Call now, if there be any that will answer thee. Job 5:1-7 Moral evil as viewed by an enlightened natural religionist Homilist. How does Eliphaz appear to view sin? I. AS EXCLUDING THE SINNER FROM THE SYMPATHY OF THE GOOD. He may mean here, either, Who will sympathise with thy opinions as a sinner? or, Who will sympathise with thy conduct as a sinner? "Call now, if there be any that will answer thee." Thy conduct is such that none of the holy will notice thee. This was all untrue as applied to Job, yet it is perfectly true in relation to sin generally. Sin always excludes from the sympathy of the good. II. AS BY ITS OWN PASSIONS WORKING OUT THE DESTRUCTION OF THE SINNER. "Wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one." His own wrath and his own envy. The malefic passions, in all their forms, are destructive. III. AS ENJOYING PROSPERITY ONLY TO TERMINATE IN RUIN. 1. Sinners often prosper in the world. They "take root." 2. The prosperity must come to a termination. It is only temporary. It often vanishes during life. 3. At the termination the ruin is complete. IV. AS FATED TO PRODUCE MISERY WHEREVER IT EXISTS. 1. Misery follows sin by Divine ordination. 2. A sinful man, so sure as he is born, must endure trouble. Such was this old Temanite's view of moral evil, and, in the main, his view is true. ( Homilist. ) And envy slayeth the silly one. Job 5:2 Wrath and envy Homilist. I. WE HAVE WRATH. Notice — 1. Its nature. Wrath is not comely, but it is sometimes useful. A man who never knows anger is in nine case out of ten a colourless being who has neither energy nor brilliance nor power. God is angry. The apostle implies that it may be indulged in without sin. But there are extremes. It may betoken an ungoverned disposition; it may indicate a cruel, passionate, vindictive spirit. It may show a hasty, thoughtless, impetuous, unbalanced character. Apart from this, unnecessary wrath is disagreeable and unpleasant to all. Its habitual indulgence alienates all good. This brings us to note — 2. Its consequence — "Wrath killeth the foolish man." How does it kill? It killeth the best feelings. It stifles all sense of justice, right, caution, honour. It checks the best impulses and engenders cruelty. It killeth peace and happiness. How many an after-pang it produces, how bitter the divisions, the heart-burnings, the evil it causes! It filleth the body itself. Instances are not uncommon of life being forfeited in a fit of anger. It undermines the health and, even if it has no more effect, creates a morose, peevish, miserable disposition. II. ENVY. The word translated "envy" may mean "indignation." The two are only divided one from another by a very narrow line. Envy is an evil indignation with another because he happens to be better off than ourselves. We are told that "envy slayeth the silly man." Notice how this is the case —(1) It weareth away his peace. Look at Ahab envying the vineyard of Naboth. For desire the covetous man fretteth away his life.(2) It recoils with fatal consequences. It causes deadly results. It leads to the commission of crimes, which bring deadly punishments. Envy is the father of murder. It urged on Cain to put his brother to death. Hence it causeth the slaying of those who give way to it. One word on the description of the characters here spoken of. They are called "foolish" and "silly." What apt and suggestive names for those who give way to the influence of such injurious and pernicious passions, as they afterwards find to their own injury and loss! The name applied to those who refuse to obey the dictates of Divine wisdom is "fools." ( Homilist. ) Affliction cometh not forth of the dust. Job 5:6, 7 Human suffering W. Craig. "Affliction comet, h not forth of the dust, nor doth trouble spring out of the ground." The liability of man to suffering is one of the most palpable truths addressed to our observation or experience, and at the same time one of the most affecting that can call forth the susceptibilities of a well-regulated mind. Innumerable and diversified are the immediate or proximate causes from which these sorrows spring. The study of human suffering is unquestionably a melancholy one, and to some it may appear not only gloomy but also useless. It is therefore, above all things, expedient that we labour to extract from suffering its due improvement, as forming one part, and an important part, of the dealings towards us of a God of mercy — a God who has engaged to make all things work together for the good of His people. I. IS THERE ANYTHING IN US OF OURSELVES THAT NATURALLY OR NECESSARILY EXPOSES US TO SUFFERING? The text at least insinuates that there is. It is strong even in its negative statement, and replete with meaning, when it informs us that "affliction cometh not of the dust." Reason tells us that in ourselves there must be some provoking cause of the woes we feel. We must have offended our Maker. Revelation settles this matter on a surer basis. The great fact is, that by sin the human race have purchased sorrow, and by their guilt they have provoked it. Never has there lived and died a man whose history has not furnished evidences innumerable of the dependence of sorrow upon sin. In many instances we can trace up a definite affliction to a definite sin. These instances concern both individuals and nations. II. HAS GOD ANY BENEVOLENT END IN VIEW IN INFUSING AFFLICTION SO COPIOUSLY INTO THE CUP OF OUR TEMPORAL LOT? That suffering, while it traces itself to sin, as its provoking cause, is measured out by the God of heaven, and is decidedly under His control, at once as to degree and duration, is a truth which we deem it unnecessary to pause in proving. How are we to reconcile the Divine agency in the matter with the goodness and the love which, while they characterise, at the same time constitute, the glory and the grandeur of His nature? 1. God often sends afflictions to His enemies for the purpose of melting their hearts and subduing them to Himself. Even in the natural world, and in the conduct of men, we are conversant with such a thing as the production of real good out of seeming evil. Every day and hour God is making the dispensations of His providence, more especially afflictive dispensations, to subserve, to pave the way for, and to promote, the purposes of His grace. As God pulverises, purifies, and invigorates the weary soil by the keen blasts, the nipping frosts, and the drifting snows of winter, thus preparing it for a favourable reception of the seed by the husbandman in the spring, so does God not unfrequently, by the rude storm of adversity or the chilling visitation of affliction, soften, melt down, and prepare the barren hearts of the children of men for the good seed of the Word of truth. 