Trouble comes upon us all eventually. You cannot get through this life without some adversity. Difficulties don’t always have obvious or apparent causes. The question, “why do bad things happen to good people?” is very much in the fore with Job in these early chapters. Job truly is a good person. He really is. To this point in his life, as much as we know about Job from the historical record, he really was a good person, completely undeserving of the troubles that befell him.
"There was a man in the land of Uz" by andrevanb is marked with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
1 “Call now, is there anyone who will answer you? And to which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 “For anger slays the foolish man, And jealousy kills the simple.
Job 5:1-2 (NASB)
Job is mad. He is angry at the world for the things happening to him because he can see no reason why they should be happening. Job runs through his life in his mind and keeps coming back to the idea that he is upright and righteous. Eliphaz continues his statement from chapter 4 here but puts a slight spin on it. Job is angry, but Eliphaz suggests that no one will respond to Job’s tirade because they are all in agreement with Eliphaz’s assessment of the situation.
3 “I have seen the foolish taking root, And I cursed his abode immediately.
Job 5:3 (NASB)
Eliphaz says this to demonstrate to Job that he doesn’t think Job is foolish because he hasn’t cursed Job or said anything even remotely like that to him. On the contrary, Eliphaz has been nothing but polite and complimentary.
4 “His sons are far from safety, They are even oppressed in the gate, And there is no deliverer.
5 “His harvest the hungry devour And take it to a place of thorns, And the schemer is eager for their wealth.
Job 5:4-5 (NASB)
These two verses depart from that foolish line, though. These two verses are things that have happened to Job recently. However, they are also things that happen to foolish people. This isn’t a confusion. It is to make a point to Job. Job is not foolish, so why is it then that Eliphaz makes this statement? The answer is in the following passage.
6 “For affliction does not come from the dust, Nor does trouble sprout from the ground,
Job 5:6 (NASB)
Eliphaz thinks he knows why Job is being afflicted, and he is laying the groundwork to try and convince Job he is right. This verse voices what Job has said to others before, which all four men believe. Bad things don’t just come out of nowhere.
7 For man is born for trouble, As sparks fly upward.
Job 5:7 (NASB)
This merely reinforces that Man was thrown out of the Garden of Eden and has to work his whole life for his food and shelter. It is something everyone knows and which some try to avoid. However, most of us know we have to work for a living, which is not something we typically enjoy.
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’; Cursed is the ground because of you; In toil you will eat of it All the days of your life.
18 “Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you; And you will eat the plants of the field;
19 By the sweat of your face You will eat bread, Till you return to the ground, Because from it you were taken; For you are dust, And to dust you shall return.”
Genesis 3:17-19 (NASB)
8 “But as for me, I would seek God, And I would place my cause before God;
9 Who does great and unsearchable things, Wonders without number.
10 “He gives rain on the earth And sends water on the fields,
11 So that He sets on high those who are lowly, And those who mourn are lifted to safety.
Job 5:8-11 (NASB)
We already know Job has not sinned against God in all that is happening to him. We also can be certain Job has prayed to God and asked Him to deliver him from his troubles. Job must be very confused because he knows what Eliphaz says is true, yet his prayers have not been answered.
12 “He frustrates the plotting of the shrewd So that their hands cannot attain success.
13 “He captures the wise by their own shrewdness, And the advice of the cunning is quickly thwarted.
14 “By day they meet with darkness, And grope at noon as in the night.
15 “But He saves from the sword of their mouth, And the poor from the hand of the mighty.
16 “So the helpless has hope, And unrighteousness must shut its mouth.
Job 5:12-16 (NASB)
Eliphaz keeps bouncing back and forth between God rewarding the righteous and punishing the wicked. We know Job is seen as righteous, but everything that’s happening to him is what happens to the wicked. Job keeps running through his mind what he’s been doing to try and find the “wicked things” he has done to deserve what is happening and he can’t find anything. Eliphaz knows this too, yet he still brings up what happens to unrighteous people.
17 “Behold, how happy is the man whom God reproves, So do not despise the discipline of the Almighty.
Job 5:17 (NASB)
Now we get to Eliphaz’s point. Eliphaz has assumed Job is guilty of some offense before God. It’s the only explanation for why all this hardship has befallen an otherwise righteous man. Eliphaz knows of nothing Job has done to deserve what’s happening. Yet it is so acute and so rapid he must have done something to offend God.
18 “For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, and His hands also heal.
19 “From six troubles He will deliver you, Even in seven evil will not touch you.
20 “In famine He will redeem you from death, And in war from the power of the sword.
21 “You will be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, And you will not be afraid of violence when it comes.
22 “You will laugh at violence and famine, And you will not be afraid of wild beasts.
23 “For you will be in league with the stones of the field, And the beasts of the field will be at peace with you.
24 “You will know that your tent is secure, For you will visit your abode and fear no loss.
25 “You will know also that your descendants will be many, And your offspring as the grass of the earth.
26 “You will come to the grave in full vigor, Like the stacking of grain in its season.
27 “Behold this; we have investigated it, and so it is. Hear it, and know for yourself.”
Job 5:18-27 (NASB)
Eliphaz finishes his speech with the emphatic statement that he knows these facts to be true based on all the evidence he has seen. Job is filled with worry, sorrow, and uncertainty. These are not emotions of a believer who puts all his or her worry onto God, trusting Him and His good purpose. Job knows there is some reason to be so worried and fraught with despair. Eliphaz takes all that has happened coupled with Job’s despair seeking to blame someone as a sure sign Job either consciously or subconsciously knows he has done something to offend God greatly.
Thank you for so faithfully sending me our SS lesson! This one is particularly rich in topics of current concern!