Job 22 · a question people ask

The LORD's wrath was kindled against Eliphaz (42:7). Does that make his call to return to God wrong?

In the text

Eliphaz says, "Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace" (22:21), "If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up" (22:23), and "You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you" (22:27). Other Scripture makes calls like these. "Seek the LORD while he may be found. Call on him while he is near" (Isaiah 55:6), and "Let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him" (Isaiah 55:7). "Also delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (Psalm 37:4), with the verb of 22:26's delight (tap delight). James writes, "Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you" (James 4:8). Bildad and Zophar had called Job the same way: "If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty" (8:5), and "If you set your heart aright, stretch out your hands toward him" (11:13). Eliphaz's call comes after his charges (22:5-9), and it is a call to Job: "if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents" (22:23). In his next answer Job says, "Oh that I knew where I might find him!" (23:3). The book says of the friends' words only what 42:7 says, and doesn't say which words it means, so these notes neither throw out Eliphaz's call nor make it the book's verdict on Job.

The verses

““Acquaint yourself with him now, and be at peace. By it, good will come to you. Please receive instruction from his mouth, and lay up his words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up, if you put away unrighteousness far from your tents. Lay your treasure in the dust, the gold of Ophir among the stones of the brooks. The Almighty will be your treasure, and precious silver to you. For then you will delight yourself in the Almighty, and will lift up your face to God. You will make your prayer to him, and he will hear you. You will pay your vows.”
Job 22:21-27 · World English Bible
“It was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you, and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job has.”
Job 42:7 · World English Bible
“Seek the LORD while he may be found. Call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the LORD, and he will have mercy on him, to our God, for he will freely pardon.”
Isaiah 55:6-7 · World English Bible
“Also delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
Psalm 37:4 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 22

Job 22: Acquaint yourself with him

Eliphaz's "Can a man be profitable to God?" (22:2) and his "Acquaint yourself with him" (22:21) are one Hebrew verb, and his "the counsel of the wicked is far from me" (22:18) is Job's own line from the chapter before (21:16).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions