Chapter Five

The second half of Eliphaz’s speech. 1–7. Job’s stubbornness, his continued murmuring may bring upon him the divine wrath. 8–27. Job must humble himself before God; under this condition his fate will change — he will be rewarded.

Job 5:1. Call now, if there is anyone to answer you, and to whom among the holy ones will you turn? The “holy ones,” that is, angels (Job 15:15; Ps 88:7-8; Dan 8:13) are impure in the eyes of God (Job 4:18); consequently, they cannot entertain the thought of the sinlessness of a being lower than themselves — man. Therefore, not one of them will vouch for him, Job, for his innocence, the undeservedness of his punishments. Job has no defenders either among men (Job 4:7-9) or among the heavenly beings.

Job 5:2. For wrath kills the fool, and anger slays one who goes astray. If, nevertheless, he will continue to murmur, to show impatience, then he will meet the fate of a fool, who brings upon himself by his murmuring the divine wrath (compare Eccl 10:4). The following (verse 8) description of the “fool” by the same characteristics as the wicked (Ps 36:35-36) indicates that by fool Eliphaz understands a sinner.

Job 5:3. Indeed, as I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble harvest the same. Examples of the destruction of the wicked are known to Eliphaz. Having repeatedly observed it, he was able to predict the misfortune awaiting the sinner (“he cursed his dwelling”) even at a time when there were as yet no obvious signs of disaster — when the “sinner took root” (compare Ps 36:35-36), was in the time of his strength and might.

Job 5:4. His children are far from safety, crushed in the gate, with no one to rescue them. Job 5:5. The hungry eat what he has harvested, and take it even out of the thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth. The manifestation of his prosperity and happiness are children and property (Job 21:8 and following). But the former, with time, suffer punishment from the representatives of justice (“crushed in the gate,” — Gen 34:20; Deut 22:24; Prov 22:22; Amos 5:10); the latter is plundered: the harvest, protected from plundering by a hedge of thorns (“take it even out of the thorns”), is enjoyed by the poor and hungry (compare Ps 36:25), and all his property — by “the thirsty,” that is, various robbers (Job 18:19).

Job 5:6. For affliction does not come from the dust, nor does trouble spring from the ground; Job 5:7. but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. The cases of the ruin of the wicked, observed by Eliphaz, give him the right to establish the general principle that the cause of suffering and misfortune lies not outside man but within him. His nature is such (“man is born to trouble”) that he commits transgression, which is inevitably followed by retribution. This property is as inherent in man as in the spark — the property of flying upward (Hebrew “reshef” is used and translated in various meanings: in Ps 77:48 — by the word “lightning,” in Ps 75:4 — “arrows”; “reshef.” Deut 32:24 and Hab 3:5 The LXX, Onkelos, Aquila, and Symmachus render by the word “bird.” The latter meaning is adopted in the Greek and Slavonic readings of the present verse: “birds of Hor,” that is, “of the hawk”).

Job 5:8. But I would seek God, and to God I would commit my cause. If sinfulness is rooted in the nature of man, then it should not be difficult for Job to confess his sinfulness before God and ask him for forgiveness. Thus the reasoning of verses 6–7 prepares the position of verse 8: instead of murmuring, Job must humble himself and turn to God.

Job 5:9. He does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number, The immediate motivation for such a turning, assuring its success, is the thought, on the one hand, of the goodness and mercy of God toward the unfortunate, and on the other — of the punishments with which the Lord strikes all the proud, those who resist him.

Job 5:10. who gives rain on the earth and sends water on the fields; Job 5:11. setting on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn are lifted to safety. The Lord, who waters the earth with waters (Ps 103:10-13; Jer 14:22) and transforms regions struck by drought into fertile lands (compare Ps 106:35-36), transforms human suffering and grief into joy (1 Sam 2:7-8).

