Job 5

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 5:1-27

What is the purpose of verse one? i.e., in the speech of Eliphaz?

Verse one may be an apologetic. How so?

Read Proverbs 14:30 and show how it relates to verse two.

The prosperity of the wicked causes a reaction from Eliphaz. What is it? Why?

Why do the children of the foolish suffer?

How is the term gate used here?

What is the meaning of verse five?

Eliphaz commits a logical fallacy. What is it: Show how this cancels out sympathy.

If man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward how is it that only fools sufferi.e., according to previous logic?

How is it that the little phrase as the sparks fly upward has caused so much discussion?

There are two different words for God in Job 5:8. What does this suggest?

Eliphaz is right and wrong at the same time. About what subjects?

How does the thought of mother nature relate to Job 5:10?

In what other passage in the N.T. are Job 5:11 through Job 5:16 echoed? Discuss.

Explain the phrase cannot perform their enterprise.

The only direct N.T. quotation from Job is found in these verses. Where?

Does the description of Job 5:14 always describe the end of the crafty? Discuss.

What does all this speech mean to Job?

The principle of Job 5:17 is stated in Proverbs 3:11-12 and is quoted in Hebrews 12:5 ffTo whom does it apply?

All these words to Job are to make his wound hurt more. Why?

There is a strange covenant promised in verse Job 5:23. What is it?

TODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION

Call out, Job. See if anyone answers.

Is there any angel to whom you can turn?

2 To worry yourself to death with resentment

would be a foolish, senseless thing to do.

3 I have seen fools who looked secure,

but I called down a sudden curse on their homes.

4 Their sons can never find safety;

in court no one stands up to defend them.

5 Hungry people will eat the fool’s crops

even the grain growing among thorns and thirsty people will envy his wealth.

6 Evil does not grow in the soil,

nor does trouble grow out of the ground.

7 No! Man brings trouble on himself,

as surely as sparks fly up from a fire.

8 If I were you, I would turn to God

and present my case to him.

9 We cannot understand the great things he does,

and there is no end to his miracles.

10 He sends rain on the land and waters the fields. 11 Yes, it is God who raises the humble

and gives joy to all who mourn.

12-13 He upsets the plans of tricky men,

and traps wise men in their own schemes, so that nothing they do succeeds;

14 even at noon they grope in darkness. 15 But God saves the poor from death;

he saves the needy from oppression.

16 He gives hope to the poor and silences the wicked. 17 Happy is the person whom God corrects!

Do not resent it when he reprimands you.

18 God bandages the wounds he makes;

his hand hurts you, and his hand heals.

19 Time after time he will keep you from harm; 20 when famine comes, he will keep you alive,

and in war protect you from death.

21 God rescues you from lies and slander;

he saves you when destruction comes.

22 You will laugh at violence and hunger

and not be afraid of wild animals.

23 The fields you plow will be free of rocks;

wild animals will never attack you.

24 Then you will live at peace in your tent;

when you look at your sheep, you will find them safe.

25 You will have as many children

as there are blades of grass in a pasture.

26 Like wheat that ripens till harvest time,

you will live to a ripe old age.

27 Job, we have learned this by long study.

It is true, so now accept it.

Job 5:1-7

3. The fate of the wicked (the foolish) is certain destruction. (Job 5:1-7)

TEXT 5:1-7

**5 Call now; is there any that will answer thee? And to which of the holy ones wilt thou torn?

2 For vexation killeth the foolish man,

And jealousy slayeth the silly one.

3 I have seen the foolish taking root:

But suddenly I cursed his habitation.

4 His children are far from safety,

And they are crushed in the gate, Neither is there any to deliver them:

5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up,

And taketh it even out of the thorns;

And the snare gapeth for their substance.

