Job 5:26

And finally he shall receive the crowning blessing of man on earth, to live long and die old and full of years; cf. Psalms 102:24; Isaiah 38:10; Numbers 23:10. The Speaker's Comm. quotes the following from Milton,

So mayest thou live, till, like ripe fruits, thou drop

Into thy mother's lap; or be with ease

Gathered, not harshly plucked; for death mature.

The speech of Eliphaz is one of the masterpieces of the Book. The surprising literary skill of the Author is hardly anywhere so conspicuous. (See remark at the end of ch. 4)

Nevertheless, if we follow the clue which the Author himself puts into our hand in the reply which he causes Job to make, we must infer that Eliphaz erred in two particulars. If his religious tone was not too lofty, it was at least too cold, and too little tempered with compassion for the sufferings of men. The moral impropriety of Job's murmurs and despair so engrosses his mind that he forgets the unbearable misery of the sufferer before him, and the just claims of sentient life not to be put to the torture. The consequence is that he will have to hear from Job language still more shocking to his religious feeling (ch. Job 7:17 seq.). This error was due to another, his theory of suffering (see preliminary remarks to ch. 4 14). This theory gave a full explanation to his mind of Job's afflictions and compelled him to take the tone towards him which he did. However true his theory might be as a general principle of moral government, it was not universal and did not include Job's case. Job's conscience told him this. Hence the admonitions of Eliphaz fell wide of the mark, and he only aggravated the evil which he sought to heal.