Job 15:21

The second round of discussion now opens with the appeal of Eliphaz. He shows more openly the growing sense in his soul that Job must lack integrity. As before, what he urges is weighty truth, and he urges it with great force. But he applied it to the sufferer with no ground at all, and so it was unjust in the highest degree.

The wicked man has an internal tormenter in his own conscience even now, which does not fail to embitter his brief allotted time. He always dreads death in the middle of life, and want in the middle of plenty. The voice of alarm never deserts his ears. In peace the destroyer is invading him; and, if darkness surrounds him, he has no hope of coming out of it.

Eliphaz next turns to familiar ground: experience and observation. He calls in those wise men whose freedom from foreign influence gave their word special authority. This wisdom, he assures Job, has discovered the wretchedness of the wicked. A sword always hangs over their guilty head, like the sword of Damocles. Even in outward prosperity the dreadful bell of doom rings in their ear. The evil man has no hope of escaping the darkness. While he looks for his food, he expects the blow to fall. The "king of terrors" will strike him. Is Eliphaz trying to terrify Job, or is it an echo of the distant fears of his own heart?

Tradition said, "The wicked man writhes in pain all his days" (v.20). Of course Job was writhing with pain. So this was another cruel thrust at him… "In prosperity the destroyer will come upon him" (v.21). Trouble came on Job all at once, while he was enjoying prosperity. So Eliphaz concluded that Job must be a wicked man. He did not stop to consider that others besides wicked men had trouble too.

Job knew that "The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure" (Job 12:6). But Eliphaz thought that "in prosperity the destroyer will come upon" the wicked (Job 15:21). What Eliphaz thought was sometimes right, but it was not always right. The writer of Psalm 73 knew that, and we can see it from what is all around us.

It is a settled principle of God's righteous government that no one can indulge in evil without bringing on the solemn dealing of His hand. Yet this still leaves room for grace to work in its own way, and even to suffer. It is true, not only in the future, but also in the present, that one reaps as one sows. But is it the only truth, or the whole truth? Is God limited to His government? In no way. That is where Eliphaz and his companions were wrong. Satan knows well how to take the one side of truth we either choose or overlook, and bend it to his own purposes.