6 For affliction cometh not forth from the dust,

Neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

7 But man is born unto trouble,

As the sparks fly upward.**

COMMENT 5:1-7

**Job 5:1-2**None of the holy ones (qedosim) can save man (Hosea 11:12; Daniel 4:10; Daniel 4:14; Zechariah 14:5; Psalms 89:7). Eliphaz warns Job against any form of lament. A sinner who refuses to repent cannot be forgiven, thus healed. This verse may be an apologetic against the Mesapotamian idea of a finite but personal god whom a man could rely on to make intercession to the greater gods (Job 9:33; Job 16:19; Job 16:21; Job 33:23-24). Perhaps Job 5:2 is a proverbial saying (Proverbs 14:30) which suggests that one should not get excited about that over which he has no control. Only the fool will die of indignation (A. V., jealousy).

**Job 5:3-5**On center stage Eliphaz says that he himself has seen the fool take root. The unrighteous often strike deep into the earth their strange roots. Prosperity is thus effectively presented by an analogy with a vigorously growing tree. The effect of this experience of Eliphaz was that he immediately cursed (same verb as Job 3:8) the dwelling of the prosperous fool. In so doing, Eliphaz was merely expressing the prejudices of his cultural ethics. When misfortune visits the head of the family, the entire family suffers. They cannot receive justice at the city gate, which was the administrative center where justice was dispersed and other legal issues were considered (Genesis 23:10; Deuteronomy 21:19-21; Rth 4:1-11; Amos 5:15). A helpless unfortunate person was not likely to receive much consideration in the gate (Job 31:21). The two lines in Job 5:5 are grammatically impossible,[70] as they stand in the text, but their general sense is clear. Unfortunates, perhaps Bedouins, who function at the edge of cities and lands and seize what they can, are represented in the imagery.

[70] See Dhorme, Job, pp. 59-60; and Rowley, Job, p. 58.

**Job 5:6**This verse refers to Job 4:8. Eliphaz commits a logical fallacy by asserting that because a fool meets disaster, all who meet disaster must be fools. He declares that Job is responsible for all of his misery. Sympathy will not be a major preoccupation of anyone who believes that prosperity is proof of God’s blessings.

**Job 5:7**A contradiction appears once more in Eliphaz’s speech. If trouble comes naturally and inevitably to man, then this claim is in conflict with Job 5:6, which says just the opposite. Perhaps Dahood correctly renders the textit is man who engenders mischief itself.[71] The phrase as the sparks fly upward has generated endless and fruitless discussion. Perhaps the phrasebene resepmight refer to the Resheph the Phoenician god of the lightning,[72] which would be possible if the book is from the patriarchal period. The R. S. V. translation is superior to that of the A. V. As surely as sparks fly upward, man falls into sin, and he is responsible for his own decisions.

[71] M. Dahood, Biblica, XLVI, 1965, p. 318.

[72] A. Caquot, Semitica, VI, 1956, pp. 53ff.

Job 5:8-16

4. My advicea) Return to God who rewards the righteous. (Job 5:8-16)

TEXT 5:8-16

**8 But as for me, I would seek unto God,

And unto God would I commit my cause;

9 Who doeth great things and unsearchable,

Marvellous things without number:

10 Who giveth rain upon the earth,

And sendeth waters upon the fields;

11 So that he setteth up on high those that are low,

And those that mourn are exalted to safety.

12 He frustrateth the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.

13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness;

And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.

14 They meet with darkness in the day-time,

And grope at noonday as in the night.

15 But he saveth from the sword of their mouth,

Even the needy from the hand of the mighty.

16 So the poor hath hope,

And iniquity stoppeth her mouth.**

COMMENT 5:8-16

**Job 5:8**Job is not prepared to agree that his misfortunes are God’s judgments on his sins. The strong Hebrew adversative But contrasts what is being said with what precedes. In verse one, Eliphaz had warned Job against appealing to angels for help. He should go directly to God. Seeking God (dams) is a vital theme in the prophetsAmo 5:4-6. The two lines contain two different words for Godel and elohim (see parallel Shaddai, el and eloah, Job 5:17; Job 6:4; Job 8:3; Job 13:3; Job 22:2-3; Job 27:10; and Job 31:2). Elohim is rare in the Dialogue (here and Job 28:23 and once in the Elihu speeches in Job 34:9).

**Job 5:9**Repeated by Job in Job 9:10 (Psalms 136:4; Psalms 145:3; and Eccl. 43:32), Eliphaz reveals a very perceptive mind but often draws erroneous conclusions from his own analysis.

