God Gets Even

By the breath of God they perish, and by the ^[e]blast of His anger they come to an end.   Job 4:9 NASB

They come to an end – Does God destroy the wicked?  The Hebrew term, kālâ, used in this context means “to consume, finish, end.”  Eliphaz’ conclusion is that God will not, and does not, tolerate the wicked.  He finishes them off.  He destroys them.  He might use the tools of human justice to accomplish this end, but even if those tools fail, God does not.  His anger against the wicked burns so hot that a divine wind carries them to their deserved destruction.  Eliphaz is clear.  Don’t mess with the divine magistrate.

But does this really happen?  Have we really experienced the unmitigated destruction of the wicked at the hands of an almighty, righteous God?  Oh, no doubt we have examples of such judgments.  The Egyptians come immediately to mind.  And other civilizations that stood opposed to the God of Israel.  Perhaps even Israel itself when God sent them into Captivity.  So, Eliphaz must be right about some of God’s actions.  But what about all the other times that the wicked prospered, flaunted God’s laws, ignored His presence?  Is God’s righteous determination so fickle that He occasionally acts with cosmic flourish but most of the time seems to let the world just spin into ethical contradictions?  We might be inclined to echo the later rabbinic saying, “May God’s mercy outweigh His justice,” when we think about what would happen if Eliphaz’ version was instantaneously exercised.  And that’s the real problem, isn’t it?  We just don’t have the omniscient perspective needed to know what is actually happening in the divine plan.  We are called to trust, not the actions that we see (or don’t see) but the character of the God behind the actions (or lack thereof).  If we were to measure the integrity of God solely on divine intervention in human affairs, we might very well give up the struggle to follow Him.  Actions alone can’t be the basis of our faith.

But if not actions, where do we find enough evidence to rely on the character of an invisible Being?  This, it seems to me, is the bottom line of the biblical account.  We read the stories of others’ interactions with this God, we find elements that echo our own situations, and we learn (decide) to trust Him—regardless of the evidence piled on one side or the other of the ethical question.  Actually, it would be difficult to imagine a relationship any other way.  We trust other people not entirely on the basis of their actions which we often find hard to understand (for the simple reason that we are not them), but rather we trust them because over time we get to know them.  We have ups and downs, clarity and confusion, insight and insecurity and then we choose how to respond.  Faith is the choice of perseverance.  If we took Eliphaz’ position to its logical conclusion, we would either be required to discount all the evidence (as he will do with Job) or reiterate Pharoah’s declaration, “Who is YHVH, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know YHVH and I will not let Israel go.”  Eliphaz isn’t Greek, so the afterlife solution isn’t available, and, quite frankly, even if it were, what kind of solution is it? That we should trust that in a world we cannot see or imagine things will get straighten out?  What good is that now?  Why would anyone want to follow a God who doesn’t do anything about it when it counts, namely, now?  Nope, evidence isn’t the answer.  Choice is.

Topical Index: wicked, justice, judgment, heaven, , kālâ, finish, relationship, Job 4:9