CHAPTER V _Eliphaz proceeds to show that the wicked are always punished by_ _the justice of God, though they may appear to flourish for a_ _time_, 1-8; _extols the providence of God, by which the counsels of the_ _wicked are brought to naught, and the poor fed and supported_, 9-16; _shows the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:2. _FOR WRATH KILLETH THE FOOLISH MAN_] _Foolish, silly_, and _simple_, are epithets given by _Solomon_ to sinners and transgressors of all kinds. Such parallelisms have afforded a presumptive argument that Solomon was the author of this book. See the _preface_. Job 1:1 The words of Elip... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:3. _I HAVE SEEN THE FOOLISH TAKING ROOT_] I have seen wicked men for a time in prosperity, and becoming established in the earth; but I well knew, from God's manner of dealing with men, that they must soon be blasted. I even ventured to _pronounce their_ _doom_; for I knew that, in the o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:4. _HIS CHILDREN ARE FAR FROM SAFETY_] His posterity shall not continue in prosperity. _Ill gotten, ill spent_; whatever is got by wrong must have God's curse on it. _THEY ARE CRUSHED IN THE GATE_] The _Targum_ says, _They shall be_ _bruised in the gate of hell, in the day of the great... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:5. _WHOSE HARVEST_] Their possessions, because acquired by unjust means, shall not be under the protection of God's providence; he shall abandon them to be pillaged and destroyed by the wandering _half-starved_ hordes of the _desert banditti_. They shall carry it suddenly off; _even the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:6. _AFFLICTION COMETH NOT FORTH OF THE DUST_] If there were not an adequate cause, thou couldst not be so grievously afflicted. _SPRING OUT OF THE GROUND_] It is not from mere _natural_ causes that affliction and trouble come; God's justice inflicts them upon offending man.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:7. _YET MAN IS BORN UNTO TROUBLE_] לעמל _leamal_, to _labour._ He must _toil_ and be _careful_; and if in the course of his labour he meet with trials and difficulties, he should rise superior to them, and not _sink_ as thou dost. _AS THE SPARKS BY UPWARD._] ובני רשף יגביהי עוף _ubeney... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:8. _I WOULD SEEK UNTO GOD_] Were I in your place, instead of wasting my time, and irritating my soul with useless complaints, I would apply to my Maker, and, if conscious of my innocence, would confidently commit my cause to him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:9. _WHICH DOETH GREAT THINGS_] No work, however complicated, is too deep for his counsel to plan; none, however stupendous, is too great for his power to execute. He who is upright is always safe in referring his cause to God, and trusting in him.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:10. _WHO GIVETH RAIN UPON THE EARTH_] The _Chaldee_ gives this verse a fine turn: "Who gives rain on the face of the land of _Israel_, and sends waters on the face of the _provinces_ of the _people_." Similar to our Lord's saying, which is expressed in the half of the compass: _Your Fath... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:11. _TO SET UP ON HIGH THOSE THAT BE LOW_] He so distributes his providential blessings without partiality, that the land of the _poor man_ is as well _sunned_ and _watered_ as that of the _rich;_ so that he is thus set upon a level with the lords of the soil.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:12. _HE DISAPPOINTETH THE DEVICES OF THE CRAFTY_] All these sayings refer to God's _particular providence_, by which he is ever working for the _good_, and counterworking the plots of the _wicked_. And as various as are the contingent, capricious, and malevolent acts of men, so varied ar... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:13. _HE TAKETH THE WISE IN THEIR OWN CRAFTINESS_] So counterworks them as to cause their feet to be taken in their own snares, and their evil dealings to fall on their own pate. Such frequent proofs has God given of his especial interference in behalf of the innocent, who have been the o... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:14. _THEY MEET WITH DARKNESS IN THE DAYTIME_] God confounds them and their measures; and, with all their cunning and dexterity, they are outwitted, and often act on their own projects, planned with care and skill, as if they had been the crudest conceptions of the most disordered minds.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:15. _HE SAVETH THE POOR FROM THE SWORD, FROM THEIR MOUTH_] This is rather a harsh construction. To avoid this, some have proposed to render מחרב _mechereb_, which we translate _from the_ _sword, the persecuted_, but, I am afraid, on very slender authority. Instead of מחרב מפיהם _mechereb... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:16. _SO THE POOR_] דל _dal_, he who is made _thin_, who is _wasted, extenuated; hath hope _- he sees what God is accustomed to do, and he expects a repetition of gracious dealings in his own behalf; and because God deals thus with those who trust in him, therefore the _mouth of impiety i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:17. _BEHOLD, HAPPY IS THE MAN_] הנח _hinneh, behold_, is wanting in _five_ of _Kennicott's_ and _De Rossi's_ MSS., and also in the _Syriac, Vulgate_, and _Arabic_. We have had _fathers of our flesh_, who corrected us for their pleasure, or according to their caprices, and we were subjec... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:18. _FOR HE MAKETH SORE, AND BINDETH UP_. Thus nervously rendered by _Coverdale_, _For though he make a wounde, he giveth a_ _medicyne agayne; though he smyte, his honde maketh whole agayne_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:19. _HE SHALL DELIVER THEE IN SIX TROUBLES_] The numbers _six_ and _seven_ are put here for _many_. Though a number of troubles should come upon thee _all at once_, and there should be no hope, humanly speaking, yet God would rid thee out of them all; for he saves as well from _many_ as... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:20. _IN FAMINE HE SHALL REDEEM THEE_] The _Chaldee_, which understands this chapter as speaking of the _troubles and_ _deliverances of the Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness_, renders this verse as follows: "In the famine of Egypt he redeemed thee from death; and in the war of Amalek... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:21. _THOU SHALT BE HID FROM THE SCOURGE OF THE TONGUE_] The _Targum_ refers this to the _incantations of Balaam_: "From injury by the tongue of Balaam thou shalt be hidden in the clouds; and thou shalt not fear from the blasting of the Midianites, when it shall come." Perhaps no evil i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:22. _AT DESTRUCTION AND FAMINE THOU SHALT LAUGH_] This most forcibly expresses the strongest security, and confidence in that security. "In the desolation of Sihon, and in the famine of the desert, thou shalt laugh; and of the camps of Og, who is compared to a wild beast of the earth, th... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:23. _THOU SHALT BE IN LEAGUE WITH THE STONES OF THE FIELD_] Instead of אבני _abney, stones_, Mr. _Good_ reads _beney,_ _sons_, or _produce_; but this reading is not supported by any ancient _version_, nor, as far as I know, by any MS. yet collated. We must, therefore, take up the text as... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:24. _THOU SHALT KNOW_] Thou shalt be so fully satisfied of the friendly disposition of all thy neighbours, that thou shalt rest secure in thy bed, and not be afraid of any danger, though sleeping in thy _tent_ in the _field_; and when thou returnest from thy country excursions, thou shal... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:25. _THINE OFFSPRING AS THE GRASS_] Thou shalt have a numerous and permanent issue.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:26. _THOU SHALT COME TO THY GRAVE_] Thou shalt not die before thy time; thou shalt depart from life like a full-fed guest; happy in what thou hast known, and in what thou hast enjoyed. _LIKE AS A SHOCK OF CORN_] Thou shalt completely run through the round of the _spring, summer, autumn_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Job 5:27. _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 _Teman... [ Continue Reading ]