2. God often sends affliction to His enemies with a view to their conversion into friends. And when He visits it upon His people, it is for the purpose of promoting their improvement and advancement in the Divine life. Even in the case of the wicked, God's judgments are not necessarily of a penal character. But uniformly, and without exception, in the case of His genuine people, affliction is sent in love. And inconceivably various are the benevolent ends affliction is calculated to subserve and promote. Learn that we should be humble under affliction. The simple reflection that it springs from and is attributable to our own disobedience and guilt should be sufficient to summon up and to keep alive this emotion. We should also learn to be resigned when the hand of the Almighty is laid upon us. And in every case we should seek to improve affliction for God's glory and our own good. ( W. Craig. ) The uses of suffering T. W. Maya, M. A. It is a common thing for men to look upon pain as wholly evil. But deeper reflection shows that suffering is not thus purely evil — a thing to be utterly feared and hated. It is often an instrument employed for good. I. SUFFERING CANNOT BE WHOLLY EVIL. 1. A life without trouble would be one of the worst things for man. 2. Nothing which is a necessity of our nature is utterly evil. Suffering is one of those things which no one can avoid in this imperfect state of existence. 3. The innocent often suffer. A great deal of pain is endured which cannot be deemed retributive, cannot be termed punishment. Look at the animal creation, and at the sorrows which men unjustly endure — the cruel wrongs of poor slaves, innocent prisoners, and oppressed peoples. 4. The most highly gifted natures are the most susceptible of pain. 5. Jesus Christ condescended to endure suffering. II. SUFFERING ANSWERS USEFUL PURPOSES. 1. It is a motive power in the development of civilisation. 2. It is one of the great regenerative forces of society. 3. One of the most beneficent uses consists in its preventive power. 4. It is the necessary condition of sacrifice. 5. It affords scope for the exercise of the passive virtues, 6. It will make the joys of heaven more rich and sweet. Remember that all discipline benefits or injures according to the spirit in which we receive it. ( T. W. Maya, M. A. ) The troubles of life Divinely appointed N. Emmons, D. D. I. THIS IS A TROUBLESOME WORLD. 1. The elements of which the world is composed are not only troublesome, but often destructive to mankind. 2. The great changes which take place in the world from year to year render it not only troublesome, but very distressing and destructive to its inhabitants. Every one of the four seasons of the year brings with it peculiar trials, labours, dangers, and diseases. 3. Many parts of the world are filled with a vast variety of animals, which are extremely hostile and troublesome to mankind. 4. This world is full of evil, on account of the moral depravity which universally prevails among its human inhabitants. Man is the greatest enemy of man. 5. This is a troublesome world on account of the heavy and complicated calamities which are inflicted by the immediate hand of God. II. WHY HAS GOD ORDAINED THIS STATE OF THINGS? He could have made this world as free from trouble as any other world now is, or even will be. There is reason to believe that God framed the world in view of the apostasy of Adam, and adapted it to the foreseen state of his sinful posterity. 1. God ordained this to be a troublesome world, because mankind deserve trouble. 2. To wean mankind from it. 3. To prepare those who live in it for their future and final state. Improvement —(1) Since God has ordained this to be a troublesome world, it is a very great favour that He has given us His Word, which unfolds His wise and holy designs in making and governing all things.(2) God has wise and good reasons for not making this world any more troublesome than it is.(3) As all are born to trouble, some are not so much more happy than others as we imagine.(4) It is folly and presumption in any to expect that they shall escape the common evils of life, and enjoy uninterrupted prosperity and happiness.(5) We ought to live in the universal exercise of sympathy and compassion, and in submission to the will of God.(6) All who live in this troublesome world should be truly religious. ( N. Emmons, D. D. ) On affliction T. Laurie, D. D. I. AFFLICTION IS THE APPOINTMENT OF PROVIDENCE. What the vanity of false science would ascribe to second causes is, by sound observation, as well as by the sacred writings, attributed to the providence of God. It is neither the effect of chance nor the result of blind necessity. Here complete happiness is not the destined portion of mortals. On this point personal experience will not contradict the report of general observation. "We are born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward." The present is a probationary stage. In the first stage of our being we are subjected to moral discipline. To a probationary state, suffering is requisite. II. AFFLICTION IS INTENDED TO IMPROVE OUR NATURE AND PROMOTE OUR HAPPINESS. It contributes much to the formation of a character that is amiable and respectable. It purifies the soul, strengthens mutual sympathy, and makes us men of a milder nature. It produces pious resignation and humility. Adversity is a happy means of correcting the haughty disposition. Affliction has often humbled the mighty. It begets fortitude. A brave and generous people, becoming affluent and luxurious, lose their martial intrepidity and their virtue. They who struggle with hazards and hardships acquire the highest energy of soul — a firm, intrepid spirit, that is not disquieted by apprehensions and alarms, nor even appalled by danger which threatens existence. Affliction does us good by moderating our attachment to the world. When the angel of adversity takes away those gifts from the prosperous which engrossed their affection, it is fixed more on the Giver. Affliction is the salutary correction of a Father, who intends it to be ultimately productive of the happiness of His children. The Lord makes good to arise out of