26 He runneth upon him, even on his neck, upon the thick bosses of his bucklers: 27 Because he covereth his face with his fatness, and maketh collops of fat on his flanks. 28 And he dwelleth in desolate cities, and in houses which no man inhabiteth, which are ready to become heaps. 29 He shall not be rich, neither shall his substance continue, neither shall he prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth. 30 He shall not depart out of darkness; the flame shall dry up his branches, and by the breath of his mouth shall he go away. 31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. 32 It shall be accomplished before his time, and his branch shall not be green. 33 He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower as the olive. 34 For the congregation of hypocrites shall be desolate, and fire shall consume the tabernacles of bribery. 35 They conceive mischief, and bring forth vanity, and their belly prepareth deceit.

His outward prosperity will soon come to an end, and all his confidence and all his comfort will come to an end with it. How can he prosper when God runs upon him? so some understand that (v26). [Matthew Henry]

Whom God runs uponhe will certainly run down;for when he judges he will overcome. See how the judgments of God cross this worldly wicked man in all his cares, desires, and projects, and so complete his misery. 

First,He is in care to get, but he shall not be rich (v29). His own covetous mind keeps him from being truly rich. He is not rich that has not enough, and he has not enough that does not think he has. It is contentment only that is great gain. Providence remarkably keeps some from being rich, defeating their enterprises, breaking their measures, and keeping them always behind-hand. Many that get much by fraud and injustice, yet do not grow rich: it goes as it comes; it is got by one sin and spent upon another. 

Secondly,He is in care to keep what he has got, but in vain: His substance shall not continue;it will dwindle and come to nothing. God blasts it, and what came up in a night perishes in a night. Wealth gotten by vanity will certainly be diminished.Some have themselves lived to see the ruin of those estates which have been raised by oppression; but, where this is not the case, that which is left goes with a curse to those who succeed. Ill-gotten property will scarcely be enjoyed by the third generation.He purchases estates to him and his heirs for ever;but to what purpose? He shall not prolong the perfection thereof upon the earth;neither the credit nor the comfort of his riches shall be prolonged; and, when those are gone, where is the perfection of them? How indeed can we expect the perfection of any thing to be prolonged upon the earth, where every thing is transitory, and we soon see the end of all perfection? 

Thirdly,He is in care to leave what he has got and kept to his children after him. But in this he is crossed; the branches of his family shall perish, in whom he hoped to live and flourish and to have the reputation of making them all great men. They shall not be green (v32). The flame shall dry them up (v30). he shall shake them off as blossoms that never knit, or as the unripe grape (v33). They shall die in the beginning of their days and never come to maturity. Many a man’s family is ruined by his iniquity. 

Fourthly,He is in care to enjoy it a great while himself; but in that also he is crossed. 1. He may perhaps be taken from it (v30): By the breath of God’s mouth shall he go away,and leave his wealth to others; that is, by God’s wrath, which, like a stream of brimstone, kindlesthe fire that devours him (Isaiah 30:33), or by his word; he speaks, and it is done immediately. This night thy soul shall be required of thee;and so, the wicked is driven away in his wickedness,the worldling in his worldliness. 

It may perhaps be taken from him, and fly away like an eagle towards heaven: It shall be accomplished(or cut off) before his time(v32); that is, he shall survive his prosperity, and see himself stripped of it. 

Fifthly,He is in care, when he is in trouble, how to get out of it (not how to get good by it); but in this also he is crossed (v30): He shall not depart out of darkness.When he begins to fall, like Haman, all men say, “Down with him.” It was said of him (v22), He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness.He frightened himself with the perpetuity of his calamity, and God also shall choose his delusionsand bring his fears upon him(Isaiah 66:4), as he did upon Israel,Numbers 14:28. God says Amento his distrust and despair. Sixthly,He is in care to secure his partners, and hopes to secure himself by his partnership with them; but that is in vain too, (v34-35).The congregationof them, the whole confederacy, they and all their tabernacles, shall be desolateand consumed with fire. Hypocrisy and bribery are here charged upon them; that is, deceitful dealing both with God and man–God affronted under colour of religion, man wronged under colour of justice. It is impossible that these should end well. Though hand join in handfor the support of these perfidious practices, yet shall not the wicked go unpunished.

The use and application of all this. Will the prosperity of presumptuous sinners end thus miserably? Then (v31) let not him that is deceived trust in vanity.Let the mischiefs which befal others be our warnings, and let not us rest on that broken reed which always failed those who leaned on it.

Those who trust to their sinful ways of getting wealth trust in vanity,and vanity will be their recompence,for they shall not get what they expected. Their arts will deceive them and perhaps ruin them in this world. 

Those who trust to their wealth when they have gotten it, especially to the wealth they have gotten dishonestly, trust in vanity; for it will yield them no satisfaction. The guilt that cleaves to it will ruin the joy of it. They sow the wind, and will reap the whirlwind, and will own at length, with the utmost confusion, that a deceived heart turned them aside, and that they cheated themselves with a lie in their right hand. [Matthew Henry]