◄ Job 22:23 ►














Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
The Penitent's Return And Restoration
Job 22:23
W.F. Adeney

I. THE RETURN.

1. To God. All sin is departure from God; and repentance is a return to God. As the fall is from personal relations, so the recovery is a renewal of personal relations. When the sinner comes to himself, he sees that his one hope is to "arise and go unto" his Father. Thus the very Being against whom he has sinned is sought for pardon and restoration. Now, it is not possible to mend our ways without thus coming back to God. His power and presence are the inspiration of the new life. The very thought of God as the Almighty is a help in this return. Although we are first moved by perceiving his goodness and mercy, we are conscious that we are helpless in ourselves and need heavenly aid to regenerate our souls. Thus the invincible power of God, which was our terror while we remained impenitent, becomes our hope as soon as we repent.

2. From sin, taking the last clause of the verse as a condition of God's help. We must put away iniquity from our tabernacles if we are to expect God's restoring mercies.

(1) Sin must be rejected. We cannot return to God and retain our sin. That must ever remain at a distance from him. Therefore we can only return by cutting our-solves off from it, and leaving it behind. It is necessary to abandon the practice of sin as well as to regret the past sin.

(2) Sin must go from the home - from the "tabernacles." Private sin must be abandoned; though now curtained in secret, it may not be harboured any longer. Cherished sin must go. Habitual sin must be cast out. It is easy to renounce the strange sin that only touches us now and again. The difficulty is with the besetting sin - that which dwells in the tabernacles. Yet this too must go.

II. THE RESTORATION. The returning penitent is to be "built up."

1. On fulfilling the conditions. He must return to God; he must renounce sin. There is's foolish notion that God's goodness will blot out the consequences of sin without these conditions being fulfilled. To do so weald be to outrage justice as well as to fly in the face of nature, We cannot have the rewards of grace without first accepting its inward influences. Forgiveness is not merely the cancelling of penalties; that is but an incident of the transaction; in itself it is a very personal thing, and until the personal reconciliation in which it consists is accomplished, only the lowest views of God's government could lead us to look for the external advantages.

2. In personal recover. The sinner himself is to be built up. Sin breaks a man down - breaks down character, reputation, faculty, energy. The fallen life is a broken life. Now, the first act o! Divine restoration touches the nature of the sinner himself. He is lifted up from the dust and set on his feet. Like a ruined building, shaken down by the earthquake, he is built up again, that he himself - and not merely his belongings - may be strong and beautiful. Thus the restored penitent is made a temple for the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, a fortress to keep out future invasions of evil, a palace in which the fairest graces of the kingdom can be nourished, a hospital and asylum for the sick and miserable, a school of new thoughts and enterprises, a home of prayer and love.

3. In external prosperity. It is only too likely that poor Eliphaz thought exclusively, or at all events quite disproportionately, of this when he spoke of Job being built up again. The patriarch's ruined fortune could be restored. This is not the chief part of a Divine restoration. Still in some way - though not always in restored wealth - it does follow that the outer as well as the inner life is favoured by a penitent return to God. - W. F. A.

Biblical Illustrator
If thou return to the Almighty.
Job 22:23-30
Spiritual Reformation
Homilist.
I. THE NATURE OF A TRUE SPIRITUAL REFORMATION IS HERE SET FORTH.

1. Reconciliation to God. Men in their unregenerate state are out of sympathy with their Maker. There is an estrangement of soul.

2. Practical regard to the Divine precepts. "Receive, I pray thee, the law from His mouth, and lay up His words in thine heart." Put thy being under the reign of heavenly laws.

3. Renunciation of all iniquity. "Thou shalt put away iniquity far from thy tabernacles." There is no reformation where sin is cherished, or where it is allowed to linger.

4. Estimating the best things as worthless in comparison with God. "Then shalt thou lay up gold as dust, and the gold of Ophir as the stones of the brook. Yea, the Almighty shall be thy defence, and thou shalt have plenty of silver."

