Chapter 22 is the response of Eliphaz the Temanite. Here Eliphaz comes to offer proof and propose a new answer, a profoundly true approach that serves us to this day as an answer to the dilemma of why the righteous suffer and the wicked prosper (tzaddik ve-ra lo, rasha ve-tov lo). Although the debate had already shifted from the suffering of the righteous to the prosperity of the wicked, Eliphaz's new direction contains the answer to both questions simultaneously.
The general premise is this: It is true that there are wicked people who prosper here in this world and wicked people who suffer here, just as there are righteous people who fare well and righteous people who suffer. But, says Eliphaz, know that all of this is done by deliberate design and premeditation from the Creator, blessed be He, and everything is done in justice and truth. The explanation: had the Holy One, blessed be He, granted reward to the righteous and punishment to the wicked here in this world - as Iyov demanded, that all righteous people should prosper and all wicked people should suffer - man's free will would be entirely eliminated. There would never be a situation where a person serves Hashem out of love and a desire to draw close to Him, but solely out of fear and dread. And serving Hashem out of fear of punishment or desire for reward is service of a far lower caliber.
In simple terms: if the Holy One, blessed be He, were merely looking to create entities that serve Him, He could have created robots, and they would have served Him. After all, when a person needs to use the bathroom, does he choose to do so? He has no choice. Whether he wants to or not, he must relieve himself, and if he doesn't, he will be rushed to the hospital. The Holy One, blessed be He, could easily have created the exact same physical need for putting on tefillin: if you don't don tefillin by a certain time of day, your body reaches a state where you have to be taken to the emergency room. How many people would put on tefillin? One hundred percent. Perhaps for the first month the emergency rooms would be overcrowded, but as soon as people understood the rule - put on tefillin, stay healthy; fail to put on tefillin, fall critically ill - everyone would put them on. Likewise, the Holy One, blessed be He, could have made it so that anyone who touches a light switch on Shabbat would instantly have his hand paralyzed. How many Shabbat desecrators would there be? Not a single one. Why, then, did Hashem not create such a reality?
Because in such a reality, the world would not be divided into righteous and wicked, but into smart people and fools. Only a fool would turn on a light after his hand had withered the first time. And someone who served Hashem would not be called a righteous person at all. What kind of righteousness is that? A person who works because he knows there is a paycheck is simply acting out of self-interest: "If there's payment, I'm willing to work." There would be no people whose desire and aspiration stem from free choice to draw near to Hashem and serve Him, but opportunists who simply do what is profitable for them: if there is a paycheck, they work; if there is a punishment, they avoid sin. That is not what Hashem desires.
Now you might ask: Aren't we like that today as well? Ask an observant Jew why he serves Hashem, and he will tell you there is reward; ask why he refrains from sinning, and he will say: "God forbid, every sin carries a punishment." Seemingly, we have returned to the same issue. But there is a tremendous difference. Eternal reward in the World to Come - who has seen it? It exists purely in the realm of emunah (faith). By contrast, the "reward" offered by the yetzer hara (evil inclination) is right here, in cold cash: if I steal, I have a thousand dollars; if I don't steal, I have nothing. Yet, despite this, I refrain because I know that such an act will bring God's wrath in judgment upon every hidden deed. Hashem says: That is what I want.
True, a higher level is to say: "I do not steal out of love for Hashem; I love Hashem so much that I cannot act against His will." But make no mistake - even the level of "I do not steal because there is a punishment for it" is a very high level, for I do not see the punishment, yet I still believe in Hashem and desist from doing evil. There is a real test here: the yetzer hara pays in cash, yet you set aside his payment and say, "I believe that your Employer is trustworthy to pay the reward of your labor."
Perhaps this morning you wanted to sleep until ten o'clock, yet you still got up early to recite Keriat Shema and pray the tefillah on time. Who compelled you? Who forced you? You know there is a reward, but the yetzer hara pays in cash: staying in bed another hour. The Gemara says that sleep is one-sixtieth of death, to which someone once quipped: "If so, how delightful it must be to die..." The point is that the yetzer hara offers immediate gratification, and any person would naturally prefer to stay in bed rather than wake up early. Why did you get up? Because Hashem said so. And because there is a reward for it - I do not deny that. But believing in that reward and doing Hashem's will even when an immediate, tangible reward is offered in opposition - that is the very essence of what Hashem wants from man.