evil. Present trouble is connected with future happiness. Then "sorrow not as those who have no hope." Never indulge gloomy views of human life, nor murmur at the chastening of the Almighty. Always act a virtuous part. It is guilt, and guilt alone, which arms affliction with the stings of scorpions. Be virtuous, and you shall never have the bitterness of remorse to add to the severity of misfortune. ( T. Laurie, D. D. ) On afflictions G. Gaff. Why is misery permitted to enter into the creation, to interrupt its harmony, to deface its beauty, and counteract the plan of the Creator? Some heathens have inferred that the world cannot be under the care and direction of an all-powerful Superintendent. Some philosophers say the souls of men had existed in a former state, and the evils and sufferings of this life were to be considered as inflictions for crimes committed in their state of pre-existence. Others framed the hypothesis of two supreme, co-eternal, and co-equal beings, acting in opposition to each other. The sacred writings give a different account of those evils that afflict mankind. It is in them taught that the degenerate state of our nature requires Such correction and discipline, such an intermixture of good and evil as we now observe and experience in the world. Our present state of being is a state of trial or school of virtue. Afflictions, far from being indications of God's neglecting and disregarding His creatures, are expressions of His paternal care and affection. The afflictions of heaven are never sent but with a merciful intention. Notice some moral and religious advantages that may result from afflictions. 1. Afflictions have a natural tendency to form us to virtue by disposing the mind to consideration. Sin cannot stand the test of consideration. Suffering has a natural tendency to reform the disobedient and inadvertent, to confirm and improve the virtues of the good, and to secure and advance the future happiness of both. 2. Sufferings remind us of God's providence and of our dependence. This they do by the conviction they bring that our strength is but weakness, and that we are subject to infirmities which we cannot remove, and to wants which we cannot supply. 3. Sufferings have a tendency to correct in us a too partial and confined attachment to the world. It is doubtless in the actual power of the Almighty to secure Us a smooth and easy passage through this vale of life, and guard us from all evil. But what His power might grant His wisdom sees fit to withhold. In our future state, when we take a retrospective view of our lives, they will appear in a light very different from that in which we see them at present. What we now consider as misfortunes and afflictions will appear to have been mercies and blessings. We shall see that the intentions of the Deity were benevolent when His inflictions seemed severe. Let us, then, meet every dispensation of Providence with the most submissive resignation to the will of that supremely gracious Sovereign of nature whose unerring wisdom can alone determine what is good or evil for us, and whose unbounded goodness will direct all things finally to the happiness of His creatures. ( G. Gaff. ) Preparation for and improvement of our afflictions M. Hale. The words of Eliphaz imply that the general state of man in this world is a state of trouble and affliction. Yet those afflictions and troubles do neither grow up by a certain regular and constant source of nature, nor are they merely accidental and casual. They are sent, disposed, directed, and managed by the conduct and guidance of the most wise providence of Almighty God. If there were no other ends in God's sharp providence than to keep men humble and disciplinable, His ways would be highly justified. I. WHAT PREPARATION IS FIT TO BE MADE EVERY MAN BEFORE AFFLICTIONS COME. 1. A sound conviction of the truth that no man can by any means expect to be exempt from afflictions. Every man shares in common public calamities. And every man has his own personal evils, such as befall the body, the estate, the name, or men's friends and relations. No man is exempt from these crosses at any time by any special privilege, and sometimes they have fallen in together in their perfection, even upon some of the best men that we read of. Even the most sincere piety and integrity of heart and life cannot give any man any exemption or privilege from afflictions of some kind. This consideration may silence that murmuring and unquiet and proud distemper that often ariseth in the minds of good men; they are ready to think themselves injured if they fall under the calamities incident to mankind. They sometimes even take up the idea that they are hated or forsaken of God because sorely afflicted. 2. Another preparative is to reason ourselves off from overmuch love and valuation of the world. Philosophy hath made some short essay in this business, but the doctrine of the Gospel has done more.(1) By giving us a plain and clear estimate and valuation of this world; and(2) by showing us a more valuable, certain, and durable estate after death, and a way of attaining it. 3. Another preparative is to keep piety, innocence, and a good conscience before it comes. Have the soul as clear as may be from the guilt of sin, by an innocent and watchful life in the time of our prosperity, and by a sincere and hearty repentance for sin committed. 4. Next preparative is to gain a humble mind. When affliction meets with a proud heart, full of opinion of its own worth and goodness, there ariseth more trouble and tumult than can arise from the affliction itself. If any man considers aright, he hath many important causes to keep his mind always humble. 5. Another preparative is a steady resolved resignation of a man's self to the will and good pleasure of Almighty God. That will is sovereign, wise, and beneficent. 6. The last preparative is, labour to get thy peace with God through Jesus Christ. II. HOW AFFLICTIONS INCUMBENT UPON US ARE TO BE RECEIVED, ENTERTAINED, AND IMPROVED. 1. A man under affliction should have a due consideration of God as a God of infinite wisdom, justice, and mercy. 2. He should realise that afflictions do not rise out of the dust, but are sent and managed by the wise disposition of Almighty God. 3. That the best of men are visited by afflictions, and it is but need they should. 