Job 22:29

Therefore it is better, I think, to take the first clause as referred to by "God resisteth the proud." When (men) are cast down, thou shalt say (behold the effects of) pride. Eliphaz hereby justifies himself for attributing Job's calamities to his pride. "Giveth grace to the humble," answers to the second clause.

ALTHOUGH we cannot take everything that Eliphaz the Temanite happened to say as being of Divine authority— the immediate Inspiration of the Holy Spirit—yet in this case he evidently gives utterance to such a great and important Truth of God that we may regard these words of his as being the words of God, confirmed as they are by like sentiments to be found in other parts of the Scriptures. If you read the verse carefully you will sympathize with the perplexity of expositors who have been not a little puzzled to know which, out of three meanings, is the one intended. I shall not presume to pronounce an arbitrary decision, but after mentioning the three different constructions, I shall dwell upon the last, and amplify it for practical uses. The first is that this verse may be read by way of discrimination. When other men—the wicked and ungodly—are cast down, Believers, resting upon their God, shall be able to say, "There is lifting up." And instead of harboring a thought of despair, they shall cling to the promise that God will save the humble person. The text may thus indicate the distinction there is between the righteous and the wicked. When the flood came, the ungodly world was bowed down by fear, but Noah could say, "There is lifting up." And as the ark began to float upon the waters, his mind was perfectly convinced that God would save the humble. When the fiery sleet began to fall upon Sodom and Gomorrah, the wicked were wise too late, and they, too, were filled with dismay. But Lot, as he escaped out of the city, could feel that there was for him "lifting up," and that God had saved out of the midst of destruction that "humble person," whose ears and heart had been vexed with the ungodly speeches of the Sodomites.

THIS is Eliphaz, the Temanite, who is speaking, and he is telling Job what he thinks would be the condition of a man who had been sincere. He says that surely, God's Presence would be with him, the light would shine upon his ways and then, when he was, himself, happy in the Light of God, when other men were cast down, he would be able to say to them, "there is lifting up."

ALTHOUGH we cannot take everything that Eliphaz the Temanite happened to say as being of Divine authority— the immediate Inspiration of the Holy Spirit—yet in this case he evidently gives utterance to such a great and important Truth of God that we may regard these words of his as being the words of God, confirmed as they are by like sentiments to be found in other parts of the Scriptures.

THIS is Eliphaz, the Temanite, who is speaking, and he is telling Job what he thinks would be the condition of a man who had been sincere. He says that surely, God's Presence would be with him, the light would shine upon his ways and then, when he was, himself, happy in the Light of God, when other men were cast down, he would be able to say to them, "there is lifting up." Keeping that thought in mind, I will commence my discourse, this evening, by observing that if any of us have the Light of God, it is not given to us for ourselves alone. There is nothing selfish in the gifts of God. The Jews were elected to receive the Oracles of God, but it was in order that they might keep them for the rest of us, that in the midst of Israel the lamp of the Truth of God might be trimmed and kept burning for the nations that then waited in darkness. When God calls any man by His Grace, it is with a view to others. Your salvation has many hooks to it with which to draw on the salvation of many more. If a man is truly converted, the influence of his conversion will spread to others—it is an act of mercy from God to him with a view also to his children, his friends, his neighbors, his dependents. It is the same with the Light in the Believer's heart. When you are very merry, shut not up your mirth within your own soul, but sing Psalms that others may hear your gladness. When God makes you a feast, eat not your morsel, alone, but call in many of the poor, the lame, the halt and the blind, that they may feast with you, for there are many such in God's family and they will be glad to come to spiritual as well as to temporal feasts. If your face is made to shine in the Light of God, it is not that you may see it, for Moses "knew not that the skin of his face shone," but it is that others may see what a Light God has put in your countenance and may rejoice in that Light.

When men are cast down - There is a great difficulty in this verse; the sense, however, is tolerably evident, and the following is nearly a literal version: When they shall humble themselves, thou shalt say, Be exalted, or, there is exaltation: for the down-cast of eye he will save. The same sentiment as that of our Lord, “He that exalteth himself shall be abased; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”