Teks -- Job 5:1-27 (NET)

5:1 “Call now! Is there anyone who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn? 5:2 For wrath kills the foolish person, and anger slays the silly one. 5:3 I myself have seen the fool taking root, but suddenly I cursed his place of residence. 5:4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed at the place where judgment is rendered, nor is there anyone to deliver them. 5:5 The hungry eat up his harvest, and take it even from behind the thorns, and the thirsty swallow up their fortune. 5:6 For evil does not come up from the dust, nor does trouble spring up from the ground, 5:7 but people are born to trouble, as surely as the sparks fly upward.

Blessings for the One Who Seeks God

5:8 “But as for me, I would seek God, and to God I would set forth my case. 5:9 He does great and unsearchable things, marvelous things without number; 5:10 he gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields; 5:11 he sets the lowly on high, that those who mourn are raised to safety. 5:12 He frustrates the plans of the crafty so that their hands cannot accomplish what they had planned! 5:13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is brought to a quick end. 5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope about in the noontime as if it were night. 5:15 So he saves from the sword that comes from their mouth, even the poor from the hand of the powerful. 5:16 Thus the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts its mouth. 5:17 “Therefore, blessed is the man whom God corrects, so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. 5:18 For he wounds, but he also bandages; he strikes, but his hands also heal. 5:19 He will deliver you from six calamities; yes, in seven no evil will touch you. 5:20 In time of famine he will redeem you from death, and in time of war from the power of the sword. 5:21 You will be protected from malicious gossip, and will not be afraid of the destruction when it comes. 5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine and need not be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 5:23 For you will have a pact with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you. 5:24 And you will know that your home will be secure, and when you inspect your domains, you will not be missing anything. 5:25 You will also know that your children will be numerous, and your descendants like the grass of the earth. 5:26 You will come to your grave in a full age, As stacks of grain are harvested in their season. 5:27 Look, we have investigated this, so it is true. Hear it, and apply it for your own good.”

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Wesley: Job 5:1 - Call

Call them all as it were by their names: will not every good man confirm what I say? If - Try if there be any one saint that will defend thee in these bold expostulations with God. Thou mayst find fools or wicked men, to do it: but not one of the children of God.

Wesley: Job 5:2 - Killeth

A man's wrath, and impatience, preys upon his spirit, and so hastens his death; and provokes God to cut him off.

Wesley: Job 5:2 - The foolish

The rash and inconsiderate man, who does not weigh things impartially.

Wesley: Job 5:2 - Envy, &c.

I perceive thou art full of envy at wicked men, who seem to be in a happier condition than thou, and of wrath against God; and this shews thee to be a foolish and weak man. For those men, notwithstanding their present prosperity, are doomed to great and certain misery. I have myself seen the proof of this.

Wesley: Job 5:3 - Foolish

The wicked man.

Wesley: Job 5:3 - Root

Not only prosperous for the present, but, as it seemed, firm and secure for the future.

Wesley: Job 5:3 - Suddenly

In a moment, beyond mine, and his own, and all other mens expectation.

Wesley: Job 5:3 - Cursed

l saw by the event which followed his prosperity, that he was a man accursed of God.

Wesley: Job 5:4 - Children

Whose greatness he designed in all his enterprizes, supposing his family would be established for ever.

Wesley: Job 5:4 - Safely

Are exposed to dangers and calamities, and can neither preserve themselves, nor the inheritance which their fathers left them. There is no question but he glances here, at the death of Job's children.

Wesley: Job 5:5 - Harvest

Which they confidently expect to reap after all their cost and labour, but are sadly and suddenly disappointed.

Wesley: Job 5:5 - The hungry

The hungry Sabeans eat it up.

Wesley: Job 5:5 - Thorns

Out of the fields: in spite of all dangers or difficulties in their way.

Wesley: Job 5:6 - The dust

It springs not up by merely natural causes, as herbs grow out of the earth: but from God. Eliphaz here begins to change his voice, as if he would atone for the hard words he had spoken.

Wesley: Job 5:7 - Is born

He is so commonly exposed to various troubles, as if he were born to no other end: affliction is become natural to man, and is transmitted from parents, to children, as their constant inheritance; God having allotted this portion to mankind for their sins. And therefore thou takest a wrong course in complaining so bitterly of that which thou shouldest patiently bear, as the common lot of mankind.

Wesley: Job 5:7 - As

As naturally, and as generally, as the sparks of fire fly upward. Why then should we be surprized at our afflictions as strange, or quarrel with them, as hard?

Wesley: Job 5:8 - I would

If I were in thy condition.

Wesley: Job 5:8 - Seek

By prayer, and humiliation, and submission, imploring his pardon, and favour.

Wesley: Job 5:9 - Who, &c.

_Here Eliphaz enters upon a discourse of the infinite perfection of God's nature and works; which he doth as an argument to enforce the exhortation to seek and commit his cause to God, Job 5:8, because God was infinitely able either to punish him yet far worse, if he continued to provoke him; or to raise him from the dust, if he humbly addressed himself to him: and that by a representation of God's excellency and glory, and of that vast disproportion which was between God and Job, he might convince Job of his great sin in speaking so boldly and irreverently of him.

Wesley: Job 5:9 - Marvellous

Which (though common, and therefore neglected and despised, yet) are matter of wonder to the wisest men. The works of nature are mysteries: the most curious searches come far short of full discoveries: and the works of Providence are still more deep and unaccountable.

Wesley: Job 5:10 - Rain

He begins with this ordinary work of God, in which he implies that there is something wonderful, as indeed there is in the rise of it from the earth, in the strange hanging of that heavy body in the air, and in the distribution of it as God sees fit; and how much more in the hidden paths of Divine Providence?

Wesley: Job 5:11 - To set up

That is, he setteth up. Another example of God's great and wonderful works. He gives this instance to comfort and encourage Job to seek to God, because he can raise him out of his greatest depths.

Wesley: Job 5:13 - The wise

Men wise to do evil, and wise in the opinion of the world, he not only deceives in their hopes and counsels, but turns them against themselves.

Wesley: Job 5:13 - Froward

Or, wrestlers: such as wind and turn every way, as wrestlers do, and will leave no means untried to accomplish their counsels.

Wesley: Job 5:13 - Is carried

Is tumbled down and broken, and that by their own precipitation.

Wesley: Job 5:14 - Meet

In plain things they run into gross mistakes, and chuse those courses which are worst for themselves. Darkness often notes misery, but here ignorance or error.

Wesley: Job 5:14 - Grope

Like blind men to find their way, not knowing what to do.

Wesley: Job 5:15 - Mouth

Which was ready to swallow them up.

Wesley: Job 5:16 - So

So he obtains what he hoped for from God, to whom he committed his cause.

Wesley: Job 5:16 - Iniquity

Wicked men.

Wesley: Job 5:16 - Stoppeth

They are silenced and confounded, finding that not only the poor are got out of their snares, but the oppressors themselves are ensnared in them.

Wesley: Job 5:17 - Behold

Eliphaz concludes his discourse, with giving Job a comfortable hope, if he humbled himself before God.

Wesley: Job 5:17 - Happy

Heb. Blessednesses (various and great happiness) belong to that man whom God rebukes. The reason is plain, because afflictions are pledges of God's love, which no man can buy too dear; and are necessary to purge out sin, and thereby to prevent infinite and eternal miseries. Without respect to this, the proposition could not be true. And therefore it plainly shews, that good men in those ancient times, had the belief, and hope of everlasting blessedness.

Wesley: Job 5:17 - Despise not

Do not abhor it as a thing pernicious, refuse it as a thing useless, or slight it as an unnecessary thing. But more is designed than is exprest. Reverence the chastening of the Lord: have an humble, aweful regard to his correcting hand, and study to answer the design of it.

Wesley: Job 5:17 - The Almighty

Who is able to support and comfort thee in thy troubles, and deliver thee out of them: and also to add more calamities to them, if thou art obstinate and incorrigible.

Wesley: Job 5:18 - For he, &c.

_God's usual method is, first to humble, and then to exalt. And he never makes a wound too great, too deep for his own cure.

Wesley: Job 5:19 - Deliver

If thou seekest to him by prayer and repentance. Here he applies himself to Job directly.

Wesley: Job 5:19 - Six

Manifold and repeated.

Wesley: Job 5:19 - Touch

So as to destroy thee. Thou shalt have a good issue out of all thy troubles, though they are both great and many.

Wesley: Job 5:20 - He shall

These things he utters with more confidence, because the rewards or punishments of this life, were more constantly distributed to men in the Old Testament according to their good or bad behaviour, than they are now: and because it was his opinion, that great afflictions were the certain evidences of wickedness; and consequently, that great deliverances would infallibly follow upon true repentance.

Wesley: Job 5:22 - Laugh

With a laughter of joy and triumph, arising from a just security and confidence in God's watchful and gracious providence.

Wesley: Job 5:23 - League

Thou shalt be free from annoyance thereby, as if they had made an inviolable league with thee. This is a bold metaphor, but such as are frequent both in scripture and other authors. This is an addition to the former privilege; they shall not hurt thee, Job 5:22, nay, they shall befriend thee, as being at peace with thee. Our covenant with God is a covenant with all the creatures, that they shall do us no hurt, but serve and be ready to do us good.

Wesley: Job 5:24 - Know

By certain experience.

Wesley: Job 5:25 - Know

By assurance from God's promises, and the impressions of his Spirit; and by experience in due time.

Wesley: Job 5:26 - Full age

In a mature and old, but vigorous age, as the word implies. It is a great blessing, to live to a full age, and not to have the number of our years cut short. Much more, to be willing to die, to come chearfully to the grave: and to die seasonably, just in the bed - time, when our souls are ripe for God.

Wesley: Job 5:27 - Searched

This is no rash or hasty conceit, but what both I and my brethren have learned by deep consideration, long experience, and diligent observation.

Wesley: Job 5:27 - Know thou

Know it for thyself; (So the word is) with application to thy own case. That which we thus hear and know for ourselves, we hear and know for our good.

JFB: Job 5:1 - if there be any, &c.

Rather, "will He (God) reply to thee?" Job, after the revelation just given, cannot be so presumptuous as to think God or any of the holy ones (Dan 4:17, "angels") round His throne, will vouchsafe a reply (a judicial expression) to his rebellious complaint.

JFB: Job 5:2 - wrath . . . envy

Fretful and passionate complaints, such as Eliphaz charged Job with (Job 4:5; so Pro 14:30). Not, the wrath of God killeth the foolish, and His envy, &c.

JFB: Job 5:3 - the foolish

The wicked. I have seen the sinner spread his "root" wide in prosperity, yet circumstances "suddenly" occurred which gave occasion for his once prosperous dwelling being "cursed" as desolate (Psa 37:35-36; Jer 17:8).

JFB: Job 5:4 - His children . . . crushed in the gate

A judicial formula. The gate was the place of judgment and of other public proceedings (Psa 127:5; Pro 22:22; Gen 23:10; Deu 21:19). Such propylæa have been found in the Assyrian remains. Eliphaz obliquely alludes to the calamity which cut off Job's children.

JFB: Job 5:5 - even out of the thorns

Even when part of the grain remains hanging on the thorn bushes (or, "is growing among thorns," Mat 13:7), the hungry gleaner does not grudge the trouble of even taking it away, so clean swept away is the harvest of the wicked.

JFB: Job 5:5 - the robber

As the Sabeans, who robbed Job. Rather, translate "the thirsty," as the antithesis in the parallelism, "the hungry," proves.

JFB: Job 5:6 - Although

Rather, "for truly" [UMBREIT].

JFB: Job 5:6 - affliction cometh not forth of the dust

Like a weed, of its own accord. Eliphaz hints that the cause of it lay with Job himself.

JFB: Job 5:7 - Yet

Rather, "Truly," or, But affliction does not come from chance, but is the appointment of God for sin; that is, the original birth-sin of man. Eliphaz passes from the particular sin and consequent suffering of Job to the universal sin and suffering of mankind. Troubles spring from man's common sin by as necessary a law of natural consequences as sparks (Hebrew, "sons of coal") fly upward. Troubles are many and fiery, as sparks (1Pe 4:12; Isa 43:2). UMBREIT for "sparks" has "birds of prey;" literally, "sons of lightning," not so well.

JFB: Job 5:8

Therefore (as affliction is ordered by God, on account of sin), "I would" have you to "seek unto God" (Isa 8:19; Amo 5:8; Jer 5:24).

JFB: Job 5:11

Connected with Job 5:9. His "unsearchable" dealings are with a view to raise the humble and abase the proud (Luk 1:52). Therefore Job ought to turn humbly to Him.

JFB: Job 5:12 - enterprise

Literally, "realization." The Hebrew combines in the one word the two ideas, wisdom and happiness, "enduring existence" being the etymological and philosophical root of the combined notion [UMBREIT].

JFB: Job 5:13

Paul (1Co 3:19) quoted this clause with the formula establishing its inspiration, "it is written." He cites the exact Hebrew words, not as he usually does the Septuagint, Greek version (Psa 9:15). Haman was hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai (Est 5:14; Est 7:10).

JFB: Job 5:13 - the wise

That is, "the cunning."

JFB: Job 5:13 - is carried headlong

Their scheme is precipitated before it is ripe.

JFB: Job 5:14

Judicial blindness often is sent upon keen men of the world (Deu 28:29; Isa 59:10; Joh 9:39).

JFB: Job 5:15

"From the sword" which proceedeth "from their mouth" (Psa 59:7; Psa 57:4).

JFB: Job 5:16 - the poor hath hope

Of the interposition of God.

JFB: Job 5:16 - iniquity stoppeth her mouth

(Psa 107:42; Mic 7:9-10; Isa 52:15). Especially at the last day, through shame (Jud 1:15; Mat 22:12). The "mouth" was the offender (Job 5:15), and the mouth shall then be stopped (Isa 25:8) at the end.

JFB: Job 5:17 - happy

Not that the actual suffering is joyous; but the consideration of the righteousness of Him who sends it, and the end for which it is sent, make it a cause for thankfulness, not for complaints, such as Job had uttered (Heb 12:11). Eliphaz implies that the end in this case is to call back Job from the particular sin of which he takes for granted that Job is guilty. Paul seems to allude to this passage in Heb 12:5; so Jam 1:12; Pro 3:12. Eliphaz does not give due prominence to this truth, but rather to Job's sin. It is Elihu alone (Job 32:1-37:24) who fully dwells upon the truth, that affliction is mercy and justice in disguise, for the good of the sufferer.

JFB: Job 5:18 - he maketh sore, and bindeth up

(Deu 32:39; Hos 6:1; 1Sa 2:6). An image from binding up a wound. The healing art consisted much at that time in external applications.

JFB: Job 5:19 - in six . . . yea, in seven

(Pro 6:16; Amo 1:3). The Hebrew idiom fixes on a certain number (here "six"), in order to call attention as to a thing of importance; then increases the force by adding, with a "yea, nay seven," the next higher number; here "seven," the sacred and perfect number. In all possible troubles; not merely in the precise number "seven."

JFB: Job 5:20 - power

(Jer 5:12). Hebrew, "hands."

JFB: Job 5:20 - of the sword

(Eze 35:5, Margin). Hands are given to the sword personified as a living agent.

JFB: Job 5:21

(Psa 31:20; Jer 18:18). Smite (Psalm 73. 9).

JFB: Job 5:22 - famine thou shalt laugh

Not, in spite of destruction and famine, which is true (Hab 3:17-18), though not the truth meant by Eliphaz, but because those calamities shall not come upon thee. A different Hebrew word from that in Job 5:20; there, famine in general; here, the languid state of those wanting proper nutriment [BARNES].

JFB: Job 5:23 - in league with the stones of the field

They shall not hurt the fertility of thy soil; nor the wild beasts thy fruits; spoken in Arabia-Deserta, where stones abounded. Arabia, derived from Arabah--a desert plain. The first clause of this verse answers to the first clause of Job 5:22; and the last of this verse to the last of that verse. The full realization of this is yet future (Isa 65:23, Isa 65:25; Hos 2:18).

JFB: Job 5:24 - know

"Thou shalt rest in the assurance, that thine habitation is the abode of peace; and (if) thou numberest thine herd, thine expectations prove not fallacious" [UMBREIT]. "Sin" does not agree with the context. The Hebrew word--"to miss" a mark, said of archers (Jdg 20:16). The Hebrew for "habitation" primarily means "the fold for cattle"; and for "visit," often to "take an account of, to number." "Peace" is the common Eastern salutation; including inward and outward prosperity.

JFB: Job 5:25 - as the grass

(Psa 72:16). Properly, "herb-bearing seed" (Gen 1:11-12).

JFB: Job 5:26 - in a full age

So "full of days" (Job 42:17; Gen 35:29). Not mere length of years, but ripeness for death, one's inward and outward full development not being prematurely cut short, is denoted (Isa 65:22).

JFB: Job 5:26 - Thou shalt come

Not literally, but expressing willingness to die. Eliphaz speaks from the Old Testament point of view, which made full years a reward of the righteous (Psa 91:16; Exo 20:12), and premature death the lot of the wicked (Psa 55:23). The righteous are immortal till their work is done. To keep them longer would be to render them less fit to die. God takes them at their best (Isa 57:1). The good are compared to wheat (Mat 13:30).

JFB: Job 5:26 - cometh in

Literally, "ascends." The corn is lifted up off the earth and carried home; so the good man "is raised into the heap of sheaves" [UMBREIT].

JFB: Job 5:27 - searched it . . . for thy good

Literally, "for thyself" (Psa 111:2; Pro 2:4; Pro 9:12).

Clarke: Job 5:1 - Call now, if there be any

Call now, if there be any - This appears to be a strong irony. From whom among those whose foundations are in the dust, and who are crushed before the moth, canst thou expect succor

Clarke: Job 5:1 - To which of the saints wilt thou turn?

To which of the saints wilt thou turn? - To whom among the holy ones, ( קדשים kedoshim ), or among those who are equally dependent on Divine support with thyself, and can do no good but as influenced and directed by God, canst thou turn for help? Neither angel nor saint can help any man unless sent especially from God; and all prayers to them must be foolish and absurd, not to say impious. Can the channel afford me water, if the fountain cease to emit it?

Clarke: Job 5:2 - For wrath killeth the foolish man

For wrath killeth the foolish man - Foolish, silly, and simple, are epithets given by Solomon to sinners and transgressors of all kinds. Such parallelisms have afforded a presumptive argument that Solomon was the author of this book. See the preface. The words of Eliphaz may be considered as a sort of maxim, which the wisdom and experience of ages had served to establish; viz., The wrath of God is manifested only against the wicked and impious; and if thou wert not such, God would not thus contend with thee.

Clarke: Job 5:3 - I have seen the foolish taking root

I have seen the foolish taking root - I have seen wicked men for a time in prosperity, and becoming established in the earth; but I well knew, from God’ s manner of dealing with men, that they must soon be blasted. I even ventured to pronounce their doom; for I knew that, in the order of God’ s providence, that was inevitable. I cursed his habitation.

Clarke: Job 5:4 - His children are far from safety

His children are far from safety - His posterity shall not continue in prosperity. Ill gotten, ill spent; whatever is got by wrong must have God’ s curse on it

Clarke: Job 5:4 - They are crushed in the gate

They are crushed in the gate - The Targum says, They shall be bruised in the gate of hell, in the day of the great judgment. There is reference here to a custom which I have often had occasion to notice: viz., that in the Eastern countries the court-house, or tribunal of justice, was at the Gate of the city; here the magistrates attended, and hither the plaintiff and defendant came for justice.

Clarke: Job 5:5 - Whose harvest

Whose harvest - Their possessions, because acquired by unjust means, shall not be under the protection of God’ s providence; he shall abandon them to be pillaged and destroyed by the wandering half-starved hordes of the desert banditti. They shall carry it suddenly off; even the thorns - grain, weeds, thistles, and all, shall they carry off in their rapacious hurry

Clarke: Job 5:5 - The robber swalloweth us

The robber swalloweth us - Or, more properly, the thirsty, צמים tsammim , as is plain from their swallowing up or gulping down; opposed to the hungry or half-starved, mentioned in the preceding clause. The hungry shall eat up their grain, and the thirsty shall drink down their wine and oil, here termed חילם cheylam , their strength or power, for the most obvious reasons

There seem to be two allusions in this verse: 1. To the hordes of wandering predatory banditti, or half-starved Arabs of the desert, who have their scanty maintenance by the plunder of others. These descendants of Ishmael have ever had their hands against all men, and live to this day in the same predatory manner in which they have lived for several thousands of years. M. Volney’ s account of them is striking: "These men are smaller, leaner, and blacker, than any of the Bedouins yet discovered. Their wasted legs had only tendons without calves. Their belly was shrunk to their back. They are in general small, lean, and swarthy, and more so in the bosom of the desert than on the borders of the more cultivated country. They are ordinarily about five feet or five feet two inches high; they seldom have more than about six ounces of food for the whole day. Six or seven dates, soaked in melted butter, a little milk, or curd, serve a man for twenty-four hours; and he seems happy when he can add a small portion of coarse flour, or a little ball of rice. Their camels also, which are their only support, are remarkably meagre, living on the meanest and most scanty provision. Nature has given it a small head without ears, at the end of a long neck without flesh. She has taken from its legs and thighs every muscle not immediately requisite for motion; and in short has bestowed on its withered body only the vessels and tendons necessary to connect its frame together. She has furnished it with a strong jaw, that it may grind the hardest aliments; and, lest it should consume too much, she has straitened its stomach, and obliged it to chew the cud."Such is the description given of the Bedouin and his camel, by M. Volney, who, while he denies the true God, finds out a deity which he calls Nature, whose works evince the highest providence, wisdom, and design! And where does this most wonderful and intelligent goddess dwell? Nowhere but in the creed of the infidel; while the genuine believer knows that nature is only the agent created and employed by the great and wise God to accomplish, under his direction, the greatest and most stupendous beneficial effects. The second allusion in the verse I suppose to be to the loss Job had sustained of his cattle by the predatory Sabeans; and all this Eliphaz introduces for the support of his grand argument, to convict Job of hidden crimes, on which account his enemies were permitted to destroy his property; that property, because of this wickedness, being placed out of the protection of God’ s providence.

Clarke: Job 5:6 - Affliction cometh not forth of the dust

Affliction cometh not forth of the dust - If there were not an adequate cause, thou couldst not be so grievously afflicted

Clarke: Job 5:6 - Spring out of the ground

Spring out of the ground - It is not from mere natural causes that affliction and trouble come; God’ s justice inflicts them upon offending man.

Clarke: Job 5:7 - Yet man is born unto trouble

Yet man is born unto trouble - לעמל leamal , to labor. He must toil and be careful; and if in the course of his labor he meet with trials and difficulties, he should rise superior to them, and not sink as thou dost

Clarke: Job 5:7 - As the sparks By upward

As the sparks By upward - ובני רשף יגביהי עוף ubeney resheph yagbihu uph ; And the sons of the coal lift up their flight, or dart upwards. And who are the sons of the coal? Are they not bold, intrepid, ardent, fearless men, who rise superior to all their trials; combat what are termed chance and occurrence; succumb under no difficulties; and rise superior to time, tide, fate, and fortune? I prefer this to all the various meanings of the place with which I have met. Coverdale translates, It is man that is borne unto mysery, like as the byrde for to fle. Most of the ancient versions give a similar sense.

Clarke: Job 5:8 - I would seek unto God

I would seek unto God - Were I in your place, instead of wasting my time, and irritating my soul with useless complaints, I would apply to my Maker, and, if conscious of my innocence, would confidently commit my cause to him.

Clarke: Job 5:9 - Which doeth great things

Which doeth great things - No work, however complicated, is too deep for his counsel to plan; none, however stupendous, is too great for his power to execute. He who is upright is always safe in referring his cause to God, and trusting in him.

Clarke: Job 5:10 - Who giveth rain upon the earth

Who giveth rain upon the earth - The Chaldee gives this verse a fine turn: "Who gives rain on the face of the land of Israel, and sends waters on the face of the provinces of the people."Similar to our Lord’ s saying, which is expressed in the half of the compass: Your Father which is in heaven - Sendeth Rain on the Just and on the Unjust; Mat 5:45

Clarke: Job 5:10 - Sendeth waters upon the fields

Sendeth waters upon the fields - The term חצות chutsoth , which we translate fields, and generally signifies streets, may here mean those plantations which are laid out in ridges or plats, in an orderly, regular manner. God does not only send rain upon the earth in a general manner, but, by an especial providence, waters the cultivated ground, so that not one ridge is destitute of its due proportion of fructifying moisture.

Clarke: Job 5:11 - To set up on high those that be low

To set up on high those that be low - He so distributes his providential blessings without partiality, that the land of the poor man is as well sunned and watered as that of the rich; so that he is thus set upon a level with the lords of the soil.

Clarke: Job 5:12 - He disappointeth the devices of the crafty

He disappointeth the devices of the crafty - All these sayings refer to God’ s particular providence, by which he is ever working for the good, and counterworking the plots of the wicked. And as various as are the contingent, capricious, and malevolent acts of men, so varied are his providential interferences; disappointing the devices, snares, and plots of the crafty, so that their plans being confounded, and their machinery broken in pieces, their hands cannot perform their enterprises.

Clarke: Job 5:13 - He taketh the wise in their own craftiness

He taketh the wise in their own craftiness - So counterworks them as to cause their feet to be taken in their own snares, and their evil dealings to fall on their own pate. Such frequent proofs has God given of his especial interference in behalf of the innocent, who have been the objects of the plots and evil designs of the wicked, by turning those evil devices against their framers, that he who digs a pit for his neighbor shall fall into it himself has become a universal adage, and has passed, either in so many words or in sense, into all the languages of all the people of the earth. Lucretius expresses it strongly

Circumretit enim vis atque injuria quemque

Atque, unde exorta est, ad eum plerumque revortit

Lucret. lib. v., ver. 1151

"For force and wrong entangle the man that uses them

And, for the most part, recoil on the head of the contriver."

Clarke: Job 5:14 - They meet with darkness in the daytime

They meet with darkness in the daytime - God confounds them and their measures; and, with all their cunning and dexterity, they are outwitted, and often act on their own projects, planned with care and skill, as if they had been the crudest conceptions of the most disordered minds. They act in noonday as if the sun were extinct, and their eyes put out. Thus does God "abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices."

Clarke: Job 5:15 - He saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth

He saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth - This is rather a harsh construction. To avoid this, some have proposed to render מחרב mechereb , which we translate from the sword, the persecuted, but, I am afraid, on very slender authority. Instead of מחרב מפיהם mechereb mippihem , "from the sword, from their mouth,"eleven of Kennicott and De Rossi’ s MSS. read מחרב פיהם mechereb pihem , from the sword of their mouth; and with these MSS. the Chaldee, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic agree. The verse, therefore, may be translated thus: -

He saveth from the sword of their mouth

The poor from the hand of the mighty

Or thus: -

He saveth from the sword of their mouth

And with a strong hand the impoverished.

Clarke: Job 5:16 - So the poor

So the poor - דל dal , he who is made thin, who is wasted, extenuated; hath hope - he sees what God is accustomed to do, and he expects a repetition of gracious dealings in his own behalf; and because God deals thus with those who trust in him, therefore the mouth of impiety is stopped. Religion is kept alive in the earth, because of God’ s signal interventions in behalf of the bodies and souls of his followers.

Clarke: Job 5:17 - Behold, happy is the man

Behold, happy is the man - הנח hinneh , behold, is wanting in five of Kennicott’ s and De Rossi’ s MSS., and also in the Syriac, Vulgate, and Arabic. We have had fathers of our flesh, who corrected us for their pleasure, or according to their caprices, and we were subject to them: how much more should we be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? for he corrects that we may be partakers of his holiness, in order that we may be rendered fit for his glory. See Heb 12:5; Jam 1:12; and Pro 3:12.

Clarke: Job 5:18 - For he maketh sore, and bindeth up

For he maketh sore, and bindeth up - Thus nervously rendered by Coverdale, For though he make a wounde, he giveth a medicyne agayne; though he smyte, his honde maketh whole agayne.

Clarke: Job 5:19 - He shall deliver thee in six troubles

He shall deliver thee in six troubles - The numbers six and seven are put here for many. Though a number of troubles should come upon thee all at once, and there should be no hope, humanly speaking, yet God would rid thee out of them all; for he saves as well from many as from few. We may also understand the words, He who hath been thy deliverer in past troubles, will not deny his help in those which are to come.

Clarke: Job 5:20 - In famine he shall redeem thee

In famine he shall redeem thee - The Chaldee, which understands this chapter as speaking of the troubles and deliverances of the Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness, renders this verse as follows

"In the famine of Egypt he redeemed thee from death; and in the war of Amalek, from the slaying of the sword."

Clarke: Job 5:21 - Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue

Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue - The Targum refers this to the incantations of Balaam: "From injury by the tongue of Balaam thou shalt be hidden in the clouds; and thou shalt not fear from the blasting of the Midianites, when it shall come."Perhaps no evil is more dreadful than the scourge of the tongue: evil-speaking, detraction, backbiting, calumny, slander, tale-bearing, whispering, and scandalizing, are some of the terms which we use when endeavoring to express the baleful influence and effects of that member, which is a world of fire, kindled from the nethermost hell. The Scripture abounds with invectives and execrations against it. See Psa 31:20; Psa 52:2-4; Pro 12:18; Pro 14:3; Jam 3:1-8

Clarke: Job 5:21 - Neither shalt thou be afraid

Neither shalt thou be afraid - " Thou shouldst have such strong confidence in God, that even in the presence of destruction thou shouldst not fear death,"the God of life and power being with thee.

Clarke: Job 5:22 - At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh

At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh - This most forcibly expresses the strongest security, and confidence in that security

"In the desolation of Sihon, and in the famine of the desert, thou shalt laugh; and of the camps of Og, who is compared to a wild beast of the earth, thou shalt not be afraid."- Targum.

Clarke: Job 5:23 - Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field

Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field - Instead of אבני abney , stones, Mr. Good reads בני beney , sons, or produce; but this reading is not supported by any ancient version, nor, as far as I know, by any MS. yet collated. We must, therefore, take up the text as we find it, and make the best we can of the present reading. The Chaldee gives a plausible sense: Thou needest not to fear, "because thy covenant is on tables of stone, which are publicly erected in the field; and the Canaanites, which are compared to the beasts of the field, have made peace with thee."Perhaps the reference is to those rocks or strong holds, where banditti secured themselves and their prey, or where the emirs or neighboring chiefs had their ordinary residence. Eliphaz may be understood as saying: Instead, then, of taking advantage of thee, as the Sabeans have done, the circumjacent chieftains will be confederate with thee; and the very beasts of the field will not be permitted to harm thy flocks

Coverdale seems to have had an idea of this kind, as we find he translates the verse thus: -

But the castels in the londe shall be confederate with the

And the beastes of the felde shall give the peace

I believe the above to be the meaning of the place. See the next verse, Job 5:24 (note).

Clarke: Job 5:24 - Thou shalt know

Thou shalt know - Thou shalt be so fully satisfied of the friendly disposition of all thy neighbors, that thou shalt rest secure in thy bed, and not be afraid of any danger, though sleeping in thy tent in the field; and when thou returnest from thy country excursions, thou shalt find that thy habitation has been preserved in peace and prosperity, and that thou hast made no mistake in thy trust, in thy confidence, or in thy confederates. The word אהלך oholecha , "thy tabernacle,"means simply a tent, or moveable dwelling, composed of poles, pins, and cloth, or skin, to be pitched any where in a few moments, and struck again with the same ease. The word נוך navecha , which we properly translate thy habitation, signifies a solid, permanent dwelling-place. See Jos 22:4, Jos 22:6-8; 2Sa 18:17; 2Sa 19:8; 1Ki 12:16; Psa 52:7; Psa 91:10; Psa 132:3; Lam 2:4; Mal 2:12; and with these passages compare the place in the text. As to תחטא techeta , which we translate thou shalt not Sin, it comes from חטא chata , to err, to mistake, to miss the mark: hence to sin, transgress God’ s laws, seeking for happiness in forbidden and unlawful things, and therefore missing the mark, because in them happiness is not to be found: and it is very likely, from the connection above, that to mistake or err is its meaning in this place. I need not add, that the Arab chiefs, who had their castles or strong holds, frequently in their country excursions lodged in tents in the open fields; and that on such occasions a hostile neighbor sometimes took advantage of their absence, attacked and pillaged their houses, and carried off their families and household. See at the end of this chapter, Job 5:27 (note).

Clarke: Job 5:25 - Thine offspring as the grass

Thine offspring as the grass - Thou shalt have a numerous and permanent issue.

Clarke: Job 5:26 - Thou shalt come to thy grave

Thou shalt come to thy grave - Thou shalt not die before thy time; thou shalt depart from life like a full-fed guest; happy in what thou hast known, and in what thou hast enjoyed

Clarke: Job 5:26 - Like as a shock of corn

Like as a shock of corn - Thou shalt completely run through the round of the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of life; and thou shalt be buried like a wholesome seed in the earth; from which thou shalt again rise up into an eternal spring!

Clarke: Job 5:27 - Lo this, we have searched it

Lo this, we have searched it - What I have told thee is the sum of our wisdom and experience on these important points. These are established maxims, which universal experience supports

Know - understand, and reduce them to practice for thy good. Thus ends Eliphaz, the Temanite, "full of wise saws and ancient instances;"but he miserably perverted them in his application of them to Job’ s case and character. They contain, however, many wholesome truths, of which the wise in heart may make a very advantageous practical use

The predatory excursions referred to in Job 5:23 were not unfrequent among our own barbarous ancestors. An affecting picture of this kind is drawn by Shakespeare, from Holinshed’ s Chronicles, of the case of Macduff, whose castle was attacked in his absence by Macbeth and his wife and all his children murdered. A similar incident was the ground of the old heroic ballad of Hardicanute. When the veteran heard that a host of Norwegians had landed to pillage the country, he armed, and posted to the field to meet the invading foe. He slew the chief in battle, and routed his pillaging banditti. While this was taking place, another party took the advantage of his absence, attacked his castle, and carried off or murdered his lovely wife and family; which, being perceived on his return by the war and age-worn chief, is thus affectingly described by the unknown poet: -

Loud and chill blew the westlin wind,
Sair beat the heavy shower

Mirk grew the nicht eir Hardyknute
Wan neir his stately tower

His tower that us’ d with torches bleise
To shine sae far at night

Seim’ d now as black as mourning weid,
Nae marvel, sair he sich’ d

"Thair’ s nae light in my lady’ s bowir,
Thair’ s nae light in my hall

Nae blink shynes round my Fairly fair,
Nor ward stands on my wall

"What bodes it, Thomas! Robert! say?"
Nae answer - speaks their dreid

"Stand back, my sons, I’ ll be your gyde;"
But bye they pass’ d with speid

"As fast I haif sped owr Scotland’ s foes"
There ceis’ d his brag of weir

Sair schamt to mind ocht but his dame,
And maiden Fairly fair

Black feir he felt; but what to feir
He wist not yet with dreid

Sair schook his body, sair his limbs,
And all the warrior fled

The ending of this poem is lost; but we here see that the castle of Hardicanute was surprised, and his family destroyed, or carried off, while he and his sons had been employed in defeating the invading Norwegians. Thank God! civilization, the offspring of the spread of Christianity, has put an end to these barbarous practices among us; but in the East, where Christianity is not, they flourish still. Britons! send out your Bible and your missionaries to tame these barbarians; for whom heathenism has done nothing, and the Koran next to nothing. Civilization itself, without the Bible, will do as little; for the civilized Greeks and Romans were barbarians, fell and murderous; living in envy and malice, hateful, hating one another, and offering hundreds at a time of human victims to their ruthless deities. Nothing but Christianity ever did, or even can, cure these evils.

