They meet with darkness in the daytime and grope at noonday as in the night.
These words come from the first speech of Eliphaz, one of Job's three friends. He describes clever men whose plans God overturns, and the commentators ask whether he had any right to aim such words at Job.
The picture: schemers blinded at midday
The verse ends a short sequence. Here it is in one writer's own translation, starting with God breaking the plans of clever men:
William KellyHe breaks the plans of the crafty to pieces, so that they can achieve nothing. He takes the wise in their craftiness, and He overturns the advice of the cunning. By day they run into darkness, and at noon they grope as if it were night.
Cleverness that traps the clever
The New Testament repeats the line just before this verse: God takes the wise in their own craftiness. One writer explains how a man's own cleverness turns against him:
Hamilton SmithThe wisdom of this world wins the respect of the natural man. At times it may look very attractive even to a Christian, as it did to the believers at Corinth. Still, it is foolishness with God. The very wisdom of the world becomes its undoing, for it is written, "He takes the wise in their own craftiness". The wisdom of this world is mere craft, and it traps those who boast in it.
So the darkness at noon falls on men trapped by their own cleverness.
A saying aimed at the wrong man
Eliphaz was not lecturing on general truth. He was speaking to a ruined man in front of him, and his words carried a hint about Job:
F. B. HoleSome of the sayings of Eliphaz in this chapter are perfectly true. It is certainly true that God "takes the wise in their own craftiness." But we can see that he brings all these facts forward in a way that turned them against poor Job… Job had appeared to be wise, but now he was taken in his craftiness — so it appeared to Eliphaz.
Eliphaz built his case on what he had watched happen. One writer points out what he never watched for:
Leslie M. GrantEliphaz had noticed that such things happened to crafty men. But why did he not also notice that righteous people often suffered the same kind of frustration?
The false rule underneath the true saying
The mistake is not in any single sentence. It is in the rule Eliphaz assumed: God hands out reward and loss on the spot, in exact measure:
William KellyEvery word may be true in itself. He says it all with great dignity and force. Yet he misapplies it, and it is one-sided, so the whole thing is wrong in effect. Eliphaz assumes that God is displaying His government now, and measures out prosperity or trouble exactly as men deserve. That is false ground, and it spoils the application — above all to a man like Job, who was handed over to be attacked by Satan.
The standing of Eliphaz's words
The New Testament quotes one line from this speech word for word. One writer counts how rarely the book is quoted at all:
Frederick W GrantSo this is what is left. In all the New Testament there is one somewhat doubtful reference to Job's own words, and this single quotation of the words of Eliphaz, in 1 Corinthians 3:19: "He takes the wise in their own craftiness."
Commentators differ here. Some say Eliphaz's principles were sound and only his application was wrong. Another writer answers that view:
Frederick W GrantSomeone puts it like this: "The speaker is Eliphaz, whose reading of God's dealings with Job was condemned. His abstract principles were right, though his application of them in Job's case was wrong." But this is not true. God's own words draw a clear distinction between Job and his three friends: Job had spoken what was right about Him, and they had not.
Summary
- Picture. God overturns the plans of the crafty. The result is this verse: men run into darkness by day and grope at noon.
- Trap. The world's wisdom is mere craft. It traps the very people who boast in it.
- Misfire. True sayings turn into weapons when they are aimed at the wrong man. Eliphaz hinted that Job was a clever man now caught.
- Blind spot. Eliphaz saw that schemers get stopped. He never saw that upright people get stopped too. He turned half the evidence into a rule.
- Verdict. The New Testament quotes one line from this speech. Yet God separated Job from his friends: Job had spoken what was right about Him, and they had not.