The Holy One, blessed be He, wants man to have free will, whereas according to Iyov's approach, free choice would be completely nullified. Therefore, the Holy One, blessed be He, concealed the reward from us. A person asks: "If I am righteous, will I receive a reward? Will I be happy here?" The answer is: there are righteous people who are happy here, and there are righteous people who suffer here. "And if I am wicked, will I suffer?" There are wicked people who prosper here, and there are wicked people who suffer here. Thus, from a purely physical, material perspective, there is no apparent difference between the righteous and the wicked. Is it worth being righteous so that things will go well for you? Look at the righteous who suffer. Is it worth avoiding wickedness so that you will not suffer? Look at the wicked who prosper. This is what is meant by "as is the fate of the righteous, so is the fate of the wicked." And this is the world - and why is it called olam? From the word he'elem, concealment, for the Holy One, blessed be He, conceals His presence in the world.
This is what Yirmiyahu laments: "Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all who deal treacherously at ease?" - people who betray Hashem yet enjoy tranquility. But what would you want, that the wicked should immediately suffer? Where then would free will be? Free will requires that a wicked person might have it good or might not, and similarly a righteous person. Someone walking through this world might conclude, "As is the fate of the righteous, so is the fate of the wicked; it is futile to serve God," God forbid. To this the Holy One, blessed be He, responds: believe in Hashem, may He be blessed, and serve Him even when you cannot see - that is the true test, and for it comes an immense reward.
This answer addresses both the suffering of the righteous and the tranquility of the wicked: you cannot grant the righteous only good, for if so, free choice would be eliminated - everyone would want to be righteous simply because they receive only good. Nor can you inflict upon the wicked only evil, for then free choice would again be eliminated - everyone would flee from wickedness because the wicked always suffer. However, one must realize that this answer must go hand in hand with the reward of the World to Come and the immortality of the soul. Without that, there is still no justice here, as the wicked and the righteous would receive the same fate. But once you say that the suffering of the righteous person in this world magnifies and multiplies his reward tens of thousands of times in the World of Truth, it makes sense. You ask, where is justice? The movie is not over! Wait until the end, and only then ask your questions. But if the movie ended with the righteous person dying in suffering, free choice might exist, but where is justice in the end? Likewise with the wicked person who enjoys prosperity here and dies at an old age without suffering or trouble: the movie is not over! There are She'ol, Avaddon, Arka, Dumah, and other places he is destined to visit. You cut the movie in the middle, and that is why you have questions.
And why does the Holy One, blessed be He, not conclude the story here? Because if He concluded it here, you would still be able to change your choice, meaning there would be no genuine free will. Consider the parable of an election: when do they reveal the exit polls and surveys? Only after the ballot boxes close at ten o'clock at night. Why? Because if they revealed them beforehand, many people would change their vote: some would rush to mobilize crowds so their candidate would win, while others simply want to be on the winning side. So says the Holy One, blessed be He: in this world there is still the ability to choose, and therefore I do not reveal the results to you.
This is a very difficult test. A person can walk through this world and see himself refraining from every wrongdoing while his peer commits every wickedness and evil; he sees himself seemingly failing while his peer prospers - and through all of this, he must remain a believer in Hashem. It is by no means an easy test. But if they were to open the ballot boxes right now and show you his standing and your standing, his punishment and your reward, where would the test be? The Holy One, blessed be He, says: I will open the ballot boxes only when the election is over. When a person passes away, he sees reality as it truly is, but as long as he is alive, reality must remain misleading in order to grant you free choice.
