The righteous see it and are glad; the innocent one mocks at them,
Eliphaz is speaking for the last time. He has just pictured the wicked swept away by a flood, and here he adds the onlookers who watch the ruin and enjoy it. The question is not whether such a moment ever comes. It is who Eliphaz thinks he is in that scene, and who he thinks Job is.
The flood behind the verse
One writer ties the ruin Eliphaz describes to the flood of Noah's day. He also catches Eliphaz borrowing Job's own words and then using them against him:
Samuel RidoutTheir apparently solid foundations were swept away by a flood. There may be a reference to the days of Noah. People ate and drank, married, and were given in marriage, "until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all." Eliphaz turns from such wickedness in horror, and we may believe he is sincere: "The counsel of the wicked is far from me." He is quoting the very words of Job (Job 21:16). Why will he not allow his former friend the same hatred of evil that he claims for himself?
Who the "righteous" are meant to be
Eliphaz never names himself. But one writer has no doubt who he means, and asks what that makes him at that moment:
Leslie M. GrantEliphaz considered himself righteous. He speaks of the righteous being glad at the punishment of the wicked. This will be true when God's judgments are in the earth. We see it in Revelation 18:20, where the righteous will greatly rejoice over the judgment of the false woman Babylon. Did Eliphaz think he was right in rejoicing over Job's sufferings, and actually laughing at him?
The verdict hidden in the next line
The next line shows how far Eliphaz had gone in judging his friend:
Leslie M. GrantIn verse 20 he says, "Surely our adversaries are cut down, and the fire consumes their remnant." Was he not implying that Job was his adversary? Job had been "cut down," and he was suffering the fire of God's punishment. So he really considered that Job was an enemy of God, not a believer at all.
True joy over judgment, and its counterfeit
Scripture does show the righteous glad when God deals with evil. But one writer draws a careful line between that joy and what Eliphaz shows here:
Samuel RidoutThere is this difference between the position of Eliphaz and that taken in many of the psalms. The psalms give us the final cleansing of the kingdom of "all causes of sin and all law-breakers." That comes after God has given full space for repentance, and after evil has shown itself to be incurable rebellion against God. So the righteous rejoice at the deliverance, not at the mere judgment. Yet all of it will be seen as perfectly in keeping with the full character of God.
The irony is that Job had no quarrel with the truth Eliphaz is using as a weapon:
William KellyThis does not mean God ignores man's impiety. He marks it when and where He pleases. When He does, Job joins Eliphaz and the righteous in general in setting his seal to it that God is wise and just. It will be clearest of all on the day when God's judgment deals finally with everything opposed to His will and to His people. But memory is apt to be unreliable in an argument. Otherwise Eliphaz could not have forgotten how strongly Job had set that day before his friends.
The flaw in the argument
The mistake is not in the facts Eliphaz cites, but in how he uses them:
William KellyEliphaz drops his original mildness and deals unfairly with Job's reasoning. He uses clever but false reasoning himself. He takes special instances of God's judgment on the wicked and turns them into a sample of His ordinary dealings, ignoring the righteous.
What to do when we watch someone fall
Eliphaz pictures upright people looking on and laughing. One writer says plainly what that kind of watching is worth:
Leslie M. GrantSuch gloating over the defeat of enemies is disgusting. God will take this into serious account. When we see judgment fall on anyone, we should feel sorrow for that person and judge ourselves honestly. Only the grace of God keeps us from the judgment we deserve.
Summary
- Setting. Eliphaz has just described wicked men swept away by a flood. This verse is his closing snapshot: the upright watching the wreckage with pleasure.
- Self-cast. He casts himself as the righteous onlooker. Was he not laughing at Job as he said it?
- Sentence. The taunt that follows treats Job as the cut-down adversary. Eliphaz had written his friend off as no believer at all.
- Distortion. The truth he uses is real: God does judge. But he makes special cases into the rule, leaving no room for a righteous man who suffers.
- Correction. Real joy in God's judgment is joy over deliverance from evil, not delight in another's ruin. When anyone falls, we should grieve for them and examine ourselves.