**Job 5:10**God is lord of nature. He sends rain upon the fields, which is an example of God’s power and benevolence (Psalms 65:10; Psalms 68:10; Psalms 104:13). He who makes the barren places fruitful can also change suffering into joy. To his power in nature corresponds His power among men.[73]

[73] F. Delitzsch, Job, Vol. I, Eerdmans, p. 99.

Job 5:11Job 5:11-16 are echoed in the magnificatLuk 1:51-53. The high, steep almost inaccessible place is God’s reward to the lowly. Mourners wear dirty black clothes or have dirty bodies, because they sprinkle ashes on their heads as a sign of grief. These very mourners shall be set on high (word rendered stronghold in Psalms 9:9 is from this root) in prosperity.

**Job 5:12**God frustrates the malicious devices of the crafty who scheme to gain from the poor and innocent (Micah 3:1-3; Micah 7:3; Isaiah 32:7). The translation cannot perform their enterprise is a technical term employed in Wisdom Literature, two exceptions Isaiah 28:29 and Micah 6:9, found only in Job and Proverbs. It means true wisdom or true prosperity. Those who trust God are truly pious.

**Job 5:13**This verse is the only directly quoted Jobian text in the New Testament1 Corinthians 3:19 (cf. allusion to Job 41:11 in Romans 11:35). Theologically, the same point is at issue in both Job and Paul. The counsel of the cunning, or tortuous men who pursue any means to attain their ends. The word translated cunning connotes success or victory without regard to moral quality. This type of person is brought to a quick end.[74]

[74] Driver & Gray, Job, ICC, p. 54; Pope, Job, p. 43.

**Job 5:14**The image of total confusion which ensnares the crafty (Deuteronomy 28:29; Isaiah 19:14; and Isaiah 59:10). They are like blind people groping at mid-day.

**Job 5:15**God frustrates the designs of the crafty, the poor He savesfrom their craftiness. The major problem in this text is whether deliverance is from the mouth or the sword.[75] The technical issue is that poetic parallel demands a companion word to the poor, which our present text lacks. What does all this mean to Job?

[75] Dhorme, Job, p. 63, for the technical discussion. His solution is to be preferred over the other suggestions, as it involves no change of the Hebrew text.

**Job 5:16**The social customs of the Near East are clearly set before us. Men of power and wealth aggrandize themselves at the expense of the poor and defenseless. But there is hope in the time of abandonmentJob 8:13; 17:18; Job 14:7; Jeremiah 31:17; Ezekiel 37:11; Proverbs 19:18; Rth 1:2; and Lamentations 3:29. This verse sums up the results of God’s intervention in human affairs according to Eliphaz’s theological assumptionsthat justice always triumphs (Psalms 107:42; Isaiah 52:15).

Job 5:17-27

b) Accept his chastening and enjoy his blessings. (Job 5:17-27)

TEXT 5:17-27

**17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth:

Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.

18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up;

He woundeth, and his hands make whole.

19 He will deliver thee in six troubles;

Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

20 In famine he will 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 dearth thou shalt laugh;

Neither shalt 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 tent is in peace;

And thou shalt visit thy fold, and shalt miss nothing.

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 grain cometh in its season.

27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is;

Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.**

COMMENT 5:17-27

**Job 5:17**According to Eliphaz, suffering is always a form of divine discipline. This is also a thesis set forth in Elihu’s speechesJob 32:19 ff, Proverb Job 3:11-12, which is quoted in Hebrews 12:5 ff. The emphasis is beautiful and moving in its attempt to bring Job to repentance. The thesis is only marred by its inapplicability to Job. He has not sinned; and Eliphaz’s argument makes no impression on him. Thus the words which were meant for healing make his wounds smart the more (V. E. Reichert, Job, Soncino, p. 20). The word for God (Almighty) is Shaddai.[76] It occurs in the Old Testament approximately 48 times, mostly in Job. The word is present in other literature from the patriarchal periodGen 17:1; Exodus 6:3.

