The Ancient and Well-Trodden Path to Ruin Text: Job 22:15-20
Introduction: The Terrible Counsel of a Friend
We find ourselves here in the middle of a dumpster fire of bad pastoral counseling. Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, has come to comfort him, but his ministry has devolved into a series of accusations based on a faulty theological syllogism. His premise is that God is just, and therefore He always punishes great wickedness with great suffering. His second premise is that Job is suffering greatly. His conclusion, which he delivers with all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, is that Job must be a great sinner. This is a classic case of a man whose theology is too small for the world God actually made. He has a neat and tidy system, but the problem is that reality, and particularly the reality of God’s mysterious providence, keeps spilling out over the edges.
Eliphaz is not entirely wrong in everything he says. Bad theologians are often at their most dangerous when they are telling half-truths. A half-truth is a whole lie. In this passage, Eliphaz describes the path of the wicked with a certain grim accuracy. He is correct that there is an "ancient path" for wicked men. He is correct that they tell God to depart from them. He is correct that their foundations are flimsy and that judgment eventually comes. Where he goes disastrously wrong is in his application. He sees Job sitting on the ash heap and jams him into his pre-packaged theological box, a box labeled "Wicked Man Under Judgment."
So as we approach this text, we must do two things. First, we must recognize the truth in Eliphaz's description of the wicked man's worldview. It is a timeless and accurate portrait of rebellion. The path he describes is as ancient as Cain and as modern as the latest screed from the new atheists. Second, we must reject Eliphaz’s arrogant and foolish application of this truth to Job. We must learn to distinguish between a correct theological principle and a cruel, presumptuous judgment. The Bible commands us to judge with righteous judgment, which means we must pay attention to the facts of the case, and not simply run a crude theological program. Eliphaz is a warning to all of us who love theology: your system must serve the text and reality, not the other way around. When your system forces you to call a righteous man a wicked one, your system is the problem.
The Text
Will you keep to the ancient path
Which wicked men have trod,
Who were snatched away before their time,
Whose foundations were washed away by a river?
They said to God, ‘Depart from us!’
And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’
Yet He filled their houses with good things,
But the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
The righteous see and are glad,
And the innocent mock them,
Saying, ‘Truly those who rise against us are wiped out,
And their abundance the fire has consumed.’
(Job 22:15-20 LSB)
The Two Paths (v. 15-16)
Eliphaz begins by posing a sharp, accusatory question to Job.
"Will you keep to the ancient path Which wicked men have trod, Who were snatched away before their time, Whose foundations were washed away by a river?" (Job 22:15-16)
Eliphaz is essentially saying, "Job, are you going to double down on this? Are you going to persist in walking the same road that has led countless wicked men to ruin?" The Bible consistently presents us with a choice between two ways. There is the way of the righteous and the way of the wicked, the narrow gate and the broad road, the path of life and the path of destruction. Psalm 1 lays this out perfectly. The blessed man does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners. Eliphaz correctly identifies that there is an "ancient path" for the wicked. This is the path that began just outside the gates of Eden, the way of Cain, the way of the generation of the Flood, the way of Babel, the way of Sodom.
It is the path of autonomy, the path of self-deification, the path that says, "My will be done." It is ancient because rebellion is not a modern invention. Every generation thinks it has discovered some new and sophisticated reason to reject God, but it is always the same old dusty path, leading to the same old cliff.
Eliphaz then describes the end of this path. These men were "snatched away before their time." Their end was sudden and violent. Their foundations were "washed away by a river." This is very likely a direct reference to the Flood of Noah. The generation before the flood was the epitome of this ancient path. They lived in open rebellion, their thoughts were only evil continually, and their foundations, their homes, their societies, their very lives, were built on the sand of their own arrogance. And when the rains of God's judgment came, it all washed away. Jesus uses this exact imagery in the Sermon on the Mount. The foolish man builds his house on the sand, and when the storm comes, great is its fall. The wicked man believes his life, his wealth, his power are a firm foundation. But it is all just sand. The only firm foundation is the rock of Jesus Christ and obedience to His word.
The Rebel's Creed (v. 17-18)
Next, Eliphaz articulates the worldview, the creed, of those who walk this ancient path.
