Commentary - Job 22:6-11

Bird's-eye view

In this section of Job, we are in the third and final cycle of speeches, and the gloves have come completely off. Eliphaz the Temanite, who began this whole business with a certain feigned sympathy, now drops all pretense and launches a direct, frontal assault on Job's character. This is not a gentle inquiry; it is a formal indictment. The problem is that it is a tissue of lies, a complete fabrication. Eliphaz has moved from flawed theology to bearing false witness, which is a most serious sin. He is functioning here as a prosecutor for the Accuser, Satan himself. He lays out a series of specific, heinous sins that he claims Job has committed, all of them violations of basic covenant decency. He is arguing from effect to cause, but doing so with a reckless and slanderous abandon. Because Job is suffering, he must have sinned grievously. And since no such sin is apparent, Eliphaz simply invents some. This passage is a master class in how pious-sounding language can be weaponized to destroy a righteous man.

The core of Eliphaz's argument is a rigid, wooden, and ultimately unbiblical application of the doctrine of retribution. He believes God's justice operates like a simple vending machine: you put in a good deed, you get a blessing; you put in a bad deed, you get a curse. Since Job is neck-deep in curses, the conclusion is inescapable for Eliphaz. Job must be a secret and monumental sinner. The accusations are specific: exploiting his brothers, ignoring the poor, abusing his power, and oppressing the weak. The irony is staggering. Job, the man God Himself declared blameless, is accused of the very sins that God most detests. This sets the stage for God's ultimate rebuke of these friends, who spoke wrongly of Him and His servant Job.

Outline

Context In Job

We are at a crucial turning point. Job has steadfastly maintained his integrity, not in the sense of sinless perfection, but in the sense that he is not guilty of some secret, high-handed wickedness that would justify his extreme suffering. His friends have grown increasingly frustrated. Their tidy theological system cannot account for a righteous man suffering so intensely. Rather than question their system, they have decided to question Job's righteousness. Eliphaz, as the leader of the group, now unleashes a torrent of specific, baseless accusations. This is the culmination of their failure. They came to comfort and ended up tormenting. They came to provide counsel and ended up bearing false witness. This speech reveals how a rigid theological system, detached from charity and humility, can become a tool of cruelty. It is a stark warning against what C.S. Lewis might call "theologian's disease", the temptation to force reality into our neat little boxes, even if it means crushing a man in the process.

Key Issues

The Accusations of Eliphaz

Job 22:6 For you have taken pledges of your brothers without cause, And stripped the clothing of the naked.

Eliphaz begins his bill of particulars with a charge of economic exploitation. Taking a pledge, or collateral, was a standard practice, but the Mosaic law put strict limits on it, especially among brothers (Ex. 22:26-27). A man's cloak was his covering for the night, and to take it was to leave him exposed. To do so "without cause" means Job was a predatory lender, a loan shark using his power to crush his kinsmen for no good reason. The second phrase, "stripped the clothing of the naked," is a powerful poetic parallel. It doesn't mean Job was accosting people who were already naked; it means his actions were so rapacious that he left them with nothing. He reduced them to nakedness. This is a direct assault on Job's reputation as a man of justice and mercy, a reputation we know from other parts of the book (Job 29:12-16) was entirely deserved. Eliphaz is not just mistaken; he is slandering. He has no evidence for this. He is inferring it from the ash heap.

Job 22:7 To the weary you have given no water to drink, And from the hungry you have withheld bread.

The next charge is a failure of basic human decency. In the ancient Near East, hospitality was a sacred duty. To deny water to the weary traveler or bread to the hungry was a profound moral failure. It was to act like Nabal, not like Abraham. The law is filled with commands to care for the needy, and the prophets thunder against those who neglect them (Isa. 58:7). Eliphaz is painting Job as a stingy, hard-hearted miser, a man who saw suffering and looked the other way. Again, this is a complete fabrication. Job himself will later swear an oath that he has done the exact opposite of these things (Job 31:16-22). Eliphaz's accusations are a mirror image of Job's actual character. This is what the devil does; he accuses the brethren, and his accusations are always the opposite of the truth. He calls light darkness and darkness light.

Job 22:8 But the earth belongs to the mighty man, And the highly respected man inhabits it.

This verse is dripping with sarcasm. Eliphaz is describing Job's supposed worldview. "As for the mighty man, he had the earth, and the honored man dwelt in it." This is the mantra of the tyrant, the creed of the godless strongman: might makes right. Eliphaz is saying, "Job, this is how you operated. You believed the world was your oyster because you were powerful and influential. You thought you could get away with anything because of your status." He is accusing Job of a practical atheism, of living as though there were no God to whom he must give an account. It is a charge of arrogant self-sufficiency. Of course, the Bible teaches the opposite: "The earth is the LORD's, and the fullness thereof" (Ps. 24:1). Eliphaz is attributing a pagan philosophy to a godly patriarch.

