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Let him not trust in emptiness, deceiving himself; for his reward will be emptiness.  Job 15:31  NASB

Deceiving – How can you trust in something that doesn’t exist?  That would be real foolishness.  Fortunately, Eliphaz isn’t“foolish” enough to insist that some people believe in nothingness.  No, the word he uses also means “vanity” or “useless.”  His view of “foolishness” isn’t non-existence.  “It designates anything that is unsubstantial, unreal, worthless, either materially or morally. Hence, it is a word for idols.” ^[1]  He isn’t complaining that people believe in fables and fantasy.  He’s complaining that some rely on what is essentially unreliable, what is nothing more than lies.  In his mind, the results are “measure for measure.”  Vanity breeds vanity.  Lying produces lies.  Believing what isn’t true results in more false beliefs.  The irony of his speech is that he’s actually the one who is fooled.  He just doesn’t know it.

The Hebrew word translated “deceiving” is tāʿâ, another synonym of nādad, “to wander.”  Of course, Eliphaz isn’t talking about wandering around the countryside.  This is moral wandering.

It is possible to wander in a physical sense (cf., e.g., Gen 21:14), to stagger because of drunkenness (cf. Isa 28:7), and to err or stray mentally, morally, or spiritually (Ps 95:10 and often). In Ps 58:3 [H 4] it is said of the wicked that they go astray from the very moment they are born. The most familiar passage in which tāʿâ appears is Isa 53:6, where the physical and spiritual nuances blend beautifully: “All we like sheep have gone astray … ” Whereas in the past Israel’s shepherds led them astray (Jer 50:6), in the future the son of David will be their shepherd (Ezk 14:11).^[2]

Let me suggest an application (perhaps a bit uncomfortable).  Let’s suppose that Job’s insight is spiritually correct, that it’s more than an emotional outburst of a man experiencing terrible trauma.  Doesn’t this imply that if once we start down the path of supersessionism, of Christianity’s “manifest destiny,” or the Trinitarian view of the Godhead, we are likely to continue to develop greater and greater mistaken ideas, all seemingly supporting our original lie?  In fact, this is precisely how paradigms work.  New evidence is incorporated into the existing architecture as if everything aligns with the basic (mistaken) assumptions.  While this is spectacularly obvious in politics, it’s much more subtle in religion, but it functions the same way.  Once you adopt the idea that the Church is the New Israel, everything anti-Semitic follows.  You say things like, “All Jews will eventually convert.  It’s God’s plan.”  You talk about the “blinders” pulled over Jewish eyes.  You assert that no one can be a true believer unless they believe that Jesus is God in the flesh.  One wandering path leads to another until finally you don’t even know where you got off track.  Perhaps tāʿâ is the scariest Hebrew word for humanity.

Topical Index: tāʿâ, wander, deceive, fool, emptiness, Job 15:31

^[1] Hamilton, V. P. (1999). 2338 שׁוא. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 908). Moody Press.

^[2] Youngblood, R. F. (1999). 2531 תָּעָה. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament(electronic ed., p. 977). Moody Press.