Finally back to Job.
Job 4:18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
Job 4:19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?
Were angels charged with folly? Certainly, Jude 1:6 speaks of this.
Jud 1:6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
However, Jude 1:9 speaks of other angels that did rightly.
Jud 1:9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
When Elisha was surrounded by the enemy, was he not also surrounded by a greater company of God’s angels? Did not Yeshua facing arrest attest that he had at his disposal some twelve legions of angels available if he but asked the Father? The first half is a bold lie (though many believe it), and the second part is a half truth (some were charged, but more were not).
Job 4:20 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.
These are the final nails in the coffin. God does not care about the perishing?
Eze 18:22 All his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.
23 Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live?
Mat 10:29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Deu 32:42 I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh; and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives, from the beginning of revenges upon the enemy.
43 Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.
2Ki 9:6 And he arose, and went into the house; and he poured the oil on his head, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, I have anointed thee king over the people of the LORD, even over Israel.
2Ki 9:7 And thou shalt smite the house of Ahab thy master, that I may avenge the blood of my servants the prophets, and the blood of all the servants of the LORD, at the hand of Jezebel.
Psa 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Rev 19:1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
God cares even about the perishing of the wicked, he even cares about the falling of a sparrow to the ground, and he certainly cares about his saints enough to promise their avenging upon the heathen. There can be no truth in the idea that a man perishes without being regarded. It’s interesting when you think about it, there’s a repeating theme. The devil’s argument is that man won’t love God unless he gives them good. Then he tells a man who fears God, that he is wicked, and that he doesn’t deserve to ask God why. First he attacks the creation to the Creator, then the creation to himself.
But what is the nature of the attack? After all there was truth in there; man is not more pure than his maker. However, notice who’s the subject in 18? It is God who puts no trust in his servants, who charges them and man with folly…according to the accusation. So in the accusation it is God who does not regard, certainly men regard the deaths of other men? Now he attacks the Creator to the creation. The essence of the enemy’s argument is that there is no relationship, it is entirely quid quo pro. Man praises only because God gives. God gives only if you please him, and even in that we are utter failures and disgusting in God’s sight. That is the message of Satan, you are disgusting to God.
Job 5:1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
3 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
Continuing his assumption of guilt, Eliphaz questions who will listen/heed Job since “I, Eliphaz, see and mark [here rendered curse] his habitation.” I paraphrase, but the sense of this man’s arrogance becomes evident. Remembering chapter 4, it is filled with references to himself. Not that it’s wrong to draw on personal experience or example, but put this in the context of a man who has already condemned his ‘friend.’ What evidence has he brought other than Job’s trouble? He is acting neither just nor wisely in judging, so if he is not judging for God, then for whom? You could say its ignorance, but it is the reckless ignorance. Or to reference again his vision that was not of God, he is acting presumptuously.
The point is, he is not using his experience to further justice and wisdom, he is using it to promote himself (what else can it be?). To paraphrase these three verses, “Whose is going to listen to you? Trouble [here rendered wrath] kills the perverse and jealousy kills the deluded. At least, I can tell where the perverse lives.”
Job 5:4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
Talk about kicking you when you’re down, how did Job’s children die? Crushed in their brother’s house knocked flat by the wind. What happened to the oxen and the camels? Robbers. Now if you believe these men’s vague charges, then you might say “Well, his diagnosis is spot on, Job must have been a sinner.” We have the advantage of watching from over Eliphaz’s shoulder, but for our own warning we must see the temptation here.
It’s easy to see trouble and ask “What did they do wrong to deserve this?” We’ve touched on that earlier in “Judgment.” But, before the wicked’s children were crushed in the gate, didn’t they have to have children? Before the harvest can be eaten or the cattle stolen, don’t they have to be seeded and planted? It wouldn’t be much if you had on apple on a tree that was stolen if that one apple could neither satisfy your hunger or sell to fill your pantry…in other words if you judging them as wicked because of the calamity that befalls them then what do you say before calamity befalls them? If Job was wicked, why weren’t these friends here weeks ago saying “Job, you are blowing it and this lifestyle will not last”? Because their method only works in hindsight.
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