Job 22:9 You have sent widows away empty, And the might of the orphans has been crushed.

Here Eliphaz touches on the classic biblical test of righteousness: how a man treats widows and orphans. They are the most vulnerable members of society, and God repeatedly identifies Himself as their special protector and defender (Ps. 68:5). To mistreat them was to invite the direct judgment of God (Ex. 22:22-24). Eliphaz charges Job with two sins here. First, sending widows away "empty," meaning he refused their pleas for help and charity. Second, the "might," or more literally, the "arms" of the orphans have been crushed. This is a vivid image. It means Job used his power not to defend them, but to break them, to shatter their strength and leave them helpless. This is the vilest sort of accusation one could level against a leader in that society. It is the sin of the wicked rulers of Israel that the prophets so fiercely condemned. And it is a lie.

Job 22:10 Therefore snares surround you, And sudden dread terrifies you,

Now Eliphaz connects his fabricated charges to Job's present reality. "Therefore." This is the hinge of his whole argument. Because you did all those wicked things, therefore you are in this mess. The "snares" are the calamities that have entrapped him. The "sudden dread" is the psychological torment he is enduring. Eliphaz is saying, "See? It all makes sense. This isn't random. This is simple cause and effect. This is the justice of God." The logic is tidy, clean, and utterly false. The problem with Job's counselors is not that they were wrong to believe in cause and effect, but that they were right woodenly. They applied a general principle with a blind and brutal ignorance of the particular man and the particular situation. They assumed they could read the mind of God by looking at a man's circumstances, and in so doing, they slandered both God and man.

Job 22:11 Or darkness, so that you cannot see, And an abundance of water covers you.

Eliphaz concludes his summary of Job's condition with two more powerful images of judgment. The "darkness" is both literal and metaphorical. Job is in a fog of confusion and despair, unable to see his way forward. The "abundance of water" or "flood" is a classic image of overwhelming divine judgment, harkening back to the great flood itself. Job is being deluged, drowned by his troubles. Eliphaz presents this as the inevitable consequence of Job's secret wickedness. "You see, Job? You are getting exactly what you deserve." It is a cruel and simplistic conclusion, but it is the only one his theological system will allow. To maintain his system, he must sacrifice his friend.

Key Words

False Witness

The ninth commandment forbids bearing false witness against one's neighbor (Ex. 20:16). This is not simply about lying in a courtroom. It is about any word spoken that misrepresents and damages another person. Eliphaz is a prime example of a false witness. He testifies to sins Job never committed. He does so with an air of pious authority, which makes it all the more wicked. The devil is the ultimate false witness, the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10). When we engage in slander, gossip, or baseless accusation, we are doing his work for him.

Prosperity Theology

The core error of Job's friends is a primitive form of the prosperity gospel. They believe that righteousness always and immediately leads to material blessing, and suffering is always and immediately a direct result of specific sin. While the Bible does teach a correlation between sowing and reaping (Gal. 6:7), it is not a simplistic, one-to-one mechanical process. The book of Job exists to demolish this tidy, unbiblical system. The righteous do suffer, sometimes profoundly, and the wicked do prosper, at least for a season. God's economy is far more complex and mysterious than the friends can imagine.

Application

The speech of Eliphaz is a sober warning to all of us. It is a warning against the pride that assumes we understand the secret counsels of God. When we see someone suffering, our first impulse must be mercy, not judgment. We are not called to be divine investigators, looking for the secret sin that "must" be there. We are called to weep with those who weep.

Second, this is a warning against weaponizing theology. Eliphaz used true principles, that God is just, that sin has consequences, in a false and cruel way. Any theological system that leads us to be harsh, accusatory, and lacking in charity toward a suffering brother is a system that has gone badly wrong somewhere. Our theology must produce the fruit of the Spirit, and that fruit includes kindness and patience, not slander and condemnation.

Finally, we must see the gospel here. Job is a righteous man enduring unjust accusation and suffering. He is a type of Christ. The Lord Jesus was the only truly innocent sufferer, and yet He was bombarded with false accusations. The world, inspired by the Accuser, threw every imaginable slander at Him. And He endured it for us. Because He took our condemnation, there is now "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). When we are falsely accused, we can remember that our Savior endured the same, and He is our advocate and defender at the right hand of the Father.