Eliphaz continues in this chapter to expound his belief that earthly misfortune is caused by sin:
Because Eliphaz remembered in the revelation made to him, among other things that men “dwell in houses of clay whose foundation is in the dust and die eaten as by a moth,” (4:19), he wants now to demonstrate this in the different conditions of men. For there is no condition of man in which there is no tendency to sin. Now there are two conditions of man. Some are treat and haughty in spirit and are easily provoked to anger because anger is the desire for revenge originating from a previous injury. Thus the more haughty a man is in his soul, the more he thinks himself offended for a slight cause and is therefore more easily provoked to anger. Therefore he says, “Wrath kills the fool,” because a man especially exceeds the boundaries of reason through his pride, whereas humility prepares the way of wisdom. As Proverbs says, “Where there is humility, there is wisdom.” (11:2) The foolishness of anger also corresponds with this because the angry man, as Aristotle teaches, uses even reason in searching for revenge for an injury, but he uses it wrongly when he does not guard the moderation of reason in his revenge. The perversion of reason is foolishness. Other men are timid and these are prone to envy. So he continues, “and jealousy slays the simple.” He says this with good reason. For envy is nothing else but sadness about the prosperity of another in that the prosperity of the other is thought to impede one’s own prosperity. When someone does not think that he can prosper together with others who are also prospering, this happens from smallness of soul. So it is clear that man, in whatever condition he exists, is prone to some sin. For it would be easy to adduce things similar to these concerning other sins.
By all he has said up to now, Eliphaz intends to prove that adversities in this world do not happen to anyone except as a punishment for sin. There seem to be two objections against this. One is the fact that many just men seem to be subject to adversities, but he seemed to have answered this objection by showing that men easily sin. The second objection is that some wicked men prosper in this world. He intends to answer this objection next by the manner in which their prosperity superabounds to their own evil. So he says, “I have seen the fool,” who is the man who takes pride in his riches, “taking root,” to appear firmly established in the prosperity of this world. But I did not approve of his prosperity. Rather, “I suddenly cursed his beauty.” Consider here that he speaks about a man using the metaphor of a tree, whose roots produce beauty in the branches and the fruit when they are firmly in the ground. He therefore compares the prosperity of a man rooted in riches to the beauty of a tree, which he curses in pronouncing it to be evil and harmful. As Qoheleth says, “There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun, riches kept by their owner to his harm.” (5:12) He adds, “suddenly,” to show that he in no way doubts this opinion.
Go here to read the rest. Eliphaz of course is correct in his observation that all sin, the two exceptions not having been born at the time the book of Job was written. However, as the Book of Job demonstrates the assumption that misfortune is the penalty of sin is the mistake of assuming that we know the reasons for an act of God, which is presumptuous and likely wrong.
