THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: - Vital Christianity

48“Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the uprightever destroyed?”In Job 22:5 Eliphaz falsely accused Job by his accusatory questions,“Is not your wickedness great? Are not your sins endless?”Then Eliphaz goes on and reprimands Job for gross social sins against the needy, who arenaked and hungry:“You demanded security from your brothers for no reason; you stripped men oftheir clothing, leaving them naked. You gave no water to the weary and youwithheld food from the hungry. . . .” (Job 22:6-7)He also reprimands widows and the fatherless:“And you sent widows away empty-handed and broke the strength of thefatherless” (Job 22:9).Yet the only proof Eliphaz has for Job’s alleged wickedness is his present suffering:“That is why snares are all around you, why sudden peril terrifies you, why it is sodark you cannot see, and why a flood of water covers you” (Job 22:10-11).In chapter 29 Job emphatically denies the kind of behavior of which Eliphaz accuses him:“ . . . because I rescued the poor who cried for help,and the fatherless who had none to assist him.The man who was dying blessed me;I made the widow's heart sing.I put on righteousness as my clothing;justice was my robe and my turban.I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame.I was a father to the needy;I took up the case of the stranger.I broke the fangs of the wickedand snatched the victims from their teeth” (vv. 12:17).