4. That all the Divine dispensations are so far beneficial or hurtful as they are received and used. 5. The consequences of all these considerations lead us into the following duties: To receive affliction with all humility, with patience, and subjection of mind; to return unto God, who afflicts; to pray unto God; to depend and trust upon God; to be thankful; to put ourselves upon a due search and examination of our hearts and ways. III. THE TEMPER AND DISPOSITION OF MIND WE SHOULD HAVE UPON AND AFTER DELIVERANCE FROM AFFLICTIONS. 1. We ought solemnly to return our humble and hearty thanks to Almighty God. 2. Endeavour to express the thankfulness by a sincere and faithful obedience to the will of God. 3. Take good heed lest the heart be lifted up into presumption upon God. And — 4. Be vigilant and watchful lest evil take you at unawares. Nothing is more likely to procure affliction than security and unpreparedness of mind. It is well also to keep deliverances out of affliction in memory. ( M. Hale. ) Is affliction reasonable S. O'Sullivan, A. M. ? — This world really is what it seems to be — a passing stage for the discipline and improvement of beings destined for another existence. It is, however, one thing to theorise soberly and rationally upon the wondrous plan of Providence, and another to apply the truth which is thus recognised practically to ourselves. While we cannot help believing what appears to be true, such belief may go but a very short way in determining us to do what appears to be reasonable. Hence the variance between profession and practice, between principle and conduct, which appears in the world. And hence the necessity for some more pressing and operative motives than those of mere abstract reason and conviction, to compel such an attention to the truths of our Divine religion as may make its efficacy savingly felt If the first and greatest of the uses of adversity be to lead us to the knowledge of God, the second in importance is to make us feel for our fellow men, and to call into exercise our dormant charities. What manner of man is he who can behold unmoved the piteous spectacle of human misery which everyday life exhibits? Truly, not such an one as either approves himself to his God or recommends himself to his fellow men. God's dealings with us have their chiefest reference to the purification of our hearts and minds, and the development of our faculties and affections. As far as these ends are produced, the purposes of His providence are answered. But His object vindicates His goodness, His means approve His wisdom. Important as is the duty of relieving the distressed, it is subordinate to the still more important one of purifying our own hearts and minds, and renewing a right spirit within us. Indeed, it is only as the former is subservient to the latter of these duties that it can be religiously commended. Have we, then, any bowels of compassion toward our fellow men, or any sentiment of gratitude towards God, if we withhold that liberal exercise of charity which He has thus graciously promised to consider as done unto Himself by imputation? The means with which you have been blessed by Providence have not been conferred upon you chiefly or primarily for your own sakes. ( S. O'Sullivan, A. M. ) The shortness and vanity of human life S. Clarke, D. D. I. A PATHETICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE SHORTNESS, ETC., OF HUMAN LIFE. Afflictions and calamities of innumerable kinds seem necessarily and constantly to attend the life of man. II. A DECLARATION THAT THESE MISERIES AND TROUBLES DO NOT ARISE FROM CHANCE OR NECESSITY. They come from the wise providence of God governing the world. This, indeed, is the only true and solid comfort that can possibly be afforded to a rational and considerate mind. III. IT IS IMPLIED THAT THERE ARE MANY JUST AND GOOD AND USEFUL ENDS UPON ACCOUNT OF WHICH GOD PERMITS SO MANY AFFLICTIONS. 1. Some of those things which we usually esteem among the troubles and afflictions of life are such as may justly, and must necessarily, be resolved into the absolute sovereignty and dominion of God. Of this kind are mortality in general, and the shortness of human life; the unequal distribution of riches and honour and the good things of this present life; the different capacities and abilities of mind; the different tempers and constitutions of body; the different states and conditions wherein God has originally placed man in the world. Of these things there can, there needs, be no other account given than the absolute sovereignty and dominion of God. Hath not the Master a right to employ His servants in what several stations He pleases, more or less honourable, provided, in His final distribution, He deals equitably with each of them in their several and respective degrees? 2. A greater part of the troubles of life, and the afflictions we are apt to complain of, are not the immediate and original appointment of God at all, but the mere natural effects and consequences of our own sin. Most sins, even in the natural consequences of things, are, at some time or other, attended with their proper punishment. This consideration ought to make us acquiesce, with all humility and patience, under that burden which not God, but our own hands have laid upon us. But even the afflictions which are the consequences of our own folly may, by a wise improvement, by bearing them as becomes us, and by exercising ourselves to wisdom under them, become the matter of an excellent virtue, and may turn into the occasion of much religious advantage. 3. Some of the greatest afflictions and calamities of life are the effects of God's public judgments upon the world for the wickedness and impiety of others. These are sufficient grounds of contentment and acquiescence, of willing submission and resignation to the Divine will. The ends God intends in afflictions are four — 1. To teach us humility and a just sense of our own unworthiness. 2. To lead us to repentance for our past errors. 3. To wean us from an over-fond love of the present world. 4. To try, improve, and perfect our virtues, and make some particular persons eminent examples of faith and patience to the world.Two inferences.(1) It is a very wrong and unjust conclusion to imagine, with Job's friends, that whoever is much afflicted must consequently have been very wicked, and that God is very angry with him.