Job 5:27

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

Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good. Searched it ... for thy good - literally, for thyself.

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.

Job 5:27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it [is]; hear it, and know thou [it] for thy good.Ver. 27. Lo this, we have searched it, so it is] We are sure that all this is true, and may be trusted to, for we have tried it; we have not it only by tradition, neither take we it up upon trust from others; but we believe and know, as Peter spake, John 6:69; we believe, and therefore speak it, as Paul (after David), 2 Corinthians 4:13 Psalms 116:10. Thou mayest write upon this whole chapter, as those ancients did upon their oracles, φεος, φεος, God, God; or as John the divine did upon his Revelation, "These sayings are faithful and true," Revelation 22:6. Vera tanquam ex tripode, As true as gospel, as we say. Those that take upon them to teach others should go upon sure ground, and be masters of what they teach: how else will they teach with authority? Those also that come to hear must strive to find out that which St Luke calleth the certainty of things, Luke 1:4, and not be led by conjectural suppositions, or the tenets of their teachers, but be fully persuaded, Job 5:1. Hear it] With utmost attention of body, intention of mind, retention of memory and practice: else all is lost. And know thou it for thy good] Make thy best use of this our diligence and experience so freely and friendly communicated unto thee. Let not all this that hath been spoken be spilt upon thee, but prove every whit as profitable to thee as I conceive it seasonable for thee. Some knowing men are not a button the better for all they know. The devils are full of objective knowledge; but they get no good by it; no more do graceless men, that draw not their knowledge into practice, but detain the truth in unrighteousness: it swimmeth in their heads, but sinketh not into their hearts; it maketh them giddy, as wine fuming all up into the head, but never coming at the heart to cheer it. Such a man may cast out devils, and yet be cast to the devil; he may go to hell with all his unprofitable knowledge; like as a bull with a coronet aud garland goes to the slaughter. Unless a man hear and know for himself, he shall find no more comfort of it than a man doth of the sun when it shineth not in his own horizon; or than a traveller doth of the fatness of a far country which he only passeth through, and taketh a view of. If therefore thou be wise, be wise for thyself, Proverbs 9:12. Let thy knowledge be not only apprehensive, but effective, illightening, but transforming, discursive, but experimental and practical. "For thereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments," 1 John 2:3.

(27) So it is.—It is the boastful confidence of Eliphaz which is so hard to bear. He speaks as though Job’s experience were as nothing to his. “This is mine: take it to thyself, and make it thine.”

Verse 27. 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.

8–27. Eliphaz, in Job’s place, would seek unto God, all whose ways are marked by one purpose, to do good, and whose chastisements, therefore, but open the way to a richer blessing The passage attaches itself to the picture of man’s evil nature just given, and suggests where man should find refuge from himself, even in God. Eliphaz in Job’s place would seek unto God for help—God who is so great in power, and wonderful in His ways (Job 5:8-9). His ways are not only surpassingly wonderful, but one purpose of goodness runs through them, for even the thirsty wilderness where no man dwells He satisfies with rain, and sets the humble on high (Job 5:10-11). So on the other hand He disappoints the devices of the crafty and delivers the poor from their hand, and the end is reached towards which all His working tends: the poor hath hope, and evil, ashamed, shuts her mouth (Job 5:12-16). And under this general purpose of universal goodness fall even the chastisements of God, and in this light happy should Job consider himself in being afflicted, for God afflicts only that He may be able the more richly to bless (Job 5:17-18). And, anticipating that his afflictions will “yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness,” Eliphaz draws a brilliant picture of Job’s restoration and happy future,—the divine protection (Job 5:18-19), the plenty and security (Job 5:20-23), the peaceful homestead (Job 5:24), the offspring numerous as the grass (Job 5:25), and the ripe and peaceful end of all (Job 5:26). The passage like the preceding section has two divisions, Job 5:8-16 describing the purpose of goodness running through all God’s ways; and Job 5:17-26 applying this to Job’s calamities and painting his restoration; to which is added a concluding verse, in which Eliphaz beseeches Job to ponder his words (Job 5:27).

Lo this - All this that I have said; the truth of all the remarks which I have made. We have searched it - We have by careful observation of the course of events come to these conclusions.

27. We have searched it — He thus commits the two other friends to the sentiments he has expressed, and they by their silence assent. Job assumes this in his reply. For thy good — As in the margin, for thyself.