Job 5:12

_HE DISAPPOINTETH THE DEVICES OF THE CRAFTY, SO THAT THEIR HANDS CANNOT PERFORM THEIR ENTERPRISE._ ENTERPRISE - literally, realization. The Hebrew х_ TUWSHIYAAH_ (H8454)] combines in the one word the two ideas, wisdom and happiness, enduring existence х_ YEESH_ (H3426)] being the etymological and philosophical root of the combined motion (Umbreit). Maurer translates 'counsel' - i:e., their well-formed plan-from a root [yashah] to establish....

6-16 Eliphaz reminds Job, that no affliction comes by chance, nor is to be placed to second causes. The difference between prosperity and adversity is not so exactly observed, as that between day and night, summer and winter; but it is according to the will and counsel of God. We must not attribute our afflictions to fortune, for they are from God; nor our sins to fate, for they are from ourselves. Man is born in sin, and therefore born to trouble. There is nothing in this world we are born to, and can truly call our own, but sin and trouble. Actual transgressions are sparks that fly out of the furnace of original corruption. Such is the frailty of our bodies, and the vanity of all our enjoyments, that our troubles arise thence as the sparks fly upward; so many are they, and so fast does one follow another. Eliphaz reproves Job for not seeking God, instead of quarrelling with him. Is an...

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 are his providential interferences; disappointing the devices, snares, and plots of the crafty, so that their plans being confounded, and their machinery broken in pieces, _their hands cannot perform their enterprises_....

HE DISAPPOINTETH THE DEVICES OF THE CRAFTY - He foils them in their schemes, or makes their plans vain. This too was the result of close observation on the part of Eliphaz. He had seen instances where the plans of crafty, designing, and artful people had been defeated, and where the straightforward had been prospered and honored. Such cases led him to believe that God was the friend of virtue, and was worthy of entire confidence. SO THAT THEIR HANDS - So that they. The hands are the instruments by which we accomplish our plans. THEIR ENTERPRISE - Margin, Or, “anything.” Hebrew תשׁיה _tûshı̂yâh_. This word properly means uprightness from ישׁע _yâsha‛_; then help, deliverance, Job 6:13; then purpose, undertaking, ent

EXPOSITION JOB 5:1 Eliphaz, having narrated his vision, and rehearsed the words which the spirit spoke in his ear, continues in his own person, first (Job 5:1) covertly reproaching Job, and then (verses 8-27) seeking to comfort him by the suggestion that, if he will place himself unreservedly in the hands of God, it is still possible that God may relent, remove his chastening hand, deliver him from his troubles, and even give him back all his former prosperity. The anticipation is in remarkable accordance with the ultimate event (Job 42:10), and shows that Eliphaz, if not a prophet in the higher sense, is at least a sagacious interpreter of God's ways with men, and can very happily forecast the future.

HE DISAPPOINTETH THE DEVICES OF THE CRAFTY,.... Or, "it disappointeth"; that is, the rain, as some Jewish commentators m interpret it, and the whole paragraph to this sense; the rain coming upon the earth makes it fruitful, and causes it to produce a plentiful crop, whereby the schemes of crafty men are disappointed, who in a time of drought withhold the corn, and enhance the price of it, and distress the poor; and this in order to make a penny of them, according to Amos 8:4; but through the rain falling are not able to gain their end, but are obliged to bring out their corn, and sell it at a low price, and so are taken in their own craftiness; their counsel becomes brutish, and they are brought into bad circumstances themselves, and the poor saved from being ground and oppressed by them, and have hope for the future of plenty of provisions, to the confusion and astonishment of their opp...

CHAPTER S 4-5 THE FIRST ADDRESS OF ELIPHAZ _ 1. He rebukes Job (Job 4:1)_ 2. The righteous are not cast off (Job 4:6) 3. An awe-inspiring vision (Job 4:12) 4. Experience and exhortation (Job 5:1) 5. Happy is the man whom God correcteth (Job 5:17) With this chapter the long and tedious controversy between Job and his three visitors begins. His pitiful lamentation brings forth the addresses of his friends. Eliphaz and Bildad speak thrice, each answered by Job, and Zophar twice with corresponding rebuttals by Job. Job delivers his last word, the length

Eliphaz advises Job to accept the Divine discipline so that God may again show Himself gracious. As for me, instead of being impatient like a fool, I would seek unto God (_cf._ Job 1:21; Job 2:10). Job 5:9 gives the motive for submission, viz. the omnipotence of God, which is also a reason for hope. God's power is manifest in nature (Job 5:10). He also shows it by the restoration of those who abase themselves (Job 5:11), and equally by crashing the impious (Job 5:12). ...

ENTERPRISE. something stable. See note on "sound wisdom". Proverbs 2:7....

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). 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). 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, a