(2) From what has been said there appears great reason for men to resign themselves with all patience to the will of God; and to rely upon Him with full trust and assurance (in all possible circumstances of life) that He will direct things finally to our best advantage. ( S. Clarke, D. D. ) Trouble a part of human life A life without trouble would be very uninteresting. Our opportunities for greatness would be narrowed down if trials were gone. I watched a glorious sunset, marvelling at the beauty wherewith the evening skies were all ablaze, and adoring Him who gave them their matchless colouring. On the next evening I resorted to the same spot, hoping to be again enraptured with the gorgeous pomp of ending day, but there were no clouds, and therefore no glories. True, the canopy of sapphire was there, but no magnificent array of clouds to form golden masses with edges of burning crimson, or islands of loveliest hue set in a sea of emerald; there were no great conflagrations of splendour or flaming peaks of mountains of fire. The sun was as bright as before, but for lack of dark clouds on which to pour out his lustre his magnificence was unrevealed. A man who should live and die without trials would be like a setting sun without clouds; he would have scant opportunity for the display of those virtues with which the grace of God had endowed him. ( C. H. Spurgeon . ) I would seek unto God. Job 5:8, 9 Marvels and prayer J. Leckie, D. D. Nothing could be better than the counsel proffered in the text, nothing more certain than the grounds on which he rests his counsel. To seek unto God, and spread out one's cause before Him, that must be the best thing to do in any emergency. Does not the wonderful actually take place often in human life? Is it only in the great world that marvels occur, unexpected and great elevations, turnings, unfoldings, light, and help? Is it not mere blindness that refuses to see the marvellous in our own sphere, and seeks it far away in old times, or on foreign shores? If we believe that God encompasses and pervades all human life, shall we not see God's hand in all these things, and learn to look to Him with expectation, what, ever our circumstances may be? I. WHY, THEN, DO WE NOT EXPECT MARVELLOUS THINGS FROM GOD? 1. One reason is that we go too much by past experience. We have difficulty in rising above the familiar. 2. Some think too much of law. The idea of law pervading all things, not only facts and phenomena of nature, but thought and feeling, soul and. heart, has wrought itself deep into many minds. There seems no room for the strange, the marvellous. Men forget two things, freedom and God. A spirit is something not included in the rigid system of law. A spirit is itself a cause, and originates. It produces. That lies in the very nature of a moral being; and God is infinitely free, and deals with the soul in ways unsearchable. 3. Men think only of their own working, and not of God's. Consequently they settle down into small expectations. 4. We fear to lessen our own diligence by the expectation of great and marvellous things being done for us. II. SOME REASONS WHY WE SHOULD CHERISH THE EXPECTATION OF THE GREAT AND MARVELLOUS. Such an expectation is essential to the praying spirit. Prayer expects great things. Could it not breathe courage and joy into us in our own individual sphere, if we could live habitually in the belief that God may do astonishing things for us — raising us out of difficulties, opening a way for us where none appears? ( J. Leckie, D. D. ) Refer all to God Quiver. Zachary Macaulay and Wilberforce, the friends of slaves, lived near to each other and were great friends. The latter had such a high opinion of the learning of the former that when he wanted information about any matter he would cry jokingly, "Come, let us look it out in Macaulay." To compare small things with great, this is just what we ought to do when in a moral difficulty. "Come," we should say, "let us look it out in Christ: what would He wish us to say or do in this matter?" It is chiefly because the Bible tells us the mind of God as revealed in Jesus Christ that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. ( Quiver. ) Which doeth great things and unsearchable. The great God as viewed by an enlightened natural religionist Homilist. He regarded Him as — I. A TRUSTWORTHY GOD. Four things demonstrate the trustworthiness of the Almighty. 1. His love. We could not trust an unloving God. Before we commit our cause, our interest, our all to any being, we must be assured of his love to us. 2. His truthfulness. Truthfulness lies at the foundation of trustworthiness. It is, alas, too true that we trust the false, but we trust them believing that they are true. God is true in Himself. He is truth. He is the One Great Reality in the universe. God is true in His revelations. It is "impossible for Him to lie." 3. His capacity. Capability of realising what we expect and need in the object in which we confide is essential to trustworthiness. 4. His constancy. Constancy is essential to trustworthiness. II. That he regarded Him as a WONDER WORKING GOD. His God was not merely a trustworthy, but an active God. 1. Eliphaz refers to His works in general, "which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number," or as the margin has it, "till there be no number" — passing beyond the bounds of arithmetical calculation. To all His numerous works he applies the epithets "great," "unsearchable," "marvellous." His works in the material universe are wonderful. Go through all the scientific cyclopaedias in the libraries of the world, and you will only have a few specimens of His marvellous achievements. Take the microscope, and you may, like Leeuwenhoek, discover a thousand million animalculae, whose united bulk will not exceed the size of a grain of sand, and all having distinct, formations, with all the array of functions essential to life. Take the telescope: and survey "the milky way," and you will find the central suns of a million systems all larger than the solar economy to which our little planet belongs. His works in the spiritual world are even more wonderful. 2. Eliphaz refers to His works in particular.(1) He refers to the vegetable sphere. "Who giveth rain upon the earth: and sendeth waters upon the fields." What a blessed thing is rain! In seasons of drought its value is deeply felt. Our little sages ascribe rain to certain laws: they point us to the shifting of winds and changing of temperatures as the causes of rain. But this old sage of Teman referred the showers to God. "He giveth rain upon the earth." This is inspired philosophy.(2) He refers to the human sphere. He sees God in human history. In God's conduct towards mankind he sees two things. He favours the good. He confounds the evil. ( Homilist. ) God a great worker J. Caryl. The works of God answer the style or attributes of God. He is a great God, and His are great works. The works of God speak