Defender: Job 5:7 - born unto trouble

Eliphaz here indicates his knowledge of the primeval curse on human birth: "In sorrow thou shalt bring forth children" (Gen 3:16)."

Defender: Job 5:13 - their own craftiness

"For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness" (1Co 3:19). Paul here acknowledges indirectly that the book of Job is a part of the inspired Scriptures. Even though God said that the counsel of Eliphaz was wrong (Job 42:7), the record of what he said was accurately recorded by divine inspiration; many of his statements are true, even though his conclusions are wrong, and, of course, the Holy Spirit was free to use and apply any of them He might choose when He later inspired Paul's writings."

Defender: Job 5:17 - chastening of the Almighty

This is another observation by Eliphaz which the Lord has acknowledged as inspired. It is quoted, with variations, in Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12, and then with more emphasis and amplification in Heb 12:5, Heb 12:6."

Defender: Job 5:27 - for thy good

This arrogant assertion by Eliphaz indicates two things have happened previously. First, the evil spirit so impressed him with his deceptive message that Eliphaz was confident he was conveying divinely inspired advice to Job. Secondly, he had convinced Bildad and Zophar that this was the message they should unitedly give Job."

TSK: Job 5:1 - and to which // the saints // turn

and to which : Job 15:8-10, Job 15:15; Isa 41:1, Isa 41:21-23; Heb 12:1

the saints : Job 4:18, Job 15:15; Deu 33:2, Deu 33:3; Psa 16:3, Psa 106:16; Eph 1:1

turn : or, look

TSK: Job 5:2 - wrath // the foolish // envy // one

wrath : Job 18:4; Jon 4:9

the foolish : Psa 14:1, Psa 75:4, Psa 92:6, Psa 107:17; Pro 1:22, Pro 1:23, Pro 8:5; Ecc 7:9

envy : or, indignation, Gen 30:1; 1Sa 18:8, 1Sa 18:9; Rom 2:8

one : Hos 7:11; 2Ti 3:6

TSK: Job 5:3 - taking // cursed

taking : Job 27:8; Psa 37:35, Psa 37:36, Psa 73:3-9, Psa 73:18-20, Psa 92:7; Jer 12:1-3

cursed : Deu 27:15-26; Psa 69:25; Act 1:20

TSK: Job 5:4 - children // they are crushed // neither

children : Job 4:10, Job 4:11, Job 8:4, Job 18:16-19, Job 27:14; Exo 20:5; Psa 109:9-15, Psa 119:155, Psa 127:5

they are crushed : Job 1:19; Luk 13:4, Luk 13:5

neither : Job 10:7; Psa 7:2

TSK: Job 5:5 - harvest // the thorns // the robber // swalloweth

harvest : Deu 28:33, Deu 28:51; Jdg 6:3-6; Isa 62:8

the thorns : Jdg 6:11; 2Ch 33:11

the robber : Job 1:15, Job 1:17, Job 12:6, Job 18:9; Hos 8:7

swalloweth : Job 2:3, Job 20:15; Jer 51:34, Jer 51:44; Lam 2:5, Lam 2:16

TSK: Job 5:6 - affliction // trouble // spring out

affliction : or, iniquity

trouble : Job 34:29; Deu 32:27; 1Sa 6:9; Psa 90:7; Isa 45:7; Lam 3:38; Amo 3:6

spring out : Hos 10:4; Heb 12:15

TSK: Job 5:7 - man // trouble // sparks fly upward

man : Job 14:1; Gen 3:17-19; Psa 90:8, Psa 90:9; 1Co 10:13

trouble : or, labour, Ecc 1:8, Ecc 2:22, Ecc 5:15-17

sparks fly upward : Heb. sons of the burning coal lift up to fly

TSK: Job 5:8 - seek // unto God

seek : Job 8:5, Job 22:21, Job 22:27; Gen 32:7-12; 2Ch 33:12, 2Ch 33:13; Psa 50:15, Psa 77:1, Psa 77:2; Jon 2:1-7

unto God : Psa 37:5; 2Ti 1:12; 1Pe 2:23, 1Pe 4:19

TSK: Job 5:9 - doeth // unsearchable // marvellous // without number

doeth : Job 9:10, Job 11:7-9, Job 37:5; Psa 40:5, Psa 72:18, Psa 86:10; Rom 11:33

unsearchable : Heb. there is no search, Isa 40:28

marvellous : Job 26:5-14

without number : Heb. till there be no number, Psa 40:5, Psa 139:18

TSK: Job 5:10 - giveth // fields

giveth : Job 28:26; Psa 65:9-11, Psa 147:8; Jer 5:24, Jer 10:13, Jer 14:22; Amo 4:7; Act 14:17

fields : Heb. outplaces, Job 38:26-28

TSK: Job 5:11 - set up // those // exalted

set up : 1Sa 2:7, 1Sa 2:8; Psa 91:14, Psa 107:41; Eze 17:24; Luk 1:52, Luk 1:53

those : Luk 6:21; Jam 1:9, Jam 4:6-10; 1Pe 5:10

exalted : Deu 33:27; 1Pe 1:3

TSK: Job 5:12 - disappointeth // their hands // their enterprise

disappointeth : Job 12:16, Job 12:17; Neh 4:15; Psa 33:10, Psa 33:11, Psa 37:17; Pro 21:30; Isa 8:10, Isa 19:3

their hands : Psa 21:11; Isa 37:36; Act 12:11, Act 23:12-22

their enterprise : or, anything

TSK: Job 5:13 - taketh // of the froward

taketh : 2Sa 15:31, 2Sa 15:34, 2Sa 17:23; Est 6:4-11, Est 7:10, Est 9:25; Psa 7:15, Psa 7:16, Psa 9:15, Psa 9:16; Psa 35:7, Psa 35:8; Luk 1:51; 1Co 1:19, 1Co 1:20

of the froward : Psa 18:26; Pro 3:32

TSK: Job 5:14 - meet with // darkness

meet with : or, run into

darkness : Job 12:25; Deu 28:29; Pro 4:19; Isa 59:10; Amo 8:9

TSK: Job 5:15 - he saveth

he saveth : Psa 10:14, Psa 10:17, Psa 35:10, Psa 72:4, Psa 72:12, Psa 72:13, Psa 107:41, Psa 109:31, Psa 140:12

TSK: Job 5:16 - the poor // and

the poor : 1Sa 2:8, 1Sa 2:9; Psa 9:18; Isa 14:32; Zec 9:12

and : Exo 11:7; Psa 63:11, Psa 107:42; Rom 3:19

TSK: Job 5:17 - happy

happy : Psa 94:12; Pro 3:11, Pro 3:12; Jer 31:18; Heb 12:5-11; Jam 1:12, Jam 5:11; Rev 3:19

TSK: Job 5:18

Deu 32:39; 1Sa 2:6; Psa 147:3; Isa 30:26

TSK: Job 5:19 - deliver thee // no evil

deliver thee : Psa 34:19, Psa 91:3-7; Pro 24:16; 1Co 10:13; 2Co 1:8; 2Pe 2:9

no evil : Psa 91:7-10

TSK: Job 5:20 - famine // redeem // in war // the power

famine : Gen 45:7; 1Ki 17:6; Psa 33:19; Pro 10:3; Isa 33:16; Hab 3:17

redeem : Psa 49:7; Hos 13:14

in war : Psa 27:3; Mat 24:6

the power : Heb. hands

TSK: Job 5:21 - be hid // from the scourge // neither

be hid : Psa 31:20, Psa 55:21, Psa 57:4; Pro 12:18; Isa 54:17; Jer 18:18; Jam 3:5-8

from the scourge : or, when the tongue scourgeth

neither : Psa 91:5-7

TSK: Job 5:22 - laugh // afraid

laugh : 2Ki 19:21

afraid : Isa 35:9, Isa 65:25; Eze 34:25

TSK: Job 5:23 - thou // beasts

thou : Psa 91:12, Psa 91:13; Hos 2:18; Rom 8:38, Rom 8:39

beasts : Lev 26:6; Eze 14:15, Eze 14:16; Isa 11:9; Dan 6:22

TSK: Job 5:24 - thou shalt know // thy tabernacle // thou shalt visit // sin

thou shalt know : Job 18:6, Job 18:15, Job 18:21, Job 21:7-9; 1Sa 30:3; Isa 4:5, Isa 4:6

thy tabernacle : etc. or, peace is thy tabernacle, Psa 25:13

thou shalt visit : Deu 28:6; Psa 91:10, Psa 121:7, Psa 121:8

sin : or, err, Psa 107:4, Psa 107:40

TSK: Job 5:25 - thy seed // great // as the grass

thy seed : Job 42:13-16; Gen 15:5; Lev 26:9; Deu 28:4; Psa 112:2, Psa 127:3-5, Psa 128:3-6

great : or, much.

as the grass : Psa 72:16

TSK: Job 5:26 - in a full age // cometh

in a full age : Job 42:16, Job 42:17; Gen 15:15, Gen 25:8; Psa 91:16; Pro 9:11, Pro 10:27

cometh : Heb. ascendeth

TSK: Job 5:27 - we have searched // for thy good

we have searched : Job 8:8-10, Job 12:2, Job 15:9, Job 15:10, Job 15:17, Job 32:11, Job 32:12; Psa 111:2; Pro 2:3-5

for thy good : Heb. for thyself, Job 22:2; Deu 10:13; Pro 9:12

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Job 5:1 - Call now // If there be any // That will answer thee // if there be any that doth answer thee // The saints // Wilt thou turn

Call now i.e. invite, or make proclamation, as this word is oft used, as Deu 20:10 Jud 12:1 Jer 2:2 3:12 7:2 . Call them all as it were by their names; consult the whole catalogue of them all, which thou didst ever know or hear of.

If there be any to wit, of the saints, as it follows.

That will answer thee i.e. comply with thee, answer thy desires or expectations; try if there be any one saint that will defend or allow thee in these bold expostulations with God; or, as it is in the Hebrew,

if there be any that doth answer thee i.e. whose opinion or disposition and carriage is answerable or like to thine. So answering is sometimes used, as Pro 27:19 Ecc 10:19 . Thou wilt find many fools or wicked men, as it follows, Job 5:2 , to answer or imitate thee in their speeches and carriages, but not one of the saints like thee; which deserves thy serious consideration, and gives thee just cause to question thine integrity.

The saints either,

1. The angels, who are sometimes called saints , as Job 15:15 Dan 8:13 Zec 14:5 , because they are eminently and perfectly holy; or rather,

2. Holy men, as appears both from the word, which most commonly is so used, and from the opposition of the foolish man to these, Job 5:2 , and because the example of men was more proper and effectual for Job’ s conviction than of angels.

Wilt thou turn or look ? look about thee, view them all, and see if thou canst find one like thee.

Poole: Job 5:2 - The foolish man // Envy // The silly one

Either,

1. The wrath of God; or rather,

2. A man’ s own wrath, fretting, and impatience, and indignation; which kills men, partly, naturally, as it preys upon a man’ s spirit, and wasteth him inwardly, and so hastens his death, of which see Pro 14:30 17:22 ; partly, morally, as it prompts him to those rash, and furious, and wicked actions which may procure his death; and partly, meritoriously, as it provoketh God to cut him off, and to bring upon him those further and severe strokes which he mentions in the following words.

The foolish man either,

1. The rash and inconsiderate man, who doth not ponder things impartially; but, like a man mad, rageth against God, and torments himself and all that hear him. Or,

2. The ungodly man, who is frequently called a fool in Scripture language, and who is here opposed to the saints, Job 5:1 .

Envy: he taxeth Job, who spoke with great envy at those that were never born, or were in their graves, Job 3:10,12 , &c.

The silly one properly, the man who, for want of true wisdom, is soon deceived with false opinions, and appearances, and present things; which is thy case, O Job. The sense of the verse may be this, I perceive, O Job, that thou art full of envy at wicked men, who at present are, or seem to be, in a happier condition than thou; and of wrath against God, who denies thee that mercy, and loads thee with afflictions; and this shows thee to be a foolish and weak man. For those men, notwithstanding their present prosperity, are doomed to great and certain misery, as it here follows. And so this verse coheres with the following as well as the foregoing verses.

Poole: Job 5:3 - The foolish // Taking root // Suddenly // I cursed // His habitation

I have oft observed it in my experience. Having severely rebuked Job for his transports of passion and intemperate speeches against God, he now returns to his former argument, and proves that such dreadful and destructive judgments of God do not befall the righteous, but the wicked, as he observed, Job 4:7,8 . Withal, he answers an objection concerning the present and seeming prosperity of the wicked, which he confesseth that he himself had sometimes observed.

The foolish i. e. the wicked man, who is quite destitute of true, i.e. of spiritual and heavenly, wisdom.

Taking root not only prosperous for the present, but, as it seemed, from all secure for the future, being strongly fortified with power, and riches, and children too, so as there was no appearance nor danger of a change.

Suddenly in a moment, besides and before mine, and his own, and all other men’ s expectation.

I cursed either,

1. I judged that he was a cursed creature, notwithstanding all his prosperity; and I foresaw and foretold it by the rules of Scripture, or the direction of God’ s Spirit, that he would certainly sooner or later be stripped of all his blessings, and have God’ s curse fall heavily upon him. Or rather,

2. I saw and perceived, by, the event which followed his prosperity, that he was a man accursed of God. For he speaks not in these words of what his estate constantly was, even in the midst of his happiness, though even then he was really accursed; but of what it was by a sudden change.

His habitation or, as the Hebrew word signifies, his pleasant or commodious habitation ; persons or things in it, or belonging to it, being comprehended in that word by a usual metonymy.

Poole: Job 5:4 - His children // Are far from safety // In the gate // Neither is there any to deliver them

His children whose greatness and happiness he designed in all his enterprises, supposing that his family was and would be established for ever.

Are far from safety i.e. are exposed to great dangers and calamities in this life, and can neither preserve themselves, nor the great inheritance which their fathers got and left for them. Thus to be far from peace, Lam 3:17 , is to be involved in desperate troubles.

In the gate i.e. in the place of judicature; to which they are brought for their offences, and where they will find severe judges, and few or no friends; partly because, being wickedly educated, and trusting to their own greatness, they were insolent and injurious to all their neighbours; and partly because those many persons whom their powerful fathers defrauded or oppressed do seek for justice, and the recovery of their rights, which they easily obtain against such persons as plainly declared by their actions that they neither feared God nor reverenced him, and therefore were hated by all sorts of men.

Neither is there any to deliver them they can find no advocates nor assistants, who are either able or willing to help them; but, like Ishmael, as their hand was formerly against every man , so now every man’ s hand is against them .

Poole: Job 5:5 - Whose harvest // The hungry // Out of the thorns

Whose harvest which they now justly and confidently expect to reap, after all their cost and labour for that end, but are sadly and suddenly disappointed; which is a great aggravation of their misery.

The hungry i.e. the poor, whose necessities make them greedy and ravenous to eat it all up; and from whom he can never recover it, nor any thing in recompence of it.

Out of the thorns i.e. out of the fields, notwithstanding the strong thorn hedges wherewith it is enclosed and fortified, and all other dangers or difficulties which may be in their way. They will take it, though they be scratched and wounded by the thorns about it. The robbers ; so called from their long hair, which such persons nourished, either because of their wild and savage kind of life, which made them neglect the trimming of their hair and body; or that they might look more terribly, and so affright all those who should endeavour to oppose them. Or, the thirsty , as the word may signify from another root. And so it answers well to the hungry, in the former branch. Swalloweth up greedily , and so as there is no hope of recovering it.

Poole: Job 5:6 - Although // Affliction // trouble

Although or for , or rather, because . So the following words may contain a reason why he should seek unto God , as he exhorts him, Job 5:8 . Or, surely , as that particle is oft used. And so it is a note of his proceeding to another argument.

Affliction or iniquity , as this word oft signifies; and of this the following sentence is true. And so this first branch speaks of sin, and the next branch of trouble, which is the fruit of sin; and both sin and trouble are said to come from the same spring. But this word signifies also affliction , or misery , or trouble , as Psa 90:10 Pro 12:21 ; which seems most proper here, both because it is so explained by the following words,

trouble and again, trouble , Job 5:7 , the same thing being repeated in several words, as is usual in Holy Scripture; and because the great thing which troubled Job, and the chief matter of these discourses, was Job’ s afflictions, not his sins. Cometh not forth of the dust ; it springs not up by chance, as herbs which grow of their own accord out of the earth; or, it comes not from men or creatures here below; but it comes from a certain and a higher cause, even from God, and that for man’ s sins; and therefore thou shouldst seek to him for redress, as it follows, Job 5:8 .

Poole: Job 5:7 - As the sparks fly upward

i.e. He is so commonly exposed to many and various troubles, as if he were born to no other end. Affliction is become in some sort natural and proper to man, and it is, together with sin, transmitted from parents to children, as their most certain and constant inheritance; God having allotted this portion to mankind for their sins. And therefore thou takest a wrong course in complaining so bitterly of that which thou shouldst patiently bear, as the common lot of mankind; and thy right method is to seek unto God, who inflicts it, and who only can remove it.

As the sparks fly upward i.e. as naturally and as generally as the sparks of fire fly upward , which do so universally and constantly. Heb. and the sparks , &c. But the particle and is oft used comparatively for as , as Job 12:11 14:11 34:3 Pro 25:21 Mar 9:49 .

Poole: Job 5:8 - Seek unto God // Would I commit my cause

If I were in thy condition; and therefore I would advise thee to the same course.

Seek unto God to wit, by prayer, and humiliation, and submission, imploring his pardon, and favour, and help, and not repine at him, and accuse his providence, as thou dost.

Would I commit my cause i.e. commend my afflicted condition to him by fervent prayer, and resign myself and all my concerns to him, and humbly hope for relief from him. Or, propound my matters , i.e. make known my afflictions and requests to him; or, put or dispose my words, i.e. pray to him, and pour out my complaints before him.

Poole: Job 5:9 - Unsearchable // Marvellous things

Here Eliphaz enters upon a discourse of the infinite perfection and greatness of God’ s nature and works; which he doth partly as an argument to enforce the exhortation to seek and commit his cause to God , Job 5:8 , because God was infinitely able, either to punish him yet far worse, if he continued to provoke him, or to raise him from the dust, if he humbly addressed himself to him; and partly that by a true representation of God’ s excellency and glory, and of that vast disproportion which was between God and Job, he might both convince Job of his great sin in speaking so boldly and irreverently of him, and prevent his relapse into the same miscarriage.

Unsearchable either such things as we may not boldly and curiously search into, Deu 29:29 Rom 11:33 Col 2:18 ; or such as by searching we cannot find out, Job 11:7 ; such as we cannot thoroughly understand, either the works themselves, or God’ s way and manner of doing them, or God’ s designs or ends in doing them. And therefore, O Job, thou art guilty of great impiety and folly to censure the ways and works of God as unreasonable, Job 3:11,20 , because thou dost not fully understand the nature and use of them.

Marvellous things which (though common, as the following works are, and therefore neglected and despised, yet) are just matter of wonder even to the wisest men.

Poole: Job 5:10 - Waters // Upon the fields

He beginneth with this ordinary and obvious work of God, in which he implies that there is something unsearchable and wonderful, as indeed there is in the rise of it from the earth, in the strange hanging of that heavy body in the air, and in the distribution of it as God sees fit, Amo 4:7 ; and how much more in the secret counsels and hidden paths of Divine Providence, which Job took the liberty to censure!

Waters either fountains and rivers, which is another great and wonderful work of God; or rather, rain water, as the following words imply; the same thing being repeated in other words, after the manner.

Upon the fields or, upon all places abroad , i.e. which have no covering to keep out the rain.

Poole: Job 5:11 - That those which mourn may be exalted to safety

These words contain either,

1. A declaration of God’ s end in giving rain, which is to enrich those who were poor, or mourning for the drought, by sending rain, and making their lands fruitful; or rather,

2. Another example of God’ s great and wonderful works. And the infinitive verb is here put for the indicative, he setteth up , &c., which is very frequent in the Hebrew, as Psa 56:13 Zec 3:4 12:10 . He giveth this instance to comfort and encourage Job to seek to God, because he can raise him out of his greatest depths, and useth to raise others in the like condition.

That those which mourn may be exalted to safety notwithstanding all the craft and power of their enemies.

Poole: Job 5:12 - Of the crafty // Their enterprise

Of the crafty such as are cunning to work evil, and to cover it with fair pretences, as hypocrites use to do, and as Job’ s friends charged him with doing: God breaks the hopes and designs of such men; as he hath now blasted thy expectation, and taken away thy outward happiness, which was the thing thou didst design in taking up the profession of religion.

Their enterprise or, any thing ; or, what is solid or substantial ; or, wisdom , i.e. their wise counsel or crafty design. They cannot execute their cunning contrivances.

Poole: Job 5:13 - The wise in their own craftiness

The wise in their own craftiness wicked men, who are wise to do evil, and wise in the opinion of the world, he not only deceiveth in their hopes and counsels, but turns them against themselves; as we see in Ahithophel, Haman, &c. The froward , or perverse , or wrestlers ; such as wind and turn every way, as wrestlers do, and will leave no means untried to accomplish their counsels. Is carried headlong , i.e. is tumbled down and broken, and that by their own precipitation and haste. Their malice cannot have the patience to proceed wisely and leisurely against God’ s church and people, but makes them eager and venturous, and so to make more haste than good speed in their wicked designs.

Poole: Job 5:14 - Darkness // Grope

i.e. In plain things they run into gross mistakes and errors, and commonly choose those counsels and courses which are worst for themselves.

Darkness oft notes misery, but here ignorance or error, as it is also used Job 12:25 37:19 , and elsewhere.

Grope like blind men to find their way, not knowing what to do.

Poole: Job 5:15 - The poor // From their mouth

The poor or helpless ; who therefore flee to God for refuge.

From their mouth or,

from the sword which cometh out of their mouth, i.e. from all their censures, slanders, threatenings, deceitful insinuations, false swearings of witnesses, unrighteous sentences of corrupt judges, whereby their good names, or estates, or lives may be exposed to the utmost hazards. And this is fitly opposed to the sword of the hand, implied in the next branch of the verse. Or, from the sword by their mouths , i.e. by those wicked men’ s own words against the godly, which God wonderfully overruleth to the working out of their deliverance.

Poole: Job 5:16 - Iniquity // Stoppeth her mouth

So this poor man obtaineth what he in some measure hoped or expected from God, to whom he committed his cause; and other poor men will be encouraged by his example to place their hope in God.

Iniquity i. e. wicked men; the abstract for the concrete, as pride, deceit, injustice , are put for proud, deceitful, and unrighteous men, Jer 13:9 2Pe 3:13 .

Stoppeth her mouth i.e. they are silenced and confounded, being convicted of their own wickedness and folly, and finding that not only the poor are got out of their nets and snares, in which they thought that they had them fast, but also the oppressors themselves are insnared in them; and all this by sudden and unexpected means.

Poole: Job 5:17 - Behold // Happy is the man whom God correcteth // Despise not thou // Of the Almighty

Behold for what I am saying, though most true, will not be believed without serious consideration.

Happy is the man whom God correcteth Heb. blessednesses (i.e. various and great happiness, as the plural number implies) belong to that man whom God rebukes, to wit, with strokes, Job 33:16,19 . Those afflictions are so far from making thee miserable, as thou complainest, that they are, and will be, if thou dost thy duty, the means of thy happiness: which, though a paradox to the world, is frequently affirmed in Holy Scripture; and the reason of it is plain, because they are pledges of God’ s love, which no man can buy too dear; and though bitter, yet necessary physic to purge out that sin which is deeply fixed in all men’ s natures, and thereby to prevent far greater, even infinite and eternal, miseries; without respect to which this proposition could not be true or tolerable. And therefore it plainly shows that good men in those ancient times of the Old Testament had the prospect, and belief, and hope of everlasting blessedness in heaven after this life.

Despise not thou i.e. do not abhor it as a thing pernicious and intolerable, nor refuse it as a thing useless and unprofitable, nor slight it as a mean and unnecessary thing; but, on the contrary, prize it highly, as a favour and vouchsafement of God; for such negative expressions oft imply the contrary, as 1Th 5:20 1Ti 4:12 . See Pro 10:2 17:21 .

Of the Almighty or, of the all-sufficient God , who is able to support and comfort thee in thy troubles, and to deliver thee out of them, and to add more calamities to them, if thou art obstinate and incorrigible.

Poole: Job 5:18 - Bindeth up

Bindeth up to wit, the wounds, as good surgeons use to do when they have dressed them, in order to their healing. Compare Psa 147:3 Eze 34:4 . The sense is, Though he hath seen it fit to wound thee, yet he will not always grieve thee, but will in due time release thee from all thy miseries. Therefore despair not.

Poole: Job 5:19 - He shall deliver thee // Six // There shall no evil touch thee

He shall deliver thee to wit, if thou seekest to him by prayer and repentance.

Six i.e. manifold or repeated; as six is used for many, Pro 6:16 .

There shall no evil touch thee to wit, so as to undo or destroy thee, as touching is used, Jos 9:19 Heb 11:28 1Jo 5:18 . See also Gen 26:11,29 2Sa 14:10 Psa 105:15 Zec 2:8 . Thou shalt have a good issue out of all thy troubles, though they are both great and many.

Poole: Job 5:20 - In famine // From death

In famine which Job might be thought to fear, as being so poor that he needed his friends’ contributions for his relief.

From death from that terrible kind of death.

These things he utters with more confidence, partly because the rewards or punishments of this life were more constantly distributed to men in the Old Testament according to their good or bad behaviour than now they are; and partly because it was his particular opinion, that great afflictions were the constant fruits and certain evidences of a man’ s wickedness; and consequently, that great mercies and deliverances should infallibly follow upon true repentance and godliness.

Poole: Job 5:21 - Hid // From the scourge of the tongue // Neither shalt thou be afraid // When it cometh

Hid i.e. protected, as in some secret and safe place.

From the scourge of the tongue i.e. from false accusations and virulent slanders and reproaches, either by diverting their tongues to other persons or things, or by clearing thy integrity.

Neither shalt thou be afraid thou shalt have no cause to fear it, because God will secure thee in it and from it.

When it cometh to wit, upon others; near thee, or round about thee.

Poole: Job 5:22 - The beasts

Thou shalt not only be redeemed from famine , Job 5:20 , and not fear destruction , Job 5:21 , but thou shalt laugh at them; not with a laughter of scorn and contempt, as this word is used, Job 39:18 Psa 2:4 37:13 ; (for God’ s judgments are to be entertained with reverence and godly fear;) but with a laughter of joy and triumph, arising from his just security and confidence in God’ s watchful and gracious providence, which will either keep him from it or in it, or do him much good by it.

The beasts i.e. the wild beasts, which were numerous and mischievous in those parts. See Deu 28:26 1Sa 17:34 Jer 7:33 .

Poole: Job 5:23 - The beasts of the field

Thou shalt be free from any annoyance by stones, either in thy walking or other postures, or in thy ploughing, as if they had made an inviolable league with thee. Stones may be, and in these stony countries were, hurtful to men many ways; either by bruising or hurting their feet when they walked barefoot, as the manner then was; or by giving them occasion of stumbling, or slipping, and falling; or by falling upon a man from a rock, or higher ground, as sometimes it hath happened; or filling his grounds, so as to hinder his ploughing, and make his lands unfruitful. Nay, the stones shall not only cease to be hurtful, but they shall be useful and beneficial to thee; they shall, as it were, present themselves to thee when thou hast occasion, either to sling them at thine enemies, as then was usual, Jud 20:16 2Ch 26:14 , or to make fences to thy ground, or to build a house. This is a bold metaphor, but such are frequent, as in other authors, so also in Scripture, as Isa 28:15 Hos 2:18 .

The beasts of the field either,

1. The wild beasts; and then this is an addition to the former privilege; they shall not hurt thee, Job 5:22 ; nay, they shall befriend thee, as being at peace with thee, here, Job 5:23 . Or,

2. The tame beasts, who otherwise may be refractory and hurtful to a man, many having been killed by them.

Poole: Job 5:24 - Thou shalt know // that thy tabernacle // peace. Visit thy habitation // Shalt not sin // and thou shalt not err

Thou shalt know by certain and constant experience,

that thy tabernacle i.e. thy habitation, as it follows, including also the inhabitants, children, or friends and servants,

shall be in peace shall enjoy great safety from all their enemies, and concord among themselves, and prosperity in all their concerns; all which are comprehended under the sweet name of

peace. Visit thy habitation i.e. manage and order thy family, and all thy domestic affairs and worldly concerns, with care and diligence. Visiting is oft used for regarding or taking care of, as Gen 21:1 Rth 1:6 Psa 8:4 80:14 .

Shalt not sin either by unrighteousness in thy dealings with thy family or others, or by neglecting God and his service in thy family, or by winking at any sin in thy domestics which thou canst hinder. But because he speaks not here of Job’ s duty, but of his privilege, and that in outward and worldly things, it seems better rendered by others,

and thou shalt not err or miscarry , or miss thy way or mark , as this very word is used below, Job 24:19 14:16 Jud 20:16 ; thou shalt not be disappointed of thy hopes, or blasted in thy endeavours, but shalt succeed in them. Or, and thou shalt not wander , or be a wanderer , having no house in which to put his head, which Job might have some ground to fear; but thou shalt have a habitation of thy own, which thou shalt visit and manage as thou didst before.

Poole: Job 5:25 - Thou shalt know // Thy seed shall be great // Thine offspring

Thou shalt know partly by assurance from God’ s promises, and the impressions of his Spirit; and partly by experience in due time.

Thy seed shall be great thy posterity, which God will give thee instead of those which thou hast lost, shall be high, and honourable, and powerful. Or, shall be many.

Thine offspring which shall come out of thy own loins as branches out of a tree, as the word signifies. And this word seems added to the former to restrain and explain it, by showing that he did not speak of his spiritual seed, as Abraham’ s seed is in part understood, but of the fruit of his own body. As the grass of the earth ; both for its plentiful increase, and for its flourishing greenness.

Poole: Job 5:26 - In a full age // As a shock of corn cometh in // In his season

In a full age in a mature and old, but vigorous, age, as the word implies. Thou shalt not be cut off by a hand of violence before thy time, as thy sons and other wicked men have been; but shalt die in a good old age , as did Abraham, Gen 25:8 , and Moses, Deu 34:7 .

As a shock of corn cometh in as a heap or stack of corn is brought in , to wit, to the barn. Heb. ascendeth , or riseth ; which word is very proper and usual in this case; for a stack of corn is said to rise, when by the addition of new heaps and handfuls it is raised to a higher pitch. Or, is cut off , as this same word is used, Psa 102:24 . Cut me not off , &c., Heb. Make me not to ascend ; and thus it is fitly used both of the corn, which when it is cut up ascends, or is lifted up from the earth, on which it lay, and is advanced into stacks and high heaps, either in the barn or in the field; and of man, who when he dies his spirit goeth upward to heaven, as is implied even there where in the person of an epicure it is questioned, Ecc 3:21 .

In his season in harvest, when the corn is ripe.

Poole: Job 5:27 - Know thou it

It is not my single opinion, but my brethren concur with me, as thou wilt hear from their own mouths. This is no rash or hasty conceit, but what we have learned by deep consideration and hard study, long experience and diligent observation, both of God’ s word, so far as he hath been pleased to reveal himself, and of the course and methods of his providence and dealing with men in the world.

Know thou it for to us thou seemest by thy words and carriage to be wholly, or in a great part, ignorant of these things. For thy good ; let the advantage which will come unto thee by following this counsel remove thy prejudice against it.

Haydock: Job 5:1 - Scourge // Calamity

Scourge. Ecclesiasticus (xxvi. 9., and xxviii. 21.) has the same expression. See James iii. 6. (Calmet) ---

Calamity, from robbers, as the Hebrew shod, (Haydock) intimates. The word is rendered destruction, vastitate, ver. 22. (Menochius)

Haydock: Job 5:1 - Saints

Saints. This is a proof of the invocation of the saints (Calmet) and angels. (Haydock) ---

The Jews often begged God to have mercy on them for the sake of the patriarchs, 2 Paralipomenon vi. 42. (Calmet) ---

Eliphaz, therefore, exhorts Job, if he have any patron or angel, to bring him forward in his defence. (Menochius) ---

Septuagint, "Invoke now if any one will hear thee, or if thou perceive any of the holy angels," (Haydock) as I have done. (Menochius) ---

He extols himself, to correct the pretended presumption of his friend, (Calmet) and other defects, which none will dare to deny, as he supposes. See St. Gregory, v. 30. (Worthington)

Haydock: Job 5:2 - Foolish and....little

Foolish and....little, here denote the wicked, as in the book of Proverbs. (Calmet) ---

He accuses Job of anger (Menochius) and folly. (Calmet)

Haydock: Job 5:3 - And I

And I. Septuagint, "But presently their subsistence was eaten up." I envied not their riches: but judged they would soon end. (Haydock)

Haydock: Job 5:4 - Gate

Gate, in judgment. (Menochius)

Haydock: Job 5:6 - Ground

Ground. If you had not sinned, you would not suffer. (Calmet)

Haydock: Job 5:7 - Bird

Bird. Hebrew, "sparks fly up." (Haydock) ---

You can no more then expect to pass unpunished, since it is impossible for man to be innocent! (Calmet) and, at any rate, labour is inevitable. (Menochius) ---

We must gain our bread by the sweat of our brow. [Genesis iii. 19.] (Worthington)

Haydock: Job 5:8 - I will

I will, or if I were in your place, I would sue for pardon. (Calmet) ---

Protestants, "I would seek unto God," (Haydock) under affliction. (Menochius)

Haydock: Job 5:15 - Mouth

Mouth; detraction and calumny. (Calmet)

Haydock: Job 5:19 - In six

In six, mentioned below; (Menochius) or in many, indefinitely. (Calmet) ---

Both during the six days of (Menochius) life, and at death, God's grace delivers us. (St. Gregory) (Worthington)

Haydock: Job 5:23 - Stones

Stones, so as not to stumble; or, the rocks will be a retreat for thee.

