Behold, this we have searched out; it is true. Hear, and know it for your good.”
Eliphaz ends his first long speech to Job with a verdict, not a question, and he signs it in the plural: we looked into this, it holds, now take it in. That raises two questions — what had he searched out, and can one sufferer rest on another man's findings?
A fine speech with a flaw
This verse closes a speech that runs across two chapters. One writer judges that closing section by what lies under it, not just by how well it is put.
Samuel RidoutThe seventh and closing section of the speech is admirable in expression and excellent in its doctrine, if its inner meaning is seen. In the mouth of Eliphaz, as the high point of his masterful speech, it must be taken with all the qualifications already mentioned.
What lies under it is an assumption: that Job is suffering for his own sins. The same writer weighs the advice first on its own, then with that assumption added.
Samuel RidoutSo, taken by itself, this counsel is good; but remembering the underlying principle that Job is suffering for his sins, it can only irritate. It is as though he were saying: "Sin is common to all, just as trouble is. So humble yourself as a sinner before God, and He will exalt you." It is all the more subtle because it comes so near the truth.
What "searched out" rests on
The evidence Eliphaz offers is what he himself has watched happen. His case stands or falls with his own eyes.
F. B. HoleIt is clear then that his argument mainly rests for its strength upon his own powers of observation. In those powers he trusted for his opinion of the meaning of the calamities that had fallen upon Job.
That is why the closing appeal — hear it, and know it for your good — asks more than it can deliver. One writer puts the test as a question:
Leslie M. GrantAgain, it is his own observation that he depends on, but he urges Job to hear it and know it for himself. Can we depend on another person's word to the point of knowing it is fact? No: we need more than another person's observation, we need the Word of God to be certain about any serious matter.
The weight of "we"
The verse does not say "I have searched it out." Eliphaz closes as a spokesman, certain the other two stand behind him.
William KellyIn the end Eliphaz advises Job to submit to the chastening hand of God, who would surely deliver him from all evil and bless him with all good. And he gives this advice not only in his own name, but in the name of his friends, whose complete agreement he counts on with confidence.
True things said in the wrong place
Much of what Eliphaz says is sound in itself. The trouble is that he presses it on a man whose case it does not fit, and he presses it as settled fact.
William KellyThere may be more harm done by things which are true, misunderstood and misapplied, than by many a thing that is false; because misapplied truth gives the apparent authority of God to an error, which has all the more weight because it comes as the truth. If a foolish thing is said, or one plainly false, people despise it; but no believer can slight the truth of God.
This also guards how we read the verse. Scripture records the speech, but that does not make it a word from God.
Samuel RidoutSimilarly here we have an inspired record of what Job and his three friends said, but while most of it was true, it was out of place and misapplied.
Proved true — by God, not by Eliphaz
The promises of the closing verses did come to pass in Job's life. They came through a road Eliphaz never mapped.
William KellyThe remarkable thing is that this was how it ended. Eliphaz little thought it would come true in Job's case. It was more a sermon in a vague way. He called Job to apply it. But he had no idea that God would apply it, or that God would bring Job out more blessed than before.
Summary
- Searched — Eliphaz's authority is what he has watched happen. His whole case rests on his own eyes.
- Claimed — from that base he declares the matter settled and asks Job to take it in. But one man's observation cannot settle a serious matter. For that we need the Word of God.
- Shared — he speaks as "we," counting on his two friends to back him. Agreement is not proof.
- Misapplied — most of what he says is true, yet out of place. Misapplied truth lends God's apparent authority to an error. That makes it weigh more than an open lie.
- Fulfilled — the blessings he describes did come. But God applied them, not Eliphaz, and He brought Job out more blessed than before.