Benson Commentary Job 5:1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? Job 5:1 . Call now, &c. — Wouldst thou know the reason why I relate to thee this night vision? I do it with an intent that thou mayest apply it to thyself, and thy present circumstances. Thou hast heard how weak and imperfect the best of men must be in comparison with God, but if this does not satisfy thee, if thou dost not believe what has been advanced, thou mayest inquire of others. Try, therefore, if there be any one that will defend thee in these thy bold expostulations with God. Thou mayest find fools or wicked men that will do it, but not one of the children of God. There is no good man but is of my opinion; and if an angel should appear to thee as one did to me, thou wouldst receive no other information but this. Job 5:2 For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one. Job 5:2 . For wrath killeth the foolish man, &c. — That is, say some, a man’s wrath and impatience prey upon his spirit, and so hasten his death. But the meaning seems rather to be, as Bishop Patrick observes, that “God in his anger and indignation destroys the wicked, and such as err from his precepts.” It is probable that Eliphaz intended to distinguish Job by the characters of foolish and silly one, to insinuate that all his misfortunes were owing to his folly and weakness, or to his sins and vices. By the foolish is meant the rash and inconsiderate man, who does not weigh things impartially; and by the silly one, the man who, for want of true wisdom, is soon deceived with false opinions, and with appearances of present things. Job 5:3 I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation. Job 5:3 . I have seen the foolish taking root — I have observed the wicked man, whom I term foolish, as being destitute of true, that is, of heavenly, wisdom, not only prosperous for the present, but, as it seemed, firm and secure for the future, being strongly fortified with power and riches, and children too, so that there was no likelihood or apparent danger of a change; but suddenly — In a moment, before any one’s expectation; I cursed his habitation — I saw, by the event which followed his prosperity, that he was a man under a divine curse, and that, notwithstanding the seeming depth and strength in which he vainly promised himself a permanent, unshaken situation for many years, all his hopes were built on a weak and false foundation. Thus Eliphaz answers an objection concerning the present seeming prosperity of the wicked, which he confesses that he himself had sometimes observed, but which, he insists, was of short duration, destructive judgments from God unexpectedly overwhelming them. Job 5:4 His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them . Job 5:4 . His children — Whose greatness he designed in all his enterprises, supposing his family would be established for ever; are far from safety — Are exposed to dangers and calamities, and can neither preserve themselves, nor the inheritance which their fathers left them. There is no question but he glances here at the death of Job’s children; and they are crushed in the gate — That is, in the place of judicature, to which they are brought for their offences, and where they find severe judges, and few or no friends; because, being wickedly educated, and trusting to their own greatness, they had been insolent and injurious to all their neighbours; as also because those many persons, whom their powerful fathers had defrauded or oppressed, seek for justice and the recovery of their rights, which they easily obtain, against persons who plainly declared, by their actions, that they neither feared God nor regarded man, and therefore were hated by all sorts of people. Neither is there any to deliver them — They can find no advocates or assistants who are either able or willing to help them: for, as their hand was formerly against every man, so now every man’s hand is against them. Justice, therefore, takes hold on them, and will not let them escape. Job 5:5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance. Job 5:5 . Whose harvest — Which they confidently expected to reap after all their cost and labour; The hungry eateth up — The hungry Sabeans, or the poor, whose necessities make them greedy and ravenous to eat it all up; so that he can never recover it, or any thing in recompense of it. As if he had said, They may cultivate their ground with the utmost care, and sow it with the choicest seed, in expectation of reaping, at the usual time, the fruits of their labour; but when once the sentence of the judge is declared against them, behold, instead of carrying in, and filling their barns and store-houses with the great and plentiful increase, their field is laid open to the hungry poor, who soon devour their whole harvest. And take it even out of the thorns — That is, out of the fields, notwithstanding the strong thorn-hedges wherewith it is enclosed and fortified; and in spite of all the dangers or difficulties which may be in their way. They will take it, though they be scratched and wounded by the thorns about it. And the robber swalloweth up their substance — The word ???? , tzammim, here rendered robber, occurs but once more, namely, Job 18:9 , where Bildad, taking it for granted that Job must be a wicked man, says the robber, tzammim, shall prevail against him. R. Levi derives it from tzammah, hair, and says it represents a man who suffers his hair to grow long and squalid, and appears with a terrible countenance. It may however signify thirsty, as derived from another root. Either way it points out a set of savage and barbarous plunderers. The word ??? Š shaaph, rendered swalloweth up, literally means to draw in the air, to pant after, to swallow greedily; and is applied to wild beasts, snuffing up the wind in pursuit of their prey. The sense of the clause is, that these robbers shall hasten with great eagerness, shall greedily pant after and swallow up their entire substance, so as to leave them in the most deplorable condition. Job 5:6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground; Job 5:6 . Although affliction