Haydock: Job 5:24 - Beauty

Beauty does not mean his wife, as some grossly imagine, (Calmet) but a house well ordered. (Menochius) ---

Hebrew, "thy habitation." Yet Sanchez adopts the former sentiment. In effect, the habitation includes all the regulation of a wife and family. (Haydock)

Haydock: Job 5:26 - Abundance

Abundance. "With loud lamentations." (De Dieu) ---

"In full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in its season." (Protestants) ---

After a life spent in happiness, thy memory will not be obliterated. Many shall bewail thy loss. (Haydock)

Haydock: Job 5:27 - Which thou

Which thou. Septuagint, "And what we have heard: but do thou reflect with thyself what thou hast done." (Haydock) ---

What had been revealed to Eliphaz was very true. Yet his conclusions were unwarrantable. (Calmet) ---

How confidently does he speak of his own knowledge, and how great must have been his disappointment, when God condemned him of folly, and sent him to be the prayers of that very man whom he now considered as a wretched sinner! (Haydock)

Gill: Job 5:1 - Call now, if there be any that will answer thee // and to which of the saints wilt thou turn

Call now, if there be any that will answer thee,.... That is, call upon God, which, if seriously, and not ironically spoken, was good advice; God is to be called upon, and especially in times of trouble; and invocation is to be made in faith, in sincerity, and with fervency, and to be accompanied with confession of sin, and repentance for it; and sooner or later God hears and answers those that call upon him; but Eliphaz suggests, that if Job did call upon him, it would be in vain, he would not hear him, he going upon the same maxim that the Jews did in Christ's time, "God heareth not sinners": Joh 9:31; or call upon him to give him an oracle from heaven, to favour him with a vision and revelation, and see if he could get anything that would confront and confute what he had delivered as coming that way; which, if it could be done by him, would appear to be a falsehood and an imposture, since one revelation from God is not contradicted by another: or else the sense is, "call" over the catalogue and list of good men that have been from the beginning of the world, and see if there be any that "answers to thee" ⁿ, whose case, character, and behaviour, correspond with thee; if ever any of them was afflicted as thou art, or ever behaved with so much indecency, impatience, murmuring, and blasphemy against God, as thou hast done; that ever opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth, and reflected upon the providence and justice of God as thou hast, as if thou wert unrighteously dealt with: or rather, "call now", and summon all creatures together, angels and men, and get anyone of them to be thy patron, to defend thy cause, and plead for thee, to give a reply to what has been said, from reason, experience, and revelation: and shouldest thou obtain this, which is not likely, "lo, there is one that can answer thee" ^o, as some render the words, meaning either God or himself; thus Eliphaz insults Job, and triumphs over him, as being entirely baffled and conquered by him, by what he had related as an oracle and revelation from heaven:

and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? or "look", or "have respect" ^p, that will be of any service to thee? meaning either the Divine Persons in the Godhead, sometimes called Holy Ones, as in Jos 24:19; Pro 9:10; the Holy Father, the Holy Son, and the Holy Spirit, who may and should be turned and looked unto; God the Father, as the God of providence and grace for all good things; Jesus Christ his Son, as the Redeemer and Saviour for righteousness and eternal life; the blessed Spirit, as a sanctifier to carry on and finish the work of grace; but it is suggested, it would be in vain for Job to turn and look to any of these, since he would be rejected by them as a wicked man, nor would any of them plead his cause: or else the holy angels, as the Septuagint express it, and who are called saints and Holy Ones, Deu 33:2; and it is asked, which of those he could turn or look to, and could expect relief and protection from? signifying, that none of these would vouchsafe to converse with him, nor take him under their care, nor undertake to plead his cause: or rather holy men, such as are sanctified or set apart by God the Father, to whom Christ is made sanctification, and in whose hearts the Holy Spirit has wrought principles of grace and holiness, and who live holy lives and conversations; and it is insinuated, that should he turn and took to these, he would find none of them like him, nor in the same circumstances, nor of the same sentiments, or that would take his part and plead for him; but that all to a man would appear of the same mind with Eliphaz, that none but wicked men were afflicted by God as he was, and that he was such an one, and that for the reason following: the Papists very absurdly produce this passage in favour of praying to departed saints, when not dead but living ones are meant, and even turning to them is discouraged; and besides, this would contradict another tenet of the Papists, that the Old Testament saints, until the coming of Christ, were in a sort of purgatory, called Limbus Patrum, and therefore incapable of helping saints on earth that should apply unto them.

Gill: Job 5:2 - For wrath killeth the foolish man // and envy slayeth the silly one

For wrath killeth the foolish man,.... Not one that is an idiot, and destitute of common sense, and has no understanding in things natural and civil; but a wicked man, who has no knowledge of things divine and spiritual, and so foolish; which is the character of every natural man, and of God's people before conversion; and even of some professors, who are foolish virgins, and carry the lamp of a religious profession without the oil of grace; and such an one Eliphaz took Job to be, whom sooner or later the wrath of the Lord, as the Targum interprets it, which is revealed from heaven, and comes down upon the children of disobedience, would consume like devouring fire: or this may be understood of the wrath and passion of such men themselves, which sometimes rises in them to such an height, as that they die in a fit of it; or do those things which bring them to death, either by the hand of God, or by the civil magistrate:

and envy slayeth the silly one; one that is simple and void of understanding, and is easily persuaded and drawn into sin, either by his own heart, or by evil men, or by the temptations of Satan; and in whose heart envy at the prosperity of others dwells, and which insensibly preys upon him, eats up his own spirits, and is rottenness to his bones, and crumbles them into dust, Pro 14:30; or the word may be rendered "jealousy", or "zeal" ^q, as it sometimes is, and may signify the jealousy of the Lord, zeal for his own glory, which he sometimes stirs up as a man of war, and which smokes against wicked men, and consumes them as fire, see Isa 42:13; Eliphaz by all this would represent and insinuate that Job was such a man, hot, passionate, and angry with God and his providence, and envious at the prosperity of others, particularly his friends; and so was a foolish and silly man, in whose breast wrath and envy rested, and would be his ruin and destruction, as he was already under slaying and killing providences.

Gill: Job 5:3 - I have seen the foolish taking root // but suddenly I cursed his habitation

I have seen the foolish taking root,.... Such foolish wicked men as before described; those Eliphaz had observed to prosper in the world, and increase in riches, and even to have attained to a seeming stability and firmness, as if they would ever continue in such happy circumstances, see Jer 12:2; by this he would obviate an objection that here might be raised and made against the assertion he was proving, that wicked men are afflicted and punished of God for their sins; whereas it is notorious that they are not in trouble as other men, but in very prosperous and flourishing circumstances; this he grants is their case for a while, as he had observed, but in a short time they pass away, they and their substance disappear, and are no more seen, as follows:

but suddenly I cursed his habitation; not that he wished ill to him, or imprecated evils upon him; for cursing and bitterness only fit the mouths of wicked men, and not good men, among whom Eliphaz must be allowed to be; but he immediately thought within himself, as soon as he saw the flourishing state of the wicked, that the curse of the Lord was in their houses, as in Pro 3:33; that they and all they had were under a curse, and that God find given them what they had with a curse, and had cursed all their blessings; which makes the difference between a good man and a wicked man; the one has what he has, his cottage and his small substance, with a blessing; the other his pleasant habitation, as the word ^r here used signifies, his stately palace, rich furniture, and large estates, with a curse; or he prognosticated, he foresaw, and could foretell, and that without pretending to an extraordinary spirit of prophecy, that in a short time the curse of God would light upon him, and upon his house, see Zec 5:3.

Gill: Job 5:4 - His children are far from safety // and they are crushed in the gate // neither is there any to deliver them

His children are far from safety,.... From outward safety, from evils and dangers, to which they are liable and exposed, not only from men, who hate them for their father's sake, who have been oppressors of them, or from God, who visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children; and from spiritual and eternal safety or "salvation", or from salvation in the world to come, as the Targum, they treading in their fathers steps, and imitating their actions:

and they are crushed in the gate; or openly, publicly, as Aben Ezra and others; or in the courts of judicature whither they are brought by those their parents had oppressed, and where they are cast, and have no favour shown them; or literally by the falling of the gate upon them; and perhaps some reference is had to Job's children being crushed in the gate or door of the house, through which they endeavoured to get when it fell upon them and destroyed them; the Targum is,"and are crushed in the gates of hell, in the day of the great judgment:"

neither is there any to deliver them; neither God nor man, they having no interest in either, or favour with, partly on account of their father's ill behaviour, and partly on account of their own; and sad is the case of men when it is such, see Psa 50:21.

Gill: Job 5:5 - Whose harvest the hungry eateth up // and taketh it even out of the thorns // and the robber swalloweth up their substance

Whose harvest the hungry eateth up,.... This is to be understood of the foolish rich man before described, as taking root and flourishing; though he sows, and reaps and gathers in his harvest, and fancies he has goods laid up for many years, to be enjoyed by him, yet he is taken away by death, and another eats what he has gathered; either his hungry heirs, that he has kept bare, and without the proper necessaries of life; or the poor whom he has oppressed, who, driven by hunger, seize upon his harvest, and eat it up, whether he be alive or dead: Sephorno interprets this of the wicked man himself, who should eat up his own harvest, and not have enough to satisfy him, the curse of God being upon his land; and another learned interpreter ^s thinks the sense is, that such should be the curse of God on the fields of wicked men, that they should produce no more than what was usually left to the poor, and therefore should have no need to gather it:

and taketh it even out of the thorns; that is, either the hungry man takes the harvest out of the thorns, among which it grows, see Mat 13:7; or which he had gotten "through the thorns", as Mr. Broughton renders it; that is, the owner, through many difficulties; and hunger will break through many to get at it; or though his harvest being got in, is enclosed with a thorn hedge, the hungry man gets through it, and takes it out from it, surrounded by it; the above mentioned Jewish writer understands this also of the wicked man, who takes his own harvest out from among the thorns, so that there is nothing left for the poor and his friends, as it is meet there should: the word ^t for "thorns" has also the signification of armour, particularly of shields; hence the Targum is,"and armed men with warlike arms shall take it away;''to which agrees the Vulgate Latin version,"and the armed men shall take it away;''that is, soldiers should forage, spoil, and destroy it:

and the robber swalloweth up their substance; the house robber, who breaks in and devours all at once, and makes a clear riddance of it; some render it "the hairy man" ^u either that neglects his hair, as beggars, or such that live in desert places, as robbers, that they may appear the more terrible; or that take care of it, and nourish it, and tie it up in locks, and behind their heads, as Bar Tzemach and Ben Melech observe they do in Turkey; others translate it "the thirsty" ^w, and so it answers to the hungry in the preceding clause, and designs such who thirst, and gape after, and covet the substance of others, and greedily catch at it, and swallow it up at once, at one draught, as a thirsty man does a large quantity of liquor, see Pro 1:12; this may have some respect to the Sabeans and Chaldeans, that swallowed up Job's substance, and took away his cattle from him at once, and were no other than bands of robbers; and the use of the word for a thief or a robber, as we take it, is confirmed by a learned man ^x, who derives it from the Arabic word which signifies to smite with a club or stone.

Gill: Job 5:6 - Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust // neither doth trouble spring out of the ground

Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust,.... Or rather, "for" or "indeed" ^y, this being a reason showing that wicked men are justly afflicted and punished; seeing their afflictions come not from the creatures, though they may be instruments, but from God for the sins of men: the word for affliction also signifies iniquity or sin, the cause of affliction, as well as affliction the fruit of sin; and so does the word in the following clause; and Aben Ezra understands both, not of natural but moral evil, and so do others ^z; both senses may be taken in: sin does not come from God, the Maker of the dust of the earth, he is not the author of sin, nor does this spring out of the dust which he has made; good things, as Schmidt observes, come out of the earth for the use of man as well as beasts, bread, and wine, and oil, and all the necessaries of life; the precious things produced by the influence of the sun and moon, the precious things of the everlasting hills, and of the earth, and the fulness of it; indeed, the earth was cursed for the sin of men, but this is taken off; and, however, it is not owing to the soil, or to the air and climate in which a man lives, that he is sinful; for though there may be national vices or some sins peculiar to or more predominant in one nation than in another, yet this is not to be attributed to such causes; for all sin is from a man's self, and proceeds out of his own evil heart, which is desperately wicked and evil continually, and from whence all the impure streams of sin flow, see Mat 15:19; and so afflictions are not to be ascribed to second causes, such as the things before mentioned, or Job's losses by the Sabeans and Chaldeans; nor did he place them to that account, but to the hand of God; nor to chance and fortune, or to be reckoned fortuitous events, as if they were chance productions, spontaneous things that spring up of themselves, and not under the direction of an all wise Providence; but they are to be considered as of God, and as of his appointment, and directed by his sovereign will and pleasure, and overruled for his glory; who has fixed what they shall be, of what kind and sort, what the measure of them, to what pitch they shall rise, and how long they shall last:

neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; the same thing as before in different words, neither sin, the cause of trouble, the effect of sin; sin may very fitly be expressed by a word ^a which signifies trouble, because it is both troublesome, wearisome, and offensive to God, and brings trouble to the bodies and souls of men here and hereafter. Here Eliphaz begins to lower the tone of his voice, and to speak to Job in a seemingly more kind and friendly manner, observing to him the spring of afflictions, and giving him advice how to behave under them.

Gill: Job 5:7 - Yet man is born unto trouble // as the sparks fly upward

Yet man is born unto trouble,.... Or but ^b, after the negative follows the positive part of the assertion; before we have what is denied as the cause of affliction, here what it is affirmed to be, or what it is to be ascribed unto, even to the appointment of God for sin: to be born to it is to be appointed to it, as all men are appointed to death, and to everything previous and that leads on to it; and it signifies that affliction or trouble springs from the birth sin of man, from original sin, the sin of the first parent, and of his nature; as all sins arise from hence, and are streams from this fountain of pollution, so all disorders and diseases of body, all distresses and anguish of mind, and death in every sense, corporeal, spiritual, and eternal; and these are the lot and portion, the estate and inheritance, of the sons of men by nature, what they are born unto, and are full of, see Job 14:1; the same word is here used as in Job 5:6, and signifies labour, mischief, the mischief of sin, improbity, wickedness, moral evil; and man may be said to be born to sin, inasmuch as he is conceived, shapen, and born in it; and as he is born at once into a sinful state, and sins as soon as born, goes astray from the womb, is a transgressor from thence, and the imagination of his heart evil from his infancy and youth upwards, he becomes a slave to sin, and is a homeborn one; not that he is laid under a necessity of force to sin, or his will compelled to it; for he sins most freely, is a voluntary slave to it; he serves various lusts as pleasures, and gives himself up to work all iniquity with greediness; but there is such a connection between his birth, the circumstances of it, and sin, that sin is the certain consequence of it, and immediately, naturally, and necessarily follows upon it; that is, by a necessity of consequence, though not of coaction or force; it is as natural for man to sin as it is for a thirsty man to covet and drink water; or as for an Ethiopian to be born black, and a leopard with spots; or, as it follows:

as the sparks fly upward; which they do naturally and necessarily when coals are blown, and which are here called "the sons of coals" ^c; and to these, troubles and afflictions, the fruits and effects of sin, may be aptly compared; not only for the necessity of them, it is if needs be they are, but for the nature of them, being fiery and troublesome, hence called fiery trials, and signified by fires and flames of fire, 1Pe 4:12; and also for the number of them, being many, and very grievous: some interpret this of flying fowls, of young vultures, as the Septuagint; of young eagles, as others; Aben Ezra makes mention of this sense, as if it was, as a fowl is born to fly, so man is born to labour; to labour in the law, according to the Targum; or to labour for his bread; or rather, to labour and sorrow; that is, to affliction and trouble: a learned man ^d thinks the phrase, according to the use of it in the Arabic language, designs the more rapid cast of a dart, of the vibration of it, which is very quick.

Gill: Job 5:8 - I would seek unto God // and unto God would I commit my cause

I would seek unto God,.... Or "truly" ^e, "certainly, doubtless, I do seek unto God", verily I do so; for so the words are introduced in the original text, and express what Eliphaz had done when under afflictions himself; for he was not without them, though he had not them to such a degree as Job had; and when he was under them, this was the course he took; he sought unto God by prayer to support him under them, to sanctify them to him, and to deliver him out of them; and this he proposes for Job's imitation, and suggests, that if he was in his case, this would be the first step he should take; and good advice this is, nothing more proper for a man, especially a saint, than, when afflicted of God, to seek unto him, to seek his face and his favour, to entreat his gracious presence, and the discoveries of his love, that he may see that it is not in wrath, but in love, he afflicts him; to submit unto him, humble himself before him, acknowledge his sins, and implore his pardoning grace and mercy; to entreat him to help him, in this time of need, to exercise the graces of faith and patience, and every other; to desire counsel and advice how to behave under the present trial, and to be made acquainted with the reasons, ends, and uses of the dispensation, as well as to beg for strength to bear up under it, and in his own time to grant deliverance from it:

and unto God would I commit my cause; or "direct my word or speech" ^f to him; that is, in prayer, as Sephorno adds; I would, as if he should say, make known my case to him, tell him the whole of it, and pour out my soul before him; and then I would leave it with him, and not wrangle, quarrel, and contend with him, but say, "here am I, let him do what seemeth good unto him": some render the words, "truly", or "indeed I shall discourse concerning God, and order my speech about Deity" ^g; I shall no longer insist on this subject, but drop it, and hereafter treat of God, his nature, being, and perfections, and particularly his works; though these are rather observed in the following verses, as so many arguments to engage Job to seek the Lord, and leave his case and cause to him.

Gill: Job 5:9 - Which doeth great things // and unsearchable // marvellous things // without number

Which doeth great things,.... The things of creation are great things, the making of the heavens and the earth, and all therein, by the word of the Almighty, out of nothing, and which is a display of great power, wisdom, and goodness; the things of Providence are great things, which God is always doing; as the upholding all things in being by the word of his power, governing the whole universe, ordering all things in it, supplying and feeding all creatures, men and beasts; and especially the things of grace are great things, the covenant of grace, and its blessings, redemption by Jesus Christ, the work of grace upon the heart, the quickening and enlightening dead and dark sinners, taking away their hearts of stone and giving them hearts of flesh, and constantly supplying them with his grace for the finishing of it; the consideration of all which is a great encouragement to seek the Lord in time of need, as well as of what follows concerning them:

and unsearchable; the things of nature; many of them are such as puzzle the greatest philosophers, who are not able, with all their sagacity and penetration, to find out the causes and reasons of them; and in providence the way of God is often in the deep, and is not to be tracked and followed; and the dispensations of his grace to the sons of men are so sovereign and distinguishing, that it made the apostle say, speaking of them, "O the depth", &c. Rom 11:33; and there are some things not to be inquired into, nor can they be searched out; secret things belong to God, as his purposes relating to the eternal state of particular persons, and the times and seasons of various future events, as the day of judgment, &c.

marvellous things; in nature, as the formation of man and all creatures; in providence, and it may be respect may be had to the wonders done in Egypt, and the marvellous things in the field of Zoan, the plagues of Egypt, and the deliverance of Israel, and their passage through the Red sea; which were things done much about this time, or before it, as some think, and of which Eliphaz might have heard, and were fresh in his memory; and wonderful things are done in grace, as the effects of marvellous loving kindness: and those

without number; the works of God are manifold, and not to be counted; the stars of heaven, the fowls of the air, the beasts of the field, and cattle on a thousand hills, the fishes of the sea, small and great, see Psa 104:25; to which may be added, those animalcules, of which a billion do not exceed the size of a small grain of sand, as they may be seen through a microscope ^h; the various things done every day in providence, the special blessings of goodness, and the kind thoughts of the heart of God, which, if one attempt to reckon up, they are more than can be numbered, Psa 40:5.

Gill: Job 5:10 - Who giveth rain upon the earth // and sendeth water upon the fields

Who giveth rain upon the earth,.... Not upon the land of Israel only, as the Targum and Jarchi, see Deu 11:11; but upon the whole earth; this is particularly mentioned as being of God, and which none of the vanities of the Gentiles can give; and it is a free gift of his, which tarries not for the desert of men, and is bestowed on the godly and ungodly; and is a great blessing of goodness, which enriches the earth, makes it fruitful, and through it, it produces plenty of good things for man and beast:

and sendeth water upon the fields; or "out places" ⁱ; places outside of cities and towns, such as gardens, fields, and deserts, where showers of rain are sent of God to water them, many of which are not under the care of man, but are under the providence of God; the Targum and Jarchi interpret this of Gentile lands, as distinct from the land of Israel, to whom God "gives" rain, and to the other "sends" it; some render it, "upon the streets" ^k, that is, upon persons that lie in the streets, and have no houses to dwell in, and to whom rain in hot and dry countries was welcome.

Gill: Job 5:11 - To set up on high those that be low // that those which mourn may be exalted to safety

To set up on high those that be low,.... Not the low plants, which, through rain, are made to run up on high, though there is a truth in that; but husbandmen and gardeners, and such like persons, in low circumstances, who, by means of showers of rain, which make their gardens, fields, and lands fruitful, are raised to enjoy good estates, and large possessions:

that those which mourn may be exalted to safety; or "are black" ^l, that are clothed in black, as a token of mourning; or whose faces are black with famine, see Lam 4:8; or are in very distressed circumstances, and black through poverty, as the Targum, and mourn over and grieve at their sad and deplorable case; those, through rain and fruitful seasons, are brought out of such an uncomfortable situation, and put into a better condition of life, where they are as in a fortress, out of the reach of such sad calamities: some connect the words with the following, that in order to do this, to raise up the humble and exalt mourners, "he disappoints the devices of the crafty", &c. Job 5:12.

Gill: Job 5:12 - He disappointeth the devices of the crafty // so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise

He disappointeth the devices of the crafty,.... Or, "it disappointeth"; that is, the rain, as some Jewish commentators ^m interpret it, and the whole paragraph to this sense; the rain coming upon the earth makes it fruitful, and causes it to produce a plentiful crop, whereby the schemes of crafty men are disappointed, who in a time of drought withhold the corn, and enhance the price of it, and distress the poor; and this in order to make a penny of them, according to Amo 8:4; but through the rain falling are not able to gain their end, but are obliged to bring out their corn, and sell it at a low price, and so are taken in their own craftiness; their counsel becomes brutish, and they are brought into bad circumstances themselves, and the poor saved from being ground and oppressed by them, and have hope for the future of plenty of provisions, to the confusion and astonishment of their oppressors: but the Targum interprets this of the Egyptians cunningly devising mischief against the Israelites, without success; and not amiss, since that affair might be well known to Eliphaz, and he might have it in view: the fact was this, a new king of Egypt, after the death of Joseph, observing the great increase of the people of Israel in his dominions, and fearing, in case of a war, they should join the enemy, and get out of the land by such an opportunity, calls his nobles, courtiers, and counsellors together, to form some wise schemes how to diminish them, Exo 1:8; and the first was to set taskmasters over them, and afflict them with hard bondage, but this succeeded not, Exo 1:11; for the more they were afflicted the more they multiplied and grew; another decree was, to order the midwives to kill the male children of the Israelites, and save alive the females, Exo 1:15; but the midwives, fearing God, obeyed not the order, and the people still multiplied, Exo 1:17; and then a third project was formed, to cast every son born to the Israelites into the river, and drown them, Exo 1:22; but notwithstanding this they were preserved, as Moses, Exo 2:10, and doubtless many others; the people increased so, that they went out of Egypt six hundred thousand men, Exo 12:37; this was a recent thing, it may be in the times of Eliphaz, and which he might easily call to mind: and he might also have respect to a more remote case, that of the builders of Babel, who devised a scheme to build a tower, whose top should reach to heaven, and secure them from a dispersion of them throughout the earth, Gen 11:1; when God descended in the display of his power and providence, confounded their language, so that they were obliged to desist from their enterprise, and were scattered throughout the earth, which by their scheme they thought to have prevented: this may be applied to wicked crafty men in common, who devise schemes to commit sin, and gratify their lusts, to get for themselves riches and honour, and to do mischief to others, which God in his providence breaks, frustrates, and makes of none effect; and to false teachers, that walk in craftiness, lie in wait to deceive, and make use of cunningly devised fables, coin new doctrines, invent new forms of worship, and appoint new ordinances, and contrive different ways and methods of salvation; all which is foolishness with God, and to such persons Job 5:13 is applied by the Apostle Paul, 1Co 3:19, and this may likewise respect wicked princes and potentates, with their counsellors and wise politicians, who in former, as well as in later times, have formed designs against their neighbours, and to the hurt of the interest of true religion particularly; but have been baffled and confounded by Divine Providence, of which, as there were many instances in Israel of old, so in our British Isles of late:

so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise; what their heads have contrived, what they have resolved and determined upon, and what they have began to effect, but could not go on with; or, "bring it soundly to pass", as Mr. Broughton renders it; that is, could not complete it, or bring it to perfection; and indeed not able to do "any thing" ⁿ, as some translate the word, not anything of what they devised and contrived: it signifies "that which is", which has a being and substance, and solidity in it ^o, but nothing of this kind could be done; it is sometimes rendered "wisdom", and "sound wisdom", Pro 2:7; and so it is here by some ^p, and may signify, that though their counsels were deeply laid, and wisely formed, according to the best rules of wisdom and prudence, they yet are not able to bring them to pass; which shows the infinitely superior wisdom of God, and his overruling providence, and which therefore must be a great encouragement to seek unto him, and leave every cause and case with him.

Gill: Job 5:13 - He taketh the wise in their own craftiness // and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong

He taketh the wise in their own craftiness,.... As beasts are taken in a pit, or birds in a snare or net, or with birdlime; so these crafty men, who are wise in their own opinion, and really so in things natural, civil, and worldly, or however, to do evil are entangled and taken in their own schemes; they fall into the pit they have digged for others, and are snared in the works of their own hands, as Haman and his sons were hanged on the gallows he prepared for Mordecai, Est 7:10; or, "by their own craftiness" ^q, by the crafty schemes they themselves have formed: so sometimes those very things crafty men design to prevent, are brought about by the very means they make use of; thus Joseph's brethren designed to prevent the accomplishment of his dreams, which portended their subjection to him, Gen 37:9, by selling him to the Ishmaelites, who carried him to Egypt, where, in process of time, he was made governor of the land, and where his brethren became obedient to him, Gen 42:6; with which fact Eliphaz might be acquainted, it being not long before his time: so the Jews, to prevent the Romans taking away their city and nation, contrived to put Christ to death, and did, whereby they brought the wrath of God upon them, executed by those very persons; the same they did also, to prevent the spread of his fame and glory in the world, and that he might not be believed on as the Saviour of men, whereas, hereby he became the Saviour of them; and he a crucified Christ, being preached to the world by his ministers, the savour of his knowledge has been diffused in every place, his glory great in all the earth, and will be more so: the Targum applies this to the wise men of Pharaoh, and the Apostle Paul to the Jewish doctors and wise philosophers of the Gentiles, 1Co 3:19; which quotation proves the authority of this book:

and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong: that is, the counsel or well contrived schemes of the crafty and wise before mentioned, who twist and wind about, as the word ^r here used signifies, that there is no tracing their measures, and finding out the spring of them, nor the ends they have in view; yet these are sometimes carried on to execution in a rash and precipitate manner, and so miscarry; and like a man that is had to a precipice, and is thrown down from thence, and is destroyed at once, so are their counsels and schemes dashed to pieces by the providence of God: or, "is hastened" ^s; too much haste is made to accomplish it, and so it comes to nought, through an over eagerness to have it done at once; not waiting a fit opportunity for the accomplishment of it.

Gill: Job 5:14 - They meet with darkness in the daytime // and grope in the noon day as in the night

They meet with darkness in the daytime,.... Which may denote their infatuation in things the most plain and clear, and which are obvious to everyone's view, even to such as are of much meaner capacities the themselves; and so it sometimes is, that the greatest politicians, men of the greatest sagacity and penetration, capable of forming and conducting the wisest counsels, yet blunder in things plain and easy to everyone; which must be imputed to their being given up to a judicial blindness of mind by the Lord, who destroys the wisdom of the wise, and brings to nothing the understanding of the prudent; or this may signify the defeat of their counsels, when they are in the highest pitch of esteem among men, as Ahithophel's counsel was as the oracle of God; or the destruction of such persons and their schemes when they are in the meridian of their glory, who being in high and slippery places, come to desolation in a moment:

and grope in the noon day as in the night; which intends the same as before; this was threatened to the Jews in case of disobedience, and was fulfilled in them, Deu 28:29; a learned man renders it, "as the night they grope", or "feel, at noon day" ^t; as the Egyptians felt darkness when it was noon, and when light was in all the dwellings of the Israelites, Exo 10:22; this may be applied to the case of many in a land of Gospel light, who are in darkness, walk in darkness, and are darkness itself; though the light of the glorious Gospel shines all around them on others, and know no more of divine and spiritual things than the Gentiles, but grope or feel about like persons blind, and in the dark as much as they, Act 17:27; nay, they not only have the great things of the Gospel hid from them, and Satan blinds their minds lest this light should shine into them, but "they run into darkness" ^u, as the words of the first clause may be rendered; those "lucifugae", such as the Jews were, and the Deists now are run from the light of divine revelation, and love darkness, and which is the aggravation of their condemnation, Joh 3:19.

Gill: Job 5:15 - But he saveth the poor // from the sword // from their mouth // and from the hand of the mighty

But he saveth the poor,.... Who are so in a literal sense, and whom the Lord saves with a temporal salvation; these being the butt of the crafty, wise, and cunning, on whom their eyes are, for whom they lay snares, and lie in wait to draw them in; and these being helpless and without friends, God takes notice of them, appears for them, and arises for their help, and saves them:

from the sword; of their enemies, drawn against them and ready to be sheathed in them:

from their mouth; from their reproaches, calumnies, detraction, and evil speaking; or "from the sword, their mouth" ^w, as some; or "from the sword of their mouth" ^x, as others; or which comes out of it; whose mouths and tongues are as sharp swords, which destroy their credit and reputation, and threaten them with ruin; the Targum is,"from the slaughter of their mouth:"

and from the hand of the mighty; their mighty enemies, that, are mightier than they; the Targum is,"from the hand of a mighty king;''such an one as Pharaoh, which the same paraphrase makes mention of in Job 5:14, and from whom the poor Israelites were delivered: this may be applied to the poor in a spiritual sense, who are poor in spirit, and are sensible of their spiritual poverty, whom the Lord looks unto, has a regard for, and saves them from "the sword" of avenging justice; that being awaked against the man, his fellow, and so warded off from them, and from the mouth of a cursing and condemning law, and from Satan the accuser of the brethren; and of wicked men, whose tongue rising up in judgment against them, he condemns; and from the "hand" of Satan the strong man armed, and who is stronger than they; and of all their spiritual enemies.

Gill: Job 5:16 - So the poor hath hope // and iniquity stoppeth her mouth

So the poor hath hope,.... Who observing this and that and the other poor man crying to the Lord and saved, hopes that he may be saved by him also; and having had experience of salvation out of one trouble or more, even out of six troubles, as in Job 5:19, entertains a comfortable hope he shall be saved out of the seventh, or whatsoever he is in: the word ^y used signifies one that is weak and feeble, attenuated, and exhausted of his strength, wealth, and substance; and may be applied to one spiritually poor, and in a very destitute and forlorn condition in himself; and yet, through the revelation of the grace and mercy of God to him, has hope of safety in Christ, the strong hold and hope set before him to flee unto; and of salvation by him, it being in him, and for the chief of sinners, and altogether free; and of eternal life through him, as being promised of God, that cannot lie: the free gift of God through Christ, and in his hands to dispose of:

and iniquity stoppeth her mouth: that is, iniquitous men: very wicked men, who are iniquity and wickedness itself; these shall stop their mouths, through shame at what they have said concerning the poor that God saves, see Mic 7:9; and through admiration at the goodness of God in saving them, Isa 52:15; having nothing to say against the ways and dispensations of Divine Providence, they are apt to quarrel with, Psa 107:40; and especially at the last day such shall have their mouths stopped, and shall not be able to open them against the Lord or his people, being convinced of their hard speeches which they have spoken against them, Jud 1:15; and will be like the man at the feast without a wedding garment, speechless, or muzzled, and his mouth stopped, Mat 22:12.

Gill: Job 5:17 - Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth // therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth,.... Reproves, rebukes, convinces by his word, which is profitable for correction of men's minds and manners; and by his messengers, the prophets and ministers, who are sent as reprovers of the people, and to rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in their principles, and sober in their conversation; and by his Spirit, which makes the correction of the word and ministers effectual, and who reproves and convinces of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and sometimes this is done by afflictive providences, by blows as well as words, which are the rod of correction God makes use of with his children; for this is not the correction of a judge reproving, condemning, and chastising malefactors and criminals, but of a father correcting his children, in love, in judgment, and in measure, for faults committed; Pro 3:12; so God's corrections are for sin, to bring his people to a sense of it, to humiliation and repentance for it, and to an acknowledgment of it; and often for remissness in duty, private or public, and when they set too high a value on the creature, and creature enjoyments, trust in them, and glory of them, to the neglect of the best things: now such persons are happy who are corrected by God in this manner; for these corrections are fruits and evidences of the love of God to them, and of their relation to God as children; he grants them his presence in them, he sympathizes with them, supplies and supports them under them, and delivers out of them; he makes them work for their good, spiritual and eternal; by these he prevents and purges sin, tries and brightens their graces; makes them more partakers of his holiness; weans them from this world, and fits them for another: and this account is introduced with a "behold", as a note of attention, exciting it in Job and others; thereby suggesting that it was worthy of notice and regard, and a matter of moment and importance; and as a note of admiration, it being a wonderful thing, a mere paradox with natural men especially, and contrary to all their notions and things, that an afflicted man should be a happy man, who generally reckon good men to be unhappy men, because of their afflictions, reproaches, and persecutions; and as a note of asseveration, affirming the truth and certainty of the assertion, and which is confirmed by after testimonies, and by the experience of the saints, Psa 94:19; the Targum restrains this to Abraham; but it is true of every good man whom God afflicts in a fatherly way:

therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty; who is able to save and to destroy to take off his hand, or lay it heavier it not regarded, to bear up his people under all their afflictions, or to deliver them out of them; or of Shaddai ^z, God all sufficient, who has a sufficiency in himself, and needs not anything from his creatures; whose grace is sufficient for his people, to supply them in all their straits and difficulties; or of him who is all nourishing, who has breasts of consolation to draw out to his people in distress, the word ^a used coming from one that signifies a pap, or breast, as some think; hence mention is made of the blessings of the breast, when he is spoken of under this character, Gen 49:25; now this chastising of his is not to be understood of chastisement in a way of vindictive wrath and justice, and as a proper punishment for sin, for this is laid on Christ, the surety of his people, Isa 53:5; and to inflict this on them would be a depreciating the satisfaction of Christ, be contrary to the justice of God, and to his everlasting and unchangeable love; but this is the chastening of a father, and in love, and for the good of his people, in when he deals with them as with children: the word signifies "instruction" ^b; affliction is a school of instruction, in which the saints learn much of the mind and will of God, and more of his love, grace, and kindness to them; and are enriched with a larger experience of divine and spiritual things: and therefore such chastening should not be "despised" or rejected as nauseous and loathsome, as the word signifies: indeed no affliction is joyous; the bread of affliction, and water of adversity, are not palatable or grateful to flesh and blood; yea, are even a bitter and disagreeable potion, as the cup of sorrow was to the human nature of Christ; but yet should not be rejected, but drank, for the same reason he gives, it being the cup given by his heavenly Father, John 18:11; nor should it be despised as useless and unprofitable, as the word is used in Psa 118:22; seeing afflictions are of great use for humiliation for sin, for the increase of grace and holiness; the chastening of the Father of spirits is for profit now, and works a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, Heb 12:10; this passage seems to be referred to by Solomon, Pro 3:11; and is quoted by the apostle, in Heb 12:5; where he uses a word ^c by which he translates this, which signifies to "make little of"; and as on the one hand afflictions should not be magnified too much, as if there were none, nor ever had been any but them; so, on the other hand, they should not be slighted and overlooked, and no notice taken of them, as if they were trifling and insignificant, and answered no end or purpose; the hand of God should be observed in them, and acknowledged; and men should humble themselves under his mighty hand, and quietly and patiently bear it; and, instead of despising, should bless him for it, it being for their good, and many salutary ends being answered by it.

