Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 5:17 - 5:27

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - Job 5:17 - 5:27


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Eliphaz Admonishes Job to Bear his Trial Patiently

v. 17. Behold, happy is the man,
the mortal, in all his feebleness, whom God correcteth, since such an action on the part of God shows His fatherly interest. Therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty, by a want of submission, by a rebellious attitude;

v. 18. for He maketh sore and bindeth up,
in order to heal the wound which He has inflicted, Hos_6:1; Deu_32:39; He woundeth, and His hands make whole. Cf Pro_3:11-13; Psa_94:12.

v. 19. He shall deliver thee in six troubles,
in a great number of afflictions; yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee, Psa_91:10. The believer, trusting in the goodness and mercy of Jehovah, is safe at all times.

v. 20. In famine He shall redeem thee from death,
Psa_33:19, and in war from the power of the sword, so that it cannot strike and kill.

v. 21. Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue,
from all slander and reviling, which would not be able to detract from his good name. Psa_31:20; Jer_18:18; neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh, no matter what catastrophe threatens, Psa_32:6.

v. 22. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh,
knowing that they are powerless to harm him; neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth, who in ancient times were often a severe scourge.

v. 23. For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field,
who would not harm the fertility of the soil nor interfere with its tilling; and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee, harming neither him nor his flocks and herds.

v. 24. And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle,
the tent where he dwelled and all his possessions, shall be in peace, altogether safe and uninjured; and thou shalt visit thy habitation and shalt not sin, rather, in reviewing thy household, thou findest no gap, nothing would be missing of all his property.

v. 25. Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great,
plentiful in numbers, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth, this being considered a very great blessing throughout the Bible, just as childlessness was regarded as a lack of blessing and even as a curse.

v. 26. Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age,
in a ripe old age, in unbroken vigor, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season, dead ripe, and carried up to the threshing-floor, yielding up its riches of grain.

v. 27. Lo this, we have searched it, so it is;
found out by careful investigating; hear it and know thou it for thy good, the warning being again addressed to Job, lest he once more murmur and complain. Note that Eliphaz speaks the truth, but not all the truth, for the application of his statements to the case of Job did not follow. It is a dangerous conclusion to infer that a fellow Christian is under God's wrath just because he is suffering misfortunes.