Kommentar zu Ijow 22:1

With the completion of two rounds, six [orations] in each round, (Leviticus 24:6) the first concerning the suffering of the righteous and the second the prosperity of the wicked; and after the wrangler Job had triumphed over all of them with his answers, his bows and his arrows (Genesis 48:22); Eliphaz now tries, for one last time, to fit his arrow to the bowstring (Psalms 11:2) in order to counter-attack at the gate (Isaiah 28:6) in a single speech that addresses both issues. In doing so, he devises a new approach, one with fine insight and knowledge (Psalms 119:66), according to which it is out of wisdom on God's part, and with particular intent, that the rewards of the righteous and the punishments of the wicked are not immediately disbursed in this world. This is done so as to ensure that the worship of God may be selfless, motivated neither by love of reward nor by fear of punishment.

For the most important aspect of a person's worship of God is that he should do good for its own sake and for the sake of the Profound Statute issued by the Supreme Lawgiver; and principally for the sake of His great Name (2Chronicles 6:32). However, this would not be the case if a person's actions were guided by considerations of reward or fear of punishment. For he would then be serving not God but himself and this is not the sort of worship God desires. If the reaction to evil acts was immediate (Ecclesiastes 8:11) and God meted out punishment to the wicked at once, nobody would dare (Jeremiah 30:21) to do evil for fear of the immediate retribution that would follow. Similarly, everyone would try to do good because they knew they would be rewarded instantly. The deed would not be performed for the sake of God, nor would there be any meaning to reward and punishment, seeing that all would be bound to act as they did out of fear of punishment or hope of reward. Nor would there be any meaning to free-will and trial, though they were the substance of God's purpose in creating man: that the heart's inclination should tempt a person to do evil and he should feel free to do so, but that nevertheless he should refrain and turn away from evil (Psalms 34:15), out of respect for God and His divine ordinances. Therefore, He endowed man's mind with everything, except the knowledge of how God acts (Ecclesiastes 3:11) with regard to the reward of the righteous or the punishment of the wicked. And so there are evil-doers who prosper and wicked persons who are praised in public for what they have done and God's Providence is concealed and hidden from the sight of most people. Contrariness beguiles understanding, causing it to deny Providence and to declare that the world runs itself (TB Avodah Zarah 54b); that everything depends on heredity, nature and the stars; that the Lord is on high, His glory is above the heavens (Psalms 113:4), and He does not govern those down below; not to mention the other charges made by heretics. As proof, they all cite the disorder and capriciousness of Providence, namely, that the righteous languish and the wicked prosper.

But this is a test and a trial, intended to distinguish between those who worship God sincerely and those who are insincere. For he who serves God without thought of reward (TB Avodah Zarah 19a), the righteous person who lives in faithfulness (Habakkuk 2:4), he will not be moved. He will receive his reward in the world of recompense—an eternal spiritual reward in shimmering Paradise—for he has been tried and found perfect. For in the world of souls, scourges are also readied for the scorners (Proverbs 19:29); for God brings every secret thing to judgment (Ecclesiastes 12:14); a faithful just God, who does no wrong (Deuteronomy 32:4); all of whose work endures (Psalms 33:4).
Thus, Eliphaz rebuilds and re-establishes (Ezra 2:68) his original theses:

• his assertions that the reason for the suffering of the righteous is to punish them in this world for any minor sins they may have committed so as to indemnify them in the world to come,

• and that though the wicked may prosper, their prosperity is imperfect for their hearts are filled with fear of the punishment that awaits them. Even though in most cases this will only befall them in the world of souls, their own hearts are already auguring evil for them.

In this way he also justifies his reproof of Job at the beginning of his first speech, when he had said: 'Was not your own security the reason for your piety?' (Job 4:6). For the essence of correct worship is that it should be performed without any expectation of repayment or fear of retribution, and in this Job had sinned, Therefore his steps faltered (Psalms 37:31), and God poured His wrath upon him (Lamentations 4:11).

This reply encompasses all Job's rebuttals to Eliphaz's previous arguments. Namely, that it [the concealment of Providence] is an imperative of the Governance of beings who have free-will, ones that understand and know, (Isaiah 32:4) in order to show whether their worship is truly perfect, for the sake of God and His love alone.