Gardening

“For your guilt teaches your mouth, and you choose the language of the crafty.” Job 15:5 NASB

Crafty – “Naked I came into the world” is another way to say that when I arrived I didn’t have a hidden agenda. That’s what we learn from the phonetically similar Hebrew word arom in Genesis 2:25. Adam and Havvah were arummim (‘naked”) and not ashamed. Why weren’t they ashamed? Nakedness is almost always associated with shamefulness in the Bible. They were not ashamed because they had nothing to hide. But not so the serpent. In the very next verse we encounter the word used here by Eliphaz, arum. Here it means cunning, crafty, understood in the LXX as “ready to do anything.” Sometimes it is positive (as in “prudent”) but often it is negative. The Genesis passage sets the tone for our understanding of this word. Eliphaz helps us see how it applies to us.

Guilt teaches us the manipulative use of words. Without confession and repentance we learn to be masters of deflection, rationalization and excuse. The degree to which we justify our disobedience is limited only by the tools of rhetoric. We use words to hide from ourselves. Perhaps Adam’s fig leaves were nothing more than the utterances of defense.

Notice Eliphaz observes that such eloquence is a choice. It is a display of controlled linguistic contortion. Words ultimately belong to God. They are intended to reveal His purposes, His character and His truth. But like most loans to humanity, they can be twisted for other purposes. The yetzer ha’ra is not mute even if he only whispers. Perhaps we would draw closer to the Father more quickly if we paid attention to our favorite pretexts. Would you be willing to write them down?

No human being is born with a native tongue. It must be learned by association, context and practice. We might say the same for arum. Associate yourself with excuses, find a context for justification and self-approval, practice rationalization, explanation and apology and you learn the language of the serpent. Now you can hide behind a wall of words and do as you please. Whoever has the dictionary of deceit rules.

Eliphaz teaches us the escape path from this linguistic labyrinth. Remove the guilt and speak the truth. Removing the guilt is what God does when we speak the truth and that starts when we speak the truth about ourselves to Him. “Father, I am full of excuses. I am choking on my own justifications. My ears are filled with the sounds of the serpent. I wear a belt of pride to cover my shame. I have learned to lie—to You and to myself. You, Lord, are the only One who speaks truth. Let me come into Your presence once again so that I may be taught Your words. Help me, Father, to teach my mouth Your praises, to learn of You and repeat what You have declared. I need a new language if I am to be delivered from the one I taught myself.”

Topical Index: arum, arom, naked, crafty, guilt, excuse, Job 15:5