5
📚“Call out now; is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn? 5:1 The meaning seems to be this: Eliphaz thinks the truth he has stated is so plain that no one should think of disputing it, and that if Job rejects it and tries to find support for his position among either men or angels, not a single one would speak on his behalf.⚜
2 📚For anger kills the foolish man, and envy slays the simple one.
5:2 Eliphaz means that if Job burns with anger because of his troubles and sufferings and is envious of those not afflicted, the result will be his own destruction.⚜
3 📚I have seen a fool taking root; but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
4 📚His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate; nor is there anyone to rescue them.
5 📚The hungry eat up their harvest, taking it even out of the thorns; and the robber swallows up their possessions.
5:3-5 He describes calamities which are very much like those which came on Job, and evidently thinks Job’s case may be similar to the wicked fool he refers to in v 3. Why else would he use an illustration like this? He has no idea that Job is a better man than he himself (Job 1:8). It is remarkable that Job listened to this with patience.⚜
6 📚Although affliction does not come out of the dust, or trouble spring out of the ground,
7 📚Yet man is born to trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
5:6-7 Eliphaz means that calamities are not mere acts of nature, not accidents; they are the result of a spiritual law; troubles come because of man’s birth in sin and man’s sinful acts. God has linked sin and suffering together and no one can escape this law.⚜
8 📚“As for me I would seek God, and I would commit my case to God,
5:8 He states what he would do if he were in Job’s situation. He evidently thinks that Job has not done so.⚜
9 📚Who does great and unsearchable things, marvellous things without number,
10 📚Who gives rain on the earth, and sends water on the fields,
11 📚To set on high those who are lowly, so that those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 📚He disappoints the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands cannot carry out their plans.
13 📚He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and the counsel of the cunning is swept away.
14 📚They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
15 📚But he saves the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
16 📚So the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts its mouth.
5:9-16 He now gives a description of God’s ways with men that he thinks will make Job want to turn to God for mercy. Considering the time and place in which he lived he displays a very high view of God – He is a God who does wonders (and so could wonderfully restore the prosperity of Job – v 9); He is the God Who is a kind sovereign over His creation (v 10); He rules justly in the affairs of men to bring punishment to clever evildoers and to rescue their victims (vs 11-16). Part of verse 13 is quoted by Paul in 1 Cor 3:19.⚜
17 📚“See, happy is the man whom God corrects. Therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty,
18 📚For he injures, but binds up; he wounds, but his hands bring healing.
5:17-18 The truth of these verses is found in Prov 3:11-12 and Heb 12:5-6. It is a beautiful truth but it was not the truth Job needed in his situation. Job’s sufferings were not a result of God’s chastisement for sin. God’s primary purpose in them was to prove Job’s faith and integrity and shut Satan’s mouth. In general, what use is it for preachers to have fine messages if they do not suit the condition of those who hear them? “Almighty” (v 17) – in Hebrew “Shaddai” – Gen 17:1.⚜
19 📚He will rescue you in six troubles; yes, in seven no evil will touch you.
20 📚In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.
21 📚You will be hidden from the lash of the tongue; nor will you be afraid of destruction when it comes.
22 📚You will laugh at destruction and famine; nor will you be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
23 📚For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
24 📚And you will know that your tent is in peace, and you will visit your dwelling place, and will not miss anything.
25 📚And you will know that your children are many, and your offspring like the grass of the earth.
26 📚You will reach your grave in a full age, like a sheaf of grain comes in, in its season.
5:19-26 He is saying that if Job will submit to God and meekly accept His chastisements God will rescue him from trouble (vs 19,20), restore his prosperity (vs 22-24), will give him many children in place of those he lost (vs 26), and restore him to good health (vs 18,26).⚜
27 📚“Consider this. We have searched it out; it is true. Hear it, and know it is for your good”.
5:27 Eliphaz speaks for Bildad and Zophar also. He is very sure that he is giving Job the truth he needs to hear and apply.⚜