If thou return to the Almighty, thou shalt be built up. If thou remove unrighteousness far from thy tents,
Eliphaz has just accused Job of crimes he never committed. Now he softens into an appeal: come back to God, clear the wrong out of your home, and you will be rebuilt. The words sound like a gospel invitation. So why did they wound Job instead of helping him?
Commentators agree the sentence is sound in itself. What ruins it is the diagnosis behind it.
In truth Job knew God better than any of his friends. How painful to have the most serious of them speak in a way that accused him of worse than ignorance! ... They saw nothing but God paying back hidden wickedness, so Job's extraordinary trials made the strongest possible impression on them. Eliphaz treated him as a deserter. He urges Job to return to the Almighty, and he will be built up, and to put iniquity far away from his tents. It is a faithful saying, if said to someone far from God. But how galling to a deeply tried believer.
The reasoning runs backwards from suffering to guilt. Because Job was in pain, Eliphaz concluded he must have walked away from God.
He flatly refused to believe that Job knew God at all. So he was sure Job needed to be converted before any good could come to him. At least he did not consider Job's case hopeless, but Job would have to take his advice and "return to the Almighty." ... Job had not left the Almighty, so telling him to return was insulting. Let us never treat a suffering believer as an unbeliever.
The verse hangs on an "if." Commentators differ on how far that condition stretches into the following lines. One rendering keeps both halves of verse 23 conditional:
If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up; (if) you put iniquity far away from your tent, and put precious ore on the dust, and that of Ophir as stones of the brooks; then the Almighty shall be your precious ore, and silver of hard toil to you.
Others weigh the alternatives and keep to the familiar reading, where the promises begin at the end of verse 23:
Eliphaz holds out, in an almost prophetic way, the hope that all of Job's old prosperity will be restored — wealth and happiness. Translators have handled verses 24 and 25 in different ways. The Authorized Version starts the promises at the close of verse 23: "you shall put away iniquity," and so on, "Then you shall lay up gold as dust." The usually excellent version of Delitzsch makes everything conditional up to the close of verse 24: "If you lay by in the dust the gold ore, and under the pebbles of the brooks the gold of Ophir, then the Almighty shall be to you gold ore in abundance, and silver to you of the brightest lustre."
What Eliphaz offers as the payoff for returning exposes his whole system.
Eliphaz, for the last time, tries to make an impression on him by the size of his charges. He repeats that false principle, so ready to the natural mind about God's dealings: God gives the gold and the silver to those who return to Him.
Obeying Eliphaz would have cost Job the truth. Repenting on these terms would mean confessing to sins he never committed.
While the exhortations are all proper, they are completely out of place with Job. Suppose Job acted on this advice and repented as Eliphaz demanded. He would then agree with the false and lying accusations of his three friends. He would be admitting he was the wicked man they had made him out to be. What he says about restoration is almost prophetic of what would come to Job in blessing at the close of his trial.
Eliphaz spoke better than he knew. A return was coming, and building up with it — but not the kind he had in mind.
"If you return to the Almighty, you shall be built up." And so it was. Little did he know that that return was about to be made plain, to their shame. "Then you shall lay up gold as dust, and light shall shine upon your ways." And so it did, in the most marvellous way.
This warning lands on people who mean well.
Again, we must warn God's people about the trap Eliphaz has fallen into. Pious calls to repent, to give up sin, to judge a course of evil are only insults, if they are not based on known facts. They smell of a self-righteous spirit — a spirit which must itself be repented of, as with Eliphaz and his friends.
- Return — the call itself is a faithful saying. Said to someone far from God, it would be right.
- Wrongly aimed — Job had not left the Almighty, so the call to come back insulted him. Suffering is not proof that a believer has deserted God.
- False payoff — the promised gold rests on a false principle: that God pays wealth to those who return to Him.
- Costly obedience — if Job had repented on these terms, he would have agreed with lying accusations against himself.
- Fulfilled anyway — the return and the building up did come. Light did shine on Job's ways, to the shame of his friends.
