Page 120 - Job

rod of God is not on them. His ox mates without fail; His cow calves
and does not abort. They send forth their little ones like the flock, and
their children skip about. They sing to the timbrel and harp and rejoice
at the sound of the flute. They spend their days in prosperity, and
suddenly they go down to Sheol. They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We
do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty,
that we should serve Him, and what would we gain if we entreat Him?’
Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked
is far from me. How often is the lamp of the wicked put out, or does
their calamity fall on them? Does God apportion destruction in His
anger? Are they as straw before the wind, and like chaff which the
storm carries away? You say, ‘God stores away a man’s iniquity for his
sons.’ Let God repay him so that he may know it. Let his own eyes see
his decay…….”
Job says, “Really? Do the wicked suffer? Tell me about it. I have some
wicked neighbors, and they are not suffering. I know a lot of wicked people
that do not suffer. God cuts them off? The wicked are always poor and the
wicked are always diseased ?” He says, “Where did you get that idea?” This
is his answer to them.

Job does not deny that the wicked are going to be punished. Verse 30, “The
wicked are reserved for the day of calamity.” He knows, the wicked are
going to be punished one day. And so the second cycle of debates ends.
They cannot answer Job’s logic. Their whole argument has gone up in
smoke.
Let’s look at the facts of the third debate. This is the heaviest siege of all. It
goes from chapters 22-31. This time there are no innuendos, no insinuations,
and no vague metaphors. Eliphaz begins, chapter 22:5,
“To the weary you have given no water to drink, and from the hungry
you have withheld bread. But the earth belongs to the mighty man, and
the honorable man dwells in it. You have sent widows away empty, and
the strength of the orphans has been crushed. Therefore snares
surround you, and sudden dread terrifies you, or darkness, so that you
cannot see and an abundance of water covers you.”

Oh, how this must have broken the heart of Job. To hear these things from
Eliphaz, his former friend. He comes right out and says you have crushed the
orphan and you have turned away the widow and he begins to name sins.
You talk about judging a man’s heart. Eliphaz says I do not care what you
observed about the prosperity of the wicked, it is not true. The principle
remains. It looks like in verses 12 through 20 he says I am even going to

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