"They said to God, ‘Depart from us!’ And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’ Yet He filled their houses with good things, But the counsel of the wicked is far from me." (Job 22:17-18)
Here is the heart of all wickedness, summarized in two phrases. First, "Depart from us!" This is the fundamental prayer of the unregenerate heart. It is not a request for evidence or a cry of intellectual doubt. It is a moral demand. It is the creature telling the Creator to get lost. The wicked man does not want God in his thoughts, in his bedroom, in his business, or in his government. He wants to be left alone to be his own god. This is the essence of what the Bible calls foolishness. The fool has said in his heart, "There is no God," which is not a statement about ontology but a wish for anarchy. He means, "I wish there were no God to whom I must give an account."
The second phrase of their creed is, "What can the Almighty do to them?" This is the taunt of the practical atheist. He looks at the sky, sees no lightning bolt, and concludes that God is either impotent or indifferent. He mistakes God's patience for God's approval. Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, the hearts of the sons of men are fully set in them to do evil. They see God's common grace, the fact that "He filled their houses with good things," and they twist it into an argument against Him. They eat His food, breathe His air, enjoy the families He gives them, and then use the strength He provides to shake their fist in His face. They take His blessings as their birthright and deny the existence of the Blesser.
Eliphaz rightly concludes, "But the counsel of the wicked is far from me." And in this, he is correct. The worldview of the righteous must be utterly alien to this. We are to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. The antithesis between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent is absolute.
The Joy of the Vindicated (v. 19-20)
Finally, Eliphaz describes the reaction of the righteous when God finally brings judgment upon the wicked.
"The righteous see and are glad, And the innocent mock them, Saying, ‘Truly those who rise against us are wiped out, And their abundance the fire has consumed.’" (Job 22:19-20)
This is a sentiment that makes our modern, sentimental, squishy generation very uncomfortable. We are told that we should never rejoice at the downfall of another. But the Bible is far more robust and realistic than that. The Scriptures are clear that when God’s justice is finally executed, it is a cause for rejoicing among His people. "The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; he will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked" (Psalm 58:10). When Babylon falls in the book of Revelation, the command from heaven is "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you against her!" (Revelation 18:20).
This is not a vindictive, personal glee. It is not about gloating. It is the gladness that comes from seeing God's name vindicated, His justice upheld, His holiness displayed, and His persecuted people avenged. It is the joy of seeing the story come out right in the end. For too long, the wicked mock the righteous, saying "Where is your God?" They prosper, they boast, they oppress. But the day comes when God acts. And on that day, the righteous see that their faith was not in vain. They see that God is not mocked. They see that the universe is indeed moral and that justice is not a fairy tale. And so they are glad, and the innocent mock the wicked, not with sinful arrogance, but with the joyful irony of seeing the proud brought low and the scoffers silenced.
They declare what has happened: "Truly those who rise against us are wiped out, And their abundance the fire has consumed." Their wealth, their power, their security, all the things in which they trusted, are gone. The fire of God's judgment consumes it all, and only that which is built on the rock remains.
The Gospel for Bad Theologians and Suffering Saints
So what do we do with this? Eliphaz was right in his doctrine of wickedness but dead wrong in his application to Job. He saw the ancient path of rebellion and correctly described it, but he failed to see the more ancient path of faith, the path of a man like Job who trusts God even when he cannot trace Him.
The ultimate example of Eliphaz’s error is found at the cross. If you were to apply his rigid syllogism to the man hanging on the central cross, what would you conclude? Here is a man suffering more than any man has ever suffered. Therefore, he must be the most wicked man who ever lived. This is precisely the conclusion the mockers at the foot of the cross came to. They saw His suffering and assumed it was for His own sin. They were blind to the reality of substitutionary atonement.
Jesus Christ walked a truly ancient path, but it was not the path of the wicked. He walked the path of perfect obedience that Adam forsook. And on that path, He took upon Himself the curse that belongs to all who walk the wicked path. The flood of God’s wrath that Eliphaz spoke of, the river that washes away the foundations of the wicked, was poured out upon Him. He was "snatched away before his time." The wicked said to Him, "Depart from us," and they cast Him out of the city to crucify Him.
And because He endured that judgment in our place, we who trust in Him are declared righteous. We are taken off the ancient path to ruin and set upon the narrow path to life. The counsel of the wicked is far from us, not because of our own wisdom, but because God has given us the mind of Christ.
And one day, we will see the final judgment. We will see all that is wrong made right. We will see the wicked silenced and God’s glory fill the earth. And we will be glad. Not with the smug self-righteousness of Eliphaz, but with the humble, grateful joy of those who know that the only reason we are not consumed by that same fire is the grace of God that was poured out on our Savior. We were all on that ancient path, but God, in His mercy, snatched us off it and placed our feet upon the Rock.