I cannot help but think Eliphaz is summing up his argument in the same manner that Joshua summed up his final address to Israel. They begin in the same manner, emphasizing what they would do, and both tell their listeners to choose the Lord (Job 5:8; cp. Joshua 24:15). So, once again Eliphaz is offering good advice (cp. 2Samuel 24:14; 1Peter 4:19), but he presumes Job has sinned, and the reason for his suffering is due to a lack of repentance on his part. While it is good advice, when the police officer stops you and commands that you comply with the traffic laws, why would he do such a thing, if you hadn’t transgressed any of them? Keep in mind that we have the Lord’s own testimony that Job was upright in all his ways, feared God and there was none like him in the earth (Job 1:8) and his suffering had nothing to do with bad behavior (Job 2:3). Even the truth, when used out of context, misrepresents God. So, as for Eliphaz’s “I would seek God…” is he really seeking or does he believe he already knows what God would do? Is he seeking or pontificating over what he believes is so?
The difference, in my opinion, between Job and his friends is that they seem to have God in a box, and they sermonize over what they know about the box. On the other hand, Job’s God is outside the box, and this is what confuses him. He seems to have placed God in a box, too, and thought he knew the Lord well, but he has come to realize, through his suffering that he doesn’t know him at all. In other words, the “box,” the predominant worldview, isn’t working! The Lord is much greater, much more mysterious and past finding out, something which Eliphaz alludes to in Job 5:9 (cp. Romans 11:33), but he doesn’t allow for, when he tells Job: “I would seek God…” Job is in deep turmoil, because his worldview has been challenged, and his friends, who act like they have all the answers, don’t understand what has been taking place.
Eliphaz began by pointing to God’s goodness, whose blessings are without number (Job 5:9; cp. Psalm 40:5). He mentions the rain (verse-10), because in the East the heavens are hot and offer no relief for months. Then, suddenly, the rains come, offering hope once more to those who had almost lost hope (Job 5:11; cp. Luke 6:21; 1Peter 5:10). So, this idea becomes the backdrop for what Eliphaz says in the verses that follow, which concern the plans of the wicked (months without rain) and the hope of the just (the sudden granting of the rain).
He points to how the Lord frustrates the enterprise of the wicked (Job 5:12-16). The craftiest of schemes, thought up by evil men, seem to remove all hope that the just might have had. Yet, the Lord brings the plans of evil men to naught (1Corinthians 3:19-20), keeping them from achieving their hopes (Job 5:12; cp. Acts 12:11; 23:12-22). So, the light of day (and the blessing of the rain) is given to the just, while night has fallen upon the enterprise of the wicked, and the Lord has put them in confusion (Proverbs 4:19, cp. Isaiah 59:10).
So, according to Eliphaz, the purpose of God is and has always been to give hope to the just and to frustrate the plans of the wicked (Job 5:16). What Eliphaz understands is what one sows one reaps. This is the axis upon which his worldview revolves. Job must have sinned, because he is suffering. Moreover, his heart has taken an evil path in that he refuses to repent. Therefore, his suffering has increased under the discipline of the Lord, instead of abating. Moreover, if he continues in this path, the wrath of God would dwell upon him as a wicked man. Eliphaz’s advice, while good and well intentioned, is misapplied in that his own worldview is wrong. He has not made allowances for God being larger than what he perceives. Thus, he erroneously assumes Job is hiding his sin (cp. Job 31:33) and refuses to repent.
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