Job 5:12. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success. Job 5:13. He catches the wise in their own craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end: Job 5:14. in the daytime they meet darkness, and at noon they grope about as though it were night. God is the avenger of the proud, those who trust in their own strength. He brings their intentions and enterprises to nothing, so that “their hands achieve no success,” literally from the Hebrew: “they will accomplish nothing lasting.” (The Hebrew word “tushiya,” here translated as “success,” is rendered differently in three other places in the book of Job: in Job 6:13 — “strength,” in Job 11:6 — “it should have been borne,” in Job 12:16 — “wisdom.” Derived by exegetes from the Arabic verb “yasa” — “to stand firm, to be lasting,” “tushiya” means: “firmness, permanence, lasting happiness, success”). The wicked perish from their own wickedness (verses 12–13; compare 2 Sam 17:1-7; 1 Cor 3:20); their successfully begun deeds encounter subsequently insurmountable obstacles that lead to their destruction (verse 14; compare Deut 28:29; Ps 34:5; Jer 23:12).

Job 5:15. He saves the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. Job 5:16. So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth. The Lord is the protector of the oppressed and the poor (verse 15; compare Ps 56:5), saving them from harm inflicted upon them by the mighty both in word and deed (compare Ps 106:42). Job 5:17-27. Application of the thoughts of verses 9–16 to Job.

Job 5:17. Happy is the man whom God reproves; therefore do not despise the discipline of the Almighty. Job 5:18. For he wounds and his hands also heal; he strikes, and his hands also make whole. From the connection of the second part of verse 17 with the first, it is clear that God reproves man through punishments. Reproof consists in the fact that the one being punished does not become angry, like a fool (verse 2), but comes to a consciousness of his sinfulness and humbles himself before God. The result of this is the blessedness and happiness of the one reproved. God raises up the humble and saves them; a similar fate awaits the one who has been reproved. God, who has inflicted wounds upon him, will himself heal them (verse 18; compare Deut 32:39; Lam 3:32; Hos 6:1). Having in mind the saving consequences of reproof, Job should not resist the calamities that have befallen him (Prov 3:11; Heb 12:5), murmur and become angry, as he has been doing until now.

Job 5:19. He will deliver you from six troubles; in seven no evil will touch you. If Job follows the advice of Eliphaz, the Lord will save him from calamities an unlimited number of times (“six-seven” — Prov 6:16; Prov 30:15).

Job 5:20. In famine he will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword. Job 5:21. You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, and you will not fear destruction when it comes. Job 5:22. At destruction and famine you will laugh, and you will not fear the wild animals of the earth, Job 5:23. for you will have a covenant with the stones of the field, and the wild animals of the earth will be at peace with you. The Lord will save him from death caused by hunger and the sword; from harm inflicted by the tongues of slanderers (verse 21; compare verses 15–16; Ps 56:5; Sir 28:20); from hostile relations with both inanimate and animate nature: stones will not harm the fertility of his fields (2 Sam 3:19; Isa 5:2), and wild animals will pose no threat to him and his herds (Lev 26:22; Deut 32:24; 1 Sam 20:36; 2 Sam 2:24; Ezek 5:17; Hos 2:20). Job 5:24-26. Job will be rewarded with blessings of a positive character.

Job 5:24. You will know that your tent is safe, and you will visit your fold and miss nothing. Not troubled by either men or external nature, he will enjoy peace: “your tent is safe” and abundance in all things: “you will visit your fold and miss nothing,” more precisely, “you will not lack anything,” since the Hebrew “lo-tehetah,” translated as “you will miss nothing,” comes from the verb “hata” — “to lack,” “to miss” (Judg 10:16; Prov 19:2).

Job 5:25. You will know that your offspring will be many, and your descendants like the grass of the earth. Job 5:26. You will come to the grave in a full age, as a shock of grain comes in in its season. In place of his dead children, he will have numerous, like the grass (Ps 143:12), offspring, and he himself will die in deep old age, satisfied with days.