Job 5:3

3 I have seen [ra'ah] the foolish ['eviyl] taking root [sharash]: but suddenly [pith'owm] I cursed [naqab] his habitation [naveh]. KJV-Interlinear

3 'I have seen the foolish taking root, And I cursed his abode immediately. NASB

Eliphaz now becomes emphatic. He, even he himself, has seen the wicked. They are easily identified. They are easily determined. They are easily found out.

He states that the sinner is always punished, even if they have prosperity in this world. And, if they are prosperous, then Eliphaz is not deceived by their circumstances. He knows!

He can see their sin, through their veil of prosperity and habits. And knowing the sinners true nature, he, Eliphaz, personally curses them, because God will curse them eventually. History has born this out over and over again.

So what is wrong with this picture? Self-righteousness and personal judging of others.

You know that if you hold a witch under water long enough, then the true witch will die, and if a person is not a witch, then God will deliver them. Does that sound reasonable?

If a person lives in a place long enough, then if weather, or disaster, or flooding, or tornadoes, or any catastrophe strikes them, then they are being judged by God for their sins.

If a person lives long enough, then if they become sick with the flu, or injured in an accident, or lose their job, or lose their business, or lose their family, or lose their marriage, or if anything in this life happens to them, then is it not their sins, which have brought them their just punishment?

And in this, Eliphaz becomes a prophet. However, his prophecy is hindsight, not foresight. He sees the difficulty and then pronounces the reason.

In this, Eliphaz is judgmental, and in his telling Job, he becomes a gossip. Both of which are wrong. The world is full of those who are opinionated. They will tell you like it is, and they will not be swayed from their beliefs. Of course, if anything negative happens to them, then it will be for other reasons.

No person has the capabilities of God. No person has the ability to look inside another person's soul, and determine his or her spiritual status.

None of us can look at a person's circumstances and determine whether or not they are under Gods blessing, whether or not they are under Gods cursing, or whether or not they are simply under Gods consent to be as they are.

A rich person may be rich only because God is allowing him to provide jobs or support of some type, for other people. A poor man may be poor because God is training him to rely on God, rather than on money.

You can look at anyone in this world and certainly come to a knowledge of a person's spiritual status, by observation, by listening to their comments and so forth. The path to ones soul is not through their eyes, but by means of their mouth. The mouth reveals the true self sooner or later.

There are folks that are really good at deception. And with them it takes a long time to gain an understanding of ther true thoughts and motives.

Eliphaz, professes to be able to determine the sinful state of others, almost instantly. That is something that is nearly impossible for any person. Job is being judged. He is being judged politely thus far, but judged just the same. And yet God has already given us Job's evaluation, 'blameless and upright none like him in all the world.'

So now, what of Eliphaz's claim and innuendo regarding Job?

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