Job 5:13

Every word may be true in itself. He says it all with great dignity and force. Yet it is misapplied and one-sided, and so, in effect, wrong as a whole. Eliphaz assumes that God is displaying His government right now, measuring prosperity or trouble exactly to what people deserve. That is false ground, and it spoils the way he applies it — above all to a man like Job, who was handed over to be attacked by Satan.

There can be no question that this book is inspired. But people often mistake inspiration for revelation, that is, for a statement of divine truth that cannot fail. We have the inspired record of what Satan said to Eve, and to our Lord. We have the recorded words of wicked men, like Pharaoh and Rabshakeh. But no one thinks of these words as the truth of God. In the same way, we have here an inspired record of what Job and his three friends said. Most of it was true, but it was out of place and misapplied.

Some of the things Eliphaz says in this chapter are perfectly true. It is certainly true that God "catches the wise in their own craftiness"... But we can see that he brings all these facts in so that they turn against poor Job... It is obvious that all these remarks carried a hint of accusation against Job. He had appeared to be wise, but now he was caught in his craftiness — so it appeared to Eliphaz.

At first he does not accuse Job of deceit. He hints that it might be true, since Job's plans had come to nothing. Eliphaz had noticed that such things happen to crafty men. Why did he not also notice that righteous people often suffer the same kind of frustration?

No matter how man may plan, no matter how cunning the enemy may be, it will all come to nothing, for the Lord is above all. Eliphaz the Temanite expressed this truth well when he said: "He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end."

What a morning of bewilderment, humiliation, and terror for Daniel's enemies! They had worked at evil, planned trouble, and given birth to lies. They dug a pit and fell into the hole they had made. The harm they planned came back on their own heads... They became easy victims of the hungry beasts of prey. How true it is that "He catches the wise in their own craftiness."

Ezekiel among the prophets, and James among the apostles, confirm the life, trials, and death of Job. Paul confirms the divine character of the book by quoting from it. He introduces the quotation with the usual formula, "it is written" (1 Cor. 3:19, with Job 5:13).

"The temple of God" is in view. As I come up to this building — and it is God's building — I see these words written over the entrance, as it were: "He catches the wise in their own craftiness." This is what it says to me: if you bring the wisdom of the world into this building, you will be found out.