The Ben Ish Chai writes that the inner letters (the spelled-out filler letters) of the word olam (world) form the word dimyonot (illusions): the letter ayin is composed of yud and nun, the vav of another vav, the lamed of mem and dalet, and so forth - gather all the inner letters and you get dimyonot. This teaches that this entire world is a world of illusions. Here you see the wicked prospering and the righteous stumbling, but regarding the World of Truth it is said: "I saw an upside-down world - the upper below and the lower above." Someone regarded here as a success, an important and upright figure, is very lowly up there; while someone treated here with contempt, seen as lowly, poor, miserable, and disgraced, shines there with radiant light. This is Eliphaz's line of response, and now let us examine it within the verses.
הַלְאֵל יִסְכׇּן־גָּבֶר כִּי־יִסְכֹּן עָלֵימוֹ מַשְׂכִּיל׃ - Can a man be of benefit to God, that an enlightened person should be of benefit to Him?
Eliphaz argues: it is inconceivable that the Holy One, blessed be He, would repay the righteous and the wicked for their deeds here in this world, for then everyone would serve merely to receive reward and flee from punishment, rather than out of love of Hashem - and in that Hashem has no desire. "Can a man be of benefit to God" - does the Holy One, blessed be He, derive any benefit or pleasure from man? The word yiskon denotes benefit and service, as in "and let her be a companion (sochenet) to him." "That an enlightened person should be of benefit to Him" - if the Holy One, blessed be He, were to enlighten man and give him to understand the immediate benefit of Divine service, such that a person would see with his own eyes that when he does good, things go well for him, and when he does evil, things go badly for him, would the Holy One, blessed be He, derive any benefit or pleasure from man's deeds in that case? Hashem says: What difference does it make to Me whether you serve Me or not? "If you are righteous, what do you give Him?" - you change nothing in Hashem, may He be blessed. When someone does something for me from which I benefit, I might say: What do I care why he does it? I will do everything to make sure he does it! But when I derive no benefit, why should I make tremendous efforts to get you to do it? In other words: Does He derive any benefit for which He should enlighten us in advance and show us reward and punishment right now just so that we will serve Him? What would He gain from that?
הַחֵפֶץ לְשַׁדַּי כִּי תִצְדָּק וְאִם־בֶּצַע כִּי־תַתֵּם דְּרָכֶיךָ׃ - Does the Almighty desire that you be righteous, or is it a gain that you make your ways blameless?
Does He have a desire, does He have a need that you be righteous? And should you receive personal profit by making your ways blameless? The Holy One, blessed be He, does not seek that you should gain material profit through the integrity of your ways and become righteous for that reason. Does Hashem desire such service, where you serve Him for gain and self-interest, and toward that end make your ways blameless and upright? In doing so, it turns out that you are not serving Hashem at all, but rather working for reward and out of fear of punishment.
הֲמִיִּרְאָתְךָ יֹכִיחֶךָ יָבוֹא עִמְּךָ בַּמִּשְׁפָּט׃ - Is it out of your fear of Him that He reproves you, that He enters into judgment with you?
Eliphaz says to him: What kind of fear of God do you possess? Fear lest Hashem rebuke and punish you, and fear lest He enter into judgment with you and judge you for your evil deeds. Does Hashem desire such fear? Is it His will that you be righteous out of self-interest and personal gain, or that you flee from wickedness merely because you dread the punishment you will receive here in this world? That is serving God with an ulterior motive, and it cannot truly be called the service of Hashem.
הֲלֹא רָעָתְךָ רַבָּה וְאֵין־קֵץ לַעֲוֺנֹתֶיךָ׃ - Is not your wickedness great, and are not your iniquities without end?
Hashem established a system of providence in which He does not immediately repay the evildoer. Sometimes a person does evil and the Holy One, blessed be He, is long-suffering with him, while at other times He punishes him immediately. This leaves room for error, leading people to say: behold, one fate befalls both the righteous and the wicked, and "it is vain to serve God," Heaven forbid. This is what he is saying: at times the Holy One, blessed be He, does not punish right away, even though your wickedness is great and your sins are without end, and even though you commit evil deeds against your fellow human beings.