Gill: Job 5:18 - For he maketh sore, and bindeth up // he woundeth, and his hands make whole

For he maketh sore, and bindeth up,.... Or, "though he maketh sore, yet he bindeth up" ^d; as a surgeon, who makes a wound the sorer by probing and opening it, to let out the matter and make way for his medicine, and then lays on the plaster, and binds it up: so God causes grief and puts his people to pain, by diseases of body, or by making breaches in, their families and estates, and such like cutting providences; and then he binds up their breach, and heals the stroke of their wound, and in the issue makes all whole again: so in spiritual things; he cuts and wounds, and gives pain and uneasiness, by the sharp twoedged sword of the word, and by his Spirit making use of it; and lays open all the corruption of nature, and brings to repentance and humiliation for all transgressions; and then pours in the oil and wine of pardoning grace and mercy, and binds up the wounds that are made:

he woundeth, and his hands make whole; or "heal" ^e; the same thing is meant, expressed by different words; and the whole suggests, that every afflicted man, and particularly Job, should he behave well, and as he ought, under the afflicting hand of God, would be healed, and become sound and whole again, in body, mind, family, and estate; for, though God for the present caused grief, yet he would have compassion, since he did not willingly grieve the children of men; did not do it for his own pleasure, but for their good; as a skilful surgeon cuts and wounds in order to heal; see Deu 32:39.

Gill: Job 5:19 - He shall deliver thee in six troubles // yea, seven there shall no evil touch thee

He shall deliver thee in six troubles,.... Behaving as before directed; seeking unto God, committing his cause and case to him, and leaving it with him; and not despising the chastening of the Lord, but receiving and bearing it with reverence, patience, and submission: and then the sense is, that God would deliver out of whatsoever troubles he was or should be in, though they were ever so many; a certain number being put for an uncertain one, Psa 34:19,

yea, seven there shall no evil touch thee; which is a number expressive of multitude and of perfection, and so may denote the multitude and fulness of afflictions: the tribulations of God's people are many, through which they pass to heaven, and there is a measure of them to be filled up; and when they are come to the height, and the measure is fully up, then the Lord puts a stop to them, and delivers out of all their troubles; and in the midst of them all, so preserves them, that "no evil" shall so much as "touch" them; not the evil of punishment; for, though those troubles and afflictions that attend them are evil things, in a natural or civil sense, they are disagreeable and distressing, yet they are not the effect of vindictive justice; there is not a drop wrath and vengeance in them; and though they do come upon them and unto them, upon their persons and families; yet not so as to do any real hurt, or as to destroy them; see Psa 91:10; some think that seven particular troubles are meant, hereafter mentioned, as Jarchi; as famine, war, an evil tongue, destruction, dearness of provision, the beasts of the earth, and the stones of the field.

Gill: Job 5:20 - In famine he shall redeem thee from death // and in war from the power of the sword

In famine he shall redeem thee from death,.... In a time of extreme want of provisions, God so cares for his own dear people, that they shall not be starved to death by the famine; so in the famine in Egypt, which the Targum takes notice of, in the times of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, and the patriarchs, there was food provided for them, so that they and their families were sustained, and perished not for lack of the necessaries of life: God sometimes goes out of his ordinary way, and works wonders for his poor and needy in distress, when they cry unto him; see Isa 41:17,

and in war from the power of the sword; or, "from the hands of the sword" ^f: from swords in hand, when drawn, and men are ready to push with them with all their force; as he delivered and preserved Abraham from the sword of the four kings, when he waged war with them, Gen 14:20; and the Israelites, in the war of Amalek, in the times of Moses, Exo 17:8, which the Targum here refers to; and David from the harmful sword of Goliath, 1Sa 17:46, and others with whom he was concerned in war: and so the Lord covers the heads of his people in the day of battle oftentimes, when multitudes fall on their right hand and on their left.

Gill: Job 5:21 - Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue // neither shall thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh

Thou shall be hid from the scourge of the tongue,.... Of Satan, as Jarchi, the accuser of the brethren; or rather from the evil tongue of wicked men, their slanders, calumnies, and reproaches; the tongue is a small weapon, but it is a cutting one; it is like a scourge or whip, with which wicked men strike hard: the enemies of Jeremiah encouraged one another to smite him with their tongue, Jer 18:18; and a sad thing it is to be under the lash of some men's tongues, and a great mercy it is to be delivered from them: God does sometimes hide his people, and keeps them secretly, as in a pavilion, from the strife of tongues; Psa 31:20; he either restrains the tongues of men, lays an embargo on them, and will not suffer them to say that evil of his people which Satan and their wicked hearts prompt them to; or, if they are suffered to defame and speak evil of good men, yet they do it in such a romantic way, and so overcharge and load it, that it is not credited by any what they say, even by those of their own party; so that the characters of God's people suffer not by their lies and calumnies: some render it, "when the tongue wanders about" ^g; walks through the earth, and spares none, all ranks and degrees of men; God hides his people from being hurt by it, see Psa 73:9; Aben Ezra interprets the word rendered "tongue" of a nation or people; and so it may be understood of one nation entering into another, passing through it, and making desolations in it; as the Scythians, Gauls, Goths, Huns, and Vandals, have done in different ages; and that, in such a time of calamity, God has his hiding places in Providence for the protection and safety of his people: but the Targum interprets it of an evil tongue, and particularly of the tongue of Balaam:

neither shall thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh: meaning either of pestilence, which is the destruction that wastes at noonday, Psa 91:6; which, when it comes into a nation or neighbourhood, shall not come nigh the good man, and infect him; or if it does, shall not carry him off; and if it does that, it carries him home to heaven and happiness, and therefore he has no reason to be afraid of it: or of a general calamity; as when there is a complication of judgments in a nation, or in the world in general, as war, famine, pestilence, earthquakes, &c. as if all were just falling to pieces and into ruin; and yet even then the saints have no cause to fear; see Psa 46:1; or the destruction of the whole world at the last day, when the heavens and earth, and all therein, shall be burnt up: for then good and righteous men will be safe with Christ, and dwell with him in the new heavens and the new earth, which shall be prepared for them; see 2Pe 3:10; the Targum refers this to the destruction of the Midianites.

Gill: Job 5:22 - At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh // neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth

At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh,.... Not deride and despise them, and make a jest of them; for good men have a reverence and awe of the righteous judgments of God upon them, when they are in the world, Psa 119:120; but the sense is, that such shall reckon themselves safe and secure amidst such calamities, provision being made for their protection and sustenance; and be cheerful and comfortable, putting their trust and confidence in the Lord, as Habakkuk was, in a time of great distress, when all the necessaries of life were cut off from the stall, the herds, the flocks, and the fields; Hab 3:17; just as a man that is in a good harbour, or has a good house over his head, laughs at blustering storms and winds ^h, or thinks himself secure, and so is cheerful and pleasant amidst all the noise that is about him, see Hab 1:10,

neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth; either, literally taken, beasts of prey, that wander about in the earth, noisome and pernicious ones; which are one of God's sore judgments which he threatens the disobedient with, and promises the obedient he will rid them of; and therefore they have no reason to be afraid of them, see Eze 14:21; some think serpents are particularly designed, which creep upon the earth, and whose, food is the dust of the earth, with all other poisonous animals, between which and men there is an antipathy; and yet good men need not be afraid of these; see Mar 16:18; or figuratively, cruel and barbarous men, thieves and robbers, as Jarchi; or rather fierce and furious persecutors, and particularly the beasts of Rome, Pagan and Papal; though the literal sense is to be preferred; the Targum interprets this of the camp of Og, comparable to the beasts of the earth.

Gill: Job 5:23 - For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field // and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee

For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field,.... So as to receive no hurt from them, by walking among them, and even barefoot, which was usual in the eastern countries, see Psa 91:12; or by their being in the field, so as to hinder the increase of them; but on the contrary, even from such fields as were stony ground, a large crop has been produced, and so rather receive benefit by them, as men do from those with whom they are in league; and may therefore likewise signify, that these stones should be useful in being boundaries or fences about their fields, and landmarks in them, which should not be removed: many interpreters take notice of a sense that Pineda gives of these words, and which Cocceius calls an ingenious one, that it refers to a custom in Arabia, which may be called Scopelism, and was this; a man's enemies would lay stones in his field, and these signified, that if any attempted to till and manure those grounds where they were laid, some evil would befall him by the means of those persons who laid the stones there; and which stones were thought to be ominous and formidable; something like it is in 2Ki 3:19; and so the sense is, that a good man had nothing to fear from such stones, he being in league with them; and this malicious practice is thought to have had its origin in Arabia Petraea ⁱ; but the first sense seems best:

and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee; a covenant being made with them, as in Hos 2:18; meaning either literally, the beasts of the field; and these either the same as before, wild beasts, or beasts of prey; or rather, in distinction from them, tame beasts, as cows and horses, which should be so far from doing any harm, as sometimes is done by these tame creatures, that they should be very serviceable in tilling fields and drawing carriages, and the like: or else figuratively, men comparable to such creatures; and so the sense may be, that when a man's ways please the Lord, and he behaves according to his mind and will, particularly under afflictions, even his enemies are made to be at peace with him; Pro 16:7; the Targum interprets this of the Canaanites, comparable to the beasts of the field.

Gill: Job 5:24 - And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace // and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin

And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace,.... Not a place of religious worship, though the Targum renders it an house of doctrine or instruction; for we read not of any such but the tabernacle of Moses, erected in the wilderness, and which was indeed about, or little after, the times of Job; but it cannot be reasonably thought he did or could attend there; nor the tabernacle of his body, now in great pain and anguish, in which there were no rest nor soundness, being filled with sore boils and burning ulcers; but his dwelling house, which was built as a tent or tabernacle: such were the houses of the eastern people, made to move from place to place, for the sake of pasturage for their flocks and herds, in which their wealth consisted; so Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, dwelt in tabernacles; and hence in later times more firm, fixed, and stable dwellings, were so called; David calls his palace the tabernacle of his house, Psa 132:3; though this also includes all that dwelt in his house, his family; and the meaning is, that should he behave aright under the afflicting hand of God, his family should live in concord, harmony, and love; there should be no discord, animosity, and contention among them, but they should be at peace and in unity among themselves; as indeed Job's children were while he had them, and before this calamity came upon him; and that also they should be secure from enemies, and dwell unmolested by them; and be in the utmost safety, enjoying all kind of prosperity, inward and outward, temporal and spiritual; which the word peace includes, as used in eastern countries, whose common salutation was, "peace be with thee"; thereby wishing all kind of happiness: or the words may be rendered, "peace shall be thy tabernacle" ⁱ as is a good man's tabernacle: he dwells in God, who is all love, all peace, in whom there is no wrath or fury; he dwells by faith in Christ, who is his peace, his peace maker, and peace giver; and in whom he has peace amidst all the tribulation he meets with in the world; the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps and guards him in Christ, as in a garrison, safe and secure; and he enjoys much peace, as the fruit of the Spirit, arising from a view of interest in the blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; and when he dies he enters into peace, and dwells and abides in it as his everlasting mansion, Isa 57:2; now all this, Eliphaz says, Job, behaving well, should know; that is, have an experience of it; should really enjoy it, and find it in fact true what he asserted:

and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin; meaning not his wife, as some interpreters, Jewish and Christian, understand it; and so in the Talmud ^k, the word being rendered "she that tarried at home", Psa 68:12; which is a description of a good housewife, that keeps at home and minds the affairs of her family; but rather it designs the same as his tabernacle in the preceding clause, his dwelling house, and signifies a fine, fair, and beautiful one; a spacious and goodly building, and well stored with rich household goods; and including his family also: and to "visit" this is to take care of his family, rule and govern them well, protect and defend them, and provide all things necessary for them; as well as to inspect into the affairs of his house, inquire, examine, and see how things are managed; to know the state, condition, and circumstances it is in; which is looking well to the ways of his household: and this he should do, and "not sin"; not that a man, even a good man, can so conduct himself always in his family as not to be guilty of any sin at all, but not of sin in common, or continually; at least not any gross and notorious ones: the sense is, that he should not sin himself, while making such a visit and inquiry, by an undue heat, excessive anger, by rash and passionate expressions, things not being entirely to his mind; or be the cause of sin in others, by provoking his children to wrath, by threatening and menacing his servants in a severe, boisterous, and blustering manner; but reproving both, as there may be occasion, in a mild and gentle way; or else not sin by conniving at it and not correcting for it, which was the fault of Eli: Ben Gersom thinks Eliphaz tacitly suggests, and strikes at, Job's indulgence to his children; and so Sephorno: the word used having the signification of wandering and straying, some take the sense to be this; that he should have a sure and certain dwelling place to come into, and abide in, and should not wander about ^l, or be as a stroller and vagabond in the earth: though this has sometimes been the case of good men; as of the godly in the times of the Maccabees, who wandered in deserts and mountains, in caves and dens of the earth; and even of the disciples of Christ, who had no certain dwelling place; yea, of Christ himself, who had not where to lay his head: rather, since the word signifies to miss the mark, and so be disappointed; in which sense it is used in Jdg 20:16; the sense may be, that when he visited his habitation he should find nothing amiss or wanting, but everything should answer his expectations and wishes, so Aben Ezra; and Mr. Broughton renders it, "shalt not misprosper"; and others, "shalt no be frustrated" ^m; balked, disappointed of thine ends and views, designs, hopes, and wishes.

Gill: Job 5:25 - Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great // and thine offspring as the grass of the earth

Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great,.... Not his seed sown in the earth, and the increase of that, but his children, as the next clause explains it, as Bar Tzemach well observes; and designs either their greatness in worldly things, in wealth and riches, in honour and dignity, in power and authority, or else their numbers; for the word may be rendered "much" or "many" ⁿ, a multitude of children being reckoned a great temporal blessing; but this seems rather intended in the following words:

and thine offspring as the grass of the earth; as numerous as the spires of grass, which can no more be told than the stars of the heavens, or the sand of the sea, by which the same thing, a numerous progeny, is sometimes illustrated: this is to be understood not of his immediate offspring, but his descendants in successive ages and generations, and which should be as beautiful as the grass of the earth when in its verdure; pointing at the comeliness of their persons, their honour and dignity raised unto, the largeness of their substance, the greatness of their prosperity, and flourishing circumstances they should be in; though it may also denote the original of them, amidst all, being of the earth and earthy, and their frailty and fading condition; for which reason all flesh is said to be as grass, and men are frequently compared unto it, see Psa 90:5.

Gill: Job 5:26 - Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age // like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season

Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age,.... Or, "go into thy grave" ^o, which is represented as a house to enter into and dwell in; and so the wise man calls it man's long home, and Job his house, and which is appointed for all living, Ecc 12:5; for all men must die, and so come to the grave, good men as well as bad, the righteous and the wicked: this is not to be understood literally, for the dead cannot go or come to their graves, but are carried thither, as Stephen was, and all are; but it denotes their willingness to die, who choose to be absent from the body, that they may be present with the Lord, and are desirous to depart this world, and be with him, as the Apostle Paul was; and therefore cheerfully give up the ghost, and resign their souls into the hands of Christ, desiring him to receive them; and rejoice when they observe the grave is near, and ready for them; while others have their souls demanded and required of them, and are forced to death and the grave against their wills, and are driven away in their wickedness: now this, with respect to good men, is said to be "in a full age", not "in abundance", as the Vulgate Latin version, in an abundance or fulness of wealth and honour, and with great pomp and splendour, which is not the case of all good men, but of very few; nor in the full time which God has determined and appointed men should live, which may be called "the fulness of time"; for in this every man comes to the grave, good and bad, young and old; no man dies before or lives beyond it, see Job 14:5 but in the full age of men or the common term of man's life; the highest which he usually attains unto, which is threescore years and ten, and at most fourscore, Psa 90:10; and such who die before this are said to die before their time, the usual term of life; who die before the midst of this, are said not to live out half their days, Ecc 7:17; but he that arrives to this dies in a good old age, and has filled up his days, which men, at most, ordinarily live: Mr. Broughton renders it, "in lusty old age", enjoying great health, strength, and vigour; and so Nachmanides takes the word to be compounded of כ, "as", and לח, "moist", lively, strong, and lusty; as if the sense was, that Job should die indeed in old age, but, when old, be as hearty as a young man in his full strength, and whose bones are moistened with marrow; as was the case of Moses, whose eyes were not dim, nor his natural force or radical moisture abated, Deu 34:7; but the word denotes extreme decrepit old age ^p, coming from the root in the Arabic language, which signifies to be of an austere, rugged, wrinkled, contracted countenance ^q, which is usually the case of old men: now this is to be understood, not as if every good than arrives to such an age, or that none but good men do; for certain it is, that some good persons, as Abijah, die in their youth, and many wicked men live to a great age, see Ecc 7:15; but Eliphaz here speaks suitably to the legal dispensation under which he was, in which temporal blessings were promised to good men, as shadows of spiritual things, and this of long life was a principal one, see Psa 91:16; this is illustrated by the following simile:

like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season; there is a very great resemblance between ripe corn and old age; corn, when it is in its full ear, and ripe, its ears will hang down; the stalks, being dry and withered, are weak, and not able to bear the weight of them; so old men stoop, their knees bend, the strong men bow themselves, being unable to bear the weight of the body; fields of corn, ripe for the harvest, look white, and so the hairs of a man's head in old age; the almond tree flourishes, which, when in full bloom, is a lively emblem of the hoary head: and there is a great likeness between ripe corn, and shocks and sheaves of it, and a good old man; a good man is comparable to a corn of wheat that falls into the ground, to which Christ compares himself, Joh 12:24; and to wheat the compares his saints, Mat 13:30; for their choiceness, excellency, purity, and solidity; and these, like a corn of wheat, grow up gradually in grace, in spiritual light, knowledge, faith, and experience, and at length come to maturity; the good work is performed and perfected in them, and they come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ; and then they are cut down with the scythe or sickle of death, which is the proper time, like corn "in his season"; which, if cut before it is ripe, would not be fit for use, and, if it stood longer, would shed and come to nothing: and then, as corn, when cut down and reaped, is put up in shocks and sheaves, which are lifted up from the earth, and made to "ascend", as the word ^r signifies, and are laid in carts and wagons, and carried home with expressions of joy, (hence we read of the joy of harvest,) and are laid up in the barn or granary; so the saints are carried by angels, the reapers, into Abraham's bosom, as Lazarus was, into heaven, and as all the elect will be gathered by the angels at the harvest, the end of the world; attended with their shouts and acclamations, and with expressions of joy from Gospel ministers, who now go forth bearing the precious seed of the word, and sow it in tears, but then shall return with joy, bringing their sheaves with them, see Mat 13:30.

Gill: Job 5:27 - Lo this, we have searched it // so it is // hear it // and know thou it for thy good

Lo this, we have searched it,.... This is the concluding part of Eliphaz's first oration or speech to Job; and in order to engage his attention to it, observes, that what he had said was not his own single opinion, but the sentiment of the rest of his friends; and that it was the result of laborious and diligent investigation; that they had searched the records of former times, and inquired of ancient people, as well as had made the strictest observations on things during their course of life;

so it is; and the sum and amount of all was what he had declared, and which they had found to be sure and certain, the truth of the matter; that it is an undoubted truth, which should not be disputed and called in question, but to be held as a first principle, which was this; that wicked men are punished for their sins, and that good men are never greatly afflicted, at least not to such a degree as to be stripped of all the necessaries of life, and to be in a most desolate and perishing condition; and since this had been so thoroughly investigated by them, and such "a probatum est" was written upon it, he exhorts Job to

hear it; agree to it, believe it, receive it, and make a proper use of it, as he hoped he would:

and know thou it for thy good; or "for thyself" ^s; take it to thyself, as belonging to thee, as suitable to thy case; apply it to thyself, learn some lessons from it, and make good use of it; which is what is proposed by all that has been said.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Ayat / Catatan Kaki

NET Notes: Job 5:1

¹ tn Some commentators transpose this verse with the following paragraph, placing it after v. 7 (see E. Dhorme, Job, 62). But the reasons for this are based on the perceived development of the argument and are not that compelling.

sn The imperative is here a challenge for Job. If he makes his appeal against God, who is there who will listen? The rhetorical questions are intended to indicate that no one will respond, not even the angels. Job would do better to realize that he is guilty and his only hope is in God.

² tn The participle with the suffix could be given a more immediate translation to accompany the imperative: “Call now! Is anyone listening to you?”

³ tn The LXX has rendered “holy ones” as “holy angels” (cf. TEV, CEV, NLT). The LXX has interpreted the verb in the colon too freely: “if you will see.”

⁴ sn The point being made is that the angels do not represent the cries of people to God as if mediating for them. But if Job appealed to any of them to take his case against God, there would be no response whatsoever for that.

NET Notes: Job 5:2

¹ tn One of the reasons that commentators transpose v. 1 is that the כִּי (ki, “for”) here seems to follow 4:21 better. If people die without wisdom, it is folly that kills them. But the verse also makes sense after 5:1. He is saying that complaining against God will not bring deliverance (v. 1), but rather, by such impatience the fool will bring greater calamity on himself.

² tn The two words for “foolish person” are common in wisdom literature. The first, אֱוִיל (’evil), is the fool who is a senseless person; the פֹּתֶה (poteh) is the naive and silly person, the simpleton, the one who is easily led astray. The direct object is introduced with the preposition ל (lamed) in this verse (see GKC 366 §117.n).

³ tn The two parallel nouns are similar; their related verbs are also paralleled in Deut 32:16 with the idea of “vex” and “irritate.” The first word כַּעַשׂ (ka’as) refers to the inner irritation and anger one feels, whereas the second word קִנְאָה (qin’ah) refers to the outward expression of the anger. In Job 6:2, Job will respond “O that my impatience [ka’as] were weighed….”

NET Notes: Job 5:3

¹ tn The use of the pronoun here adds emphasis to the subject of the sentence (see GKC 437 §135.a).

² tn This word is אֱוִיל (’evil), the same word for the “senseless man” in the preceding verse. Eliphaz is citing an example of his principle just given – he saw such a fool for a brief while appearing to prosper (i.e., taking root).

³ tn A. B. Davidson argues that the verse does not mean that Eliphaz cursed his place during his prosperity. This line is metonymical (giving the effect). God judged the fool and his place was ruined; consequently, Eliphaz pronounced it accursed of God (see A. B. Davidson, Job, 36). Many emend the verb slightly to read “and it was suddenly cursed” (וַיֻּכַב [vayyukhav] instead of וָאֶקּוֹב [va’eqqov]; see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 51).

NET Notes: Job 5:4

¹ tn The imperfect verbs in this verse describe the condition of the accursed situation. Some commentators follow the LXX and take these as jussives, making this verse the curse that the man pronounced upon the fool. Rashi adds “This is the malediction with which I have cursed him.” That would make the speaker the one calling down the judgment on the fool rather than responding by observation how God destroyed the habitation of the fool.

² tn The verb יִדַּכְּאוּ (yiddakkÿ’u) could be taken as the passive voice, or in the reciprocal sense (“crush one another”) or reflexive (“crush themselves”). The context favors the idea that the children of the foolish person will be destroyed because there is no one who will deliver them.

³ tn Heb “in the gate.” The city gate was the place of both business and justice. The sense here seems to fit the usage of gates as the place of legal disputes, so the phrase “at the place of judgment” has been used in the translation.

⁴ tn The text simply says “and there is no deliverer.” The entire clause could be subordinated to the preceding clause, and rendered simply “without a deliverer.”

NET Notes: Job 5:5

¹ sn The hungry are other people, possibly the hungry poor to whom the wealthy have refused to give bread (22:7). The sons are so helpless that even the poor take their property.

² tn The MT reads “whose harvest the hungry eat up.” Some commentators want to follow the LXX and repoint קְצִירוֹ (qÿtsiro, “his harvest”) to קָצְרוּ (qatsÿru, “[what] they have reaped”; cf. NAB). The reference as it stands in the MT seems to be to the image of taking root in v. 3; whatever took root – the prosperity of his life – will not belong to him or his sons to enjoy. If the emendation is accepted, then the reference would be immediately to the “sons” in the preceding verse.

³ tn The line is difficult; the Hebrew text reads literally “and unto from thorns he takes it.” The idea seems to be that even from within an enclosed hedge of thorns other people will take the harvest. Many commentators either delete the line altogether or try to repoint it to make more sense out of it. G. R. Driver had taken the preposition אֶל (’el, “towards”) as the noun אֵל (’el, “strong man”) and the noun צִנִּים (tsinnim, “thorns”) connected to Aramaic צִנָּה (tsinnah, “basket”); he read it as “a strong man snatches it from the baskets” (G. R. Driver, “on Job 5:5,” TZ 12 [1956]: 485-86). E. Dhorme (Job, 60) changed the word slightly to מַצְפֻּנִים (matspunim, “hiding places”), instead of מִצִּנִּים (mitsinnim, “out of the thorns”), to get the translation “and unto hiding places he carries it.” This fits the use of the verb לָקַח (laqakh, “to take”) with the preposition אֶל (’el, “towards”) meaning “carry to” someplace. There seems to be no easy solution to the difficulty of the line.

⁴ tn The word צַמִּים (tsammim) has been traditionally rendered “robbers.” But it has been connected by some of the ancient versions to the word for “thirst,” making a nice parallel with “hungry.” This would likely be pointed צְמֵאִים (tsÿme’im).

⁵ tn The verb has been given many different renderings, some more radical than others: “engulf,” “draws,” “gather,” “swallow” (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 53). The idea of “swallow” is found in Job 20:15. The general sense of the line is clear, in spite of the difficulties of determining the exact meaning of the verb.

⁶ tn The LXX has several variations for the line. It reads something like the following: “for what they have collected the just shall eat, but they shall not be delivered out of calamities; let their strength be utterly exhausted.” The LXX may have gotten the idea of the “righteous” as those who suffer from hunger. Instead of “thorns” the LXX has the idea of “trouble.” The Targum to Job interprets it with “shield” and adds “warriors” as the subject.

NET Notes: Job 5:6

¹ sn The previous discussion shows how trouble rises, namely, from the rebelliousness of the fool. Here Eliphaz simply summarizes the points made with this general principle – trouble does not come from outside man, nor does it come as a part of the natural order, but rather it comes from the evil nature of man.

NET Notes: Job 5:7

¹ tn Heb “man [is].” Because “man” is used in a generic sense for humanity here, the generic “people” has been used in the translation.

² tn There is a slight difficulty here in that vv. 6 and 7 seem to be saying the opposite thing. Many commentators, therefore, emend the the Niphal יוּלָּד (yullad, “is born”) to an active participle יוֹלֵד (yoled, “begets”) to place the source of trouble in man himself. But the LXX seems to retain the passive idea: “man is born to trouble.” The contrast between the two verses does not seem too difficult, for it still could imply that trouble’s source is within the man.

³ tn For the Hebrew בְנֵי־רֶשֶׁף (bÿne reshef, “sons of the flame”) the present translation has the rendering “sparks.” E. Dhorme (Job, 62) thinks it refers to some kind of bird, but renders it “sons of the lightning” because the eagle was associated with lightning in ancient interpretations. Sparks, he argues, do not soar high above the earth. Other suggestions include Resheph, the Phoenician god of lightning (Pope), the fire of passion (Buttenwieser), angels (Peake), or demons (Targum Job). None of these are convincing; the idea of sparks flying upward fits the translation well and makes clear sense in the passage.

⁴ tn The simple translation of the last two words is “fly high” or “soar aloft” which would suit the idea of an eagle. But, as H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 53) concludes, the argument to identify the expression preceding this with eagles is far-fetched.

⁵ tn The LXX has the name of a bird here: “the vulture’s young seek the high places.” The Targum to Job has “sons of demons” or “the sparks which shoot from coals of fire.”

NET Notes: Job 5:8

¹ sn Eliphaz affirms that if he were in Job’s place he would take refuge in God, but Job has to acknowledge that he has offended God and accept this suffering as his chastisement. Job eventually will submit to God in the end, but not in the way that Eliphaz advises here, for Job does not agree that the sufferings are judgments from God.

² tn The word אוּלָם (’ulam) is a strong adversative “but.” This forms the contrast with what has been said previously and so marks a new section.

³ tn The independent personal pronoun here adds emphasis to the subject of the verb, again strengthening the contrast with what Job is doing (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 22, §106).

⁴ tn The imperfect verbs in this verse express not so much what Eliphaz does as what he would do if he were in Job’s place (even though in 13:3 we have the affirmation). The use fits the category of the imperfect used in conditional clauses (see GKC 319 §107.x).

⁵ tn The verb דָּרַשׁ (darash, “to seek”) followed by the preposition אֶל (’el, “towards”) has the meaning of addressing oneself to (God). See 8:19 and 40:10.

⁶ tn The Hebrew employs אֵל (’el) in the first line and אֱלֹהִים (’elohim) in the second for “God”, but the LXX uses κύριος (kurio", “Lord”) in both places in this verse. However, in the second colon it also has “Lord of all.” This is replaced in the Greek version of Aquila by παντοκράτωρ (pantokratwr, traditionally translated “Almighty”). On the basis of this information, H. M. Orlinsky suggests that the second name for God in the verses should be “Shaddai” (JQR 25 [1934/35]: 271).

⁷ tn The Hebrew simply has “my word”; but in this expression that uses שִׂים (sim) with the meaning of “lay before” or “expound a cause” in a legal sense, “case” or “cause” would be a better translation.

NET Notes: Job 5:9

¹ tn Heb “who does.” It is common for such doxologies to begin with participles; they follow the pattern of the psalms in this style. Because of the length of the sentence in Hebrew and the conventions of English style, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

² tn The Hebrew has וְאֵין חֵקֶר (vÿ’en kheqer), literally, “and no investigation.” The use of the conjunction on the expression follows a form of the circumstantial clause construction, and so the entire expression describes the great works as “unsearchable.”

³ tn The preposition in עַד־אֵין (’ad ’en, “until there was no”) is stereotypical; it conveys the sense of having no number (see Job 9:10; Ps 40:13).

⁴ sn H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 54) notes that the verse fits Eliphaz’s approach very well, for he has good understanding of the truth, but has difficulty in making the correct conclusions from it.

NET Notes: Job 5:10

¹ tn Heb “who gives.” The participle continues the doxology here. But the article is necessary because of the distance between this verse and the reference to God.

sn He gives rain. The use of the verb “gives” underscores the idea that rain is a gift from God. This would be more keenly felt in the Middle East where water is scarce.

² tn In both halves of the verse the literal rendering would be “upon the face of the earth” and “upon the face of the fields.”

³ tn The second participle is simply coordinated to the first and therefore does not need the definite article repeated (see GKC 404 §126.b).

⁴ tn The Hebrew term חוּצוֹת (khutsot) basically means “outside,” or what is outside. It could refer to streets if what is meant is outside the house; but it refers to fields here (parallel to the more general word) because it is outside the village. See Ps 144:13 for the use of the expression for “countryside.” The LXX gives a much wider interpretation: “what is under heaven.”

NET Notes: Job 5:11

¹ tn Heb “setting.” The infinitive construct clause is here taken as explaining the nature of God, and so parallel to the preceding descriptions. If read simply as a purpose clause after the previous verse, it would suggest that the purpose of watering the earth was to raise the humble (cf. NASB, “And sends water on the fields, // So that He sets on high those who are lowly”). A. B. Davidson (Job, 39) makes a case for this interpretation, saying that God’s gifts in nature have the wider purpose of blessing man, but he prefers to see the line as another benevolence, parallel to v. 10, and so suggests a translation “setting up” rather than “to set up.”

² tn The word שְׁפָלִים (shÿfalim) refers to “those who are down.” This refers to the lowly and despised of the earth. They are the opposite of the “proud” (see Ps 138:6). Here there is a deliberate contrast between “lowly” and “on high.”

³ tn The meaning of the word is “to be dark, dirty”; therefore, it refers to the ash-sprinkled head of the mourner (H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 54). The custom was to darken one’s face in sorrow (see Job 2:12; Ps 35:14; 38:7).

⁴ tn The perfect verb may be translated “be set on high; be raised up.” E. Dhorme (Job, 64) notes that the perfect is parallel to the infinitive of the first colon, and so he renders it in the same way as the infinitive, comparing the construction to that of 28:25.

NET Notes: Job 5:12

¹ tn The Hiphil form מֵפֵר (mefer) is the participle from פָּרַר (parar, “to annul; to frustrate; to break”). It continues the doxological descriptions of God; but because of the numerous verses in this section, it may be clearer to start a new sentence with this form (rather than translating it “who…”).

² tn The word is related to the verb “to think; to plan; to devise,” and so can mean “thoughts; plans; imagination.” Here it refers to the plan of the crafty that must be frustrated (see also Isa 44:25 for the contrast).

³ tn The word עֲרוּמִים (’arumim) means “crafty” or “shrewd.” It describes the shrewdness of some to achieve their ends (see Gen 3:1, where the serpent is more cunning than all the creatures, that is, he knows where the dangers are and will attempt to bring down the innocent). In the next verse it describes the clever plans of the wise – those who are wise in their own sight.

⁴ tn The consecutive clause showing result or purpose is simply introduced with the vav and the imperfect/jussive (see GKC 504-5 §166.a).

⁵ tn The word תּוּשִׁיָּה (tushiyyah) is a technical word from wisdom literature. It has either the idea of the faculty of foresight, or of prudence in general (see 12:6; 26:3). It can be parallel in the texts to “wisdom,” “counsel,” “help,” or “strength.” Here it refers to what has been planned ahead of time.

NET Notes: Job 5:13

¹ tn The participles continue the description of God. Here he captures or ensnares the wise in their wickedly clever plans. See also Ps 7:16, where the wicked are caught in the pit they have dug – they are only wise in their own eyes.

² sn This is the only quotation from the Book of Job in the NT (although Rom 11:35 seems to reflect 41:11, and Phil 1:19 is similar to 13:6). Paul cites it in 1 Cor 3:19.

³ tn The etymology of נִפְתָּלִים (niftalim) suggests a meaning of “twisted” (see Prov 8:8) in the sense of tortuous. See Gen 30:8; Ps 18:26 [27].

⁴ tn The Niphal of מָהַר (mahar) means “to be hasty; to be irresponsible.” The meaning in the line may be understood in this sense: The counsel of the wily is hastened, that is, precipitated before it is ripe, i.e., frustrated (A. B. Davidson, Job, 39).

NET Notes: Job 5:14

¹ sn God so confuses the crafty that they are unable to fulfill their plans – it is as if they encounter darkness in broad daylight. This is like the Syrians in 2 Kgs 6:18-23.

² tn The verb מָשַׁשׁ (mashash) expresses the idea of groping about in the darkness. This is part of the fulfillment of Deut 28:29, which says, “and you shall grope at noonday as the blind grope in darkness.” This image is also in Isa 59:10.

³ sn The verse provides a picture of the frustration and bewilderment in the crafty who cannot accomplish their ends because God thwarts them.

NET Notes: Job 5:15

¹ tn The verb, the Hiphil preterite of יָשַׁע (yasha’, “and he saves”) indicates that by frustrating the plans of the wicked God saves the poor. So the vav (ו) consecutive shows the result in the sequence of the verses.