II. The ADVANTAGES of a true spiritual reformation, as here set forth. Eliphaz says that if Job would only act out his counsel he should, enjoy signal advantages. "Thereby good shall come unto thee." What is the good" he refers to? He specifies several things. —

1. Restoration of lost blessings. "Thou shalt be built up." All thy losses shall be repaired, and the breaches in thy fortune healed. How much Job had lost!

2. Delight in God. Job had been complaining of the Almighty; and his face was cast down in sadness.

3. Answer to prayer. Prayer is always answered where it leads to a submission to the Divine will; and true prayer always leads to this.

4. Realisation of purposes. Thou shalt form a plan or purpose, and it shall not be frustrated.

5. rower of usefulness. When men are cast down, thou shalt say, "Cheer up."

(Homilist.)

Standing right with God
G. Cubitt.
"Thou shalt have plenty of silver." But, first, the religion such a motive would produce would be worth little. Religion is not, in its nature, external. And the desire of the silver could only bring to an external conformity to the Divine commands. And, second, the motive cannot be urged. The statement of Eliphaz was grounded in a mistaken view of Divine Providence. Gold and silver are given and withheld as the sovereign Lord sees fit; and their distribution follows not the rules of holy obedience.

I. THE HORTATORY PORTIONS OR THE TEXT.

1. The belief of Eliphaz was, that Job was a great sinner; and he therefore urges the necessity of returning to God. He was mistaken in his particular views of Job.

2. Returning to God, we shall "acquaint ourselves with Him, and be at peace." The expression implies knowledge and intimacy.

3. Thus standing right with God, a two-fold duty devolves on us.(1) Due preparation for practice. "Receive the law from His mouth." Acknowledge Him as supreme Lord.(2) Practice itself. "Put away iniquity," — have nothing to do with it personally: "from thy tabernacles," — allow it not in the circle which thou governest.

II. BLESSINGS SHALL COME FROM THIS BETTER THAN GOLD AND SILVER.

1. "Good shall come unto thee." God's favour, the light of His countenance, — all that makes the true eternal good of the soul.

2. "The Almighty shall be thy defence": against all real danger. A complete oversight and protection shall be granted thee.

3. "Thou shalt delight in the Almighty": in the thought of what He is in Himself, and to thee; and in His consciously possessed favour.

4. Thou "shalt lift up thy face unto God." Thou shalt not now be ashamed. Thou shalt have a holy, humble, but firm and joyful confidence. Sin makes the man afraid.

5. "Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He will hear thee." There is permission to enjoy this highest privilege. Pray, — be heard.

6. Thy path shall be truly happy. "The light shall shine on thy ways." Even providential obscurity shall make spiritual light more visible.

(G. Cubitt.)

Returning to God by conviction and progress
W. D. Horwood.
In the return of a human soul to God there is decision arising from conviction, — a conviction forced upon the conscience, and will, and reason, and feelings of the heart and mind, from the unanswerable compulsory power of circumstances. With regard to religious conviction as a necessary step to our returning to the Almighty, we may steel our minds against it from many causes; one, say, from the formal custom of hearing sermons. For blended with this kind of hearing may be a self-comparison with the religious teacher himself, and the self-satisfaction which may arise from this comparison. There may stand in the way of this conviction the strong bias of early impressions, of local customs, and of deeply-rooted habits of thought and conception. We may look at religious duties through not only very limited mediums, and therefore partial, but through certain party-coloured ones, and so mistake the broad expansive and glorious character of God's truth by the disfiguring and narrowing influence of bigotry, intolerance, and prejudice. When a man, however, steadily and fixedly sets the eye of his faith upon the Almighty, as the all-absorbing and exclusive end of his religious convictions and decisions, he returns to Him in the spirit of the prodigal. He returns to God with a humble heart, a humble faith, and a humble prayer. As a result of the return of the soul to the Almighty, it shall "be built up." This points to a progress of religious life and experience. There is a power exerted, on man's behalf above and independently of himself. It is "Thou shalt be built up," not "Thou shalt build thyself up." The spirit of man assuming the form of a building, in a moral and religious sense, becomes so after the manner of all other structures. It has its foundations in Christ; its gradual rise in the piling up, so to speak, of one virtue upon another, as stone upon stone. But as the earthly building is dependent upon the genius of the architect, so is the spiritual building dependent upon the wisdom and power of the Almighty. We may go where the castle or palace or temple once stood in noble splendour, in proud dignity, and in great strength, but now a crumbling ruin with wails gray with age, battered by the hand of time, or made spectral-like by fire, axe, and sword. But its remaining walls and columns and arches may be restored, strengthened, replenished, and built up again. So with the human soul, its original beauty and grandeur might be defaced by sin, and all its former promises of endurance might be broken by disobedience; but by the grace and mercy of God it may be built up once more.