And put the precious ore with the dust, and [the gold of] Ophir among the stones of the torrents,
Eliphaz closes his last speech to Job with a picture of gold as common as dust and pebbles. Is that a promise of wealth for repentance, or a call to throw wealth away — and did Eliphaz have any right to say it?
Translations run in opposite directions here. One makes the gold the reward; another makes it the condition.
In an almost prophetic way, Eliphaz holds out the hope that all Job's old prosperity will come back — wealth and happiness. Verses 24 and 25 have been translated in different ways. The usually excellent version of Delitzsch makes everything conditional to the end of verse 24. He renders it: "If you lay by in the dust the gold ore, and under the pebbles of the brooks the gold of Ophir, then the Almighty shall be to you gold ore in abundance, and silver of the brightest lustre."
The same writer explains why he keeps the usual reading:
The usual rendering, however, seems to be the better one. Old Testament usage, and especially usage in the book of Job, links wealth in this life with the favour of God. So Eliphaz promises restoration of all the wealth that Job had lost. Then, too, it would be nothing short of mockery to tell a man who had already lost his wealth to lay it aside in the dust, or treat it as worthless stones of the brook. Others therefore argue that Eliphaz speaks figuratively, and that Job is told to lay aside his greedy love of gold in the dust...
Ophir was a real place, though no one today is sure where it stood.
Ophir is the place from which Solomon imported gold, precious stones, and almug trees. Ships brought them to the Gulf of Akaba. It may be in southern Arabia, but some suggest India or Africa.
The offer only works if wealth is God's standard payment for repentance.
Eliphaz now speaks to him for the last time. He tries to impress him with the size of his charges: "Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities." He repeats that false principle which the natural mind so readily holds about God's dealings — that He gives the gold and the silver to those who return to Him.
Verse 25 offers something far better than ore. One writer doubts that Eliphaz knew what he was saying.
Job would be greatly blessed with the finest gold. Eliphaz adds that "the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver" (v.25). This reminds us of the words of the Lord to Abram, "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great" (Genesis 15:1). But it does not seem likely that Eliphaz was personally enjoying the blessing of knowing God Himself as his own true wealth. If he were, he would not have been so unfairly representing God.
Words like these would be right for someone who had wandered from God. Job had not.
In truth Job knew God better than any of his friends did... They had no true idea of God's gracious work in souls: humbling them, breaking down self, and making His grace infinitely precious... Eliphaz takes him for a deserter, and so urges him to return to the Almighty and be built up, and to put iniquity far away from his tents. That is a faithful saying if spoken to someone far from God. But how galling to a saint under deep trial to be told to lay his precious ore on the dust, and the gold of Ophir among the pebbles of the brooks, and that the Almighty should be his precious ore and hard-won silver!
The wealth did come back to Job, and the way it came exposed Eliphaz. This writer follows an older translation, where verse 24 promises the gold.
"And lay up His words in your heart. If you return to the Almighty, you will be built up." And so it was. Little did he know that that return was about to be made plain, to their shame. "Then you will lay up gold as dust, and light will shine on your ways" (vv. 21-28). And so it did, in the most marvellous way.
This verse warns us how we speak to people in trouble.
Again, we must warn God's people of the snare into which Eliphaz has fallen. All pious calls to repent, to give up sin, to judge a course of evil are simply insults if they do not rest on known facts. They smell of a self-righteous, Pharisee-like spirit — and with Eliphaz and his friends, that spirit must itself be repented of.
- Gold — Writers differ on the translation. The heaped-up gold is either the reward for repentance or the condition of it. Ophir was where Solomon's gold came from, brought in by ship.
- Bargain — Eliphaz assumes God pays returning sinners in silver and gold. One writer calls that a false principle of the natural mind.
- Better gold — Verse 25 says the Almighty Himself is the wealth, like God's promise to Abram. But Eliphaz seems not to have owned that treasure himself.
- Wrong man — Job knew God better than his friends did. A fair appeal becomes an insult when aimed at a suffering saint.
- Outcome — The gold did come back, in a way Eliphaz never foresaw. It shamed his argument instead of proving it. So never accuse a hurting believer of evil you cannot prove.