² tn The juxtaposition of “from the sword from their mouth” poses translation difficulties. Some mss do not have the preposition on “their mouth,” but render the expression as a construct: “from the sword of their mouth.” This would mean their tongue, and by metonymy, what they say. The expression “from their mouth” corresponds well with “from the hand” in the next colon. And as E. Dhorme (Job, 67) notes, what is missing is a parallel in the first part with “the poor” in the second. So he follows Cappel in repointing “from the sword” as a Hophal participle, מֹחֳרָב (mokhorav), meaning “the ruined.” If a change is required, this has the benefit of only changing the pointing. The difficulty with this is that the word “desolate, ruined” is not used for people, but only to cities, lands, or mountains. The sense of the verse can be supported from the present pointing: “from the sword [which comes] from their mouth”; the second phrase could also be in apposition, meaning, “from the sword, i.e., from their mouth.”

³ tn If the word “poor” is to do double duty, i.e., serving as the object of the verb “saves” in the first colon as well as the second, then the conjunction should be explanatory.

NET Notes: Job 5:16

¹ tn Other translations render this “injustice” (NIV, NRSV, CEV) or “unrighteousness” (NASB).

² tn The verse summarizes the result of God’s intervention in human affairs, according to Eliphaz’ idea that even-handed justice prevails. Ps 107:42 parallels v. 16b.

NET Notes: Job 5:17

¹ tn The particle “therefore” links this section to the preceding; it points this out as the logical consequence of the previous discussion, and more generally, as the essence of Job’s suffering.

² tn The word אַשְׁרֵי (’ashre, “blessed”) is often rendered “happy.” But “happy” relates to what happens. “Blessed” is a reference to the heavenly bliss of the one who is right with God.

³ tn The construction is an implied relative clause. The literal rendering would simply be “the man God corrects him.” The suffix on the verb is a resumptive pronoun, completing the use of the relative clause. The verb יָכַח (yakhakh) is a legal term; it always has some sense of a charge, dispute, or conflict. Its usages show that it may describe a strife breaking out, a charge or quarrel in progress, or the settling of a dispute (Isa 1:18). The derived noun can mean “reproach; recrimination; charge” (13:6; 23:4). Here the emphasis is on the consequence of the charge brought, namely, the correction.

⁴ tn The noun מוּסַר (musar) is parallel to the idea of the first colon. It means “discipline, correction” (from יָסַר, yasar). Prov 3:11 says almost the same thing as this line.

⁵ sn The name Shaddai occurs 31 times in the book. This is its first occurrence. It is often rendered “Almighty” because of the LXX and some of the early fathers. The etymology and meaning of the word otherwise remains uncertain, in spite of attempts to connect it to “mountains” or “breasts.”

NET Notes: Job 5:18

¹ sn Verses 18-23 give the reasons why someone should accept the chastening of God – the hand that wounds is the same hand that heals. But, of course, the lines do not apply to Job because his suffering is not due to divine chastening.

² tn The addition of the independent pronoun here makes the subject emphatic, as if to say, “For it is he who makes….”

³ tn The imperfect verbs in this verse describe the characteristic activities of God; the classification as habitual imperfect fits the idea and is to be rendered with the English present tense.

NET Notes: Job 5:19

¹ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect of נָצַל (natsal, “deliver”). These verbs might have been treated as habitual imperfects if it were not for the use of the numerical images – “six calamities…in seven.” So the nuance is specific future instead.

² tn The use of a numerical ladder as we have here – “six // seven” is frequent in wisdom literature to show completeness. See Prov 6:16; Amos 1:3, Mic 5:5. A number that seems to be sufficient for the point is increased by one, as if to say there is always one more. By using this Eliphaz simply means “in all troubles” (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 56).

NET Notes: Job 5:20

¹ sn Targum Job here sees an allusion to the famine of Egypt and the war with Amalek.

² tn Heb “from the hand of the sword.” This is idiomatic for “the power of the sword.” The expression is also metonymical, meaning from the effect of the sword, which is death.

NET Notes: Job 5:21

¹ tn The Hebrew verb essentially means “you will be hidden.” In the Niphal the verb means “to be hidden, to be in a hiding place,” and protected (Ps 31:20).

² tn Heb “from the lash [i.e., whip] of the tongue.” Sir 26:9 and 51:2 show usages of these kinds of expressions: “the lash of the tongue” or “the blow of the tongue.” The expression indicates that a malicious gossip is more painful than a blow.

sn The Targum saw here a reference to Balaam and the devastation brought on by the Midianites.

³ tn The word here is שׁוֹד (shod); it means “destruction,” but some commentators conjecture alternate readings: שׁוֹאָה (sho’ah, “desolation”); or שֵׁד (shed, “demon”). One argument for maintaining שׁוֹד (shod) is that it fits the assonance within the verse שׁוֹד…לָשׁוֹן…שׁוֹט (shot…lashon…shod).

NET Notes: Job 5:22

¹ tc The repetition of “destruction” and “famine” here has prompted some scholars to delete the whole verse. Others try to emend the text. The LXX renders them as “the unrighteous and the lawless.” But there is no difficulty in having the repetition of the words as found in the MT.

tn The word for “famine” is an Aramaic word found again in 30:3. The book of Job has a number of Aramaisms that are used to form an alternative parallel expression (see notes on “witness” in 16:19).

² tn The negated jussive is used here to express the conviction that something cannot or should not happen (GKC 322 §109.e).

NET Notes: Job 5:23

¹ tn Heb “your covenant is with the stones of the field.” The line has been variously interpreted and translated. It is omitted in the LXX. It seems to mean there is a deep sympathy between man and nature. Some think it means that the boundaries will not be violated by enemies; Rashi thought it represented some species of beings, like genii of the field, and so read אֲדֹנֵי (’adone, “lords”) for אַבְנֵי (’avne, “stones”). Ball takes the word as בְּנֵי (bÿne, “sons”), as in “sons of the field,” to get the idea that the reference is to the beasts. E. Dhorme (Job, 71) rejects these ideas as too contrived; he says to have a pact with the stones of the field simply means the stones will not come and spoil the ground, making it less fertile.

² tn Heb “the beasts of the field.”

³ tn This is the only occurrence of the Hophal of the verb שָׁלֵם (shalem, “to make or have peace” with someone). Compare Isa 11:6-9 and Ps 91:13. The verb form is the perfect; here it is the perfect consecutive following a noun clause (see GKC 494 §159.g).

NET Notes: Job 5:24

¹ sn Verses 19-23 described the immunity from evil and trouble that Job would enjoy – if he were restored to peace with God. Now, v. 24 describes the safety and peace of the homestead and his possessions if he were right with God.

² tn The verb is again the perfect, but in sequence to the previous structure so that it is rendered as a future. This would be the case if Job were right with God.

³ tn Heb “tent.”

⁴ tn The word שָׁלוֹם (shalom) means “peace; safety; security; wholeness.” The same use appears in 1 Sam 25:6; 2 Sam 20:9.

⁵ tn The verb is פָּקַד (paqad, “to visit”). The idea here is “to gather together; to look over; to investigate,” or possibly even “to number” as it is used in the book of Numbers. The verb is the perfect with the vav consecutive; it may be subordinated to the imperfect verb that follows to form a temporal clause.

⁶ tn The verb is usually rendered “to sin”; but in this context the more specific primary meaning of “to miss the mark” or “to fail to find something.” Neither Job’s tent nor his possessions will be lost.

NET Notes: Job 5:25

¹ tn Heb “your seed.”

² tn The word means “your shoots” and is parallel to “your seed” in the first colon. It refers here (as in Isa 34:1 and 42:5) to the produce of the earth. Some commentators suggest that Eliphaz seems to have forgotten or was insensitive to Job’s loss of his children; H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 57) says his conventional theology is untouched by human feeling.

NET Notes: Job 5:26

¹ tn The word translated “in a full age” has been given an array of meanings: “health; integrity”; “like a new blade of corn”; “in your strength [or vigor].” The numerical value of the letters in the word בְכֶלָח (bÿkhelakh, “in old age”) was 2, 20, 30, and 8, or 60. This led some of the commentators to say that at 60 one would enter the ripe old age (E. Dhorme, Job, 73).

NET Notes: Job 5:27

¹ tn To make a better parallelism, some commentators have replaced the imperative with another finite verb, “we have found it.”

² tn The preposition with the suffix (referred to as the ethical dative) strengthens the imperative. An emphatic personal pronoun also precedes the imperative. The resulting force would be something like “and you had better apply it for your own good!”

³ sn With this the speech by Eliphaz comes to a close. His two mistakes with it are: (1) that the tone was too cold and (2) the argument did not fit Job’s case (see further, A. B. Davidson, Job, 42).

Geneva Bible: Job 5:1

Call now, if there be any that will ^{( a )} answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?

^{( a )} He wills Job to consider the example of all who have lived or live godly, whether any of them are like him in raging against God as he does.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:2

For ^{( b )} wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.

^{( b )} Murmuring against God in afflictions increases the pain, and uttered man's folly.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:3

I have seen the ^{( c )} foolish taking root: but suddenly I ^{( d )} cursed his habitation.

^{( c )} That is, the sinner that does not have the fear of God.

^{( d )} I was not moved by his prosperity but knew that God had cursed him and his.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:4

His ^{( e )} children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the ^{( f )} gate, neither [is there] any to deliver [them].

^{( e )} Though God sometimes allows the father's to pass in this world, yet his judgments will light on their wicked children.

^{( f )} By public judgment they will be condemned and no one will pity them.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:5

Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the ^{( g )} thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

^{( g )} Though there are only two or three ears left in the hedges, yet these will be taken from him.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:6

Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, ^{( h )} neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

^{( h )} That is, the earth is not the cause of barrenness and man's misery, but his own sin.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:7

Yet man is born unto ^{( i )} trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

^{( i )} Which declares that sin is always in our corrupt nature: for before sin it was not subject to pain and affliction.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:8

I would seek unto ^{( k )} God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

^{( k )} If I suffered as you do, I would seek God.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:9

Which ^{( l )} doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

^{( l )} He counsels Job to humble himself to God to whom all creatures are subject and whose works declare that man is inexcusable unless he glorifies God in all his works.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:10

Who ^{( m )} giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:

^{( m )} He shows by particular examples what the works of God are.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:14

They meet with ^{( n )} darkness in the daytime, and ^{( o )} grope in the noonday as in the night.

^{( n )} In things plain and evident they show themselves fools instead of wise men.

^{( o )} This declares that God punishes the worldly wise as he threatened in (Deu 28:29).

Geneva Bible: Job 5:15

But he saveth the ^{( p )} poor from the sword, from their ^{( q )} mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

^{( p )} That is, he who humbles himself before God.

^{( q )} He compares the slander of the wicked to sharp swords.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:16

So the poor hath hope, and iniquity ^{( r )} stoppeth her mouth.

^{( r )} If the wicked are compelled by God's works to shut their mouths, how much more they who profess God.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:19

He shall deliver thee in ^{( s )} six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

^{( s )} He will send trouble after trouble that his children may not for one time, but continually trust in him: but they sill have a comfortable issue, even in the greatest and the last, which is here called the seventh.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:22

At destruction and famine thou shalt ^{( t )} laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

^{( t )} While the wicked lament in their troubles, you will have occasion to rejoice.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:23

For thou ^{( u )} shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

^{( u )} When we are in God's favour, all creatures will serve us.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:24

And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle [shall be] in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not ^{( x )} sin.

^{( x )} God will so bless you that you will have opportunity to rejoice in all things, and not be offended.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:26

Thou shalt come to [thy] grave in ^{( y )} a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.

^{( y )} Though the children of God have not always carried out this promise, yet God recompenses it otherwise to their advantage.

Geneva Bible: Job 5:27

Lo ^{( z )} this, we have searched it, so it [is]; hear it, and know thou [it] for thy good.

^{( z )} We have learned these points by experience, that God does not punish the innocent, that man cannot compare in justice with him, that the hypocrites will not prosper for long, and that the affliction which man sustains comes for his own sin.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Rentang Ayat

Maclaren: Job 5:7-27 - A Libation To Jehovah

The Peaceable Fruits Of Sorrows Rightly Borne

Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not then the chastening of the Almighty: 18. For He maketh sore, and bindeth up: the woundeth, and His hands make whole. 19. He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. 20. In famine He shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. 21. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. 22. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shall thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. 23. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. 24. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season. 27. Lo this, we have searched it, so it is, hear it, and know thou it for thy good.'--Job 5:7-27.

The close of the Book of Job shows that his friends' speeches were defective, and in part erroneous. They all proceeded on the assumption that suffering was the fruit of sin, a principle which, though true in general, is not to be unconditionally applied to specific cases. They all forgot that good men might be exposed to it, not as punishment, nor even as correction, but as trial, to know what was in their hearts.'

Eliphaz is the best of the three friends, and his speeches embody much permanent truth, and rise, as in this passage, to a high level of literary and artistic beauty. There are few lovelier passages in Scripture than this glowing description of the prosperity of the man who accepts God's chastisements; and, on the whole, the picture is true. But the underlying belief in the uniform coincidence of inward goodness and outward good needs to be modified by the deeper teaching of the New Testament before it can be regarded as covering all the facts of life.

Eliphaz is gathering up, in our passage, the threads of his speech. He bases upon all that he has been saying the exhortation to Job to be thankful for his sorrows. With a grand paradox, he declares the man who is afflicted to be happy. And therein he strikes an eternally true note. It is good to be made to drink a cup of sorrow. Flesh calls pain evil, but spirit knows it to be good. The list of our blessings is not only written in bright inks, but many are inscribed in black. And the reason why the sad heart should be a happy heart is because, as Eliphaz believed, sadness is God's fatherly correction, intended to better the subject of it. Whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth,' says the Epistle to the Hebrews, in full accord with Eliphaz.

But his well-meant and true words flew wide of their mark, for two reasons. They were chillingly didactic, and it is vinegar upon nitre to stand over an agonised soul and preach platitudes in an unsympathetic voice. And they assumed unusual sin in Job as the explanation of his unparalleled pains, while the prologue tells us that his sufferings were not fruits of his sin, but trials of his righteousness. He was horrified at Job's words, which seemed to him full of rebellion and irreverence; and he made no allowance for the wild cries of an agonised heart when he solemnly warned the sufferer against despising' God's chastening. A more sympathetic ear would have detected the accent of faith in the groans.

The collocation, in Job 5:18, of making sore and binding up, does not merely express sequence, but also purpose. The wounding is in order to healing. The wounds are merciful surgery; and their intention is health, like the cuts that lay open an ulcer, or the scratches for vaccination. The view of suffering in these two verses is not complete, but it goes far toward completeness in tracing it to God, in asserting its disciplinary intention, in pointing to the divine healing which is meant to follow, and in exhorting to submission. We may recall the beautiful expansion of that exhortation in Hebrews, where faint not' is added to despise not,' so including the two opposite and yet closely connected forms of misuse of sorrow, according as we stiffen our wills against it, and try to make light of it, or yield so utterly to it as to collapse. Either extreme equally misses the corrective purpose of the grief.

On this general statement follows a charming picture of the blessedness which attends the man who has taken his chastisement rightly. After the thunderstorm come sunshine and blue, and the song of birds. But, lovely as it is, and capable of application in many points to the life of every man who trustfully yields to God's will, it must not be taken as a literally and absolutely true statement of God's dealings with His children. If so regarded, it would hopelessly be shattered against facts; for the world is full of instances of saintly men and women who have not experienced in their outward lives such sunny calm and prosperity stretching to old age as are here promised. Eliphaz is not meant to be the interpreter of the mysteries of Providence, and his solution is decisively rejected at the close. But still there is much in this picture which finds fulfilment in all devout lives in a higher sense than his intended meaning.

The first point is that the devout soul is exempt from calamities which assail those around it. These are such as are ordinarily in Scripture recognised as God's judgments upon a people. Famine and war devastate, but the devout soul abides in peace, and is satisfied. Now it is not true that faith and submission make a wall round a man, so that he escapes from such calamities. In the supernatural system of the Old Testament such exemptions were more usual than with us, though this very Book of Job and many a psalm show that devout hearts had even then to wrestle with the problem of the prosperity of the wicked and the indiscriminate fall of widespread calamities on the good and bad.

But in its deepest sense (which, however, is not Eliphaz's sense) the faithful man is saved from the evils which he, in common with his faithless neigh-bout, experiences. Two men are smitten down by the same disease, or lie dying on a battlefield, shattered by the same shell, and the one receives the fulfilment of the promise, there shall no evil touch thee,' and the other does not. For the evil in the evil is all sucked out of it, and the poison is wiped off the arrow which strikes him who is united to God by faith and submission. Two women are grinding at the same millstone, and the same blow kills them both; but the one is delivered, and the other is not. They who pass through an evil, and are not drawn away from God by it, but brought nearer to Him, are hid from its power. To die may be our deliverance from death.

Eliphaz's promises rise still higher in Job 5:22-23, in which is set forth a truth that in its deepest meaning is of universal application. The wild beasts of the earth and the stones of the field will be in league with the man who submits to God's will. Of course the beasts come into view as destructive, and the stones as injuring the fertility of the fields. There is, probably, allusion to the story of Paradise and the Fall. Man's relation to nature was disturbed by sin; it will be rectified by his return to God. Such a doctrine of the effects of sin in perverting man's relation to creatures runs all through Scripture, and is not to be put aside as mere symbolism.

But the large truth underlying the words here is that, if we are servants of God, we are masters of everything. All things work together for good to them that love God.' All things serve the soul that serves God; as, on the other hand, all are against him that does not, and the stars in their courses fight against' those who fight against Him. All things are ours, if we are Christ's. The many mediaeval legends of saints attended by animals, from St. Jerome and his lion downwards to St. Francis preaching to the birds, echo the thoughts here. A gentle, pure soul, living in amity with dumb creatures, has wonderful power to attract them. They who are at peace with God can scarcely be at war with any of God's creatures. Gentleness is stronger than iron bands. Cords of love' draw most surely.

Peace and prosperity in home and possessions are the next blessings promised (Job 5:24). Thou shalt visit [look over] thy household, and shalt miss nothing.' No cattle have strayed or been devoured by evil beasts, or stolen, as all Job's had been. Alas! Eliphaz knew nothing about commercial crises, and the great system of credit by which one scoundrel's fall may bring down hundreds of good men and patient widows, who look over their possessions and find nothing but worthless shares. Yet even for those who find all at once that the herd is cut off from the stall, their tabernacle may still be in peace, and though the fold be empty they may miss nothing, if in the empty place they find God. That is what Christians may make out of the words; but it is not what was originally meant by them.

In like manner the next blessing, that of a numerous posterity, does not depend on moral or religious condition, as Eliphaz would make out, and in modern days is not always regarded as a blessing. But note the singular heartlessness betrayed in telling Job, all whose flocks and herds had been carried off, and his children laid dead in their festival chamber, that abundant possessions and offspring were the token of God's favour. The speaker seems serenely unconscious that he was saying anything that could drive a knife into the tortured man. He is so carried along on the waves of his own eloquence, and so absorbed in stringing together the elements of an artistic whole, that he forgets the very sorrows which he came to comfort. There are not a few pious exhorters of bleeding hearts who are chargeable with the same sin. The only hand that will bind up without hurting is a hand that is sympathetic to the finger-tips. No eloquence or poetic beauty or presentation of undeniable truths will do as substitutes for that.

The last blessing promised is that which the Old Testament places so high in the list of good things, long life. The lovely metaphor in which that promise is couched has become familiar to us all. The ripe corn gathered into a sheaf at harvest-time suggests festival rather than sadness. It speaks of growth accomplished, of fruit matured, of the ministries of sun and rain received and used, and of a joyful gathering into the great storehouse. There is no reference in the speech to the uses of the sheaf after it is harvested, but we can scarcely avoid following its history a little farther than the grave' which to Eliphaz seems the garner. Are all these matured powers to have no field for action? Were all these miracles of vegetation set in motion only in order to grow a crop which should be reaped, and there an end? What is to be done with the precious fruit which has taken so long time and so much cultivation to grow? Surely it is not the intention of the Lord of the harvest to let it rot when it has been gathered. Surely we are grown here and ripened and carried hence for something.

But that is not in our passage This, however, may be drawn from it, that maturity does not depend on length of days; and, however Eliphaz meant to promise long life, the reality is that the devout soul may reckon on complete life, whether it be long or short. God will not call His children home till their schooling is done; and, however green and young the corn may seem to our eyes, He knows which heads in the great harvest-field are ready for removal, and gathers only these. The child whose little coffin may be carried under a boy's arm may be ripe for harvesting. Not length of days, but likeness to God, makes maturity; and if we die according to the will of God, it cannot but be that we shall come to our grave in a full age, whatever be the number of years carved on our tombstones.

The speech ends with a somewhat self-complacent exhortation to the poor, tortured man: We have searched it, so it is.' We wise men pledge our wisdom and our reputation that this is true. Great is authority. An ounce of sympathy would have done more to commend the doctrine than a ton of dogmatic self-confidence. Hear it, and know thou it for thyself.' Take it into thy mind. Take it into thy mind and heart, and take it for thy good. It was a frosty ending, exasperating in its air of patronage, of superior wisdom, and in its lack of any note of feeling. So, of course, it set Job's impatience alight, and his next speech is more desperate than his former. When will well-meaning comforters learn not to rub salt into wounds while they seem to be dressing them?

MHCC: Job 5:1-5

Eliphaz here calls upon Job to answer his arguments. Were any of the saints or servants of God visited with such Divine judgments as Job, or did they ever behave like him under their sufferings? The term, " saints," holy, or more strictly, consecrated ones, seems in all ages to have been applied to the people of God, through the Sacrifice slain in the covenant of their reconciliation. Eliphaz doubts not that the sin of sinners directly tends to their ruin. They kill themselves by some lust or other; therefore, no doubt, Job has done some foolish thing, by which he has brought himself into this condition. The allusion was plain to Job's former prosperity; but there was no evidence of Job's wickedness, and the application to him was unfair and severe.

MHCC: Job 5:6-16

Eliphaz reminds Job, that no affliction comes by chance, nor is to be placed to second causes. The difference between prosperity and adversity is not so exactly observed, as that between day and night, summer and winter; but it is according to the will and counsel of God. We must not attribute our afflictions to fortune, for they are from God; nor our sins to fate, for they are from ourselves. Man is born in sin, and therefore born to trouble. There is nothing in this world we are born to, and can truly call our own, but sin and trouble. Actual transgressions are sparks that fly out of the furnace of original corruption. Such is the frailty of our bodies, and the vanity of all our enjoyments, that our troubles arise thence as the sparks fly upward; so many are they, and so fast does one follow another. Eliphaz reproves Job for not seeking God, instead of quarrelling with him. Is any afflicted? let him pray. It is heart's ease, a salve for every sore. Eliphaz speaks of rain, which we are apt to look upon as a little thing; but if we consider how it is produced, and what is produced by it, we shall see it to be a great work of power and goodness. Too often the great Author of all our comforts, and the manner in which they are conveyed to us, are not noticed, because they are received as things of course. In the ways of Providence, the experiences of some are encouragements to others, to hope the best in the worst of times; for it is the glory of God to send help to the helpless, and hope to the hopeless. And daring sinners are confounded, and forced to acknowledge the justice of God's proceedings.

MHCC: Job 5:17-27

Eliphaz gives to Job a word of caution and exhortation: Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the Father's love, and is for the child's good; and notice it as a messenger from Heaven. Eliphaz also encourages Job to submit to his condition. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for he has not lost his enjoyment of God, nor his title to heaven; nay, he is happy because he is afflicted. Correction mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees. Though God wounds, yet he supports his people under afflictions, and in due time delivers them. Making a wound is sometimes part of a cure. Eliphaz gives Job precious promises of what God would do for him, if he humbled himself. Whatever troubles good men may be in, they shall do them no real harm. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of trouble. And if the servants of Christ are not delivered from outward troubles, they are delivered by them, and while overcome by one trouble, they conquer all. Whatever is maliciously said against them shall not hurt them. They shall have wisdom and grace to manage their concerns. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin. They shall finish their course with joy and honour. That man lives long enough who has done his work, and is fit for another world. It is a mercy to die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand any longer. Our times are in God's hands; it is well they are so. Believers are not to expect great wealth, long life, or to be free from trials. But all will be ordered for the best. And remark from Job's history, that steadiness of mind and heart under trial, is one of the highest attainments of faith. There is little exercise for faith when all things go well. But if God raises a storm, permits the enemy to send wave after wave, and seemingly stands aloof from our prayers, then, still to hang on and trust God, when we cannot trace him, this is the patience of the saints. Blessed Saviour! how sweet it is to look unto thee, the Author and Finisher of faith, in such moments!

Matthew Henry: Job 5:1-5

A very warm dispute being begun between Job and his friends, Eliphaz here makes a fair motion to put the matter to a reference. In all debates perhaps the sooner this is done the better if the contenders cannot end it between themselves. So well assured is Eliphaz of the goodness of his own cause that he moves Job himself to choose the arbitrators (Job 5:1): Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; that is, 1. "If there be any that suffer as thou sufferest. Canst thou produce an instance of any one that was really a saint that was reduced to such an extremity as thou art now reduced to? God never dealt with any that love his name as he deals with thee, and therefore surely thou art none of them."2. "If there be any that say as thou sayest. Did ever any good man curse his day as thou dost? Or will any of the saints justify thee in these heats or passions, or say that these are the spots of God's children? Thou wilt find none of the saints that will be either thy advocates or my antagonists. To which of the saints wilt thou turn? Turn to which thou wilt, and thou wilt find they are all of my mind. I have the communis sensus fidelium - the unanimous vote of the faithful on my side; they will all subscribe to what I am going to say."Observe, (1.) Good people are called saints even in the Old Testament; and therefore I know not why we should, in common speaking (unless because we must loqui cum vulgo - speak as our neighbours ), appropriate the title to those of the New Testament, and not say St. Abraham, St. Moses, and St. Isaiah, as well as St. Matthew and St. Mark; and St. David the psalmist, as well as St. David the British bishop. Aaron is expressly called the saint of the Lord. (2.) All that are themselves saints will turn to those that are so, will choose them for their friends and converse with them, will choose them for their judges and consult them. See Psa 119:79. The saints shall judge the world, 1Co 6:1, 1Co 6:2. Walk in the way of good men (Pro 2:20), the old way, the footsteps of the flock. Every one chooses some sort of people or other to whom he studies to recommend himself, and whose sentiments are to him the test of honour and dishonour. Now all true saints endeavour to recommend themselves to those that are such, and to stand right in their opinion. (3.) There are some truths so plain, and so universally known and believed, that one may venture to appeal to any of the saints concerning them. However there are some things about which they unhappily differ, there are many more, and more considerable, in which they are agreed; as the evil of sin, the vanity of the world, the worth of the soul, the necessity of a holy life, and the like. Though they do not all live up, as they should, to their belief of these truths, yet they are all ready to bear their testimony to them.

Now there are two things which Eliphaz here maintains, and in which he doubts not but all the saints concur with him: -

I. That the sin of sinners directly tends to their own ruin (Job 5:2): Wrath kills the foolish man, his own wrath, and therefore he is foolish for indulging it; it is a fire in his bones, in his blood, enough to put him into a fever. Envy is the rottenness of the bones, and so slays the silly one that frets himself with it. "So it is with thee,"says Eliphaz, "while thou quarrellest with God thou doest thyself the greatest mischief; thy anger at thy own troubles, and thy envy at our prosperity, do but add to thy pain and misery: turn to the saints, and thou wilt find they understand their interest better."Job had told his wife she spoke as the foolish women; now Eliphaz tells him he acted as the foolish men, the silly ones. Or it may be meant thus: "If men are ruined and undone, it is always their own folly that ruins and undoes them. They kill themselves by some lust or other; therefore, no doubt, Job, thou hast done some foolish thing, by which thou hast brought thyself into this calamitous condition."Many understand it of God's wrath and jealousy. Job needed not be uneasy at the prosperity of the wicked, for the world's smiles can never shelter them from God's frowns; they are foolish and silly if they think they will. God's anger will be the death, the eternal death, of those on whom it fastens. What is hell but God's anger without mixture or period?

II. That their prosperity is short and their destruction certain, Job 5:3-5. He seems here to parallel Job's case with that which is commonly the case of wicked people. 1. Job had prospered for a time, seemed confirmed, and was secure in his prosperity; and it is common for foolish wicked men to do so: I have seen them taking root - planted, and, in their own and others' apprehension, fixed, and likely to continue. See Jer 12:2; Psa 37:35, Psa 37:36. We see worldly men taking root in the earth; on earthly things they fix the standing of their hopes, and from them they draw the sap of their comforts. The outward estate may be flourishing, but the soul cannot prosper that takes root in the earth. 2. Job's prosperity was now at an end, and so has the prosperity of other wicked people quickly been. (1.) Eliphaz foresaw their ruin with an eye of faith. Those who looked only at present things blessed their habitation, and thought them happy, blessed it long, and wished themselves in their condition. But Eliphaz cursed it, suddenly cursed it, as soon as he saw them begin to take root, that is, he plainly foresaw and foretold their ruin; not that he prayed for it ( I have not desired the woeful day ), but he prognosticated it. He went into the sanctuary, and there understood their end and heard their doom read (Psa 73:17, Psa 73:18), that the prosperity of fools will destroy them, Pro 1:32. Those who believe the word of God can see a curse in the house of the wicked (Pro 3:33), though it be ever so finely and firmly built, and ever so full of all good things; and they can foresee that the curse will, in time, infallibly consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof, Zec 5:4. (2.) He saw, at length, what he had foreseen. He was not disappointed in his expectation concerning him; the event answered it; his family was undone, and his estate ruined. In these particulars he plainly and very invidiously reflects on Job's calamities. [1.] His children were crushed, Job 5:4. They thought themselves safe in their eldest brother's house, but were far from safety, for they were crushed in the gate. Perhaps the door or gate of the house was highest built, and fell heaviest upon them, and there was none to deliver them from perishing in the ruins. This is commonly understood of the destruction of the families of wicked men, by the execution of justice upon them, to oblige them to restore what they have ill-gotten. They leave it to their children; but the descent shall not bar the entry of the rightful owners, who will crush their children, and cast them by due course of law (and there shall be none to help them), or perhaps by oppression, Psa 109:9, etc. [2.] His estate was plundered, Job 5:5. Job's was so. The hungry robbers, the Sabeans and Chaldeans, ran away with it, and swallowed it; and this, says he, I have often observed in others. What has been got by spoil and rapine has been lost in the same way. The careful owner hedged it about with thorns, and then thought it safe; but the fence proved insignificant against the greediness of the spoilers (if hunger will break through the stone walls, much more through thorn hedges), and against the divine curse, which will go through the thorns and briers, and burn them together, Isa 27:4.

Matthew Henry: Job 5:6-16

Eliphaz, having touched Job in a very tender part, in mentioning both the loss of his estate and the death of his children as the just punishment of his sin, that he might not drive him to despair, here begins to encourage him, and puts him in a way to make himself easy. Now he very much changes his voice (Gal 4:20), and speaks in the accents of kindness, as if he would atone for the hard words he had given him.

I. He reminds him that no affliction comes by chance, nor is to be attributed to second causes: It doth not come forth of the dust, nor spring out of the ground, as the grass doth, Job 5:6. It doth not come of course, at certain seasons of the year, as natural productions do, by a chain of second causes. The proportion between prosperity and adversity is not so exactly observed by Providence as that between day and night, summer and winter, but according to the will and counsel of God, when and as he thinks fit. Some read it, Sin comes not forth out of the dust, nor iniquity of the ground. If men be bad, they must not lay the blame upon the soil, the climate, or the stars, but on themselves. If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. We must not attribute our afflictions to fortune, for they are from God, nor our sins to fate, for they are from ourselves; so that, whatever trouble we are in, we must own that God sends it upon us and we procure it to ourselves: the former is a reason why we should be very patient, the latter why we should be very penitent, when we are afflicted.

II. He reminds him that trouble and affliction are what we have all reason to expect in this world: Man is brought to trouble (Job 5:7), not as man (had he kept his innocency he would have been born to pleasure), but as sinful man, as born of a woman (Job 14:1), who was in the transgression. Man is born in sin, and therefore born to trouble. Even those that are born to honour and estate are yet born to trouble in the flesh. In our fallen state it has become natural to us to sin, and the natural consequence of that is affliction, Rom 5:12. There is nothing in this world we are born to, and can truly call our own, but sin and trouble; both are as the sparks that fly upwards. Actual transgressions are the sparks that fly out of the furnace of original corruption; and, being called transgressors from the womb, no wonder that we deal very treacherously, Isa 48:8. Such too is the frailty of our bodies, and the vanity of all our enjoyments, that our troubles also thence arise as naturally as the sparks fly upwards - so many are they, so thick and so fast does one follow another. Why then should we be surprised at our afflictions as strange, or quarrel with them as hard, when they are but what we are born to? Man is born to labour (so it is in the margin), is sentenced to eat his bread in the sweat of his face, which should inure him to hardness, and make him bear his afflictions the better.

III. He directs him how to behave himself under his affliction (Job 5:8): I would seek unto God; surely I would: so it is in the original. Here is, 1. A tacit reproof to Job for not seeking to God, but quarrelling with him: "Job, if I had been in thy case, I would not have been so peevish and passionate as thou art. I would have acquiesced in the will of God."It is easy to say what we would do if we were in such a one's case; but when it comes to the trial, perhaps it will be found not so easy to do as we say. 2. Very good and seasonable advice to him, which Eliphaz transfers to himself in a figure: "For my part, the best way I should think I could take, if I were in thy condition, would be to apply to God."Note, We should give our friends no other counsel than what we would take ourselves if we were in their case, that we may be easy under our afflictions, may get good by them, and may see a good issue of them. (1.) We must by prayer fetch in mercy and grace from God, seek to him as a Father and friend, though he contend with us, as one who is alone able to support and succour us. His favour we must seek when we have lost all we have in the world; to him we must address ourselves as the fountain and Father of all good, all consolation. Is any afflicted? let him pray. It is heart's-ease, a salve for every sore. (2.) We must by patience refer ourselves and our cause to him: To God would I commit my cause; having spread it before him, I would leave it with him; having laid it at his feet, I would lodge it in his hand. " Here I am, let the Lord do with me as seemeth him good. "If our cause be indeed a good cause, we need not fear committing it to God, for he is both just and kind. Those that would seek so as to speed must refer themselves to God.

IV. He encourages him thus to seek to God, and commit his cause to him. It will not be in vain to do so, for he is one in whom we shall find effectual help.

1. He recommends to his consideration God's almighty power and sovereign dominion. In general, he doeth great things (Job 5:9), great indeed, for he can do any thing, he doth do every thing, and all according to the counsel of his own will - great indeed, for the operations of his power are, (1.) Unsearchable, and such as can never be fathomed, can never be found out from the beginning to the end, Ecc 3:11. The works of nature are mysterious; the most curious searches come far short of full discoveries and the wisest philosophers have owned themselves at a loss. The designs of Providence ar much more deep and unaccountable, Rom 11:33. (2.) Numerous, and such as can never be reckoned up. He doeth great things without number; his power is never exhausted, nor will all his purposes ever be fulfilled till the end of time. (3.) They are marvellous, and such as never can be sufficiently admired; eternity itself will be short enough to be spent in the admiration of them. Now, by the consideration of this, Eliphaz intends, [1.] To convince Job of his fault and folly in quarrelling with God. We must not pretend to pass a judgment upon his works, for they are unsearchable and above our enquiries; nor must we strive with our Maker, for he will certainly be too hard for us, and is able to crush us in a moment. [2.] To encourage Job to seek unto God, and to refer his cause to him. What more encouraging than to see that he is one to whom power belongs? He can do great things and marvellous for our relief, when we are brought ever so low.