(W. D. Horwood.)

People
Eliphaz, Job, Ophir
Places
Ophir, Uz
Topics
Almighty, Built, Evil, Humble, Iniquity, Low, Making, Mighty, Puttest, Remove, Restored, Return, Ruler, Tabernacles, Tent, Tents, Unrighteousness, Wickedness
Outline
1. Eliphaz shows that man's goodness profits not God
5. He accuses Job of various sins
21. He exhorts him to repentance, with promises of mercy

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Job 22:23

     5578   tents
     6740   returning to God
     8150   revival, personal

Job 22:22-26

     8287   joy, experience

Job 22:23-25

     4333   gold
     4363   silver
     5591   treasure
     6734   repentance, importance

Library
December 29 Morning
Understanding what the will of the Lord is.--EPH. 5:17. This is the will of God, even your sanctification.--Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.--This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.--We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal …
Anonymous—Daily Light on the Daily Path

Knowledge and Peace
'Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace: thereby good shall come unto thee.'--JOB xxii. 21. In the sense in which the speaker meant them, these words are not true. They mean little more than 'It pays to be religious.' What kind of notion of acquaintance with God Eliphaz may have had, one scarcely knows, but at any rate, the whole meaning of the text on his lips is poor and selfish. The peace promised is evidently only outward tranquillity and freedom from trouble, and the good that is to …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

What Life May be Made
'For then shalt thou have thy delight in the Almighty, and shalt lift up thy face unto God. 27. Thou shalt make thy prayer unto Him, and He shall hear thee, and thou shalt pay thy vows. 28. Thou shalt also decree a thing, and it shall be established unto thee: and the light shall shine upon thy ways. 29. When men are cast down, then thou shalt say, ... lifting up; and He shall save the humble person.'--JOB xxii. 26-29. These words are a fragment of one of the speeches of Job's friends, in which …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Whether all Things are under Divine Providence
Whether All Things are under Divine Providence We proceed to the second article thus: 1. It seems that not all things are under divine providence. For nothing that is ordained happens contingently, and if all things were provided by God, nothing would happen contingently. There would then be no such thing as chance or fortune. But this is contrary to common opinion. 2. Again, every wise provider, so far as he is able, preserves those in his care from defect and from evil. But we see many evils in …
Aquinas—Nature and Grace

Whether God is Everywhere by Essence, Presence and Power?
Objection 1: It seems that the mode of God's existence in all things is not properly described by way of essence, presence and power. For what is by essence in anything, is in it essentially. But God is not essentially in things; for He does not belong to the essence of anything. Therefore it ought not to be said that God is in things by essence, presence and power. Objection 2: Further, to be present in anything means not to be absent from it. Now this is the meaning of God being in things by His …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

Whether Everything is Subject to the Providence of God?
Objection 1: It seems that everything is not subject to divine providence. For nothing foreseen can happen by chance. If then everything was foreseen by God, nothing would happen by chance. And thus hazard and luck would disappear; which is against common opinion. Objection 2: Further, a wise provider excludes any defect or evil, as far as he can, from those over whom he has a care. But we see many evils existing. Either, then, God cannot hinder these, and thus is not omnipotent; or else He does …
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Doctrine of God
I. THE EXISTENCE OF GOD: (Vs. Atheism). 1. ASSUMED BY THE SCRIPTURES. 2. PROOFS OF THE EXISTENCE OF GOD. a) Universal belief in the Existence of God. b) Cosmological:--Argument from Cause. c) Teleological:--Argument from Design. d) Ontological:--Argument from Being. e) Anthropological:--Moral Argument. f) Argument from Congruity. g) Argument from Scripture. II. THE NATURE OF GOD: (Vs. Agnosticism) 1. THE SPIRITUALITY OF GOD: (Vs. Materialism). 2. THE PERSONALITY OF GOD: (Vs. Pantheism). 3. THE UNITY …
Rev. William Evans—The Great Doctrines of the Bible

