Eliphaz now asks Job to call out to see if anyone would answer and listen to his complaint against God, Job 5:1. Everyone had turned away from him. Job couldn’t even turn to the holy ones, Job 5:1, that is, angels, who were commissioned by God to help the righteous on earth, Hebrews 1:14. Eliphaz basically rebuked Job and told him there was no one to help him.
He says resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple, Job 5:2, and notice he says that he himself has seen a fool taking root, and suddenly his house was cursed, Job 5:3. In other words, he says if Job continues to worry about his present condition, Matthew 6:25, then he will surely make it worse.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘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.’
Eliphaz says that the person he has seen saw their children crushed in court without a defender, Job 5:4. Judgments were sought from courts, the city gates, Genesis 23:10 / Deuteronomy 21:19 / Deuteronomy 25:6-7 / Ruth 4:1-12 / Psalm 127:5 / Proverbs 22:22, but the children of the wicked had no security; the courts would make judgments against them.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The Targum says, They shall be bruised in the gate of hell, in the day of the great judgment. There is reference here to a custom which I have often had occasion to notice that in the Eastern countries the courthouse, or tribunal of justice, was at the GATE of the city, here the magistrates attended, and hither the plaintiff and defendant came for justice.’
The hungry steal the crops of the wicked, even though the crops struggled to survive among the thorns, Job 5:5. Deceivers scheme to relieve the wicked of their possessions, Job 5:5. Man himself must take responsibility for the trouble that he creates for himself. Eliphaz, like the Jews, erroneously believed that disasters and calamities, Job 5:6-7, were invariably due to the sin of those who suffered such things, John 9:2.
Because Eliphaz came to the conclusion that Job was suffering because of sin, he now comes up with a solution to his problem. Job must seek God in order to be relieved of his suffering, Job 5:8.
God is the One who performs wonders that cannot be fathomed and miracles that cannot be counted, Job 5:9. God is the One who provides rain for the earth and sends water on the countryside, Job 5:10 / Matthew 5:45.
Eliphaz is thinking his way because He is the one who lifts up the fallen, Job 5:11, and works in the lives of those who seek Him, then the solution for Job’s problems was that he should turn to the Lord. Eliphaz also argued that God would work against the wicked in order to bring calamity into their lives, Job 5:12.
Barnes, in his commentary, says the following concerning Job 5:13.
‘This passage is quoted by the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:19, with the usual formula in referring to the Old Testament, ‘for it is written’, showing that he regarded it as a part of the inspired oracles of God. The word ‘wise’ here undoubtedly means cunning, astute, crafty, and designing. It cannot mean those who are truly wise in the Scripture sense, but the meaning is that those who form plans that they expect to accomplish by cunning and craft, are often the victims of their own designs. The same sentiment not unfrequently occurs in the Scriptures and elsewhere, and has all the aspect of being a proverb, Psalm 7:15.’
Eliphaz says darkness comes upon them in the daytime and at noon they grope as in the night, Job 5:14. God saves the needy from the sword in their mouth and saves them from the clutches of the powerful, Job 5:15. So the poor have hope and injustice shuts its mouth, Job 5:16.
Eliphaz is certainly coming across as someone who thinks he knows it all. It’s very true that God corrects those whom He loves, Job 5:17, but it isn’t true that we can know every time someone suffers that they are being corrected by the Lord.
When affliction comes our way, we must trust God because it is God who strengthens the righteous and heals their affliction. For God wounds but he also binds up, He injures, but His hands also heal, Job 5:18.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following concerning Job 5:19.
‘The numbers six and seven are put here for many. Though several 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 from few. We may also understand the words, He who hath been thy deliverer in past troubles, will not deny his help in those which are to come.’
Eliphaz goes on to list several difficult situations that could come upon the righteous. He describes in some detail all the blessings of restoration that would come to Job’s life if he would only repent and turn to God. In famine God will deliver you from death and in battle from the stroke of the sword, Job 5:20.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following concerning Job 5:21.
‘Perhaps no evil is more dreadful than the scourge of the tongue, evil-speaking, detraction, backbiting, calumny, slander, tale-bearing, whispering, and scandalising, are some of the terms which we use when endeavouring to express the baleful influence and effects of that member, which is a world of fire, kindled from the nethermost hell. The Scripture abounds with invectives and execrations against it, Psalms 31:20 / Psalms 52:2-4 / Proverbs 12:18 / Proverbs 14:3 / James 3:1-8.’
Eliphaz says you will laugh at destruction and famine and need not fear the wild animals, Job 5:22. For you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals will be at peace with you, Job 5:23.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following concerning Job 5:23.
‘His land will be free from stones, a part of the general thought of being at peace with all creation, Proverbs 16:7. For the idea of a sympathy between man and nature see, Romans 8:19.’
You will know that your tent is secure and you will take stock of your property and find nothing missing, Job 5:24. What kind of friend would say to someone who has just lost their children, ‘you will know that your children will be many and your descendants like the grass of the earth’, Job 5:25.
The problem was, that he thought Job was sinful, when in fact he wasn’t because when all this is over, Job was indeed blessed with more children and he was rewarded with double possessions, Job 42:12-17, because he was right, it was Eliphaz who was wrong.
Eliphaz concluded that Job should listen to this tried and tested advice in order to deliver himself from his affliction, Job 5:27. What Job needed most of all at this point was to be loved and understood; he didn’t need to hear some theological, doctrinal argument as to why he was suffering.