cometh not forth out of the dust — The word ??? , aven, here rendered affliction, rather signifies iniquity, and the clause is literally, Iniquity cometh not forth out of the dust; neither doth trouble spring out of the ground — That is, says Dr. Dodd, “As the wickedness of men does not proceed from any natural cause, but from their own free-will; so neither are their miseries to be considered as the effects of natural causes, but as the distributions of a free agent likewise, namely, of a just God, who suits men’s punishments to their crimes; and hence man, being prone to sin, is necessarily born to suffer,” as is signified in the next verse. Job 5:7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward. Job 5:7 . Yet man is born to trouble, &c. — He is so commonly exposed to various troubles, as if he were born to no other end: affliction is become natural to man, and is transmitted from parents to children, as their constant inheritance; God having allotted this portion to mankind for their sins. And therefore thou takest a wrong course in complaining so bitterly of that which thou shouldst patiently bear, as the common lot of mankind. As — As naturally, and as generally, as the sparks of fire fly upward — Why then should we be surprised at our afflictions, as strange, or quarrel with them, as hard? This last clause, literally translated from the Hebrew, is, As the sons of the burning coal raise themselves up to fly. Instead, however, of sparks, or the sons of the coal, the author of the Vulgate writes, Homo nascitur ad laborem, et avis ad volatum, man is born for labour, (or trouble, ) and the bird for flying; reading, ?? Š, gnoph, a bird, for gnuph, to fly. To the same purpose is the interpretation of the LXX., Syr. and Arab. Job 5:8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: Job 5:8 . I would seek unto God, &c. — If I were in thy condition, instead of accusing the dispensations of Divine Providence, and repining under them, I would apply to God, by a full and free confession of those sins which have drawn this sad calamity upon me, and by sincere repentance, humiliation, and submission to his will: to God, who is able to do wonders, (as he presently adds,) and who can and will restore thee to thy former happy state, if he sees that thou art penitent for thy past transgressions, and hast reformed thy conduct. For this is the whole purport of the following part of his speech, namely, to give him hopes of a happy turn to his condition, if he would do what he thought was absolutely necessary to be done in this case; make a frank confession of those crimes which had brought down this severe chastisement upon him. See Peters and Dodd. And unto God would I commit my cause — Would resign myself and all my concerns to him, and humbly hope for relief from him. And let my cause be what it would, and my own opinion of it ever so favourable, I would commit it wholly to him, and leave him to judge and determine it. Job 5:9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number: Job 5:9 . Which doth great things and unsearchable — Here Eliphaz enters upon a discourse of the infinite perfection of God’s nature and works; which he does 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 to provoke him, or to raise him from the dust, if he humbly addressed himself to him: and that, by a representation of God’s excellence and glory, and of that vast disproportion which was between God and Job, he might convince Job of his great sin in speaking so boldly and irreverently of him. Marvellous things — Which (though common, and therefore neglected and despised, yet) are matter of wonder to the wisest men. The works of nature are mysteries: the most curious searches come far short of full discoveries; and the works of Providence are still more deep and unaccountable. Job 5:10 Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields: Job 5:10 . Who giveth rain upon the earth — He begins with this ordinary work of God, in which he implies that there is something 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; and how much more in the hidden paths of Divine Providence! And sendeth waters upon the fields — When the scorching heat of the sun is so strong and intense as to dry up and consume almost every herb of the field, every green thing upon the face of the earth, God, in great compassion, opens the windows of heaven, and pours down a gracious, refreshing, and long- wished-for rain; by which wonderful supply the springs and rivers, which were much exhausted, and, in a manner, had quite disappeared, do now rise and swell to their usual height; nay, are not only full, but overflow, so as to reach several distant places which waited, as it were, for refreshment from those superabundant treasures. Job 5:11 To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety. Job 5:11 . To set up on high those that be low — The consequences which proceed from the fore-mentioned happy change, from God’s sending a refreshing rain upon the earth, after a long drought are inexpressibly great and beneficial. Those who had been reduced to straits and difficulties, and, by the pressing necessities arising therefrom, had been brought very low, and obliged to submit to mean and laborious employments, are now enabled to lift up their heads with joy, and appear in a very different condition. That those who mourn may be exalted to safety — That through the blessings of Providence flowing in upon them, like a plentiful stream of water upon a barren and thirsty land, they may be raised from their former state of extreme poverty and want, and may find themselves placed in a comparatively safe and comfortable situation, without any apparent reason to fear a relapse into their former difficulties and distresses. Thus he gives Job another example of God’s great and wonderful works, to comfort and encourage him to seek unto him, forasmuch as he could easily raise him from the depth of his distress, however great, as he was wont to raise others in the like condition. Job 5:12 He disappointeth the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise. Job 5:12 . He disappointeth the devices of the crafty — On the contrary, he defeats the craftiest designs of evil and subtle men to exalt themselves. They may place a great deal of confidence in their own abilities, and, without any regard to the overruling hand of Providence, may imagine that their good or bad success in the world depends wholly on their