Eliphaz to Job: 3. The history of a fool.
I. THE FOOL'S CHARACTER.
1. An impious fool. The mental and moral portrait of the aevil (verse 2) is minutely outlined in the Book of Proverbs, as distinguished by contempt of true wisdom (Proverbs 1:1-33;Proverbs 7:1-27), talkativeness (Proverbs 10:8), self-conceit (Proverbs 12:15), irritability of temper (Proverbs 12:16), pride (Proverbs 14:3), fretfulness against God (Proverbs 19:3), sinfulness of thought (Proverbs 24:9), etc; most of which qualities were, in the judgment of Eliphaz, possessed by the aevil whom he depicted, who was probably Job.
2. A moral simpleton. The potheh is also sketched in Proverbs, as one who is easily seduced by temptation (Proverbs 9:14-18) and flattery (Proverbs 7:7); who is destitute of any power of self-restraint, credulous of what he hears (Proverbs 14:15), and heedless of danger (Proverbs 27:12). According to Eliphaz, he is also marked by envy.
II. THE FOOL'S ISOLATION.
1. Unheeded by God. "Call now, if there be any that will answer thee" (Verse 1); perhaps meaning, ironically, You had better prepare an indictment against the Deity." Practically, implies Eliphaz, this is what the sinner does who storms at the Divine dispensations towards him. All sin is more or less an impeachment of the Divine righteousness and equity (Genesis 3:1). Yet so utterly wild and extravagant is the idea of a puny, sinful creature like man entering the lists against God; so immeasurably foolish as well as presumptuous the imagination that Infinite Purity and Wisdom can be arraigned with any hope of success, that the speaker represents the sinner's clamorous outcries as fining unheeded and unheard through the silent heavens. The Ineffable Supreme gives no indication that he is so much as conscious of his accuser's presence; neither replying himself nor commissioning another to appear in his behalf. The silence of Heaven, frequently misconstrued by the sinner (Psalms 1:1-6:21), if indicative of the Divine patience and clemency, is no less eloquent of the Divine security against, and Divine contempt for, the sinner.
2. Unassisted by his fellow-creatures. "To which of the holy ones," saints or more probably angels, "wilt thou turn?" i.e. in order to procure help in thine outrageous suit against the Almighty. Eliphaz assumes that wicked men and fallen angels could not, while with equal confidence he asserts that good men and holy angels would not, assist a fool in any such presumptuous enterprise. The language graphically portrays the sinner's impotence against God (Isaiah 27:4).
III. THE FOOL'S MISERY.
1. Consumed with chagrin. "Wrath killeth the foolish man." The term "wrath" includes in its signification inward vexation at one's own wretched lot. It is the opposite of that calm, quiescent, submissive meekness which a good man strives to evince in adversity, and which was exemplified by David (Psalms 39:9), St. Paul (2 Corinthians 6:9, 2 Corinthians 6:10), and Job (Job 1:21).
2. Eaten up of envy. "Envy slayeth the silly one." Fretfulness as regards one's own particular condition is commonly associated with envy at the good (real or supposed) of others. As only a sincerely good man can heartily rejoice in the prosperity of his neighbour, so is it only a bad man, a moral weakling, who allows himself to be irritated thereby. David (Psalms 37:1), Asaph (Psalms 73:2), and St. Paul (Romans 13:13; Galatians 5:21), warn against this supreme manifestation of folly.
3. Devoured by rage. "Wrath [passion] killeth the foolish man." The prominent idea in the term "wrath" is that of indignation against the Arbiter of human destiny. It is the object of Eliphaz to depict at once the supreme unhappiness of the fool as the victim of his own evil passions, and the appalling destiny of the fool which is that of a moral suicide; his destruction, when it comes, being not so much inflicted by the stroke of God's hand as wrought out by the inward violence of his own sinful lusts—a melancholy illustration of the auto-nemesis of sin.
IV. THE FOOL'S OVERTHROW.
1. Unexpected. Destruction springs upon the poor fool when least anticipated, when, having struck down his roots and sent forth his branches, he appears to be flourishing like a green bay tree (Psalms 37:35), and to have attained to a position of conspicuous prosperity, of great power, and absolute security (1 Samuel 25:37; Luke 12:20; Acts 12:23).
2. Sudden. In an instant the scene changes, and the fair tree of his prosperity stands scorched and blasted, leafless and bare. "Suddenly I cursed his habitation;" i.e. I beheld it cursed. This has sometimes been true, as Asaph testifies (Psalms 73:20), and as facts witness (Nebuchadnezzar, Haman, Herod, the two Napoleons), though not always (Psalms 17:14; Psalms 73:4).
3. Visible. The approach of the fool's fall, seldom apprehended by himself, is commonly foreseen by others. "Suddenly I cursed his habitation;" meaning that the moment Eliphaz beheld the foolish one taking root, he pronounced his homestead cursed; he could anticipate nothing for him but a speedy and swift engulfment in dark misfortune. So in the moral, no less than in the material, world, "coming events cast their shadows before."
4. Complete. The fool's overthrow extends to:
5. Righteous. The calamity which overtakes the fool is not an accident or unfortunate mischance, not the production of earth and its physical constitution (verse 6), but the inevitable result of a law under which man, as a moral being, has been placed, viz. that if he sin, he shall suffer as certainly as the sparks fly upward.
Learn:
1. There is no appeal for man against the judgments of a holy God.
2. When God forsakes a sinner, all the saints on earth (as well as angels in heaven) forsake him too.
3. The greatest enemy a sinner has is himself.
4. Rage against God's judgments is more dangerous to a soul than are the judgments themselves.
5. Neither permanence nor prosperity is a certain mark of goodness, since foolish men may take root.
6. The prosperity of fools is a great trial to saints.
7. The curse of the Lord is in the habitation of the wicked.
8. Outward good things are no mark of the Divine favour.
9. When fathers eat sour grapes, the children's teeth are set on edge.
10. Men frequently fail to enjoy that upon which they have bestowed much labour.
11. God often uses the wicked to punish the wicked in this life.
12. Man's sufferings do not spring from his surroundings, but from himself.
13. The suffering condition of man is incontestable evidence of a fall.