Job 15:1-16: a reflection

1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered, 2“Should a wise man answer with vain knowledge, and fill himself with the east wind? 3Should he reason with unprofitable talk, or with speeches with which he can do no good? 4Yes, you do away with fear, and hinder devotion before God. 5For your iniquity teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty. 6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you. 7“Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought out before the hills? 8Have you heard the secret counsel of God? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? 9What do you know that we don’t know? What do you understand which is not in us? 10With us are both the gray-headed and the very aged men, much older than your father. 11Are the consolations of God too small for you, even the word that is gentle toward you? 12Why does your heart carry you away? Why do your eyes flash, 13that you turn your spirit against God, and let such words go out of your mouth? 14What is man, that he should be clean? What is he who is born of a woman, that he should be righteous? 15Behold, he puts no trust in his holy ones. Yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight; 16how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks iniquity like water!

Eliphaz, in his harsh second speech to the suffering Job, says much that is cruel and mistaken; but he raises, amid it, a true and humbling question: What is man, that he should be clean? How can one born of woman be righteous? Behold, God puts no trust even in his holy ones, and the heavens are not clean in his sight. However wrongly Eliphaz applies this to condemn Job, the truth of it stands: no human being is clean or righteous before God on their own.

Notice the true and humbling thread in Eliphaz's harsh words: that no one is clean or righteous before God on their own. This is not a truth to be wielded cruelly against the suffering, as Eliphaz wielded it; but it is true nonetheless. Before the holy God, no human being can claim to be clean, righteous, pure by their own merit; we all fall short, all need cleansing we cannot provide ourselves. The truth humbles every claim to self-righteousness before a holy God.

That humbling truth, rightly held, drives us not to despair but to seek the cleansing God provides. If no one is clean or righteous before God on their own, then we cannot stand before him on the strength of our own goodness; we need a righteousness and a cleansing we cannot provide ourselves. And this is exactly what God gives in Christ, who cleanses us and clothes us in a righteousness not our own. Do not trust in your own cleanness or righteousness to stand before God; no one is clean before him on their own merit. But do not despair; the God before whom no one is clean has provided, in Christ, the cleansing and righteousness you cannot provide yourself. Let the humbling truth that you are not clean before God on your own drive you not to despair, and not to false self-righteousness, but to Christ, who gives the cleansing and righteousness you need to stand before the holy God.

Lord, Eliphaz, in his harsh speech to the suffering Job, said much that was cruel and mistaken; but he raised a true and humbling question: what is man, that he should be clean? how can one born of woman be righteous, when the heavens are not clean in your sight? However wrongly he applied it to condemn Job, the truth of it stands: no human being is clean or righteous before you on their own. Show me that true thread, rightly held, not to wield cruelly, but to humble every claim to self-righteousness before you, the holy God. Before you, no human being can claim to be clean, righteous, pure by their own merit; we all fall short, all need cleansing we cannot provide ourselves. And rightly held, this truth drives me not to despair but to seek the cleansing you provide. If no one is clean before you on their own, then I cannot stand before you on the strength of my own goodness; I need a righteousness and a cleansing I cannot provide myself. And this is exactly what you give in Christ, who cleanses me and clothes me in a righteousness not my own. Keep me from trusting in my own cleanness to stand before you; but keep me from despair too. Let the humbling truth that I am not clean before you on my own drive me to Christ, Lord, who gives the cleansing and righteousness I need to stand before you. Cleanse me in Christ, for I cannot cleanse myself.