Eliphaz replies to Job with a clear statement of the conventional wisdom that God protects the good and punishes the bad. “Think now: who that was innocent ever perished? Or where were the upright cut off? As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same. By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed” (Job 4:7-9).

There’s a certain appeal to this “what goes around comes around” sense of things. And yet: haven’t we all seen way too many situations where good people suffered and died? Are we really in a position to assert, as an infallible rule, that when something bad happens to you, it’s because God is punishing you for your sins?

Eliphaz is sure that this is indeed the rule, with no exceptions. We are all sinners before the face of God (4:17). People breed trouble for themselves (5:7), so Job should just seek God (5:8), and indeed Job should even be glad that God has rebuked him this way for his sin (5:17).

But wait. If Eliphaz’s conventional-wisdom theology is correct, isn’t he himself liable to be feeling God’s punishment next? If Eliphaz really believes what he has said about how God sees the real sinfulness in all of us, shouldn’t Eliphaz be desperately confessing his own sins and seeking repentance and forgiveness, rather than smugly presuming that Job was a sinner while Eliphaz himself was not?

* * * * *

We are so ready to assert our own goodness while decrying the badness of others, O Lord: so ready to tell others what’s wrong with them and how they should fix it. God of mercy, teach us rather to be people of compassion and graciousness to all the hurting souls around us.