They were snatched away before their time; their foundation was washed away.
These are the words of Eliphaz, one of Job's three friends — not the words of God. He points Job to "the old way" that wicked men walked — men snatched off the earth early, their foundation washed out from under them. The picture is true enough in itself. The question is whether it proves anything about the suffering man sitting in front of him.
The Theory Behind the Speech
All through the book Job's three friends argue one theory. One writer sums it up and names its flaw:
J. N. DarbyThey press the doctrine that God's rule of this world is a full measure and display of His righteousness, and of the righteousness in man that would match it. That doctrine shows total ignorance of what God's righteousness is, and of His ways. It also shows no real knowledge of what God is, or of man as a sinner... though they say many true commonplace things which even the Spirit of God adopts as just.
So the history Eliphaz cites can be true while his use of it is false.
The Picture in the Words
Being cut off early and having a foundation carried off by water are two pictures of one collapse. The second can be put two ways:
Samuel RidoutEliphaz comes back to his often-repeated example of the wicked and their punishment. He describes how they prosper for a time, and the judgment that is sure to overtake them. Like grass that grows up only to be cut down and withered, they perished before their time. Their foundations looked solid, but a flood swept them away — or perhaps, more exactly, turned into a flood. The meaning is the same in either case.
The point of the figure is that what looked like bedrock was water all along.
Noah's Generation in View
The "old way" Eliphaz means is the way of the world before the flood. Job had just described men who tell God to leave them alone; Eliphaz turns that back on him:
F. B. HoleIn verses 15-18 we have a reference to the flood. Job had just spoken of wicked men who said to God, "Depart from us." Here Eliphaz asks if Job had really taken this to heart, as the world before the flood showed it. What men did after the flood, when they slipped into idolatry, was just what men had done before it. Eliphaz is quite right about the root of all their appalling wickedness. It was turning away from God, and shutting Him out of their lives and even out of their thoughts.
What Genesis Leaves Out
Genesis tells us what that generation did. Job tells us what they said and why. One writer shows how the books fill each other out:
W. T. P. WolstonGenesis does not tell us that they spoke so boldly and sinfully. But Job does. One book of Scripture seldom gives you the only statement of a truth, or the whole history of a man or of men and their ways. Its unity is clear in the number of its writers, all moved by God. Job tells us the motive that moved the men of the world — dislike of God. Paul tells us that Noah acted "in reverent fear" of Him (Heb. 11:7).
Where the Argument Breaks Down
Job had already answered this exact line. Eliphaz simply walks past the answer:
Leslie M. GrantHe says these wicked men had been cut down before their time, with their foundations swept away by a flood (v.16). He completely ignores what Job had argued in his answer to Zophar (ch. 21:7-17), for he had no answer to it... he side-steps the truth that many wicked men fill out their lives in pleasure without any trouble at all.
Ridout points to what Eliphaz says next:
Samuel RidoutEliphaz turns in horror from such defiance of God — sincerely, we may believe: "The counsel of the wicked is far from me." But he is quoting the very words of Job. Why will he not allow his former friend the same hatred of evil that he claims for himself?
Two Half-Truths, and a Warning for Now
Neither man had the whole picture:
F. B. HoleJob's point was that God often prospered the wicked and their judgment only came at the end. Eliphaz insisted that God did step in with judgment, as the flood had shown. Both, it seems, were right. And in our own day we can see the dreadful results of men dismissing God from their thoughts and lives. If God is turned out like this, every kind of evil comes in.
Summary
- Foundation. Eliphaz describes a life whose base gives way. The ground looked solid. It was really a flood.
- Root. The collapse traces back to one thing: shutting God out of life and even out of thought.
- Record. Genesis tells us what that generation did; this passage tells us what they said and why — "Depart from us."
- Misuse. The history is true. But Eliphaz aims it at the wrong man, and ignores the wicked men who fill out their lives without trouble.
- Balance. Hold both sides together. God does step in, as the flood showed; He often waits, as Job insisted. So no one can read another person's suffering as a verdict.