He Taketh the Wise in Their Own Craftiness (Job 5:13; 1 Corinthians 3:19)

2024-05-06

He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. (Job 5:13)

For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. (1 Corinthians 3:19)

There is an irony in the apostle Paul quoting this verse in Job. Job 5:13 is where Eliphaz is speaking. He is one of three friends who sought to show that Job’s catastrophes were because he sinned. However, Eliphaz was rebuked by the LORD: “And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath” (Job 42:7). When you read the book of Job, you need to be careful whom you want to quote; the recorded quotation is right, but that does not mean that the one quoted is speaking truth!

So why quote Eliphaz? Because the man was not wrong all the time, the apostle knew that this quote was an accurate statement. Not everything that Job’s friends said was wrong.

However, there is another thing. Eliphaz thought that he was imparting wisdom to his suffering friend. When Paul, by the power of the Spirit, penned the words to the Corinthians, we see that the Spirit was taking “wise” Eliphaz in his own craftiness.