The Case of the Christian under the Hiding of God's Face.
1. The phrase scriptural.--2. It signifies the withdrawing the tokens of the divine favor.--3 chiefly as to spiritual considerations.--4. This may become the case of any Christian.--5. and will be found a very sorrowful one.--6. The following directions, therefore, are given to those who suppose it to be their own: To inquire whether it be indeed a case of spiritual distress, or whether a disconsolate frame may not proceed from indisposition of body,--7. or difficulties as to worldly circumstances.--8, …
Philip Doddridge—The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul

Bands of Love; Or, Union to Christ. "I Drew them with Cords of a Man, with Bands of Love: and I was to them as they that Take Off the Yoke on their Jaws, and I Laid Meat unto Them. " --Hosea xi. 4.
BANDS OF LOVE; OR, UNION TO CHRIST. SYSTEMATIC theologians have usually regarded union to Christ under three aspects, natural, mystical and federal, and it may be that these three terms are comprehensive enough to embrace the whole subject, but as our aim is simplicity, let us be pardoned if we appear diffuse when we follow a less concise method. 1. The saints were from the beginning joined to Christ by bands of everlasting love. Before He took on Him their nature, or brought them into a conscious …
Charles Hadden Spurgeon—Till He Come

A Holy Life the Beauty of Christianity: Or, an Exhortation to Christians to be Holy. By John Bunyan.
Holiness becometh thine house, O Lord, for ever.'--[Psalm 93:5] London, by B. W., for Benj. Alsop, at the Angel and Bible, in the Poultrey. 1684. THE EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. This is the most searching treatise that has ever fallen under our notice. It is an invaluable guide to those sincere Christians, who, under a sense of the infinite importance of the salvation of an immortal soul, and of the deceitfulness of their hearts, sigh and cry, "O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest …
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Covenanting Enforced by the Grant of Covenant Signs and Seals.
To declare emphatically that the people of God are a covenant people, various signs were in sovereignty vouchsafed. The lights in the firmament of heaven were appointed to be for signs, affording direction to the mariner, the husbandman, and others. Miracles wrought on memorable occasions, were constituted signs or tokens of God's universal government. The gracious grant of covenant signs was made in order to proclaim the truth of the existence of God's covenant with his people, to urge the performance …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Epistle xxxix. To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria.
To Eulogius, Patriarch of Alexandria. Gregory to Eulogius, &c. As cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country (Prov. xxv. 25). But what can be good news to me, so far as concerns the behoof of holy Church, but to hear of the health and safety of your to me most sweet Holiness, who, from your perception of the light of truth, both illuminate the same Church with the word of preaching, and mould it to a better way by the example of your manners? As often, too, as I recall in …
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

Covenanting According to the Purposes of God.
Since every revealed purpose of God, implying that obedience to his law will be given, is a demand of that obedience, the announcement of his Covenant, as in his sovereignty decreed, claims, not less effectively than an explicit law, the fulfilment of its duties. A representation of a system of things pre-determined in order that the obligations of the Covenant might be discharged; various exhibitions of the Covenant as ordained; and a description of the children of the Covenant as predestinated …
John Cunningham—The Ordinance of Covenanting

Job
The book of Job is one of the great masterpieces of the world's literature, if not indeed the greatest. The author was a man of superb literary genius, and of rich, daring, and original mind. The problem with which he deals is one of inexhaustible interest, and his treatment of it is everywhere characterized by a psychological insight, an intellectual courage, and a fertility and brilliance of resource which are nothing less than astonishing. Opinion has been divided as to how the book should be …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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