כִּי־תַחְבֹּל אַחֶיךָ חִנָּם וּבִגְדֵי עֲרוּמִּים תַּפְשִׁיט׃ - For you take pledges from your brothers without cause, and strip the clothing of the destitute.
לֹא־מַיִם עָיֵף תַּשְׁקֶה וּמֵרָעֵב תִּמְנַע־לָחֶם׃ - You give no water to the weary to drink, and you withhold bread from the hungry.
"You take pledges from your brothers without cause" - you inflict loss upon your fellow man even though he has done you no harm. "And strip the clothing of the destitute" - "the destitute" refers to the poor, who barely have clothing as it is, yet you seize even the little they have. Nor do you perform any kindness in your days: "You give no water to the weary to drink" - you do not offer water to the weary, that is, the thirsty; "and you withhold bread from the hungry" - you see a starving person and withhold bread from him. In other words, you act completely wickedly, "Is not your wickedness great, and are not your iniquities without end?" - and nevertheless, the Holy One, blessed be He, does not immediately exact punishment from you.
וְאִישׁ זְרוֹעַ לוֹ הָאָרֶץ וּנְשׂוּא פָנִים יֵשֶׁב בָּהּ׃ - And the man of power possesses the land, and the prominent one dwells in it.
"A man of power" is someone who imposes his will through force, and by doing so, "the land is his" - the entire land yields before him. Not only does he avoid suffering, and no punishment is inflicted upon him for his harsh and utterly despicable conduct toward God and his fellow man, but furthermore, "and the prominent one dwells in it": wherever he enters, people rise in his honor, and wherever he goes, they sing his praises - the generous patron, renowned and celebrated! This reality itself poses a tremendous difficulty: his wickedness is great, his sins are without end, he seizes pledges from his brothers for nothing - so how does he merit such honor in this world?
אַלְמָנוֹת שִׁלַּחְתָּ רֵיקָם וּזְרֹעוֹת יְתֹמִים יְדֻכָּא׃ - You have sent widows away empty-handed, and the arms of orphans are crushed.
עַל־כֵּן סְבִיבוֹתֶיךָ פַחִים וִיבַהֶלְךָ פַּחַד פִּתְאֹם׃ - Therefore snares are around you, and sudden dread terrifies you.
On the other hand, you can see a wicked person of whom it is said, 'You sent widows away empty-handed' - he robbed widows and orphans, which is among the gravest sins, for the Torah said, 'You shall not afflict any widow or orphan,' because they have no one to lean on. 'And the arms of orphans are crushed' - he crushes the arm of the orphans. And yet you see, 'Therefore snares are around you' - everything he does fails, 'pach' in the sense of a snare or pitfall. 'And sudden dread terrifies you' - suddenly, in a single moment, a sudden terror comes upon him, unnerving him and breaking him. It turns out that one cannot say of the wicked person that things always go well for him, nor can one say that things always go badly for him: there is a wicked person who prospers, as described earlier, and there is a wicked person who suffers, as described now.
Elifaz introduces a new line of thought here: the Holy One, blessed be He, derives no benefit or pleasure from human deeds, and therefore He does not openly manifest reward and punishment here in this world. Had He paid reward immediately, free will would have been eliminated; there would be no righteous or wicked people, only the wise and the foolish, working for a wage and refraining out of sheer fear. Therefore, the world - *olam*, related to *he'elem*, concealment - is presented to us as a deceptive and illusory reality: there is a righteous person who prospers and a righteous person who suffers, a wicked person who prospers and a wicked person who suffers. The ballot boxes are opened only at the end, when a person departs this world, and only then is it revealed that those who seemed on top are below, and those who seemed low are on top. All of this is founded on faith in reward and punishment in the World to Come: the film does not end here, and whoever asks 'Where is the justice?' has cut the movie in the middle. The verses describe precisely both sides: 'And the man of arm, to him belongs the land, and the favored one settled in it' on the one hand, and 'Therefore snares are around you, and sudden dread terrifies you' on the other - proving that divine providence is concealed intentionally, in order to grant man the test of faith and his immense reward.