Job 5

Job 5:1-27

The First Speech of Eliphaz (concluded) 1-5. Eliphaz warns Job that to show a resentful temper at God’s dispensations is folly, and that fools never prosper.

1. Call, etc.] i.e. ‘make your complaint against God to the angels’; ‘do you think they will help you?’ Saints] RV ‘holy ones,’ i.e. the angels.
2. Wrath] RV ‘vexation.’ Envy] RV ‘jealousy.’ Such rash conduct brings destruction.
3. Cursed] i.e. rejected as an accursed thing. At first Eliphaz was inclined to envy the prosperity of the wicked; but in a moment he sees there is no room for envy. He would not accept their position at any price, so sudden and sure was their downfall.
4. Crushed in the gate] the gate of the city, where justice was administered: cp. Psalms 127:5. There are none to support their cause or to influence the judge.
5. The thorns] the protecting thorn hedge. 6, 7. Affliction is not accidental, but is due to man’s sinful nature. Although] RV ‘for.’
6. 1] RV ‘As for me, I.’ Eliphaz, instead of murmuring, would leave his case in the hands of One who is both great and wise.
7. To set] RV ‘so that he setteth,’ i.e setteth men up by raising them from despair.
8. He taketh the wise in their own craftiness] quoted by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:19, the only quotation from Job in the NT. Is carried headlong] i.e. furthered to their hurt.
9. The bewildered, haunted state into which the crooked devices of the wicked bring them.
10. From their mouth] RV ‘of their mouth.’ 17-27. The blessedness of affliction if regarded as correction.
11. Scourge of the tongue] of false accusers and slanderers: cp. Job 5:15.
12. In league with the stones of the field] His land will be free from stones; a part of the general thought of being at peace with all creation: cp. Proverbs 16:7. For the idea of a sympathy between man and nature cp. Romans 8:19.
13. Tabernacle] RV ’tent.’ Shalt not sin] RV ‘shalt miss nothing.’