Job 22:15-16

15 Hast thou marked [shamar] the old [`owlam] way ['orach] which wicked ['aven] men [math] have trodden [darak]?

16 Which were cut down [qamat] out of time [`eth], whose foundation [yacowd] was overflown [yatsaq] with a flood [nahar]: KJV-Interlinear

15 'Will you keep to the ancient path Which wicked men have trod, 16 Who were snatched away before their time, Whose foundations were washed away by a river? NASB

Eliphaz has warned Job and now he will use some examples from history and eschatology to further warn Job, that if he does not change his ways, he will go the same path as the wicked of Noah's day went, or the way of the future remnant of wicked peoples in human history will go.

Both groups faced a choice either for God or against. Both groups have been, or will be devoured by Gods judgment.

The first group here is the population of earth, which lived before the flood of Noah's day.

Gen. 6:5

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

Except for eight people, the entire population of the earth was evil just prior to the flood. Any other good people such as Methuselah, would have died of natural deaths, prior to the flood. That left only eight good people - Noah, his wife, Noah's three sons and each of their wives.

For a hundred and twenty years, Noah built the Ark. People from all over the world would have known of his construction project. And, they knew what its purpose was.

We already know that rain had never occurred on the planet prior to the flood, so when Noah warned of rain, he was mocked and ridiculed. 'How can water fall out of the sky?'

And now we have Eliphaz's comments which give us a little clue as to how those people died.

They were 'cut down' which is a term used for the gathering of animals just prior to their slaughter. Sheep are gathered into a pen, held with their legs tied together, and then slaughtered.

The picture here is that when Noah boarded the Ark, and the door was closed, the rains came as did the floods of waters which rose up from below the ground. People were caught in groups, surrounded, penned up by the waters, and inundated swiftly. They were caught quickly, by surprise, and had no chance for escape. Panic and terror would have run rampant throughout the groups as they lost their hold on whatever they thought they could hold on to, before they finally drowned.

It was all over quickly.

The foundations of their pride and joy, the things of this world, their homes and collections, and things that they held near and dear to their hearts were washed away by the power of the waters.

Many of the people were young, probably most of the population. And they died before their time. In other words, if they had pursued God instead of wicked hearts, then they might have had a longer life. Certainly one in heaven at least. But such was not the case.

And if my memory serves me correctly, we do not have any archeological examples of civilization prior to the flood. Perhaps they is buried under miles of ice on Antarctica. Who knows. The fact remains that the only ancient examples of civilization (Egypt, China, India, etc.) come from the time after the flood.

Gods justice was swift and thorough.

This is the warning of Eliphaz. Though it does not apply to Job, it is still a good warning to anyone who might be tempted to drift away from God, Christ, doctrine and their spiritual life.

Now is the time to post a prayer.