he sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
Eliphaz now turns from warning to advice: take your case to God, who sends rain and lifts up the lowly. Every word he says about God is true, but he aims it at a suffering man as proof against him.
The Argument Eliphaz Is Building
Verse 11 sits inside a chain of reasoning. God is beyond searching. He is also generous, and His generosity reaches the ones who have nothing left.
William KellySo Job should accept his suffering from God and turn to Him in prayer. God is not only great beyond anything a creature can search out. He is also generous, and generous in a moral way to those who are utterly low, just as certainly as He frustrates the crafty and the strong.
What water does for dry ground, God does for a crushed man.
Good Advice, Wrongly Weighted
Taken by itself, the advice is sound. Pointing a man to God never harms him.
Samuel RidoutIt is always good to advise men to trust in God; for He never fails those who trust in Him. He is powerful, good and kind, and can lift up those who are bowed down, refreshing their parched spirits as the rain refreshes the thirsty land. So, taken on its own, this advice is good. But underneath it lies the belief that Job is suffering for his sins, and that can only irritate him. It is as though he were saying, "Sin is common to all, as trouble is to all. So humble yourself as a sinner before God, and He will lift you up." It is all the more subtle because it comes so near the truth.
See what Eliphaz does with these words. If God always lifts the low, and Job is still on the ground, the conclusion writes itself.
Leslie M. GrantHe goes on speaking rightly about how great God is. God does great things, unsearchable and marvellous. He sends rain to bless people, and He lifts the lowly to places of dignity (vv.9-11). But Job at the time was not lifted up, so Eliphaz thought Job was not right with God!
Rain Is Not Always A Reward
Eliphaz's own illustration turns back on him. Weather is not a scoreboard.
William KellyBut does not God sometimes try people? And the rains do not only bring fruitful seasons; they also destroy the fruit. The rain may be a heavy trial to the poor farmer and the labourer, and it may all turn out the other way round. What we find in these men is entirely one-sided pleading. It is not the whole case at all; it is never the full case. This is not a judge speaking; it is a lawyer arguing one side, and in this case Job was the poor defendant.
The Flaw In The Rule
The problem is not the truth that God lifts the low. The problem is the assumption underneath it: that a person's circumstances show exactly where he stands with God.
William KellyEvery word may be true in itself. He says it all with the greatest dignity and force. Yet he misapplies it and tells only one side, so as a whole it is wrong. Eliphaz assumes that God is displaying His rule right now, measuring out prosperity or trouble to exactly what people deserve. This is false ground, and it ruins the whole application.
The Principle Stands — On Different Terms
Strip away Eliphaz's misuse, and the truth of verse 11 still stands. Here it comes as a call to humble yourself, not as a test of who is right with God.
Hamilton SmithThe humbling is to be in the presence of the Lord. It is an inward work that makes the soul aware of its own smallness next to the greatness of God. Our natural tendency is to lift ourselves up in front of one another. Only grace will lead us to humble ourselves before the Lord. As we do so, in His own time He will lift us up. Attempting to lift ourselves up, we shall be humbled.
The lifting is real. God chooses when.
Summary
- The saying — God raises the lowest and brings the mourner into safety. This is true of Him, and it is the natural companion to the rain of verse 10: He revives dry ground and dry people alike.
- The speaker — Eliphaz urges Job to commit his cause to God. The advice is good in itself, and all the more persuasive because it comes so near the truth.
- The twist — he treats the promise as a measuring device. Job is not yet lifted, therefore Job must be wrong with God.
- The error — he assumes God is now handing out good and bad in exact proportion to what people deserve. Commentators call this false ground. The rain itself can ruin a harvest as easily as make one.
- The right use — humble yourself before God, and in His own time He lifts you up. Grasp for the height yourself, and you go down.