2. He gives some instances of God's dominion and power.

(1.) God doeth great things in the kingdom of nature: He gives rain upon the earth (Job 5:10), put here for all the gifts of common providence, all the fruitful seasons by which he filleth our hearts with food and gladness, Act 14:17. Observe, When he would show what great things God does he speaks of his giving rain, which, because it is a common thing, we are apt to look upon as a little thing, but, if we duly consider both how it is produced and what is produced by it, we shall see it to be a great work both of power and goodness.

(2.) He doeth great things in the affairs of the children of men, not only enriches the poor and comforts the needy, by the rain he sends (Job 5:10), but, in order to the advancing of those that are low, he disappoints the devices of the crafty; for Job 5:11 is to be joined to Job 5:12. Compare with Luk 1:51-53. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and so hath exalted those of low degree, and filled the heart with good things. See,

[1.] How he frustrates the counsels of the proud and politic, Job 5:12-14. There is a supreme power that manages and overrules men who think themselves free and absolute, and fulfils its own purposes in spite of their projects. Observe, First, The froward, that walk contrary to God and the interests of his kingdom, are often very crafty; for they are the seed of the old serpent that was noted for his subtlety. They think themselves wise, but, at the end, will be fools. Secondly, The Froward enemies of God's kingdom have their devices, their enterprises, and their counsels, against it, and against the loyal faithful subjects of it. They are restless and unwearied in their designs, close in their consultations, high in their hopes, deep in their politics, and fast-linked in their confederacies, Psa 2:1, Psa 2:2. Thirdly, God easily can, and (as far as is for his glory) certainly will, blast and defeat all the designs of his and his people's enemies. How were the plots of Ahithophel, Sanballat, and Haman baffled! How were the confederacies of Syria and Ephraim against Judah, of Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, against God's Israel, the kings of the earth and the princes against the Lord and against his anointed, broken! The hands that have been stretched out against God and his church have not performed their enterprise, nor have the weapons formed against Sion prospered. Fourthly, That which enemies have designed for the ruin of the church has often turned to their own ruin (Job 5:13): He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and snares them in the work of their own hands, Psa 7:15, Psa 7:16; Psa 9:15, Psa 9:16. This is quoted by the apostle (1Co 3:19) to show how the learned men of the heathen were befooled by their own vain philosophy. Fifthly, When God infatuates men they are perplexed, and at a loss, even in those things that seem most plain and easy (Job 5:14): They meet with darkness even in the day-time: nay (as in the margin), They run themselves into darkness by the violence and precipitation of their own counsels. See Job 12:20, Job 12:24, Job 12:25.

[2.] How he favours the cause of the poor and humble, and espouses that. First, He exalts the humble, Job 5:11. Those whom proud men contrive to crush he raises from under their feet, and sets them in safety, Psa 12:5. The lowly in heart, and those that mourn, he advances, comforts, and makes to dwell on high, in the munitions of rocks, Isa 33:16. Sion's mourners are the sealed ones, marked for safety, Eze 9:4. Secondly, He delivers the oppressed, Job 5:15. The designs of the crafty are to ruin the poor. Tongue, and hand, and sword, and all, are at work in order to this; but God takes under his special protection those who, being poor and unable to help themselves, being his poor and devoted to his praise, have committed themselves to him. He saves them from the mouth that speaks hard things against them and the hand that does hard things against them; for he can, when he pleases, tie the tongue and wither the hand. The effect of this is (Job 5:16), 1. That weak and timorous saints are comforted: So the poor, who began to despair, has hope. The experiences of some are encouragement to others to hope the best in the worst of times; for it is the glory of God to send help to the helpless and hope to the hopeless. 2. That daring threatening sinners are confounded: Iniquity stops her mouth, being surprised at the strangeness of the deliverance, ashamed of its enmity against those who appear to be the favourites of Heaven, mortified at the disappointment, and compelled to acknowledge the justice of God's proceedings, having nothing to object against them. Those that domineered over God's poor, that frightened them, menaced them, and falsely accused them, will not have a word to say against them when God appears for them. See Psa 76:8, Psa 76:9; Isa 26:11; Mic 7:16.

Matthew Henry: Job 5:17-27

Eliphaz, in this concluding paragraph of his discourse, gives Job (what he himself knew not how to take) a comfortable prospect of the issue of his afflictions, if he did but recover his temper and accommodate himself to them. Observe,

I. The seasonable word of caution and exhortation that he gives him (Job 5:17): " Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the father's love and is designed for the child's good. Call it the chastening of the Almighty, with whom it is madness to contend, to whom it is wisdom and duty to submit, and who will be a God all-sufficient (for so the word signifies) to all those that trust in him. Do not despise it;"it is a copious word in the original. 1. "Be not averse to it. Let grace conquer the antipathy which nature has to suffering, and reconcile thyself to the will of God in it."We need the rod and we deserve it; and therefore we ought not to think it either strange or hard if we feel the smart of it. Let not the heart rise against a bitter pill or potion, when it is prescribed for our good. 2. "Do not think ill of it; do not put it from thee (as that which is either hurtful or at least not useful, which there is not occasion for nor advantage by) only because for the present it is not joyous, but grievous."We must never scorn to stoop to God, nor think it a thing below us to come under his discipline, but reckon, on the contrary, that God really magnifies man when he thus visits and tries him, Job 7:17, Job 7:18. 3. "Do not overlook and disregard it, as if it were only a chance, and the production of second causes, but take great notice of it as the voice of God and a messenger from heaven."More is implied than is expressed: " Reverence the chastening of the Lord; have a humble awful regard to this correcting hand, and tremble when the lion roars, Amo 3:8. Submit to the chastening, and study to answer the call, to answer the end of it, and then you reverence it."When God by an affliction draws upon us for some of the effects he has entrusted us with we must honour his bill by accepting it, and subscribing it, resigning him his own when he calls for it.

II. The comfortable words of encouragement which he gives him thus to accommodate himself to his condition, and (as he himself had expressed it) to receive evil at the hand of God, and not despise it as a gift not worth the accepting.

1. If his affliction was thus borne, (1.) The nature and property of it would be altered. Though it looked like a man's misery, it would really be his bliss: Happy is the man whom God correcteth if he make but a due improvement of the correction. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for, whatever he has lost, he has not lost his enjoyment of God nor his title to heaven. Nay, he is happy because he is afflicted; correction is an evidence of his sonship and a means of his sanctification; it mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees, works him for, and so is working for him, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Happy therefore is the man whom God correcteth, Jam 1:12. (2.) The issue and consequence of it would be very good, Job 5:18. [1.] Though he makes sore the body with sore boils, the mind with sad thoughts, yet he binds up at the same time, as the skilful tender surgeon binds up the wounds he had occasion to make with his incision-knife. When God makes sores by the rebukes of his providence he binds up by the consolations of his Spirit, which oftentimes abound most as afflictions do abound, and counterbalance them, to the unspeakable satisfaction of the patient sufferers. [2.] Though he wounds, yet his hands make whole in due time; as he supports his people, and makes them easy under their afflictions, so in due time he delivers them, and makes a way for them to escape. All is well again; and he comforts them according to the time wherein he afflicted them. God's usual method is first to wound and then to heal, first to convince and then to comfort, first to humble and then to exalt; and (as Mr. Caryl observes) he never makes a wound too great, too deep, for his own cure. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit - The hand that inflicts the wound applies the cure. God tears the wicked and goes away; let those heal that will, if they can (Hos 5:14); but the humble and penitent may say, He has torn and he will heal us, Hos 6:1. This is general, but,

2. In the following verses Eliphaz addresses himself directly to Job, and gives him many precious promises of great and kind things which God would do for him if he did but humble himself under his hand. Though then they had no Bibles that we know of, yet Eliphaz had sufficient warrant to give Job these assurances, from the general discoveries God had made of his good will to his people. And, though in every thing which Job's friends said they were not directed by the Spirit of God (for they spoke both of God and Job some things that were not right), yet the general doctrines they laid down expressed the pious sense of the patriarchal age, and as St. Paul quoted Job 5:13 for canonical scripture, and as the command Job 5:17 is no doubt binding on us, so these promises here may be, and must be, received and applied as divine promises, and we may through patience and comfort of this part of scripture have hope. Let us therefore give diligence to make sure our interest in these promises, and then view the particulars of them and take the comfort of them.

(1.) It is here promised that as afflictions and troubles recur supports and deliverances shall be graciously repeated, be it ever so often: In six troubles he shall be ready to deliver thee; yea, and in seven, Job 5:19. This intimates that, as long as we are here in this world, we must expect a succession of troubles, that the clouds will return after the rain. After six troubles may come a seventh; after many, look for more; but out of them all will God deliver those that are his, 2Ti 3:11; Psa 34:19. Former deliverances are not, as among men, excuses from further deliverances, but earnests of them, Pro 19:19.

(2.) That, whatever troubles good men may be in, there shall no evil touch them; they shall do them no real harm; the malignity of them, the sting, shall be taken out; they may hiss, but they cannot hurt, Psa 91:10. The evil one toucheth not God's children, 1Jo 5:18. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of every trouble.

(3.) That, when desolating judgments are abroad, they shall be taken under special protection, Job 5:20. Do many perish about them for want of the necessary supports of life? They shall be supplied. " In famine he shall redeem thee from death; whatever becomes of others, thou shalt be kept alive, Psa 33:19. Verily, thou shalt be fed, nay, even in the days of famine thou shalt be satisfied, Psa 37:3, Psa 37:19. In time of war, when thousands fall on the right and left hand, he shall redeem thee from the power of the sword. If God please, it shall not touch thee; or if it wound thee, if it kill thee, it shall not hurt thee; it can but kill the body, nor has it power to do that unless it be given from above."

(4.) That, whatever is maliciously said against them, it shall not affect them to do them any hurt, Job 5:21. " Thou shalt not only be protected from the killing sword of war, but shalt be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, which, like a scourge, is vexing and painful, though not mortal."The best men, and the most inoffensive, cannot, even in their innocency, secure themselves from calumny, reproach, and false accusation. From these a man cannot hide himself, but God can hide him, so that the most malicious slanders shall be so little heeded by him as not to disturb his peace, and so little heeded by others as not to blemish his reputation: and the remainder of wrath God can and does restrain, for it is owing to the hold he has of the consciences of bad men that the scourge of the tongue is not the ruin of all the comforts of good men in this world.

(5.) That they shall have a holy security and serenity of mind, arising from their hope and confidence in God, even in the worst of times. When dangers are most threatening they shall be easy, believing themselves safe; and they shall not be afraid of destruction, no, not when they see it coming (Job 5:21), nor of the beasts of the field when they set upon them, nor of men as cruel as beasts; nay, at destruction and famine thou shalt laugh (Job 5:22), not so as to despise any of God's chastenings or make a jest of his judgments, but so as to triumph in God, in his power and goodness, and therein to triumph over the world and all its grievances, to be not only easy, but cheerful and joyful, in tribulation. Blessed Paul laughed at destruction when he said, O death! where is thy sting? when, in the name of all the saints, he defied all the calamities of this present time to separate us from the love of God, concluding that in all these things we are more than conquerors, Rom 8:35, etc. See Isa 37:22.

(6.) That, being at peace with God, there shall be a covenant of friendship between them and the whole creation, Job 5:23. "When thou walkest over thy grounds thou shalt not need to fear stumbling, for thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field, not to dash thy foot against any of them, nor shalt thou be in danger from the beasts of the field, for they shall all be at peace with thee;"compare Hos 2:18, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field. This implies that while man is at enmity with his Maker the inferior creatures are at war with him; but tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia - a reconciled God reconciles all things. Our covenant with God is a covenant with all the creatures that they shall do us no hurt but be ready to serve us and do us good.

(7.) That their houses and families shall be comfortable to them, Job 5:24. Peace and piety in the family will make it so. " Thou shalt know and be assured that thy tabernacle is and shall be in peace; thou mayest be confident both of its present and its future prosperity." That peace is thy tabernacle (so the word is); peace is the house in which those dwell who dwell in God, and are at home in him. " Thou shalt visit "(that is, enquire into the affairs of) " thy habitation, and take a review of them, and shalt not sin. "[1.] God will provide a settlement for his people, mean perhaps and movable, a cottage, a tabernacle, but a fixed and quiet habitation. "Thou shalt not sin,"or wander; that is, as some understand it, "thou shalt not be a fugitive and a vagabond"(Cain's curse), "but shalt dwell in the land, and verily, not uncertainly as vagrants, shalt thou be fed."[2.] Their families shall be taken under the special protection of the divine Providence, and shall prosper as far as is for their good. [3.] They shall be assured of peace, and of the continuance and entail of it. "Thou shalt know, to thy unspeakable satisfaction, that peace is sure to thee and thine, having the word of God for it."Providence may change, but the promise cannot. [4.] They shall have wisdom to govern their families aright, to order their affairs with discretion, and to look well to the ways of their household, which is here called visiting their habitation. Masters of families must not be strangers at home, but must have a watchful eye over what they have and what their servants do. [5.] They shall have grace to manage the concerns of their families after a godly sort, and not to sin in the management of them. They shall call their servants to account without passion, pride, covetousness, worldliness, or the like; they shall look into their affairs without discontent at what is or distrust of what shall be. Family piety crowns family peace and prosperity. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin in them. When we are abroad it is comfortable to hear that our tabernacle is in peace; and when we return home it is comfortable to visit our habitation with satisfaction in our success, that we have not failed in our business, and with a good conscience, that we have not offended God.

(8.) That their posterity shall be numerous and prosperous. Job had lost all his children; "but,"says Eliphaz, "if thou return to God, he will again build up thy family, and thy seed shall be many and as great as ever, and thy offspring increasing and flourishing as the grass of the earth (Job 5:25), and thou shalt know it."God has blessings in store for the seed of the faithful, which they shall have if they do not stand in their own light and forfeit them by their folly. It is a comfort to parents to see the prosperity, especially the spiritual prosperity, of their children; if they are truly good, they are truly great, how small a figure soever they may make in the world.

(9.) That their death shall be seasonable, and they shall finish their course, at length, with joy and honour, Job 5:26. It is a great mercy, [1.] To live to a full age, and not to have the number of our months cut off in the midst. If the providence of God do not give us long life, yet, if the grace of God give us to be satisfied with the time allotted us, we may be said to come to a full age. That man lives long enough that has done his work and is fit for another world. [2.] To be willing to die, to come cheerfully to the grave, and not to be forced thither, as he whose soul was required of him. [3.] To die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when it is fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand a day longer, lest it shed. Our times are in God's hand; it is well they are so, for he will take care that those who are his shall die in the best time: however their death may seem to us untimely, it will be found not unseasonable.

3. In the last verse he recommends these promises to Job, (1.) As faithful sayings, which he might be confident of the truth of: " Lo, this we have searched, and so it is. We have indeed received these things by tradition from our fathers, but we have not taken them upon trust; we have carefully searched them, have compared spiritual things with spiritual, have diligently studied them, and been confirmed in our belief of them from our own observation and experience; and we are all of a mind that so it is."Truth is a treasure that is well worth digging for, diving for; and then we shall know both how to value it ourselves and how to communicate it to others when we have taken pains in searching for it. (2.) As well worthy of all acceptation, which he might improve to his great advantage: Hear it, and know thou it for thy good. It is not enough to hear and know the truth, but we must improve it, and be made wiser and better by it, receive the impressions of it, and submit to the commanding power of it. Know it for thyself (so the word is), with application to thyself, and thy own case; not only "This is true,"but "this is true concerning me."That which we thus hear and know for ourselves we hear and know for our good, as we are nourished by the meat which we digest. That is indeed a good sermon to us which does us good.

Keil-Delitzsch: Job 5:1-5

1 Call now, - is there any one who will answer thee?

And to whom of the holy ones wilt thou turn?

2 For he is a fool who is destroyed by complaining,

And envy slays the simple one.

3 I, even I, have seen a fool taking root:

Then I had to curse his habitation suddenly.

4 His children were far from help,

And were crushed in the gate, without a rescuer;

5 While the hungry ate his harvest,

And even from among thorns they took it away,

And the intriguer snatched after his wealth.

The chief thought of the oracle was that God is the absolutely just One, and infinitely exalted above men and angels. Resuming his speech from this point, Eliphaz tells Job that no cry for help can avail him unless he submits to the all-just One as being himself unrighteous; nor can any cry addressed to the angels avail. This thought, although it is rejected, certainly shows that the writer of the book, as of the prologue, is impressed with the fundamental intuition, that good, like evil, spirits are implicated in the affairs of men; for the "holy ones,"as in Ps 89, are the angels. כּי supports the negation implied in Job 5:1 : If God does not help thee, no creature can help thee; for he who complains and chafes at his lot brings down upon himself the extremest destruction, since he excites the anger of God still more. Such a surly murmurer against God is here called אויל . ל is the Aramaic sign of the object, having the force of quod attinet ad, quoad (Ew. §310, a ).

Eliphaz justifies what he has said (Job 5:2) by an example. He had seen such a complainer in increasing prosperity; then he cursed his habitation suddenly, i.e., not: he uttered forthwith a prophetic curse over it, which, though פּתאם might have this meaning (not subito , but illico ; cf. Num 12:4), the following futt., equivalent to imperff., do not allow, but: I had then, since his discontent had brought on his destruction, suddenly to mark and abhor his habitation as one overtaken by a curse: the cursing is a recognition of the divine curse, as the echo of which it is intended. This curse of God manifests itself also on his children and his property (Job 5:4.). שׁער is the gate of the city as a court of justice: the phrase, to oppress in the gate, is like Pro 22:22; and the form Hithpa . is according to the rule given in Ges. §54, 2, b . The relative אשׁר , Job 5:5, is here conj. relativa , according to Ges. §155, 1, c. In the connection אל־מצּנּים , אל is equivalent to עד , adeo e spinis , the hungry fall so eagerly upon what the father of those now orphans has reaped, that even the thorny fence does not hold them back. צנּים , as Pro 22:5 : the double praepos . אל־מן is also found elsewhere, but with another meaning. עמּים has only the appearance of being plur.: it is sing. after the form צדּיק , from the verb צՀžם , nectere , and signifies, Job 18:9, a snare; here, however, not judicii laqueus (Böttch.), but what, besides the form, comes still nearer - the snaremaker, intriguer. The Targ. translates לסטיסין , i.e., λησταί . Most modern critics (Rosenm. to Ebr.) translate: the thirsty (needy), as do all the old translations, except the Targ.; this, however, is not possible without changing the form. The meaning is, that intriguing persons catch up ( שׁאף , as Amo 2:7) their wealth.

Eliphaz now tells why it thus befell this fool in his own person and his children.

Keil-Delitzsch: Job 5:6-11

6 For evil cometh not forth from the dust,

And sorrow sprouteth not from the earth;

7 For man is born to sorrow,

As the sparks fly upward.

8 On the contrary, I would earnestly approach unto God,

And commit my cause to the Godhead;

9 To Him who doeth great things and unsearchable;

Marvellous things till there is no number:

10 Who giveth rain over the earth,

And causeth water to flow over the fields:

11 To set the low in high places;

And those that mourn are exalted to prosperity.

As the oracle above, so Eliphaz says here, that a sorrowful life is allotted to man,

(Note: Fries explains יוּלּד as part., and refers to Geiger's Lehrb. zur Sprache der Mischna , S. 41f., according to which מקטּל signifies killed, and קטּל (= Rabb. מתקטּל ) being killed (which, however, rests purely on imagination): not the matter from which mankind originates brings evil with it, but it is man who inclines towards the evil. Böttch. would read יולד : man is the parent of misery, though he may rise high in anger.)

so that his wisdom consequently consists in accommodating himself to his lot: if he does not do that, he is an אויל , and thereby perishes. Misfortune does not grow out of the ground like weeds; it is rather established in the divine order of the world, as it is established in the order of nature that sparks of fire should ascend. The old critics understood by רשׁף בני birds of prey, as being swift as lightning (with which the appellation of beasts of prey may be compared, Job 28:8; Job 41:26); but רשׁף signifies also a flame or blaze (Son 8:6). Children of the flame is an appropriate name for sparks, and flying upwards is naturally peculiar to sparks as to birds of prey; wherefore among modern expositors, Hirz., Ew., Hahn, von Gerl., Ebr., rightly decide in favour of sparks. Schlottmann understands "angels"by children of flame; but the wings, which are given to angels in Scripture, are only a symbol of their freedom of motion. This remarkable interpretation is altogether opposed to the sententious character of Job 5:7, which symbolizes a moral truth by an ordinary thing. The waw in וּבני , which we have translated "as,"is the so-called waw adaequationis proper to the Proverbs, and also to emblems, e.g., Pro 25:25.

Eliphaz now says what he would do in Job's place. Ew. and Ebr. translate incorrectly, or at least unnecessarily: Nevertheless I will. We translate, according to Ges. §127, 5: Nevertheless I would; and indeed with an emphatic I: Nevertheless I for my part. דּרשׁ with אל is constr. praegnans, like Deu 12:5, sedulo adire . דּברה is not speech, like אמרה but cause, causa , in a judicial sense. אל is God as the Mighty One; אלהים is God in the totality of His variously manifested nature. The fecundity of the earth by rain, and of the fields ( חוּצות = rura ) by water-springs (cf. Psa 104:10), as the works of God, are intentionally made prominent. He who makes the barren places fruitful, can also change suffering into joy. To His power in nature corresponds His power among men (Job 5:11). לשׂוּם is here only as a variation for השּׂם , as Heiligst. rightly observes: it is equivalent to collacaturus , or qui in eo est ut collocet , according to the mode of expression discussed in Ges. §132, rem. 1, and more fully on Hab 1:17. The construction of Hab 1:11 is still bolder. שׂגב signifies to be high and steep, inaccessible. It is here construed with the acc . of motion: those who go in dirty, black clothes because they mourn, shall be high in prosperity, i.e., come to stand on an unapproachable height of prosperity.

Keil-Delitzsch: Job 5:12-16

12 Who bringeth to nought the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot accomplish anything;

13 Who catcheth the wise in their craftiness;

And the counsel of the cunning is thrown down.

14 By day they run into darkness,

And grope in the noon-day as in the night.

15 He rescueth from the sword, that from their mouth,

And from the hand of the strong, the needy.

16 Hope ariseth for the weak,

And folly shall close its mouth.

All these attributes are chosen designedly: God brings down all haughtiness, and takes compassion on those who need it. The noun תּוּשׁיּה , coined by the Chokma, and out of Job and Proverbs found only in Mic 6:9; Isa 28:29, and even there in gnomical connection, is formed from ישׁ , essentia , and signifies as it were essentialitas, realitas : it denotes, in relation to all visible things, the truly existing, the real, the objective; true wisdom (i.e., knowledge resting on an objective actual basis), true prosperity, real profiting and accomplishing. It is meant that they accomplish nothing that has actual duration and advantage. Job 5:13 cannot be better translated than by Paul, 1Co 3:19, who here deviates from the lxx. With נמהרה , God's seizure, which prevents the contemplated achievement, is to be thought of. He pours forth over the worldly wise what the prophets call the spirit of deep sleep ( תּרדּמה ) and of dizziness ( עועים ). On the other hand, He helps the poor. In מפיהם מחרב the second מן is local: from the sword which proceeds from their mouth (comp. Psa 64:4; Psa 57:5, and other passages). Böttch. translates: without sword, i.e., instrument of power (comp. Job 9:15; Job 21:9); but מן with חרב leads one to expect that that from which one is rescued is to be described (comp. Job 5:20). Ewald corrects מחרב , which Olsh. thinks acute: it is, however, unhebraic, according to our present knowledge of the usage of the language; for the passives of חרב are used of cities, countries, and peoples, but not of individual men. Olsh., in his hesitancy, arrives at no opinion. But the text is sound and beautiful. עלתה with pathetic unaccented ah (Ges. §80, rem. 2, f ), from עולה = עולה , as Ps. 92:16 Chethib .

Keil-Delitzsch: Job 5:17-21

17 Behold, happy is the man whom Eloah correcteth;

So despise not the chastening of the Almighty!

18 For He woundeth, and He also bindeth up;

He bruiseth, and His hands make whole.

19 In six troubles He will rescue thee,

And in seven no evil shall touch thee.

20 In famine He will redeem thee from death,

And in war from the stroke of the sword.

21 When the tongue scourgeth, thou shalt be hidden;

And thou shalt not fear destruction when it cometh.

The speech of Eliphaz now becomes persuasive as it turns towards the conclusion. Since God humbles him who exalts himself, and since He humbles in order to exalt, it is a happy thing when He corrects ( הוכיח ) us by afflictive dispensations; and His chastisement ( מוּסר ) is to be received not with a turbulent spirit, but resignedly, yea joyously: the same thought as Pro 3:11-13; Psa 94:12, in both passages borrowed from this; whereas Job 5:18 here, like Hos 6:1; Lam 3:31., refers to Deu 32:39. רפא , to heal, is here conjugated like a ה ל verb (Ges. §75, rem. 21). Job 5:19 is formed after the manner of the so-called number-proverbs (Pro 6:16; Pro 30:15, Pro 30:18), as also the roll of the judgment of the nations in Amos 1-2: in six troubles, yea in still more than six. רע is the extremity that is perhaps to be feared. In Job 5:20, the praet . is a kind of prophetic praet . The scourge of the tongue recalls the similar promise, Psa 31:21, where, instead of scourge, it is: the disputes of the tongue. שׁוד , from שׁדד violence, disaster, is allied in sound with שׁוט . Isaiah has this passage of the book of Job in his memory when he writes Job 28:15. The promises of Eliphaz now continue to rise higher, and sound more delightful and more glorious.

Keil-Delitzsch: Job 5:22-27

22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh,

And from the beasts of the earth thou hast nothing to fear.

23 For thou art in league with the stones of the field,

And the beasts of the field are at peace with thee.

24 And thou knowest that peace is thy pavilion;

And thou searchest thy household, and findest nothing wanting.

25 Thou knowest also that thy seed shall be numerous,

And thy offspring as the herb of the ground.

26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a ripe age,

As shocks of corn are brought in in their season.

27 Lo! this we have searched out, so it is:

Hear it, and give thou heed to it.

The verb שׂחק is construed (Job 5:22) with ל of that which is despised, as Job 39:7, Job 39:18; Job 41:21 [Hebr.]. על־תּירא is the form of subjective negation [ vid. Ges. §152, 1: Tr.]: only fear thou not = thou hast no occasion. In Job 5:23, בּריתך is the shortest substantive form for לך בּרית . The whole of nature will be at peace with thee: the stones of the field, that they do not injure the fertility of thy fields; the wild beasts of the field, that they do not hurt thee and thy herds. The same promise that Hosea (Hos 2:20) utters in reference to the last days is here used individually. From this we see how deeply the Chokma had searched into the history of Paradise and the Fall. Since man, the appointed lord of the earth, has been tempted by a reptile, and has fallen by a tree, his relation to nature, and its relation to him, has been reversed: it is an incongruity, which is again as a whole put right ( שׁלום ), as the false relation of man to God is put right. In Job 5:24, שׁלום (which might also be adj .) is predicate: thou wilt learn ( וידעתּ , praet . consec . with accented ultima , as e.g., Deu 4:39, here with Tiphcha initiale s. anterius , which does not indicate the grammatical tone-syllable) that thy tent is peace, i.e., in a condition of contentment and peace on all sides. Job 5:24 is to be arranged: And when thou examinest thy household, then thou lackest nothing, goest not astray, i.e., thou findest everything, without missing anything, in the place where thou seekest it.

Job 5:25 reminds one of the Salomonic Psa 72:16. צאצאים in the Old Testament is found only in Isaiah and the book of Job. The meaning of the noun כּלח , which occurs only here and Job 30:2, is clear. Referring to the verb כּלח , Arabic qahila ( qalhama ), to be shrivelled up, very aged, it signifies the maturity of old age, - an idea which may be gained more easily if we connect כּלח with כּלה (to be completed), like קשׁח with קשׁה (to be hard).

(Note: We may also compare the Arabic khl (from which comes cuhulije , mature manhood, opp. tufulije , tender childhood).)

In the parallel there is the time of the sheaves, when they are brought up to the high threshing-floor, the latest period of harvest. עלה , of the raising of the sheaves to the threshing-floor, as elsewhere of the raising, i.e., the bringing up of the animals to the altar. גּדישׁ is here a heap of sheaves, Arab. kuds , as Job 21:32 a sepulchral heap, Arab. jadat , distinct from אלמּה , a bundle, a single sheaf.

The speech of Eliphaz, which we have broken up into nine strophes, is now ended. Eliphaz concludes it by an epimythionic distich, Job 5:27, with an emphatic nota bene . He speaks at the same time in the name of his companions. These are principles well proved by experience with which he confronts Job. Job needs to lay them to heart: tu scito tibi .

All that Eliphaz says, considered in itself, is blameless. He censures Job's vehemence, which was certainly not to be approved. He says that the destroying judgment of God never touches the innocent, but certainly the wicked; and at the same time expresses the same truth as that placed as a motto to the Psalter in Psa 1:1-6, and which is even brilliantly confirmed in the issue of the history of Job. When we find Isa 57:1, comp. Psa 12:2, in apparent opposition to this, אבד הצּדּיק , it is not meant that the judgment of destruction comes upon the righteous, but that his generation experiences the judgment of his loss ( aetati suae perit ). And these are eternal truths, that between the Creator and creature, even an angel, there remains an infinite distance, and that no creature possesses a righteousness which it can maintain before God. Not less true is it, that with God murmuring is death, and that it is appointed to sinful man to pass through sorrow. Moreover, the counsel of Eliphaz is the right counsel: I would turn to God, etc. His beautiful concluding exhortation, so rich in promises, crowns his speech.

It has been observed (e.g., by Löwenthal), that if it is allowed that Eliphaz (Job 5:17.) expresses a salutary spiritual design of affliction, all coherence in the book is from the first destroyed. But in reality it is an effect producing not only outward happiness, but also an inward holiness, which Eliphaz ascribes to sorrow. It is therefore to be asked, how it consists with the plan of the book. There is no doctrinal error to be discovered in the speech of Eliphaz, and yet he cannot be considered as a representative of the complete truth of Scripture. Job ought to humble himself under this; but since he does not, we must side with Eliphaz.

He does not represent the complete truth of Scripture: for there are, according to Scripture, three kinds of sufferings, which must be carefully distinguished.

(Note: Our old dogmatists (vid., e.g., Baier, Compendium Theologiae positivae , ii. 1, §15) and pastoral theologians (e.g., Danhauer) consider them as separate. Among the oldest expositors of the book of Job with which I am acquainted, Olympiodorus is comparatively the best.)

The godless one, who has fallen away from God, is visited with suffering from God; for sin and the punishment of sin (comprehended even in the language in עון and חטּאת ) are necessarily connected as cause and effect. This suffering of the godless is the effect of the divine justice in punishment; it is chastisement ( מוּסר ) under the disposition of wrath (Psa 6:2; Psa 38:2; Jer 10:24.), though not yet final wrath; it is punitive suffering ( נקם , נגע , τιμωρία , poena ). On the other hand, the sufferings of the righteous flow from the divine love, to which even all that has the appearance of wrath in this suffering must be subservient, as the means only by which it operates: for although the righteous man is not excepted from the weakness and sinfulness of the human race, he can never become an object of the divine wrath, so long as his inner life is directed towards God, and his outward life is governed by the most earnest striving after sanctification. According to the Old and New Testaments, he stands towards God in the relation of a child to his father (only the New Testament idea includes the mystery of the new birth not revealed in the Old Testament); and consequently all sufferings are fatherly chastisements, Deu 8:5; Pro 3:12; Heb 12:6, Rev 3:19, comp. Tob. 12:13 (Vulg.). But this general distinction between the sufferings of the righteous and of the ungodly is not sufficient for the book of Job. The sufferings of the righteous even are themselves manifold. God sends affliction to them more and more to purge away the sin which still has power over them, and rouse them up from the danger of carnal security; to maintain in them the consciousness of sin as well as of grace, and with it the lowliness of penitence; to render the world and its pleasures bitter as gall to them; to draw them from the creature, and bind them to himself by prayer and devotion. This suffering, which has the sin of the godly as its cause, has, however, not God's wrath, but God's love directed towards the preservation and advancement of the godly, as its motive: it is the proper disciplinary suffering ( מוּסר or תּוכחת , Pro 3:11 ; παιδεία , Heb 12). It is this of which Paul speaks, 1Co 11:32. This disciplinary suffering may attain such a high degree as entirely to overwhelm the consciousness of the relation to God by grace; and the sufferer, as frequently in the Psalms, considers himself as one rejected of God, over whom the wrath of God is passing. The deeper the sufferer's consciousness of sin, the more dejected is his mood of sorrow; and still God's thoughts concerning him are thoughts of peace, and not of evil (Jer 29:11). He chastens, not however in wrath, but בּמשׁפּט , with moderation (Jer 10:24).

Nearly allied to this suffering, but yet, as to its cause and purpose, distinct, is another kind of the suffering of the godly. God ordains suffering for them, in order to prove their fidelity to himself, and their earnestness after sanctification, especially their trust in God, and their patience. He also permits Satan, who impeaches them, to tempt them, to sift them as wheat, in order that he may be confounded, and the divine choice justified, - in order that it may be manifest that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, are able to separate them from the love of God, and to tear away their faith ( אמונה ) from God, which has remained stedfast on Him, notwithstanding every apparent manifestation of wrath. The godly will recognise his affliction as such suffering when it comes upon him in the very midst of his fellowship with God, his prayer and watching, and his struggling after sanctification. For this kind of suffering - trial - Scripture employs the expressions נסּה (Deu 8:2, Deu 8:16) and בּחן (Pro 17:3), πειρασμός (Jam 1:12; 1Pe 1:6., Job 4:19; comp. Sir. 2:1ff.). Such suffering, according to a common figure, is for the godly what the smelting-furnace or the fining-pot is to precious metals. A rich reward awaits him who is found proof against the trial, temptation, and conflict, and comes forth from it as pure, refined gold. Suffering for trial is nearly allied to that for chastisement, in so far as the chastisement is at the same time trial; but distinct from it, in so far as every trial is not also chastisement (i.e., having as its purpose the purging away of still existing sin).

A third kind of the suffering of the righteous is testimony borne by suffering, - reproach, persecution, and perhaps even martyrdom, which are endured for the sake of fidelity to God and His word. While he is blessed who is found proof against trial, he is blessed in himself who endures this suffering (Mat 5:11., and other passages); for every other suffering comes upon man for his own sake, this for God's. In this case there is not even the remotest connection between the suffering and the sinfulness of the sufferer. Ps 44 is a prayer of Israel in the midst of this form of suffering. Σταυρός is the name expressly used for it in the New Testament - suffering for the kingdom of heaven's sake.

