Job 22:8 | KingComments | STEP | Eliphaz is going to mention examples of Job’s wickedness and iniquity. He makes the harshest accusations without any foundation. Evidence or witnesses are missing. This goes far beyond imputations – and how quickly we become guilty of this. Eliphaz accuses Job of social injustice. Job may think that he is in God’s favor and that he is pure, but how is that possible when he has wronged his nearest and dearest? That is why God brings these disasters upon him, Eliphaz says, who cannot think of any other explanation for suffering. If someone has misfortune in his business, sickness in his family, loses a loved one, then a conclusion is simply drawn. How cruel this is. It also goes against the clear indication that only on the basis of two or three witnesses any case is to be confirmed ( ). Later, Job will emphatically deny and refute all these accusations (Job 31). Eliphaz deduces from the situation in which Job finds himself what crimes Job has undoubtedly been guilty of. He argues according to the principle ‘an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth’. God punishes Job with the same things he was guilty of. Job is now without any possessions and without clothing. This means that he must have taken possessions from others and stripped men naked ( ). Eliphaz does not shy away from sketching the situation as if he has been an eyewitness to it. Job lent his brothers, his relatives, money and took a pledge for it. When they failed to repay the loan, he stripped them to their bare bodies ( ; ). He presents Job as someone who unscrupulously robs the vulnerable, even if it concerns his family. According to Eliphaz, Job not only robbed people, i.e. took something from them, but also did not give people what they needed ( ). He did not give those in need of refreshment any water to drink. He didn’t give bread to the hungry. This shows his criminal, heartless attitude toward the needy. That is why he himself is now tormented by thirst and hunger. Yes, he has given something to others ( ). But this happened out of the same self-interest as why he gave nothing to some. Job has given “a mighty man” land. After all, he himself could benefit from that. The honorable person who lived there would certainly reward the generous Job by using his influence for him when he needed something. You shouldn’t think that Job knew charity. He was one of those people of whom it is sometimes said: ‘They lick up and kick down.’ That is, they flatter some people who are above them in power or prestige, and they despise other people who are powerless and without prestige. Those powerless, insignificant people include widows and orphans ( ). God’s special care goes out to them. He is “a father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows” ( ). But Job did not care about that. When a widow came to him and asked him for a favor, he sent her away empty-handed. He was even more ruthless with the orphans. He crushed “the strength of the orphans”, which means that he took away everything the orphans still possessed and which gave them some support in life. How ruthless! Therefore Job should not be surprised that “snares surround” him, that he is a prisoner of the consequences of his sins ( ). It is precisely “therefore”, because of all those terrible sins he has committed. That is the reason why he has been suddenly overcome by dread. Eliphaz is referring to the terrible disasters that struck Job, and that God took everything from him. Or is Job blind to the reason for the darkness in which he finds himself ( )? Surely that will not be true? It is as clear as the day he brought this suffering upon himself because of his sins. The “abundance of water” that covers him speaks of the sorrows and pains that have engulfed him. If only Job didn’t think all this happened for no reason. Of course, this is a call from God that he must confess his sins.