Job 5:17-27

b) Accept his chastening and enjoy his blessings. (Job 5:17-27)

TEXT 5:17-27

17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth:

Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.

18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up;

He woundeth, and his hands make whole.

19 He will deliver thee in six troubles;

Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

20 In famine he will redeem thee from death;

And in war from the power of the sword.

21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue;

Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.

22 At destruction and dearth thou shalt laugh;

Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field;

And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

24 And thou shalt know that thy tent is in peace;

And thou shalt visit thy fold, and shalt miss nothing.

25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great,

And thine offspring as the grass of the earth.

26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age,

Like as a shock of grain cometh in its season.

27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is;

Hear it, and know thou it for thy good.

COMMENT 5:17-27

Job 5:17According to Eliphaz, suffering is always a form of divine discipline. This is also a thesis set forth in Elihu's speechesJob 32:19 ff, Proverb Job 3:11-12, which is quoted in Hebrews 12:5 ff. The emphasis is beautiful and moving in its attempt to bring Job to repentance. The thesis is only marred by its inapplicability to Job. He has not sinned; and Eliphaz's argument makes no impression on him. Thus the words which were meant for healing make his wounds smart the more (V. E. Reichert, Job, Soncino, p. 20). The word for God (Almighty) is Shaddai.[76] It occurs in the Old Testament approximately 48 times, mostly in Job. The word is present in other literature from the patriarchal periodGenesis 17:1; Exodus 6:3.

[76] The Book of Job uses Elohim 40 times, 31 times Shaddai, which only occurs 17 times more in the entire Old Testament, within poetic structure of Job proper; 55 times it uses EL Elohim (only once Job 12:8), and Jahweh (in chps. 1, 2, Job 38:1; Job 40, 42)31 times. See O. Grether, Name und Wort Gottes im Alten Testament, 1934; and G. R. Driver, The Original Form of the Name Jahweh, Zeitschrift fur die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft, 46, 1928, 7-25; Jean Leveque, Job et Son Dieu, Tome I, Paris: Gabalda, pp. 146-179; O. Eissfeldt, El im ugaritischen Pantheon, 1941; M. Pope, El in the Ugaritic Texts, V. T. S., II, 1955; D. N. Freedman, The Name of the God of Moses, JBL, 79 (1960), 151-6.

Job 5:18God almighty makes sore and also healsDeuteronomy 32:39; Hosea 6:1; and Isaiah 30:26.

Job 5:19Eliphaz enumerates the blessings which Job can expect if he follows his advice. The numerical idiom is common in Hebrew poetry (also in Ugaritic myths and epics), cf. Amos 1:3-13; Amos 2:1-16; Micah 5:4; Proverbs 6:16; Proverbs 30:15; Proverbs 30:18; Proverbs 30:29; and Ecclesiastes 11:2, Ecclesiastes 25:7. The related use of the multiple of seven and eleven occurs in the Song of LamechGenesis 4:24; and in Jesus-' answer to Peter's question in Matthew 18:22.[77]

[77] Regarding the Old Testament use of numerical proverbs, see W. M. W. Roth, Numerical Sayings in the Old Testament, Yetus Testamentum, Supplement XIII, 1965; and A. Bea, Biblica, 21 (1940), 196-8.

Job 5:20The almighty is able (Job) to deliver from famine, death, war, etc., those scourges of the ancient Near East.

Job 5:21For the tongue (lason) as a powerful weapon, see Isaiah 54:17; Jeremiah 18:18; Psalms 12:3-5; Psalms 31:21; and James 3:5-6. The destruction (soddevastation) of the tongue might refer to efforts at incantations and use of black magic. Hence, some commentators readseddemon for M. T. soddevastation. (The Hebrew sod occurs in the next verse in relationship to famine.)

Job 5:22The beasts of the field were feared in Palestine. One of Ezekiel's four sore judgment is the beastsJob 14:21.

Job 5:23Stones will not accumulate to mar the fields, nor beasts attack his flock. The word translated league is berith or covenant. It is as though they have a covenant with the rocks and beastsIsaiah 11:6-9.

Job 5:24Job describes the prosperity of the wicked in similar fashion in Job 21:7 ff. The A. V. renders the Hebrew pastoral term tent as fold and means dwelling as in Job 5:3. The word translated miss is one of the Hebrew terms for sin (ht-) which means to miss the mark or fail to attain a goal.[78] All of Job's property will be safe if he follows Eliphaz's suggestions.

[78] F. D. Coggan, Journal of the Manchester University Egyptian and Oriental Society, XVII, 1932, 53-6.

Job 5:25Eliphaz's orthodox theology is consistently untouched by human feeling. Eliphaz apparently has forgotten that Job's children were all destroyed. But he declares that his offspring will be greatIsaiah 34:1; Isaiah 42:5; Isaiah 53:10. This will come to pass, but how does Eliphaz know?

Job 5:26Eliphaz knows nothing of resurrection, only a full age (Hebrew kelah[79]full vigor). This is a quality here assured to the righteous. Eliphaz's pontifical announcements, which were meant to heal, only irritated Job's sore soul.

[79] See W. F. Albright, The Natural Force of Moses in the Light of Ugaritic, Bulletin American Society Oriental Research, 94, 1944, 32-5; and M. Dahood, Gregorianum 43, 1962, 66.

Job 5:27As Job's counselor, Eliphaz offered empty chaff well meant for grain. Though it is no comfort to Job, Eliphaz's discourse is one of the masterpieces of the book. With only partial vision, Eliphaz identified his words with exhaustive truth. This weakness vitiated his genuine concern for Job's condition. To Job all these fine words must have seemed bitterly inappropriate.[80]

[80] Much significant insight into Job from a counseling perspective is found in Wm. E. Hulme's Dialogue in Despair (Abingdon, 1968).