[76] The Book of Job uses Elohim 40 times, 31 times Shaddai, which only occurs 17 times more in the entire Old Testament, within poetic structure of Job proper; 55 times it uses EL Elohim (only once Job 12:8), and Jahweh (in chps. 1, 2, Job 38:1; Job 40, 42)31 times. See O. Grether, Name und Wort Gottes im Alten Testament, 1934; and G. R. Driver, The Original Form of the Name Jahweh, Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 46, 1928, 7-25; Jean Leveque, Job et Son Dieu, Tome I, Paris: Gabalda, pp. 146-179; O. Eissfeldt, El im ugaritischen Pantheon, 1941; M. Pope, El in the Ugaritic Texts, V. T. S., II, 1955; D. N. Freedman, The Name of the God of Moses, JBL, 79 (1960), 151-6.

**Job 5:18**God almighty makes sore and also healsDeu 32:39; Hosea 6:1; and Isaiah 30:26.

**Job 5:19**Eliphaz enumerates the blessings which Job can expect if he follows his advice. The numerical idiom is common in Hebrew poetry (also in Ugaritic myths and epics), cf. Amos 1:3-13; Amos 2:1-16; Micah 5:4; Proverbs 6:16; Proverbs 30:15; Proverbs 30:18; Proverbs 30:29; and Ecclesiastes 11:2, 25:7. The related use of the multiple of seven and eleven occurs in the Song of LamechGen 4:24; and in Jesus-’ answer to Peter’s question in Matthew 18:22.[77]

[77] Regarding the Old Testament use of numerical proverbs, see W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament, Yetus Testamentum, Supplement XIII, 1965; and A. Bea, Biblica, 21 (1940), 196-8.

**Job 5:20**The almighty is able (Job) to deliver from famine, death, war, etc., those scourges of the ancient Near East.

**Job 5:21**For the tongue (lason) as a powerful weapon, see Isaiah 54:17; Jeremiah 18:18; Psalms 12:3-5; Psalms 31:21; and James 3:5-6. The destruction (soddevastation) of the tongue might refer to efforts at incantations and use of black magic. Hence, some commentators readseddemon for M. T. soddevastation. (The Hebrew sod occurs in the next verse in relationship to famine.)

**Job 5:22**The beasts of the field were feared in Palestine. One of Ezekiel’s four sore judgment is the beastsJob 14:21.

**Job 5:23**Stones will not accumulate to mar the fields, nor beasts attack his flock. The word translated league is berith or covenant. It is as though they have a covenant with the rocks and beastsIsa 11:6-9.

**Job 5:24**Job describes the prosperity of the wicked in similar fashion in Job 21:7 ff. The A. V. renders the Hebrew pastoral term tent as fold and means dwelling as in Job 5:3. The word translated miss is one of the Hebrew terms for sin (ht-) which means to miss the mark or fail to attain a goal.[78] All of Job’s property will be safe if he follows Eliphaz’s suggestions.

[78] F. D. Coggan, Journal of the Manchester University Egyptian and Oriental Society, XVII, 1932, 53-6.

**Job 5:25**Eliphaz’s orthodox theology is consistently untouched by human feeling. Eliphaz apparently has forgotten that Job’s children were all destroyed. But he declares that his offspring will be greatIsa 34:1; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 53:10. This will come to pass, but how does Eliphaz know?

**Job 5:26**Eliphaz knows nothing of resurrection, only a full age (Hebrew kelah[79]full vigor). This is a quality here assured to the righteous. Eliphaz’s pontifical announcements, which were meant to heal, only irritated Job’s sore soul.

[79] See W. F. Albright, The Natural Force of Moses in the Light of Ugaritic, Bulletin American Society Oriental Research, 94, 1944, 32-5; and M. Dahood, Gregorianum 43, 1962, 66.

**Job 5:27**As Job’s counselor, Eliphaz offered empty chaff well meant for grain. Though it is no comfort to Job, Eliphaz’s discourse is one of the masterpieces of the book. With only partial vision, Eliphaz identified his words with exhaustive truth. This weakness vitiated his genuine concern for Job’s condition. To Job all these fine words must have seemed bitterly inappropriate.[80]

[80] Much significant insight into Job from a counseling perspective is found in Wm. E. Hulme’s Dialogue in Despair (Abingdon, 1968).