Without a knowledge of these different kinds of human suffering, the book of Job cannot be understood. "Whoever sees with spiritual eyes,"says Brentius, "does not judge the moral character of a man by his suffering, but his suffering by his moral character."Just the want of this spiritual discernment and inability to distinguish the different kinds of suffering is the mistake of the friends, and likewise, from the very first, the mistake of Eliphaz. Convinced of the sincere piety of his friend, he came to Job believing that his suffering was a salutary chastisement of God, which would at last turn out for his good. Proceeding upon this assumption, he blames Job for his murmuring, and bids him receive his affliction with a recognition of human sinfulness and the divine purpose for good. Thus the controversy begins. The causal connection with sin, in which Eliphaz places Job's suffering, is after all the mildest. He does not go further than to remind Job that he is a sinner, because he is a man.

But even this causal connection, in which Eliphaz connects Job's sufferings, though in the most moderate way, with previous sin deserving of punishment, is his πρώτον ψεῦδος . In the next place, Job's suffering is indeed not chastisement, but trial. Jehovah has decreed it for His servant, not to chasten him, but to prove him. This it is that Eliphaz mistakes; and we also should not know it but for the prologue and the corresponding epilogue. Accordingly, the prologue and epilogue are organic parts of the form of the book. If these are removed, its spirit is destroyed.

But the speech of Eliphaz, moreover, beautiful and true as it is, when considered in itself, is nevertheless heartless, haughty, stiff, and cold. For (1.) it does not contain a word of sympathy, and yet the suffering which he beholds is so terribly great: his first word to his friend after the seven days of painful silence is not one of comfort, but of moralizing. (2.) He must know that Job's disease is not the first and only suffering which has come upon him, and that he has endured his previous afflictions with heroic submission; but he ignores this, and acts as though sorrow were now first come upon Job. (3.) Instead of recognising therein the reason of Job's despondency, that he thinks that he has fallen from the love of God, and become an object of wrath, he treats him as self-righteous;

(Note: Oetinger: "Eliphaz mentioned the oracle to affect seriously the hidden hypocrisy of Job's heart.")

and to excite his feelings, presents an oracle to him, which contains nothing but what Job might sincerely admit as true. (4.) Instead of considering that Job's despair and murmuring against God is really of a different kind from that of the godless, he classes them together, and instead of gently correcting him, present to Job the accursed end of the fool, who also murmurs against God, as he has himself seen it. Thus, in consequence of the false application which Eliphaz makes of it, the truth contained in his speech is totally reversed. Thus delicately and profoundly commences the dramatical entanglement. The skill of the poet is proved by the difficulty which the expositor has in detecting that which is false in the speech of Eliphaz. The idea of the book does not float on the surface. It is clothed with flesh and blood. It is submerged in the very action and history.

Constable: Job 4:1--14:22

B. The First Cycle of Speeches between Job and His Three Friends chs. 4-14

The two soliloquies of Job (chs. 3 and 29-31) enclose three cycles of dialogue between Job and his three friends. Each cycle consists of speeches by Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar in that order interspersed with Job's reply to each address. This pattern continues through the first two cycles of speeches (chs. 4-14 and 15-21) but breaks down in the third when Zophar failed to continue the dialogue.

"There are two basic lines of interaction which run through Job--Job's crying out to God and Job's disputations with his three friends. The absence of the third speech of Zophar is consistent with the fact that each of the speeches of the three friends is progressively shorter in each cycle and that Job's responses to each of the friends (which also are progressively shorter) are longer than the corresponding speech of the friends. This seems to signify Job's verbal victory over Zophar and the other two friends. It is also indicative of the bankruptcy and futility of dialogue when both Job and the three friends assume the retribution dogma (which for the friends implies Job's guilt and for Job implies God's injustice). Consequently, this structural design marks a very gradual swing toward a focus on Job's relationship and interaction with God in contrast to the earlier primary interaction between Job and his friends."³⁴

Throughout the three cycles of speeches Job's friends did not change their position. They believed that God rewards the righteous and punishes sinners, the theory of retribution.³⁵ They reasoned that all suffering is punishment for sin, and since Job was suffering, he was a sinner. They believed that what people experience depends on what they have done (cf. John 9:2). While this is true often, it is not the fundamental reason we experience what we do in life, as the Book of Job proceeds to reveal.

As the speeches unfolded, Job's friends became increasingly vitriolic and specific about Job's guilt. This was true of Eliphaz (cf. 5:8; ch. 15; 22:5-9), Bildad (cf. 8:6; ch. 18; 25:5-6), and Zophar (cf. 11:14; ch. 20).

In each of his speeches Job affirmed his innocence of great sin (6:10; 9:21; 16:17; 27:6). In his first five responses he charged God with afflicting him (6:4; 9:17; 13:27; 16:12; 19:11). In each of his first three replies in the first cycle he asked, "Why?" (7:20; 10:2; 13:24). In all six of his speeches he longed to present his case to God (9:3; 13:3; 16:21; 19:23; 23:4; 31:35).

Job's friends each emphasized a different aspect of God's character. Eliphaz pointed out the distance between God and man (4:17-19; 15:14-16) and stressed God's punishment of the wicked (5:12-14). Bildad said God is just (8:3), great (25:2-3), and that He punishes only the wicked (18:5-21). God's inscrutability impressed Zophar (11:7) who also stated that God punishes the wicked quickly (20:23).

Eliphaz spoke to Job with the most respect and restraint, Bildad was more direct and less courteous, and Zophar was the most blunt and harsh. Eliphaz based his arguments on experience (4:8; 5:3; 15:17), Bildad on tradition (8:8-10), and Zophar on mere assumption (20:1-5). Eliphaz viewed life as a mystic, Bildad as an attorney, and Zophar as a dogmatist. Bildad and Zophar picked up themes from Eliphaz's speeches and echoed them with slightly variant emphases (cf. 5:9 and 22:12 with 8:3, 5; 22:2a with 11:7, 11; 15:32-34 with 18:16 and 20:21-22; and 5:14 with 18:5, 6, 18 and 20:26).

Constable: Job 4:1--5:27

1. Eliphaz's first speech chs. 4-5

Eliphaz's first speech has a symmetrical introverted (chiastic) structure that emphasizes the central section.

"A Opening remark (4:2)

B Exhortation (4:3-6)

C God's dealings with men (4:7-11)

D The revelation of truth (4:12-21)

C' God's dealings with men (5:1-16)

B' Exhortation (5:17-26)

A' Closing remark (5:27)"³⁶

Constable: Job 5:1-16

Eliphaz's counsel to Job 5:1-16

Job's friend did not deny that the wicked fool (cf. Ps. 14:1) prospers temporarily (v. 3), but he believed that before a person dies God will punish him for his sins. Jesus disagreed (Luke 13:4). The well-known comparison in verse 7 is true to an extent, but Eliphaz was again wrong in connecting this truth with the reason for Job's suffering. People certainly do experience trouble in life as surely as sparks ascend from an open fire.³⁸

Eliphaz's counsel to seek God and be restored was partially good. Job would do well to appeal to God, but not for the reason Eliphaz assumed. Eliphaz also believed God was disciplining Job for his sin (v. 17). Job's suffering did have a refining effect and caused him to grow personally, but that was not God's primary purpose in allowing Satan to afflict him as is clear from 1:6-2:10. Job was not the first or the last person to find it difficult to rejoice that he was experiencing the Lord's reproofs. Eliphaz's oblique advice to do so was ineffective.

"Eliphaz as a counselor is a supreme negative example. Great truths misapplied only hurt more those who are already hurting."³⁹

Constable: Job 5:17-27

Eliphaz's reminder of God's blessings 5:17-27

Eliphaz concluded his speech by urging Job to repent of his sin. Since God was good He would then bless Job who could die prosperous and happy. Eliphaz's final statement reveals smug self-satisfaction (v. 27).

In this speech Eliphaz said that Job's suffering was a result of his sin. He asserted that sin is part of the human condition and that it brings retribution and discipline from God. He also called Job to repent with the promise that God would then bless him. However, he falsely assumed that Job had deliberately rebelled against God.

We should learn from this speech not to judge another person's relationship with God by what they may be experiencing be it adversity or tranquillity.

Guzik: Job 5:1-27 - The First Speech of Eliphaz

Job 4 and 5 - The First Speech of Eliphaz

4. (5:1-7) The fate of the foolish man.

"Call out now; Is there anyone who will answer you?

And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

For wrath kills a foolish man,

And envy slays a simple one.

I have seen the foolish taking root,

But suddenly I cursed his dwelling place.

His sons are far from safety,

They are crushed in the gate,

And there is no deliverer.

Because the hungry eat up his harvest,

Taking it even from the thorns,

And a snare snatches their substance.

For affliction does not come from the dust,

Nor does trouble spring from the ground;

Yet man is born to trouble,

As the sparks fly upward."

a. Wrath kills a foolish man . . . His sons are far from safety: These were backhanded references to Job and his own sons. Eliphaz argued that the fact that such great disaster fell upon them proves that they were foolish and in sin.

i. Again, we notice Eliphaz's frame of reference: I have seen. He speaks from his own experience and observation on life.

ii. His sons are far from safety, they are crushed in the gate, and there is not deliverer: "There is reference here to a custom which I have often had occasion to notice, that in the Eastern countries the court-house, or tribunal of justice, was at the GATE of the city; here the magistrates attended, and hither the plaintiff and defendant came for justice." (Clarke)

b. Affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground: Eliphaz believed that this trouble did not come to Job from nowhere; it didn't just spring from the ground. The implication is clear: this affliction came upon Job from God.

i. "Trouble does not sprout up like weeks in the field. He was implying that one must sow and cultivate trouble." (Smick)

c. Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward: This point connects with the one Eliphaz just made. Trouble doesn't come to man from nowhere; it comes as a judgment from God, or at least because man has sown trouble so now he reaps it. Since just as it is true that as the sparks fly upward, it is also true that man is born to trouble, then it can also be said that all men sin and deserve the affliction and trouble that comes to them.

i. As the sparks fly upward: Literally, the Hebrew can be translated, as the sons of Resheph fly upward. "We cannot hope for further progress until we can find out who 'the sons of Resheph' are. Since Resheph is a Canaanite god about whom we now know a great deal, the possibility must now be faced that we have here another scrap of imagery from old myths." (Anderson)

B. Eliphaz defends God.

1. (8-16) Eliphaz praises God's omnipotence and justice.

"But as for me, I would seek God,

And to God I would commit my cause;

Who does great things, and unsearchable,

Marvelous things without number.

He gives rain on the earth,

And sends waters on the fields.

He sets on high those who are lowly,

And those who mourn are lifted to safety.

He frustrates the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot carry out their plans.

He catches the wise in their own craftiness,

And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them.

They meet with darkness in the daytime,

And grope at noontime as in the night.

But He saves the needy from the sword,

From the mouth of the mighty, And from their hand.

So the poor have hope,

And injustice shuts her mouth."

a. As for me, I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause: Eliphaz said it tactfully, yet he still said it - that Job was not seeking God and was not committing his cause to God in his affliction.

b. Who does great things, and unsearchable, marvelous things without number: According to the counsel of Eliphaz, this is why Job should seek God and commit his way to Him. It is because God is a great God, great in both His power over creation (He gives rain on the earth) and in His moral justice (he frustrates the devices of the crafty . . . injustice shuts her mouth).

i. Again, the implication is clear. Eliphaz believed that the justice of God, at this present time, worked against Job because Job was in sin and refused to see it. Yet if Job would only see this and repent, perhaps the justice of God would once again work on his behalf.

ii. "These lines are a fine example of hymn genre in OT poetry. A similar creedal hymn appears in Isaiah 44:24-28. That is why the apostle Paul could cite a line from Job 5:13 in 1 Corinthians 3:19: 'He catches the wise in their craftiness.' But in Eliphaz's case what is absolutely true is misapplied - the sick from is not the place for theological strictures that may turn out to do more harm than good. . . . Great truths misapplied only hurt more those who are already hurting." (Smick)

iii. He saves the needy from the sword, from the mouth of the mighty: "Thus the meaning is the same as in Psalm 57:4; 55:21; 64:3. . . . 'Mouth' is put for the edge of the sword." (Bullinger)

2. (17-26) Eliphaz attributes Job's suffering to God's chastening for sin in his life.

"Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects;

Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

For He bruises, but He binds up;

He wounds, but His hands make whole.

He shall deliver you in six troubles,

Yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.

In famine He shall redeem you from death,

And in war from the power of the sword.

You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,

And you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

You shall laugh at destruction and famine,

And you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field,

And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

You shall know that your tent is in peace;

You shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss.

You shall also know that your descendants shall be many,

And your offspring like the grass of the earth.

You shall come to the grave at a full age,

As a sheaf of grain ripens in its season."

a. Happy is the man whom God corrects: With poetic power, Eliphaz emphasized his point that Job's problems are because God corrects His sinful children, and Job is one of those sinful children.

b. Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty: Eliphaz did not wish to push Job into despair. He believed that Job should not despise this correcting work in his life, but instead humble himself under it, forsake his sin, and learn from it.

c. He bruises, but He binds up . . . He shall deliver you in six troubles: Eliphaz wanted to encourage Job further. "Job, God will heal your wounds and deliver you if you will confess your sin and turn to Him." Eliphaz continued and described in detail all the blessings of restoration that would come to Job's life if he would only repent and turn to God (you shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue . . . you shall laugh at destruction and famine . . . you shall know that your tent is in peace, and so on).

i. You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue: "Perhaps no evil is more dreadful than the scourge of the tongue: evil-speaking, detraction, backbiting, calumny, slander, tale-bearing, whispering, and scandalizing, are some of the terms which we use when endeavouring to express the baleful influence and effects of that member, which is a world of fire, kindled from the nethermost hell." (Clarke)

ii. Spurgeon preached this sermon on the words "You shall come to the grave at a full age, as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season." These were his points of development regarding the death of a Christian:

· Death is inevitable (You shall come)

· Death is acceptable (You shall come)

· Death is timely (at a full age)

· Death is honorable (as a sheaf of grain ripens in its season)

iii. "Even as the color of the wheat is golden, so that it looks more beauteous than when the greenness of its verdure is on it, so the gray-headed man has a crown of glory on his head. He is glorious in his weakness, more than the young man in his strength, or the maiden in her beauty. Is not a shock of corn a beautiful picture of the state of man, moreover, because very soon it must be taken home? The reaper is coming." (Spurgeon)

3. (27) Eliphaz declares his confidence in his words.

"Behold, this we have searched out;

It is true.

Hear it, and know for yourself."

a. Behold, this we have searched out: Eliphaz wanted to persuade Job, so he gave his statement the authority of communal knowledge (we have searched out). "Job, we all together here - your friends and counselors - have investigated this carefully and know what we are talking about."

i. It is worthy to remember that the Lord singled Eliphaz out at the end of the book for a special rebuke: the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has" (Job 42:7). "Eliphaz's fault is not that his doctrine is unsound; it is his ineptness as a counselor. True words may be thin medicine for a man in the depths." (Anderson)

ii. "One thing is clear. The words of Eliphaz, however well meant, fall wide of their mark. Truth after truth has been uttered by him. But these truths bring no comfort or conviction to his afflicted friend. To him this wholesome food seems poison." (Bradley)

b. It is true: Eliphaz said this with absolute confidence. "Job, God's principle of cause and effect together with your reaction to your calamity proves that you were and are in sin and you must repent to be restored." To Eliphaz and the rest of Job's friends this was so obvious that it did not need to be proven; he simply confidently explained, "It is true."

i. "It is not what Eliphaz knew that is wrong; it is what he was ignorant of - God's hidden purpose - that made all his beautiful poetry and grand truth only a snare to Job." (Smick)

ii. Eliphaz preaches a God who can be figured out. For Eliphaz, there are no unknowns behind the scenes; there is no drama or purpose in the heavens that motivate what God does and what He allows to be done. However, we know this heavenly drama from the first two chapters, and we see how shallow and unknowing the counsel of Eliphaz was. Job didn't know what we know, but he could feel that the counsel of Eliphaz was wrong in his situation.

iii. "Preconceptions exist in our own head; if we start out with the preconception that God will never allow the innocent to perish and then we see a righteous man perishing, we will have to say, 'You cannot be a righteous man, because my preconception tells me that if you were, God would not allow you to suffer; therefore you are proved to be a bad man.' " (Chambers) It was this exact reasoning on the part of the religious authorities of Jesus' day that motivated them to put him on the cross, and to mock Him at His crucifixion.

iv. The famous atheist Huxley said, "I object to Christians - they know too much about God." So did Eliphaz and his friends. "If the study of the Book of Job is making us reverent with what we don't understand, we are gaining insight. There is suffering before which you cannot say a word . . . all you can do is remain dumb and leave room for God to come in as He likes." (Chambers)

c. Hear it, and know for yourself: In the mind of Eliphaz, Job only needed to accept these obvious truths in order to find the answers to his current crisis.

i. "Their persistent mistake was that of attempting to explain everything by their knowledge which, spacious as it was, was altogether too narrow." (Morgan)

ii. "The speech ends with a somewhat self-complacent exhortation to the poor, tortured man: 'We have searched it, so it is.' We wise men pledge our wisdom and our reputation that this is true. Great is authority. An ounce of sympathy would have done more to commend the doctrine than a ton of dogmatic self-confidence." (Maclaren)

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Pendahuluan / Garis Besar

JFB: Job (Pendahuluan Kitab)

JOB A REAL PERSON.--It has been supposed by some that the book of Job is an allegory, not a real narrative, on account of the artificial character of many of its statements. Thus the sacred numbers, three and seven, often occur. He had seven thousand sheep, seven sons, both before and after his trials; his three friends sit down with him seven days and seven nights; both before and after his trials he had three daughters. So also the number and form of the speeches of the several speakers seem to be artificial. The name of Job, too, is derived from an Arabic word signifying repentance.

But Eze 14:14 (compare Eze 14:16, Eze 14:20) speaks of "Job" in conjunction with "Noah and Daniel," real persons. St. James (Jam 5:11) also refers to Job as an example of "patience," which he would not have been likely to do had Job been only a fictitious person. Also the names of persons and places are specified with a particularity not to be looked for in an allegory. As to the exact doubling of his possessions after his restoration, no doubt the round number is given for the exact number, as the latter approached near the former; this is often done in undoubtedly historical books. As to the studied number and form of the speeches, it seems likely that the arguments were substantially those which appear in the book, but that the studied and poetic form was given by Job himself, guided by the Holy Spirit. He lived one hundred and forty years after his trials, and nothing would be more natural than that he should, at his leisure, mould into a perfect form the arguments used in the momentous debate, for the instruction of the Church in all ages. Probably, too, the debate itself occupied several sittings; and the number of speeches assigned to each was arranged by preconcerted agreement, and each was allowed the interval of a day or more to prepare carefully his speech and replies; this will account for the speakers bringing forward their arguments in regular series, no one speaking out of his turn. As to the name Job--repentance (supposing the derivation correct)--it was common in old times to give a name from circumstances which occurred at an advanced period of life, and this is no argument against the reality of the person.

WHERE JOB LIVED.--"Uz," according to GESENIUS, means a light, sandy soil, and was in the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine and the Euphrates, called by PTOLEMY (Geography, 19) Ausitai or Aisitai. In Gen 10:23; Gen 22:21; Gen 36:28; and 1Ch 1:17, 1Ch 1:42, it is the name of a man. In Jer 25:20; Lam 4:21; and Job 1:1, it is a country. Uz, in Gen 22:21, is said to be the son of Nahor, brother of Abraham--a different person from the one mentioned (Gen 10:23), a grandson of Shem. The probability is that the country took its name from the latter of the two; for this one was the son of Aram, from whom the Arameans take their name, and these dwelt in Mesopotamia, between the rivers Euphrates and Tigris. Compare as to the dwelling of the sons of Shem in Gen 10:30, "a mount of the East," answering to "men of the East" (Job 1:3). RAWLINSON, in his deciphering of the Assyrian inscriptions, states that "Uz is the prevailing name of the country at the mouth of the Euphrates." It is probable that Eliphaz the Temanite and the Sabeans dwelt in that quarter; and we know that the Chaldeans resided there, and not near Idumea, which some identify with Uz. The tornado from "the wilderness" (Job 1:19) agrees with the view of it being Arabia-Deserta. Job (Job 1:3) is called "the greatest of the men of the East"; but Idumea was not east, but south of Palestine: therefore in Scripture language, the phrase cannot apply to that country, but probably refers to the north of Arabia-Deserta, between Palestine, Idumea, and the Euphrates. So the Arabs still show in the Houran a place called Uz as the residence of Job.

THE AGE WHEN JOB LIVED.--EUSEBIUS fixes it two ages before Moses, that is, about the time of Isaac: eighteen hundred years before Christ, and six hundred after the Deluge. Agreeing with this are the following considerations: 1. Job's length of life is patriarchal, two hundred years. 2. He alludes only to the earliest form of idolatry, namely, the worship of the sun, moon, and heavenly hosts (called Saba, whence arises the title "Lord of Sabaoth," as opposed to Sabeanism) (Job 31:26-28). 3. The number of oxen and rams sacrificed, seven, as in the case of Balaam. God would not have sanctioned this after the giving of the Mosaic law, though He might graciously accommodate Himself to existing customs before the law. 4. The language of Job is Hebrew, interspersed occasionally with Syriac and Arabic expressions, implying a time when all the Shemitic tribes spoke one common tongue and had not branched into different dialects, Hebrew, Syriac, and Arabic. 5. He speaks of the most ancient kind of writing, namely, sculpture. Riches also are reckoned by cattle. The Hebrew word, translated "a piece of money," ought rather be rendered "a lamb." 6. There is no allusion to the exodus from Egypt and to the miracles that accompanied it; nor to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah (PATRICK, however, thinks there is); though there is to the Flood (Job 22:17); and these events, happening in Job's vicinity, would have been striking illustrations of the argument for God's interposition in destroying the wicked and vindicating the righteous, had Job and his friends known of them. Nor is there any undoubted reference to the Jewish law, ritual, and priesthood. 7. The religion of Job is that which prevailed among the patriarchs previous to the law; sacrifices performed by the head of the family; no officiating priesthood, temple, or consecrated altar.

THE WRITER.--All the foregoing facts accord with Job himself having been the author. The style of thought, imagery, and manners, are such as we should look for in the work of an Arabian emir. There is precisely that degree of knowledge of primitive tradition (see Job 31:33, as to Adam) which was universally spread abroad in the days of Noah and Abraham, and which was subsequently embodied in the early chapters of Genesis. Job, in his speeches, shows that he was much more competent to compose the work than Elihu, to whom LIGHTFOOT attributes it. The style forbids its being attributed to Moses, to whom its composition is by some attributed, "whilst he was among the Midianites, about 1520 B.C." But the fact, that it, though not a Jewish book, appears among the Hebrew sacred writings, makes it likely that it came to the knowledge of Moses during the forty years which he passed in parts of Arabia, chiefly near Horeb; and that he, by divine guidance, introduced it as a sacred writing to the Israelites, to whom, in their affliction, the patience and restoration of Job were calculated to be a lesson of especial utility. That it is inspired appears from the fact that Paul (1Co 3:19) quotes it (Job 5:13) with the formula, "It is written." Our Savior, too Mat 24:28), plainly refers to Job 29:30. Compare also Jam 4:10 and 1Pe 5:6 with Job 22:29; Rom 11:34-35 with Job 15:8. It is probably the oldest book in the world. It stands among the Hagiographa in the threefold division of Scripture into the Law, the Prophets, and the Hagiographa ("Psalms," Luk 24:44).

DESIGN OF THE BOOK.--It is a public debate in poetic form on an important question concerning the divine government; moreover the prologue and epilogue, which are in prose, shed the interest of a living history over the debate, which would otherwise be but a contest of abstract reasonings. To each speaker of the three friends three speeches are assigned. Job having no one to stand by him is allowed to reply to each speech of each of the three. Eliphaz, as the oldest, leads the way. Zophar, at his third turn, failed to speak, thus virtually owning himself overcome (Job 27:1-23). Therefore Job continued his reply, which forms three speeches (Job 26:1-14; Job 27:1-23; Job 28:1-28; Job 29:1-31:40). Elihu (Job 32:1-37:24) is allowed four speeches. Jehovah makes three addresses (Job 38:1-41:34). Thus, throughout there is a tripartite division. The whole is divided into three parts--the prologue, poem proper, and epilogue. The poem, into three--(1) The dispute of Job and his three friends; (2) The address of Elihu; (3) The address of God. There are three series in the controversy, and in the same order. The epilogue (Job 42:1-17) also is threefold; Job's justification, reconciliation with his friends, restoration. The speakers also in their successive speeches regularly advance from less to greater vehemence. With all this artificial composition, everything seems easy and natural.

The question to be solved, as exemplified in the case of Job, is, Why are the righteous afflicted consistently with God's justice? The doctrine of retribution after death, no doubt, is the great solution of the difficulty. And to it Job plainly refers in Job 14:14, and Job 19:25. The objection to this, that the explicitness of the language on the resurrection in Job is inconsistent with the obscurity on the subject in the early books of the Old Testament, is answered by the fact that Job enjoyed the divine vision (Job 38:1; Job 42:5), and therefore, by inspiration, foretold these truths. Next, the revelations made outside of Israel being few needed to be the more explicit; thus Balaam's prophecy (Num 24:17) was clear enough to lead the wise men of the East by the star (Mat 2:2); and in the age before the written law, it was the more needful for God not to leave Himself without witness of the truth. Still Job evidently did not fully realize the significance designed by the Spirit in his own words (compare 1Pe 1:11-12). The doctrine, though existing, was not plainly revealed or at least understood. Hence he does not mainly refer to this solution. Yes, and even now, we need something in addition to this solution. David, who firmly believed in a future retribution (Psa 16:10; Psa 17:15), still felt the difficulty not entirely solved thereby (Psa. 83:1-18). The solution is not in Job's or in his three friends' speeches. It must, therefore, be in Elihu's. God will hold a final judgment, no doubt, to clear up all that seems dark in His present dealings; but He also now providentially and morally governs the world and all the events of human life. Even the comparatively righteous are not without sin which needs to be corrected. The justice and love of God administer the altogether deserved and merciful correction. Affliction to the godly is thus mercy and justice in disguise. The afflicted believer on repentance sees this. "Via crucis, via salutis" ["The way of the cross, the way of deliverance"]. Though afflicted, the godly are happier even now than the ungodly, and when affliction has attained its end, it is removed by the Lord. In the Old Testament the consolations are more temporal and outward; in the New Testament, more spiritual; but in neither to the entire exclusion of the other. "Prosperity," says BACON, "is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity that of the New Testament, which is the mark of God's more especial favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to David's harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost has labored more in describing the afflictions of Job than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes." This solution of Elihu is seconded by the addresses of God, in which it is shown God must be just (because He is God), as Elihu had shown how God can be just, and yet the righteous be afflicted. It is also acquiesced in by Job, who makes no reply. God reprimands the "three" friends, but not Elihu. Job's general course is approved; he is directed to intercede for his friends, and is restored to double his former prosperity.

POETRY.--In all countries poetry is the earliest form of composition as being best retained in the memory. In the East especially it was customary for sentiments to be preserved in a terse, proverbial, and poetic form (called maschal). Hebrew poetry is not constituted by the rhythm or meter, but in a form peculiar to itself: 1. In an alphabetical arrangement somewhat like our acrostic. For instance, Lam. 1:1-22. 2. The same verse repeated at intervals; as in Psa 42:1-11; Psa. 107:1-43. 3. Rhythm of gradation. Psalms of degrees, Psa. 120:1-134:3, in which the expression of the previous verse is resumed and carried forward in the next (Psa 121:1-8). 4. The chief characteristic of Hebrew poetry is parallelism, or the correspondence of the same ideas in the parallel clauses. The earliest instance is Enoch's prophecy (Jud 1:14), and Lamech's parody of it (Gen 4:23). Three kinds occur: (1) The synonymous parallelism, in which the second is a repetition of the first, with or without increase of force (Psa 22:27; Isa 15:1); sometimes with double parallelism (Isa 1:15). (2) The antithetic, in which the idea of the second clause is the converse of that in the first (Pro 10:1). (3) The synthetic, where there is a correspondence between different propositions, noun answering to noun, verb to verb, member to member, the sentiment, moreover, being not merely echoed, or put in contrast, but enforced by accessory ideas (Job 3:3-9). Also alternate (Isa 51:19). "Desolation and destruction, famine and sword," that is, desolation by famine, and destruction by the sword. Introverted; where the fourth answers to the first, and the third to the second (Mat 7:6). Parallelism thus often affords a key to the interpretation. For fuller information, see LOWTH (Introduction to Isaiah, and Lecture on Hebrew Poetry) and HERDER (Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, translated by Marsh). The simpler and less artificial forms of parallelism prevail in Job--a mark of its early age.

JFB: Job (Garis Besar)

• THE HOLINESS OF JOB, HIS WEALTH, &c. (Job 1:1-5)
• SATAN, APPEARING BEFORE GOD, FALSELY ACCUSES JOB. (Job 1:6-12)
• SATAN FURTHER TEMPTS JOB. (Job 2:1-8)
• JOB REPROVES HIS WIFE. (Job 2:9-13)
• JOB CURSES THE DAY OF HIS BIRTH AND WISHES FOR DEATH. (Job 3:1-19)
• HE COMPLAINS OF LIFE BECAUSE OF HIS ANGUISH. (Job 3:20-26)
• FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ. (Job 4:1-21)
• ELIPHAZ' CONCLUSION FROM THE VISION. (Job 5:1-27)
• REPLY OF JOB TO ELIPHAZ. (Job 6:1-30)
• JOB EXCUSES HIS DESIRE FOR DEATH. (Job 7:1-21)
• THE ADDRESS OF BILDAD. (Job 8:1-22)
• REPLY OF JOB TO BILDAD. (Job 9:1-35)
• JOB'S REPLY TO BILDAD CONTINUED. (Job 10:1-22)
• FIRST SPEECH OF ZOPHAR. (Job 11:1-20) Zophar assails Job for his empty words, and indirectly, the two friends, for their weak reply. Taciturnity is highly prized among Orientals (Pro 10:8, Pro 10:19).
• JOB'S REPLY TO ZOPHAR. (Job 12:1-14:22)
• JOB'S REPLY TO ZOPHAR CONTINUED. (Job 13:1-28)
• JOB PASSES FROM HIS OWN TO THE COMMON MISERY OF MANKIND. (Job 14:1-22)
• SECOND SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ. (Job 15:1-35)
• JOB'S REPLY. (Job 16:1-22) (Job 13:4).
• JOB'S ANSWER CONTINUED. (Job 17:1-16)
• REPLY OF BILDAD. (Job 18:1-21)
• JOB'S REPLY TO BILDAD. (Job 19:1-29)
• REPLY OF ZOPHAR. (Job 20:1-29)
• JOB'S ANSWER. (Job 21:1-34)
• AS BEFORE, ELIPHAZ BEGINS. (Job 22:1-30) Eliphaz shows that man's goodness does not add to, or man's badness take from, the happiness of God; therefore it cannot be that God sends prosperity to some and calamities on others for His own advantage; the cause of the goods and ills sent must lie in the men themselves (Psa 16:2; Luk 17:10; Act 17:25; 1Ch 29:14). So Job's calamities must arise from guilt. Eliphaz, instead of meeting the facts, tries to show that it could not be so.
• JOB'S ANSWER. (Job 23:1-17)
• BILDAD'S REPLY. (Job 25:1-6) Power and terror, that is, terror-inspiring power.
• JOB'S REPLY. (Job 26:1-14)
• JOB'S SPEECH CONTINUED. (Job 28:1-28)
• SPEECH OF ELIHU. (Job 32:1-37:24) Prose (poetry begins with "I am young").
• ADDRESS TO JOB, AS (Job 32:1-22) TO THE FRIENDS. (Job 33:1-33)
• GOD'S SECOND ADDRESS. (Job 40:1-24)
• JOB'S PENITENT REPLY. (Job 42:1-6) In the first clause he owns God to be omnipotent over nature, as contrasted with his own feebleness, which God had proved (Job 40:15; Job 41:34); in the second, that God is supremely just (which, in order to be governor of the world, He must needs be) in all His dealings, as contrasted with his own vileness (Job 42:6), and incompetence to deal with the wicked as a just judge (Job 40:8-14).

TSK: Job (Pendahuluan Kitab)

A large aquatic animal, perhaps the extinct dinosaur, plesiosaurus, the exact meaning is unknown. Some think this to be a crocodile but from the description in Job 41:1-41:34 this is patently absurd. It appears to be a large fire breathing animal of some sort. Just as the bomardier beetle has an explosion producing mechanism, so the great sea dragon may have an explosive producing mechanism to enable it to be a real fire breathing dragon.

TSK: Job 5 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

Overview

Job 5:1, Eliphaz shews that the end of the wicked is misery; Job 5:6, that man is born to trouble; Job 5:8, that God is to be regarded in affliction; Job 5:17, the happy end of God’s correction.

Poole: Job 5 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

CHAPTER 5

Wrath foolish: the wicked miserable, Job 5:1-5 . Evil cometh not by chance; it is natural to our condition, Job 5:6,7 . This is our motive to prayer and trust in God, Job 5:8 ; whose unsearchable power and wisdom are against the high and crafty, for the relief of the poor, Job 5:9-16 . Their happiness whom God correcteth, and God’ s gracious care of such, Job 5:17-27 .

MHCC: Job (Pendahuluan Kitab)

This book is so called from Job, whose prosperity, afflictions, and restoration, are here recorded. He lived soon after Abraham, or perhaps before that patriarch. Most likely it was written by Job himself, and it is the most ancient book in existence. The instructions to be learned from the patience of Job, and from his trials, are as useful now, and as much needed as ever. We live under the same Providence, we have the same chastening Father, and there is the same need for correction unto righteousness. The fortitude and patience of Job, though not small, gave way in his severe troubles; but his faith was fixed upon the coming of his Redeemer, and this gave him stedfastness and constancy, though every other dependence, particularly the pride and boast of a self-righteous spirit, was tried and consumed. Another great doctrine of the faith, particularly set forth in the book of Job, is that of Providence. It is plain, from this history, that the Lord watched over his servant Job with the affection of a wise and loving father.

MHCC: Job 5 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

(Job 5:1-5) Eliphaz urges that the sin of sinners in their ruin.

(Job 5:6-16) God is to be regarded in affliction.

(Job 5:17-27) The happy end of God's correction.

Matthew Henry: Job (Pendahuluan Kitab)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Book of Job

This book of Job stands by itself, is not connected with any other, and is therefore to be considered alone. Many copies of the Hebrew Bible place it after the book of Psalms, and some after the Proverbs, which perhaps has given occasion to some learned men to imagine it to have been written by Isaiah or some of the later prophets. But, as the subject appears to have been much more ancient, so we have no reason to think but that the composition of the book was, and that therefore it is most fitly placed first in this collection of divine morals: also, being doctrinal, it is proper to precede and introduce the book of Psalms, which is devotional, and the book of Proverbs, which is practical; for how shall we worship or obey a God whom we know not? As to this book,

I. We are sure that it is given by inspiration of God, though we are not certain who was the penman of it. The Jews, though no friends to Job, because he was a stranger to the commonwealth of Israel, yet, as faithful conservators of the oracles of God committed to them, always retained this book in their sacred canon. The history is referred to by one apostle (Jam 5:11) and one passage (Job 5:13) is quoted by another apostle, with the usual form of quoting scripture, It is written, 1Co 3:19. It is the opinion of many of the ancients that this history was written by Moses himself in Midian, and delivered to his suffering brethren in Egypt, for their support and comfort under their burdens, and the encouragement of their hope that God would in due time deliver and enrich them, as he did this patient sufferer. Some conjecture that it was written originally in Arabic, and afterwards translated into Hebrew, for the use of the Jewish church, by Solomon (so Monsieur Jurieu) or some other inspired writer. It seems most probable to me that Elihu was the penman of it, at least of the discourses, because (Job 32:15, Job 32:16) he mingles the words of a historian with those of a disputant: but Moses perhaps wrote the first two chapters and the last, to give light to the discourses; for in them God is frequently called Jehovah, but not once in all the discourses, except Job 12:9. That name was but little known to the patriarchs before Moses, Exo 6:3. If Job wrote it himself, some of the Jewish writers themselves own him a prophet among the Gentiles; if Elihu, we find he had a spirit of prophecy which filled him with matter and constrained him, Job 32:18.

