Job 5 Wrath foolish: the wicked miserable, Job 5:1–5. Evil cometh not by chance; it is natural to our condition, Job 5:6–7. This is our motive to prayer and trust in God, Job 5:8; whose unsearchable power and wisdom are against the high and crafty, for the relief of the poor, Job 5:9–16.

Call now, i.e. invite, or make proclamation, as this word is oft used, as Deut. 20:10, Judg. 12:1, Jer. 2:2, Jer. 3:12, Jer. 7:2. Call them all as it were by their names; consult the whole catalogue of them all, which thou didst ever know or hear of.

Either, 1. The wrath of God; or rather, 2. A man’s own wrath, fretting, and impatience, and indignation; which kills men, partly, naturally, as it preys upon a man’s spirit, and wasteth him inwardly, and so hastens his death, of which see Prov. 14:30, Prov.

I have oft observed it in my experience. Having severely rebuked Job for his transports of passion and intemperate speeches against God, he now returns to his former argument, and proves that such dreadful and destructive judgments of God do not befall the righteous, but the wicked, as he observed,…

His children; whose greatness and happiness he designed in all his enterprises, supposing that his family was and would be established for ever. Are far from safety, i.e.

Whose harvest, which they now justly and confidently expect to reap, after all their cost and labour for that end, but are sadly and suddenly disappointed; which is a great aggravation of their misery. The hungry, i.e.

Although, or for, or rather, because. So the following words may contain a reason why he should seek unto God, as he exhorts him, Job 5:8. Or, surely, as that particle is oft used. And so it is a note of his proceeding to another argument.

i.e. He is so commonly exposed to many and various troubles, as if he were born to no other end. Affliction is become in some sort natural and proper to man, and it is, together with sin, transmitted from parents to children, as their most certain and constant inheritance; God having allotted this…

If I were in thy condition; and therefore I would advise thee to the same course. Seek unto God, to wit, by prayer, and humiliation, and submission, imploring his pardon, and favour, and help, and not repine at him, and accuse his providence, as thou dost. Would I commit my cause, i.e.

Here Eliphaz enters upon a discourse of the infinite perfection and greatness of God’s nature and works; which he doth partly as an argument to enforce the exhortation to seek and commit his cause to God, Job 5:8, because God was infinitely able, either to punish him yet far worse, if he continued…

He beginneth with this ordinary and obvious work of God, in which he implies that there is something unsearchable and wonderful, as indeed there is in the rise of it from the earth, in the strange hanging of that heavy body in the air, and in the distribution of it as God sees fit, Amos 4:7; and…

These words contain either, 1. A declaration of God’s end in giving rain, which is to enrich those who were poor, or mourning for the drought, by sending rain, and making their lands fruitful; or rather, 2. Another example of God’s great and wonderful works.

Of the crafty; such as are cunning to work evil, and to cover it with fair pretences, as hypocrites use to do, and as Job’s friends charged him with doing: God breaks the hopes and designs of such men; as he hath now blasted thy expectation, and taken away thy outward happiness, which was the thing…

The wise in their own craftiness; wicked men, who are wise to do evil, and wise in the opinion of the world, he not only deceiveth in their hopes and counsels, but turns them against themselves; as we see in Ahithophel, Haman, &c.

i.e. In plain things they run into gross mistakes and errors, and commonly choose those counsels and courses which are worst for themselves. Darkness oft notes misery, but here ignorance or error, as it is also used Job 12:25, Job 37:19, and elsewhere.

The poor, or helpless; who therefore flee to God for refuge. From their mouth, or, from the sword which cometh out of their mouth, i.e. from all their censures, slanders, threatenings, deceitful insinuations, false swearings of witnesses, unrighteous sentences of corrupt judges, whereby their good…

So this poor man obtaineth what he in some measure hoped or expected from God, to whom he committed his cause; and other poor men will be encouraged by his example to place their hope in God. Iniquity, i. e.

Behold; for what I am saying, though most true, will not be believed without serious consideration. Happy is the man whom God correcteth, Heb. blessednesses (i.e.

Bindeth up, to wit, the wounds, as good surgeons use to do when they have dressed them, in order to their healing. Compare Ps. 147:3, Ezek. 34:4. The sense is, Though he hath seen it fit to wound thee, yet he will not always grieve thee, but will in due time release thee from all thy miseries.

He shall deliver thee, to wit, if thou seekest to him by prayer and repentance. Six, i.e. manifold or repeated; as six is used for many, Prov. 6:16. There shall no evil touch thee, to wit, so as to undo or destroy thee, as touching is used, Josh. 9:19, Heb. 11:28, 1 John 5:18, Gen. 26:11, Gen.

In famine; which Job might be thought to fear, as being so poor that he needed his friends’ contributions for his relief. From death; from that terrible kind of death.

Hid, i.e. protected, as in some secret and safe place. From the scourge of the tongue, i.e. from false accusations and virulent slanders and reproaches, either by diverting their tongues to other persons or things, or by clearing thy integrity.

Thou shalt not only be redeemed from famine, Job 5:20, and not fear destruction, Job 5:21, but thou shalt laugh at them; not with a laughter of scorn and contempt, as this word is used, Job 39:18, Ps. 2:4, Ps.

Thou shalt be free from any annoyance by stones, either in thy walking or other postures, or in thy ploughing, as if they had made an inviolable league with thee.

Thou shalt know, by certain and constant experience, that thy tabernacle, i.e. thy habitation, as it follows, including also the inhabitants, children, or friends and servants, shall be in peace; shall enjoy great safety from all their enemies, and concord among themselves, and prosperity in all…

Thou shalt know; partly by assurance from God’s promises, and the impressions of his Spirit; and partly by experience in due time. Thy seed shall be great; thy posterity, which God will give thee instead of those which thou hast lost, shall be high, and honourable, and powerful. Or, shall be many.

In a full age; in a mature and old, but vigorous, age, as the word implies. Thou shalt not be cut off by a hand of violence before thy time, as thy sons and other wicked men have been; but shalt die in a good old age, as did Abraham, Gen. 25:8, and Moses, Deut. 34:7.

It is not my single opinion, but my brethren concur with me, as thou wilt hear from their own mouths. This is no rash or hasty conceit, but what we have learned by deep consideration and hard study, long experience and diligent observation, both of God’s word, so far as he hath been pleased to…