Job 4:8

"According to what. have seen, those who plow iniquity and those who sow trouble harvest it": Eliphaz will often base his arguments on experience. Three times he will say, "I have seen" (Job 4:8; Job 5:3; Job 15:17). It is true that what. person sows he will reap (Hosea 10:13; Galatians 6:7). But Eliphaz is assuming that all the sowing and reaping are done in this life, that is good guys always win, bad guys always lose here on the earth, and such is not always the case (Psalm 73). While his observations might have been extensive, his knowledge was not universal. There are exceptions to the above rule in this life. Thus this man's argument is that sin equals suffering and righteousness equals prosperity.. good number of religious people to this day still hold to this basic error. That is, if one is faithful, they will be healthy and prosperous. If you are prospering it is proof that God is blessing you, and if you are suffering it is proof that God is punishing you. Yet often the innocent do suffer in this life (Luke 13:4-5; John 9:1-3; 1 Peter 2:19-20), while it seems that the wicked are prosperous and do not have any problems. This man's authority was not Scripture, but history and personal experience "according to what. have seen".