II. We are sure that it is, for the substance of it, a true history, and not a romance, though the dialogues are poetical. No doubt there was such a man as Job; the prophet Ezekiel names him with Noah and Daniel, Eze 14:14. The narrative we have here of his prosperity and piety, his strange afflictions and exemplary patience, the substance of his conferences with his friends, and God's discourse with him out of the whirlwind, with his return at length to a very prosperous condition, no doubt is exactly true, though the inspired penman is allowed the usual liberty of putting the matter of which Job and his friends discoursed into his own words.

III. We are sure that it is very ancient, though we cannot fix the precise time either when Job lived or when the book was written. So many, so evident, are its hoary hairs, the marks of its antiquity, that we have reason to think it of equal date with the book of Genesis itself, and that holy Job was contemporary with Isaac and Jacob; though not coheir with them of the promise of the earthly Canaan, yet a joint-expectant with them of the better country, that is, the heavenly. Probably he was of the posterity of Nahor, Abraham's brother, whose first-born was Uz (Gen 22:21), and in whose family religion was for some ages kept up, as appears, Gen 31:53, where God is called, not only the God of Abraham, but the God of Nahor. He lived before the age of man was shortened to seventy or eighty, as it was in Moses's time, before sacrifices were confined to one altar, before the general apostasy of the nations from the knowledge and worship of the true God, and while yet there was no other idolatry known than the worship of the sun and moon, and that punished by the Judges, Job 31:26-28. He lived while God was known by the name of God Almighty more than by the name of Jehovah; for he is called Shaddai - the Almighty, above thirty times in this book. He lived while divine knowledge was conveyed, not by writing, but by tradition; for to that appeals are here made, Job 8:8; Job 21:29; Job 15:18; Job 5:1. And we have therefore reason to think that he lived before Moses, because here is no mention at all of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt, or the giving of the law. There is indeed one passage which might be made to allude to the drowning of Pharaoh (Job 26:12): He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through Rahab, which name Egypt is frequently called by in scripture, as Psa 87:4; Psa 89:10; Isa 51:9. But that may as well refer to the proud waves of the sea. We conclude therefore that we are here got back to the patriarchal age, and, besides its authority, we receive this book with veneration for its antiquity.

IV. We are sure that it is of great use to the church, and to every good Christian, though there are many passages in it dark and hard to be understood. We cannot perhaps be confident of the true meaning of every Arabic word and phrase we meet with in it. It is a book that finds a great deal of work for the critics; but enough is plain to make the whole profitable, and it was all written for our learning.

1. This noble poem presents to us, in very clear and lively characters, these five things among others: - (1.) A monument of primitive theology. The first and great principles of the light of nature, on which natural religion is founded, are here, in a warm, and long, and learned dispute, not only taken for granted on all sides and not the least doubt made of them, but by common consent plainly laid down as eternal truths, illustrated and urged as affecting commanding truths. Were ever the being of God, his glorious attributes and perfections, his unsearchable wisdom, his irresistible power, his inconceivable glory, his inflexible justice, and his incontestable sovereignty, discoursed of with more clearness, fulness, reverence, and divine eloquence, than in this book? The creation of the world, and the government of it, are here admirably described, not as matters of nice speculation, but as laying most powerful obligations upon us to fear and serve, to submit to and trust in, our Creator, owner, Lord, and ruler. Moral good and evil, virtue and vice, were never drawn more to the life (the beauty of the one and the deformity of the other) than in this book; nor the inviolable rule of God's judgment more plainly laid down, That happy are the righteous, it shall be well with them; and Woe to the wicked, it shall be ill with them. These are not questions of the schools to keep the learned world in action, nor engines of state to keep the unlearned world in awe; no, it appears by this book that they are sacred truths of undoubted certainty, and which all the wise and sober part of mankind have in every age subscribed and submitted to. (2.) It presents us with a specimen of Gentile piety. This great saint descended probably not from Abraham, but Nahor; or, if from Abraham, not from Isaac, but from one of the sons of the concubines that were sent into the east-country (Gen 25:6); or, if from Isaac, yet not from Jacob, but Esau; so that he was out of the pale of the covenant of peculiarity, no Israelite, no proselyte, and yet none like him for religion, nor such a favourite of heaven upon this earth. It was a truth therefore, before St. Peter perceived it, that in every nation he that fears God and works righteousness is accepted of him, Act 10:35. There were children of God scattered abroad (Joh 11:52) besides the incorporated children of the kingdom, Mat 8:11, Mat 8:12. (3.) It presents us with an exposition of the book of Providence, and a clear and satisfactory solution of many of the difficult and obscure passages of it. The prosperity of the wicked and the afflictions of the righteous have always been reckoned two as hard chapters as any in that book; but they are here expounded, and reconciled with the divine wisdom, purity, and goodness, by the end of these things. (4.) It presents us with a great example of patience and close adherence to God in the midst of the sorest calamities. Sir Richard Blackmore's most ingenious pen, in his excellent preface to his paraphrase on this book, makes Job a hero proper for an epic poem; for, says he, " He appears brave in distress and valiant in affliction, maintains his virtue, and with that his character, under the most exasperating provocations that the malice of hell could invent, and thereby gives a most noble example of passive fortitude, a character no way inferior to that of the active hero," etc. (5.) It presents us with an illustrious type of Christ, the particulars of which we shall endeavour to take notice of as we go along. In general, Job was a great sufferer, was emptied and humbled, but in order to his greater glory. So Christ abased himself, that we might be exalted. The learned bishop Patrick quotes St. Jerome ore than once speaking of Job as a type of Christ, who for the job that was set before him endured the cross, who was persecuted, for a time, by men and devils, and seemed forsaken of God too, but was raised to be an intercessor even for his friends and had added affliction to his misery. When the apostle speaks of the patience of Job he immediately takes notice of the end of the Lord, that is, of the Lord Jesus (as some understand it), typified by Job, Jam 5:11.

2. In this book we have, (1.) The history of Job's sufferings, and his patience under them (ch. 1, Job 2:1-13, not without a mixture of human frailty, ch. 3. (2.) A dispute between him and his friends upon them, in which, [1.] The opponents were Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. [2.] The respondent was Job. [3.] The moderators were, First, Elihu, ch. 32-37. Secondly, God himself, ch. 38-41. (3.) The issue of all in Job's honour and prosperity, ch. 42. Upon the whole, we learn that many are the afflictions of the righteous, but that when the Lord delivers them out of them all the trial of their faith will be found to praise, and honour, and glory.

Matthew Henry: Job 5 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

Eliphaz, in the foregoing chapter, for the making good of his charge against Job, had vouched a word from heaven, sent him in a vision. In this chapter he appeals to those that bear record on earth, to the saints, the faithful witnesses of God's truth in all ages (Job 5:1). They will testify, I. That the sin of sinners is their ruin (Job 5:2-5). II. That yet affliction is the common lot of mankind (Job 5:6, Job 5:7). III. That when we are in affliction it is our wisdom and duty to apply to God, for he is able and ready to help us (Job 5:8-16). IV. That the afflictions which are borne well will end well; and Job particularly, if he would come to a better temper, might assure himself that God had great mercy in store for him (Job 5:17-27). So that he concludes his discourse in somewhat a better humour than he began it.

Constable: Job (Pendahuluan Kitab)

Introduction

Title

This book, like many others in the Old Testament, got its name from the central character in it rather than from its writer. While it is possible that Job may have written it, there is no concrete evidence that he did.

"Job" means "hated" or "the much persecuted." Perhaps "Job" was a nickname his friends gave him during his suffering. Job is the title of the book in the Hebrew, Greek (Septuagint), Latin (Vulgate), and English Bibles.

Date

Concerning the time the events recorded took place there have been many views ranging from the patriarchal age of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (beginning about 2100 B.C.) to the sixth century B.C.

Internal evidence suggests that Job lived in the patriarchal period. The length of his life (either 140 or about 210 years; 42:16) is similar to that of Terah (205 years), Abraham (175 years), Isaac (180 years), and Jacob (147 years). The writer measured Job's wealth in terms of his livestock. This is how Moses evaluated the wealth of Abraham and Jacob (1:3; 42:12; cf. Gen. 12:16; 13:2; 30:43; 32:5). The Sabeans and Chaldeans (1:15, 17) were nomads during the patriarchal period but not later. Job was the priest of his family (1:5) a condition that became less common when nations in the Near East developed more organization. Names of people and places in the book were also common in the patriarchal age (e.g., Sheba, Tima, Eliphaz, Uz, Job). Genesis, the Mari documents, and the Egyptian Execration texts, all of which refer to life in the Near East at this time, also refer to these names.

"The idea that Job has an Edomite background is as old as the LXX, which equates Job with Jobab, king of Edom (Gn. 36:33)."¹

"Most recent [liberal] writers are agreed that in its original form the book was of post-exilic origin, and the secondary parts of later composition."²

Internal evidence, however, has led many careful students of the book to conclude that it was the work of one person. Perhaps someone else added a few minor touches later under divine inspiration (e.g., 42:16-17). If Job lived in the patriarchal period, as the evidence seems to suggest, what clues are there that someone did not write it then or very soon afterwards? The detailed recounting of the conversations that took place certainly suggests a composition date fairly close to that of the actual events. That has been the position of Jewish and Christian scholars until destructive criticism became popular in the last few centuries. Critics point to the fact that oral tradition was very exact in the ancient world and that people could have transmitted Job's story by mouth for generations and retained its purity. With the Holy Spirit's superintending work it could have been, but there is no evidence that this is what happened. Literacy was widespread in the ancient world at this time.³ Critics further point out that in the process of social evolution composition of a work such as this book was more typical at a date much later than the patriarchal period. Yet again there is no evidence that someone wrote it later. The simpler explanation is that someone wrote it early. Since there is no proof that someone wrote it later, most conservative scholars have continued to prefer the traditional early date of composition theory.

Writer

The book does not identify its writer. Furthermore the ancient Hebrews could not agree on who wrote it. Consequently many different scholars have made guesses as to who the writer was.

From the patriarchal period Job himself is the favored candidate, though some scholars have nominated Elihu. These men seem to be the most likely of the chief characters to have preserved the record of Job's trials. There are many examples of ancient extra-biblical writings in which the author spoke of himself in the third person, so we need not eliminate Job on that ground. The book reads as though an eyewitness of the events recorded wrote it.

Jewish tradition favored Moses as the writer. Moses recorded other events during the patriarchal period in Genesis, he was familiar with desert life, and he had enough ability to write such a book as this one.

Solomon has supporters mainly because he composed other poetic biblical literature (Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Solomon). Moreover there are some similarities between Job and Proverbs such as the relationship between fearing God and being wise.

Other scholars have suggested later writers including Hezekiah, Isaiah, and Ezra.

Of course, the writer may have been none of these individuals. No one knows for sure who wrote Job. I tend to prefer a contemporary of Job or Job himself because of the antiquity of this view and the fact that no one has proved it unsatisfactory.

Scope

It is also difficult to determine how much time the events narrated in the book cover.

The first chapter tells about Job's life before his trial, and the last chapter reveals what happened after it until Job's death. The chapters in between deal with a relatively short period in Job's long life. How long was this period?

We have a few clues. Job referred to months when he spoke of his sufferings (7:3; 29:2). In view of Job's physical symptoms his ailments seem to have bothered him for several months at least. He may have suffered for years. However, Job said the same people who had respected him previously had come to reject and avoid him. He implied that his rejection was fairly recent.

The main part of the book contains dialogue that took place between a few individuals. There is no indication in the text that extended periods of time interrupted Job's sojourn at the city dump. It seems to have continued for a few days at the most, though the conversations may have stopped and then restarted. The writer may have telescoped the events to keep the narrative flowing smoothly. It appears that the scope of the main action at the city dump lasted no longer than a few days or possibly weeks.

Genre

Job is primarily a combination of at least three literary types: lawsuit,⁴ lament,⁵ and controversy dialogue.⁶ The larger category is wisdom literature. However there are so many different types of literature in this book that many writers despair of assigning one type as the dominant one.

"The book of Job defies all efforts to establish its literary genre. While it has been viewed as an epic,⁷ a tragedy,⁸ and a parable,⁹ upon close analysis it is none of these even though it exhibits properties belonging to each of them. As Robert Gordis observes, the author of Job has created his own literary genre.¹⁰ The book is didactic in the sense that the author seeks to teach religious truth, a task which he executes primarily by means of lyrical poetry expressive of deep emotions."¹¹

"The book of Job is an astonishing mixture of almost every kind of literature to be found in the Old Testament. Many individual pieces can be isolated and identified as proverbs, riddles, hymns, laments, curses, lyrical nature poems."¹²

"One should think of this aspect of interpretation [i.e., genre] as being like the Olympics, a grand occasion made up of a variety of sports. Though it is all sport, each game is played by its own rules and has its own expectations about how to play the game. The variety of literature is the same way. It all has a message, but it conveys that message in a variety of ways and with a variety of expectations. To try to play basketball with soccer's rules will never work, though both use a ball and require foot speed. Or think of musical instruments, they all make music, but in different ways with different sounds. One cannot play the violin like a piano or drums; nor should one expect a violin to sound like either a piano or the kettledrum! In the same way, to read the poetry of the Psalms like a historical book is to miss the emotional and pictorial impact of the message, though both genres convey reality about people's experience with God."¹³

Message

What this book is all about has been the subject of considerable debate. Many people think God gave it to us to provide His answer to the age-old problem of suffering. In particular, many believe it is in the Bible to help us understand why good people suffer. This is undoubtedly one of the purposes of the book and one that I want to develop at some length. However, I think another purpose is more foundational than this one.

Other people have focused on the great questions Job voiced in the book. During his suffering, when God allowed Satan to knock all the props that support human earthly existence out from under him, Job got down to the most basic needs that people face. He made many profound observations about life. He articulated the most fundamental needs that human beings have. He voiced the greatest philosophical questions about life. These questions are an extremely important contribution of the book and one that I plan to give some attention. Nevertheless I think God has inspired and preserved the message of the Book of Job primarily for another reason.

I believe He did so because this book proves that the basic relationship that God has established with people does not rest on retribution but on grace. This is the message statement. Let me explain it.

In our study of the Old Testament historical books I have pointed out that God blesses people for two reasons. These are His sovereign choice to bless and people's response of trust and obedience to Him.

Because we cannot control God's sovereign choice to bless some people more than others we tend to forget that. We tend to focus on what we can control to some extent, namely our securing His blessing by trusting and obeying Him. This is understandable and legitimate, but it leads to a potential problem. The problem is that we may conclude that we can control God. Since God blesses those who trust and obey Him and He curses those who do not, we may conclude that if we trust and obey God, He owes us blessing.

This conclusion assumes that the basis of God's relationship with people is retribution. If I am good, God will reward me with blessing in some form, but if I am bad, He will punish me somehow. While this is normally the way God deals with human beings it is not always His method. Consequently there must be a more fundamental principle that governs God's dealings with people. On what basis does God consistently deal with us?

Throughout the Book of Job this is the major question that God is answering. Every major character in the book--Job, Eliphaz, Bildad, Zopher, and Elihu--assumed that God governed humankind on the basis of retribution. They believed there were no exceptions to the rule that God blesses good people and punishes bad people.

Job concluded that God was unjust since he had been good but God was allowing him to suffer. Job's wife agreed with him. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zopher believed that Job must be a bad man instead of a good man since he was suffering. Elihu felt the solution to this apparent exception to the rule was not God's injustice but Job's ignorance rather than his sin. Elihu took a more agnostic approach to the solution of Job's problem. He suspected Job was a bad man, but he wasn't as sure about that as Job's other three friends were.

The Book of Job reveals that while God usually blesses the godly and punishes the ungodly, He does not always do so. There is a more fundamental basis from which God operates. That basis is His own free choice to bless or not bless whom He will.

We might conclude then that the basis of God's dealings with mankind is His sovereignty. However, that answer goes too far back. God's sovereignty really has nothing to do with how He rules. The attribute of sovereignty only sets forth God's position as supreme ruler. How does God rule sovereignly? If it is not on the basis of retribution, on what basis is it?

Evidence in the Book of Job points to God's grace as the basis of His dealings with people. Instead of always dealing with us in retribution, God always deals with us in grace. What does this mean?

This means that instead of responding to our good actions with blessing or our bad actions with cursing God initiates favor toward us without our deserving it.

What is the evidence in the Book of Job that God always deals with people on this basis?

This comes through in God's responses to Job (chs. 38-41). In replying to Job, God essentially reminded him of how good He had been to Job. He pointed out how much wiser and stronger He was than Job. In all of this, God wanted to impress Job with His favor toward the patriarch. That Job got the point is clear from the fact that when God finished speaking Job simply rested in God (42:6). He returned to his joy in being the recipient of God's unmerited favor even though God had not answered his questions.

How does the conflict in heaven that we learn about in chapters 1 and 2 fit into this view? Satan too believed that retribution was the basis on which God deals with people (1:9-11). God proceeded to show him that he was wrong. God allowed calamities to overtake a good man. Then when Job's trouble was all over, God blessed him even though he did not trust and obey God as he should have during his trials (42:12-17).

Satan has consistently failed to appreciate God's grace. Instead of being grateful for his own blessings, he has been in rebellion to obtain more than God gave him. Moreover he has led people to do the same things (cf. Gen. 3; Matt. 4).

I would also like to comment on a fourth possible message of the book that some have suggested. Some students of Job have said that the whole purpose of the book is to show God's superiority over Satan. Not many people hold this view, but it has appealed to some. The main problem with this interpretation, from my viewpoint, is that the dialogues and monologues that constitute the bulk of the book (in chapters 3-41) contribute nothing to this theme. While they do contain references to God's greatness, they do not deal with the issue of God's superiority over Satan.

Finally let me make some observations about the great revelation of this book, namely that the basis for God's dealings with man is His grace rather than His retribution.

First, the Book of Job appears to have been one of the first books of the Bible that God gave as special revelation if not the first. If it was one of the first, its subject would have been one of the most foundational for human beings to understand as history unfolded. What more basic revelation could God have given than the message of this book? The knowledge that God initiates favor toward His creatures without their earning or deserving it is at the heart of God's plan of salvation and the doctrine of God. When you think of Job, think of grace (cf. Ps. 103:10).

Second, like Satan, we tend to disbelieve that God wants the best for us, and we doubt that He will give it to us. Consequently we try to secure what we want for ourselves. We also become ungrateful for God's grace. Ingratitude is at the root of much sin as well as much unhappiness in life. Rejoice in God's grace. Cultivate a spirit of thankfulness (1 Thess. 5:18).

Third, we tend to elevate a secondary principle of God's dealings with people (retribution) into the primary position because it enables us to feel we have some control over God. In this way we can get God to serve us rather than serving God. If I can obligate God to bless me by being good, then God owes me something. Many people, of course, believe God owes them salvation because they are good people. However, we cannot dictate to God how He should bless us. We can count on His promises to bless in certain ways when we relate to Him in certain ways. Yet if God does not bless us as we wish He would, when we do not have His promise, we can still count on the fact that He will bless us ultimately. He will do so because it is His will and He has promised to bless the righteous. His basis of dealing with us is grace.

What about the unsaved? If God wants to bless everyone, why does He send some to eternal torment? The fact that some people choose not to accept God's grace does not mean He does not reach out to them with grace. The whole Bible is a testimony to the fact that God always has and always will reach out to humankind offering unmerited favor. The basis of God's dealings with humankind is grace. His common grace extends to all (Rom. 1; Eph. 1). God does not give us what we deserve. He gives us much better than we deserve.

Constable: Job (Garis Besar)

Outline

I. Prologue chs. 1-2

A. Job's character 1:1-5

B. Job's calamities 1:6-2:10

1. The first test 1:6-22

2. The second test 2:1-10

C. Job's comforters 2:11-13

II. The dialogue concerning the basis of the divine-human relationship 3:1-42:6

A. Job's personal lament ch. 3

1. The wish that he had not been born 3:1-10

2. The wish that he had died at birth 3:11-19

3. The wish that he could die then 3:20-26

B. The first cycle of speeches between Job and his three friends chs. 4-14

1. Eliphaz's first speech chs. 4-5

2. Job's first reply to Eliphaz chs. 6-7

3. Bildad's first speech ch. 8

4. Job's first reply to Bildad chs. 9-10

5. Zophar's first speech ch. 11

6. Job's first reply to Zophar chs. 12-14

C. The second cycle of speeches between Job and his three friends chs. 15-21

1. Eliphaz's second speech ch. 15

2. Job's second reply to Eliphaz chs. 16-17

3. Bildad's second speech ch. 18

4. Job's second reply to Bildad ch. 19

5. Zophar's second speech ch. 20

6. Job's second reply to Zophar ch. 21

D. The third cycle of speeches between Job and his three friends chs. 22-27

1. Eliphaz's third speech ch. 22

2. Job's third reply to Eliphaz chs. 23-24

3. Bildad's third speech ch. 25

4. Job's third reply to Bildad chs. 26-27

E. Job's concluding soliloquies chs. 28-31

1. Job's discourse on God's wisdom ch. 28

2. Job's defense of his innocence chs. 29-31

F. Elihu's speeches chs. 32-37

1. The introduction of Elihu 32:1-5

2. Elihu's first speech 32:6-33:33

3. Elihu's second speech ch. 34

4. Elihu's third speech ch. 35

5. Elihu's fourth speech chs. 36-37

G. The cycle of speeches between Job and God 38:1-42:6

1. God's first speech 38:1-40:2

2. Job's first reply to God 40:3-5

3. God's second speech 40:6-41:34

4. Job's second reply to God 42:1-6

III. Epilogue 42:7-17

A. Job's friends 42:7-9

B. Job's fortune 42:10-17

A structural outline of Job14
Prologue	Job's opening lament	Dialogue-dispute(3 cycles)	Interlude on Wisdom	Monologues (3 cycles)	Job's closing contribution	Epilogue
Chs. 1-2	Ch. 3	Chs. 4-14 Chs. 15-- 21 Chs. 22-- 27	Ch. 28	Chs. 29-- 31 (Job) Chs. 32-- 37 (Elihu) Chs. 38-- 41 (God)	Chs. 40:3-5; 42:1-6	Ch. 42:7-17

Constable: Job

Job

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Zink, James K. "Impatient Job." Journal of Biblical Literature 84:2 (June 1965):147-52.

Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible. S.v. "Uz," by G. Frederick Owen.

Zuck, Roy B. "Job." In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: Old Testament, pp. 715-77. Edited by John F. Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck. Wheaton: Scripture Press Publications, Victor Books, 1985.

_____. Job. Everyman's Bible Commentary series. Chicago: Moody Press, 1978.

_____. "A Theology of the Wisdom Books and the Song of Songs." In A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, pp. 207-55. Edited by Roy B. Zuck. Chicago: Moody Press, 1991.

Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: Job (Pendahuluan Kitab)

THE BOOK OF JOB.

INTRODUCTION.

This Book takes its name from the holy man, of whom it treats; who, according to the more probable opinion, was of the race of Esau, and the same as Jobab, king of Edom, mentioned [in] Genesis xxxvi. 33. It is uncertain who was the writer of it. Some attribute it to Job himself; others to Moses, or some one of the prophets. In the Hebrew it is written in verse, from the beginning of the third chapter to the forty-second chapter. (Challoner) --- The beginning and conclusion are historical, and in prose. Some have divided this work into a kind of tragedy, the first act extending to chap. xv., the second to chap. xxii., the third to chap. xxxviii., where God appears, and the plot is unfolded. They suppose that the sentiments of the speakers are expressed, though not their own words. This may be very probable: but the opinion of those who look upon the work as a mere allegory, must be rejected with horror. The sacred writers speak of Job as of a personage who had really existed, (Calmet) and set the most noble pattern of virtue, and particularly of patience, Tobias ii. 12., Ezechiel xiv. 14., and James v. 11. Philo and Josephus pass over this history, as they do those of Tobias, Judith, &c. (Haydock) --- The time when Job lived is not clearly ascertained. Some have supposed (Calmet) that he was a contemporary with Esther; (Du Hamel; Thalmud) on which supposition, the work is here placed in its chronological order. But Job more probably live during the period when the Hebrews groaned under the Egyptian bondage, (Haydock) or sojourned in the wilderness, Numbers xiv. 9. The Syrians place the book at the head of the Scriptures. (Calmet) --- Its situation has often varied, and is of no great importance. The subject which is here treated, is of far more; as it is intended to shew that the wicked sometimes prosper, while the good are afflicted. (Haydock) --- This had seldom been witnessed before the days of Abraham: but as God had now selected his family to be witnesses and guardians of religion, a new order of things was beginning to appear. This greatly perplexed Job himself; who, therefore, confesses that he had not sufficiently understood the ways of God, till he had deigned to explain them in the parable of the two great beasts, chap. xlii. 3. We cannot condemn the sentiments expressed by Job, since God has declared that they were right, chap. xlii. 8) and reprimands Elihu, (chap. xxxviii. 2.) and the other three friends of Job, for maintaining a false opinion, though, from the history of past times, they had judge it to be true. This remark may excupate them from the stain of wilful lying, and vain declamation. (Houbigant) --- However, as they assert what was false, their words of themselves are of no authority; and they are even considered as the forerunners of heretics. (St. Gregory; St. Augustine, &c.) (Tirinus) --- Job refutes them by sound logic. (St. Jerome) --- We may discover in this book the sum of Christian morality, (Worthington) for which purpose it has been chiefly explained by St. Gregory. The style is very poetical, (Haydock) though at the same time simple, like that of Moses. (Du Hamel) --- It is interspersed with many Arabic and Chaldaic idioms; (St. Jerome) whence some have concluded, that it was written originally by Job and his friends (Haydock) in Arabic, and translated into Hebrew by Moses, for the consolation of his brethren. (Worthington) --- The Hebrew text is in many places incorrect; (Houbigant) and the Septuagint seem to have omitted several verses. (Origen) --- St. Jerome says almost eight hundred, (Calmet) each consisting of about six words. (Haydock) --- Shultens, in 1747, expressed his dissatisfaction with the labours of all preceding commentators. To explain this book may not therefore be an easy task: but we must be as short as possible. (Haydock) --- Those who desire farther information, may consult Pineda, (Worthington) whose voluminous work, in two folios, will nearly (Haydock) give all necessary information. (Calmet)

Gill: Job (Pendahuluan Kitab)

INTRODUCTION TO JOB

This book, in the Hebrew copies, generally goes by this name, from Job, who is however the subject, if not the writer of it. In the Vulgate Latin version it is called "the Book of Job"; in the Syriac version, the Writing of Job; and in the Arabic, the Writing or Book of Job the Just. In some Hebrew Bibles it stands between the Book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon; but, according to the Talmudists ^a, it should stand between the Psalms of David and the Proverbs of Solomon. Some have made a question of it, whether there ever was such a man as Job, and suppose this book not to be a real history, or to contain matters of fact, but to be written under fictitious names, and to be parabolical, and that it is designed to set forth an example of patience in suffering affliction; and some of the Jewish writers ^b affirm, that Job never was in being, and that this book is a parable, apologue, or fable; and to this Maimonides ^c himself inclines; but this opinion is justly rejected by Aben Ezra, Peritsol, and others; for that there was such a man is as certain as that there were such men as Noah and Daniel, with whom he is mentioned by the Prophet Ezekiel, Eze 14:14 and the testimony of the Apostle James is full to this purpose, who speaks of him as a person well known, and not to be doubted of; of whom, and of whose patience, the Jews he writes to had heard much, Jam 5:11 besides, the names of the countries where he and his friends lived, the account given of his family, and of his substance, both before and after his afflictions, show it to be a real history. Learned men are not agreed about the signification of his name; according to Jerom ^d, it signifies a magician, taking it to be the same with אוב, "ob": and some Jewish writers ^e place him with Balaam and Jethro, as the counsellors of Pharaoh against the Israelites, for which he was afflicted: the same ancient fathers render the word grieving and howling; others, as Spanheim ^f, derive it from יאב, to "love" or "desire", and so it signifies desire or delight, and is the same with Desiderius or Erasmus; hence Job is called by Suidas ^g τριποθητος, exceeding desirable; but Hillerus ^h, deriving it from the same root, makes it to signify just the reverse, "without desire"; or not desirable; and supposes it to be a compound of יאוב, "desire", and איב, "not"; but the generality of writers derive it from איב, "to be at enmity", and so it signifies one that is exposed to the hatred and enmity of men, or one that is a hater and enemy of wicked men; or, as Schmidtt ⁱ interprets it, a man zealous for God, and showing hatred to wickedness and wicked men on his account. Who Job was, it is not easy to say; not the same with Jobab, of the race of Esau, as some, Gen 36:33. Aristeas ^k says he was a son of Esau himself, by his wife Bessare, and was first called Jobam; nor the same with Job a son of Issachar, Gen 46:13, nor was he a descendant of Abraham by Keturah; but rather sprung from Uz, the firstborn of Nahor, brother of Abraham, Gen 22:21, who gave name to the country where Job lived, as Buz his brother did to that of which Elihu was, and as Chesed, another brother of Uz, did to the Chasdim or Chaldeans, who were both near to Job. It is also not agreed in what time Job lived; Maimonides ^l says, of their writers some place him in the times of the patriarchs, some in the times of Moses, others in the times of David, and others say that he was of the wise men of Babylon; and some add, that he was of them that came out of the captivity there, and had a school at Tiberias, as say the Talmudists ^m who give very different accounts of him: some say he was in the times of the judges; others in the times of the queen of Sheba; and others in the times of Ahasuerus; but the more general opinion is, and indeed the more probable, that he was born when the Israelites went down into Egypt, and that he was dead when they came from thence ⁿ: in short, they place him almost in all the ages from Abraham to the Babylonish captivity, and after it; and even Luther ^o was of opinion that he lived in the times of Solomon, for which there is no more reason than for the rest: it seems most probable that he lived before Moses ^p, at least before the giving of the law to him, since no mention is made of it in this book, nor any reference to it; whereas there is to things more ancient, as the general deluge, the burning of Sodom, &c. the law concerning sacrifices only to be offered by priests was not as yet given; for Job offered sacrifices as being the head of his family, and so did his three friends, Job 1:5. The length of his life best agrees with the times before Moses, for in his time the age of man was reduced to seventy years; whereas Job must live two hundred years or more, since he lived one hundred and forty after his restoration: add to this, that this book seems to have been written before any idolatry was in the world but the worship of the sun and moon, Job 31:25 and before there were any writings divinely inspired, since there is no appeal to any in the whole controversy between Job and his friends; but the appeal is made to men of years and wisdom, and to traditions of former times, Job 5:1. According to Dr. Owen ^q Job lived three hundred and fifty years after the dispersion at Babel, about A. M. 2100. It is also greatly controverted who was the writer of this book; some ascribe the writing of it to Isaiah the prophet; others to Solomon, as Luther ^r; others to one of the prophets who was an Idumaean; but most to Moses, so the Jews ^s say, that he wrote his own book, the section of Balaam, and Job. Some think that he wrote it when in Midian, for the comfort and encouragement of the Hebrews afflicted in Egypt at that time, and who might hope to be delivered out of their afflictions, as this good man was delivered out of his; and this, it is supposed, accounts for the use of many Arabic words in it; Midian being in Arabia, where Moses, having lived some years, had mixed their language with his own. Some are of opinion that he met with this book when in those parts, which he found either in the Arabic or Syriac language, and translated it into Hebrew ^t for the use of the Israelites; and others think it was written by Job's friends, and particularly by Elihu, which is concluded from Job 32:15, but it is most probable that it was written by Job himself, or at least compiled from his diary or "adversaria" kept by him, or from those of his friends, or from both, and that it was written in the language it is now in: but be it written by whom it may, there is no doubt to be made of the divine authority of it; as appears from the sublimity of the style, the subject matter of it, its agreement with other parts of the sacred writings, and particularly from a quotation of a passage out of Job 5:13 by the Apostle Paul, 1Co 3:19 see also Job 5:17, compared with Heb 12:5. The design of it is not only in general to assert and explain the doctrine of Providence, as Maimonides observes; but in particular to show, that, though good men are afflicted, yet sooner or later they are delivered out of their afflictions; and that it becomes them to bear them patiently, and not murmur at them; nor complain of God on account of them, whose ways and works are unsearchable, and who gives no account of his matters to men, but is sovereign, wise, and just, in all he does; and whatsoever is done by him issues in the good of his people, as well as in his own glory, as the event shows. This book may be considered either as an history of the life of Job, in which an account is given of him in his prosperity; of his afflictions, and how they came upon him; of a visit paid him by his friends, and of the discourses that pass between him and them, and of his restoration to greater affluence than he enjoyed before: or as a drama or dialogue consisting of divers parts, and in which various speakers are introduced, as God, Satan, Job, his wife, and friends; or as a dispute, in which Job's three friends are the opponents, himself the respondent, Elihu the moderator, and God the umpire, who settled and determined the point in question. It contains many useful things in it concerning the Divine Being, and the perfections of his nature, his wisdom, power, justice, goodness, and sovereignty; concerning the works of creation and providence; concerning original sin, and the corruption of mankind; concerning redemption by Christ, and good works to be done by men; and concerning the resurrection of the dead, and eternal life. Some think Job was a type of Christ in his afflictions and sufferings; in his patience under them, and deliverance out of them; in his exaltation to an high pitch of happiness and prosperity; and in his intercession for his friends. He is in many things worthy of imitation, though in others to be blamed, and not followed; and, on the whole, this book of his may be read with great pleasure and profit.

Gill: Job 5 (Pendahuluan Pasal)

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 5

In this chapter Eliphaz goes on to prove, and further confirm and establish, what he had before asserted, that not good men, but wicked men only, are afflicted of God, at least greatly, so as to have their substance wholly destroyed and perish, which was Job's case; and this partly from the case, state, and sentiments of all the saints, Job 5:1; and from his own observation and experience, Job 5:3; and then he proceeds to give some advice; and seeing afflictions do not come by chance, but are of God, it is right in such circumstances for a man to seek to the Lord for pardon and salvation, and commit his cause unto him, Job 5:6; who does many great things in a providential way to the good of man in general, and to the disappointment of wicked crafty men, and to the serving of the poor in particular, Job 5:9; so that it is best patiently to bear the afflicting hand of God, and it is an happiness to be corrected by him, since he delivers such out of all their troubles, and preserves them from many evils, and bestows many good things on them; which would be Job's case particularly, if he behaved according to the advice given, and which is left with him to consider of, Job 5:17.