Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.
Eliphaz treats Job's suffering as proof of guilt: if God gains nothing from a man's goodness, pain this great must mean sin this great. The question is whether that logic holds — and what it costs a suffering friend when it does not.
The Reasoning Behind the Charge
Eliphaz begins with the greatness of God. From there he reasons his way to a verdict on Job.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinHe starts out by reminding Job of the majesty of God. Can a man then be profitable to God? Is it any pleasure to the Almighty when you are righteous? Or does He gain anything by it if you are perfect in your ways? Since God has no interest in man's righteousness, and cannot punish Job for it, he concludes that Job is a great sinner. Is not your evil abundant? There is no end to your iniquities.
That rule is easy to apply in a world full of suffering. One writer asks who else it catches.
Samuel RidoutEliphaz asks Job, does not his chastisement prove his sin? For would God rebuke a man for piety — his godly fear? Therefore Job's sin is proven! Surely an easy way, in a world of suffering, to prove man a sinner. But it proves too much, for it includes every sufferer — the righteous as well as the wicked.
"No End" to Them
A dictionary entry on the phrase "no end" points at the speaker as much as the words.
Morrish Bible Dictionaryen qets, 'no end.' Eliphaz, quite unintelligent as to Job's case, said there was 'no end' of his iniquities.
A Conclusion Standing In for Evidence
Eliphaz then lists specific crimes. He offers no proof, because the theory has already done the work for him.
Samuel RidoutJob has taken away his brother's goods on a false claim! He has stripped the poor of his last covering! He has refused water to the fainting and bread to the starving!… Proofs? Witnesses? Why bother with them, when the theory proves it all so well without the trouble of establishing facts! So the grave and grey-haired Eliphaz produces conclusive proof out of his own "inner consciousness." The suffering friend and patriarch in front of him is a monster of evil.
God's own verdict on Job destroys every charge.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe astonishing thing is that every word of what Eliphaz says is a lying invention. Job later gives the most positive proof that it was all a concoction of falsehoods. The Word of the Lord about Job shows Eliphaz up as a miserable liar. The Lord had said of Job, "there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man." Would the Lord have said this if Job had trampled on all human decency, withheld water and bread from the destitute, or stripped the naked of their clothing?
How Suspicion Slides Into Slander
Suspicion does not stay where it starts.
William KellyHe does not hesitate to brand Job's defence of his integrity against their accusations as wickedness… Job's answer to his argument was decisive, and it provoked him. Now he charges Job outright with hidden evil. A man who suspects people on the strength of appearances will soon stop needing even appearances.
The Same Mistake Today
This habit did not die with Eliphaz.
Samuel RidoutBut even now, is not suspicion of others all too common? One person's business does not do well. Illness comes into his family. He loses loved ones. And people quickly decide that God is chastening him for faults they have imagined. How cruel this is! It goes against the plain direction, "Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses." Let us be slow to suspect, and slower still to charge unknown evil. Leave that to the Searcher of hearts.
The deeper danger is the accuser's own certainty.
Leslie M. GrantEliphaz probably thought Job's claim to fear God was pure hypocrisy. In that case Job deserved the strongest rebuke. And Eliphaz was just the man to give it, for he was sure he was speaking for God. What a sad delusion he was living under! We must watch ourselves closely, in case we too jump to conclusions about how another believer is doing… "Love believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:7).
Summary
- Theory — Eliphaz starts from a rule: God gains nothing from your goodness. So your pain must measure your guilt. The theory comes first, and Job's case has to fit it.
- Verdict — From that theory he declares "no end" to Job's sins. He says it to a man whose case he never understood.
- Invention — With the verdict settled, he manufactures the evidence. No proofs, no witnesses — just charges out of his own imagination.
- Slide — This is where suspicion leads. A man who judges by appearances will soon stop needing even appearances.
- Refutation — God's own word about Job overturns every charge. Where we lack certain evidence, love believes and hopes, and we leave the judging to the Searcher of hearts.