then the Almighty will be your gold and your precious silver.
Eliphaz ends his last speech to Job with a promise: repent, and God Himself will become your treasure. Commentators call it one of the finest sentences in the book, yet Eliphaz aimed it at a man who did not need it.
God Himself as the Wealth
Here the Almighty takes the place that gold and silver hold for most people. One writer links this to God's word to Abram, then notes a problem with the speaker.
Leslie M. GrantHe 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, "Do not be afraid, Abram, I am your shield and your exceeding great reward" (Gen. 15:1). But it does not seem likely that Eliphaz was enjoying the blessing of knowing God Himself as his own true wealth. If he had been, he would not have given such an unfair picture of God.
How the Words Have Been Read
Translators have handled verses 24 and 25 in more than one way. The choice changes what Eliphaz is telling Job to do.
Samuel RidoutVerses 24 and 25 have been rendered in different ways. The Authorized Version begins the promises with the close of verse 23... "Then you shall lay up gold as dust," and so on. 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... then the Almighty will be to you gold ore in abundance, and silver of the brightest lustre."
The same writer shows why that reading sounds strange in Job's case.
Samuel RidoutThis man had already lost his wealth. To tell him to lay it aside in the dust, or treat it as worthless stones of the brook, would seem nothing short of satire. So some have argued that Eliphaz is speaking in a picture, and that Job is told to lay the greedy love of gold in the dust... The Almighty will be a high place of defence for the penitent, and abundance of wealth will be his.
A Promise Resting on a Wrong Principle
Behind the beautiful language sits an assumption about how God works. One writer calls it false.
The Bible TreasuryEliphaz, now for the last time, addresses him and tries to make an impression on him by the enormity of his charges. He repeats that false principle about God's dealings, so ready to the natural mind, that He gives the gold and the silver to those who return to Him.
Right Counsel, Wrong Man
Advice can be sound and still be useless. Job never valued money the way the promise assumes, and his real trouble lay elsewhere.
William KellyThis seemed to Eliphaz to be needed and wise advice, and in many a case it would fit. But it was wholly out of place for Job. To him gold or silver were like the dust on the scales, and the favour of God was everything... Hidden sin was not in question, nor therefore repentance for it, but a deep submission to God's will... Eliphaz did not so much as touch the true question.
There was also a trap in the offer. To claim the promise, Job would first have had to accept the charge attached to it.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinOnce more, as before, he turns to exhortation... But while the exhortations are all proper in themselves, they are altogether out of place with Job. Suppose Job acted on this advice and repented as Eliphaz demanded. By that very act he would agree with the false and lying accusations of his three friends. He would admit that he was the wicked man they had made him out to be.
The Warning for Anyone Who Comforts a Sufferer
The verse carries a caution about how we speak to people in pain.
Samuel RidoutAgain, we must warn God's people about the trap Eliphaz fell into. All pious appeals to repent, to give up sin, to judge a course of evil are nothing but insults, if they are not based on known facts. They smell of a pharisaic spirit, which, as with Eliphaz and his friends, itself needs to be repented of.
Fulfilled, but Not on His Terms
Kelly points to what happens at the end of the book.
William KellyIt is remarkable, however, that the close of Eliphaz's speech was still to prove true before the book ends. It came true in the power of Job's prayer for Eliphaz himself.
Summary
- The treasure. The verse offers God Himself in place of gold and silver. God promised Abram the same thing: He was his shield and great reward.
- The rendering. Some read verse 24 as a condition: if you lay the gold ore in the dust. Others read it as a promise of restored wealth, with the Almighty as a high place of defence.
- The flaw. The offer assumes God hands out gold and silver to those who return to Him. One writer calls that principle false.
- The misfire. Job already counted silver like dust on the scales. To accept the offer, he would have had to confess to sins he never committed.
- The lesson. Calls to repent insult rather than help when they are not based on known facts. Yet the promise still came true — through Job's prayer for the man who accused him.