Job 15

Have you known any Eliphazes in your life? I’ve known a few. Actually, I’ve known more than a few. And why is it that they mostly seem to flock to the church? (Sigh.) Here is Eliphaz, once again, trying to put Job in his place: "Do you think you’re the first person to have to deal with these things? Have you been around as long as the hills? Were you listening in when God planned all this? Do you think you’re the only one who knows anything? What do you know that we don’t know? What insights do you have that we’ve missed? Gray beards and white hair back us up—old folks who’ve been around a lot longer than you." (vs 7-10)

Eliphaz was affronted at the things Job had said and the questions he had asked. You see, Eliphaz believed that God was a certain kind of person, and that was not to be questioned. In telling Job that he had "gray beards and white hair" on his side, Eliphaz was simply saying, "Our religious tradition trumps everything else." Eliphaz couldn’t conceive that Job could have a better understanding of God than "the elders," and he certainly didn’t take kindly to Job questioning the status quo. In verse 6 of this chapter, Eliphaz comes right out and tells Job that—even if he has no secret sin of which to repent—what he’s currently saying is plenty enough to get him in trouble.

The sad fact was that the religious tradition of Eliphaz and his friends was the very thing that blinded them to the reality of Job’s experience. They were totally incapable of empathizing with Job, of listening to him, of caring for him, of doing anything except insist that he had brought his misfortune on himself and demand that he repent. This is the sad fate of tradition. It is so often closed to anything else but itself. It is so often used against people. It is so often used to close doors, not open them.

I like how Oswald Chambers put it: "When once the sledgehammer of tradition is brought to bear, there is nothing more to say... The Pharisees adopted this method with Jesus... The 'Eliphaz' method has hindered more souls in developing the life with God than almost any other thing."

I don’t mind saying that I think God hates the sledgehammer of tradition. Look no further than Jesus, who spent so much of His time bucking tradition (no doubt, one of the biggest reasons He was hated by the Pharisees). God is not about keeping the status quo. God is about vibrant life, discovery, and relationship. He’s the God who says, "Come, let us reason together" (Isa 1:18). He welcomes our questions, our protests, and our arguments.

When my oldest daughter was a newborn, my days and nights were filled with three things: feeding her, changing her diapers, and rocking her to sleep. Now she's eight, and my days are filled with homeschooling her, and for the most parts, I have my nights back! But, if she'd been mentally able to process it at the time, what if she had refused to stop wearing diapers and start eating with utensils. What if she had said, "I like bottles and diapers. That's the way it's always been, and that's the way it should continue to be." That would have been ridiculous! It's wonderful to watch her learn and explore the world, and now, as we're homeschooling, I love it when she asks questions and discovers new things. I want to share everything with her. But that would never happen if she was determined to stay stuck at a certain level.

It’s the same way with God. He doesn’t want us to remain stuck. He wants us to ask questions and discover new things. When we’re in a relationship with Him, if we don’t know more than the "gray beards and white hair," at the very least, we should have an awful lot of questions for them. So, let me make an appeal to pastors and church-going folk: Please, can we stop with the "Eliphaz" method? If God is willing to buck tradition, maybe we ought to also be a little more open-minded.