own wisdom and efforts: they may form deep and secret designs; and, to the utmost stretch of their knowledge and foresight, may contrive and project measures which will have the most plausible appearance of accomplishing their purpose. But after all this dexterous management, should the Almighty once interpose, and throw an obstacle in their way, all their crafty devices are frustrated, and their promising expectations vanish away. So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise — Hebrew, ?????? , tushijah, a word of an extensive meaning, implying that which is solid and substantial, or which is wise, good, and virtuous. Instead of executing any thing of moment, any thing advantageous or praiseworthy; instead of having the satisfaction of seeing a prosperous event of their best-formed counsels, they quickly perceive with what weak hands they have been labouring, and that all their aspiring attempts are vain and fruitless. Job 5:13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness: and the counsel of the froward is carried headlong. Job 5:13-14 . He taketh the wise in their own craftiness — Men wise to do evil, or wise in the opinion of the world; he not only deceives their hopes and counsels, but turns those counsels against themselves. And the counsel of the froward — Hebrew, Of the perverse, or wrestlers, such as wind and turn every way, as wrestlers do, and will leave no means untried to accomplish their designs: is carried headlong — That is, tumbled down and broken, and that by their own precipitation and haste. Such is their malice, that they cannot proceed leisurely and wisely, but are eager, and venturous, and rash, and so make more haste than good speed in their wicked designs: or, the meaning may be, The event will show that such deceitful cunning, though never so coolly and sedately digested, will deserve no better name than precipitate rashness and infatuation. They meet with darkness in the day-time — In plain things they run into gross mistakes, and choose those courses which are worst for themselves. Darkness often denotes misery, but here ignorance or error. And grope in the noon-day — Like blind men to find their way, not knowing what to do. They trip in the plainest way, and see not their danger, when it is visible to every body but themselves. Job 5:14 They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night. Job 5:15 But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. Job 5:15 . But he saveth the poor, &c. — According to the order in which the words stand in the Hebrew, the translation is, But he saveth from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty, the poor. Schultens thinks it should be interpreted, from the sword which proceedeth out of their mouth, meaning, their cutting and killing reproaches. A sense this which is approved by Buxtorf, and which receives no small confirmation from divers passages of Scripture, in which reproachful language is stigmatized by the name of a sword. See Psalm 57:4 ; Psalm 64:3 . Dr. Waterland’s translation of the verse is to the same purpose. But he saveth the poor from destruction by their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty. The general sense undoubtedly is, that God saveth such as, being poor, are defenceless, and therefore flee to him for refuge, from the censures, slanders, threatenings, and deceitful insinuations of their enemies; from the false swearing of witnesses, and the unrighteous sentences of corrupt judges, by which things their characters, or estates, or lives, may be exposed to great hazards. Job 5:16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth. Job 5:16 . So the poor, &c. — Hebrews ???? ??? , vatehi ladal, even to the poor there is hope: Dal signifies one who is deprived of his strength or power, either by poverty or sickness: in Arabic, He who is submissive, and humbles himself in a low, abject manner. Here the interpretation seems to be, Even the abject, contemptible man hath hope; that is, obtains what he hoped for from God, to whom he had committed his cause. And iniquity — Iniquitous men, the abstract term being put for the concrete, as pride, deceit, injustice, are put for proud, deceitful, unrighteous men, Jeremiah 13:9 ; 2 Peter 3:13 . Stoppeth her mouth — They are silenced and confounded, finding not only the poor are got out of their snares, but that the oppressors themselves are insnared in them. Job 5:17 Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty: Job 5:17 . Behold — Consider, for what I am saying, though most true and important, will not be believed, without serious consideration. Eliphaz concludes his discourse with giving Job a comfortable hope of deliverance from his troubles, and of restoration to his former, or even a greater state of prosperity, if he humbled himself before God. Happy is the man — Hebrews blessednesses, various kinds and degrees of happiness belong to that man whom God rebukes. The reason is plain, because afflictions are pledges of God’s love, which no man can buy too dear; and are necessary to purge out sin, and thereby to prevent infinite and eternal miseries. Without respect to this, the proposition could not be true. And therefore it plainly shows, that good men in those ancient times had the belief and hope of everlasting blessedness. Despise not — Do not abhor it as a thing pernicious, refuse it as a thing useless, or slight it as an unnecessary thing: but more is designed than is expressed. Reverence the chastening of the Lord: have an humble, awful regard to his correcting hand, and study to answer the design of it. The Almighty — Who is able to support and comfort thee in thy troubles, and deliver thee out of them; and also to add more calamities to them, if thou art obstinate and incorrigible. Job 5:18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole. Job 5:18-19 . For he maketh sore, &c. — God’s usual method is first to wound and then to heal, first to convince and then to comfort, first to humble and then to exalt. And he never makes a wound too great, too deep, for himself to cure. He will deliver thee — If thou seek to him by prayer and repentance; in six troubles — In distresses, manifold and repeated. Here he applies himself to Job directly. Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee — Thou shalt have a good issue out of all thy troubles, though they be both great and many. Job 5:19 He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee. Job 5:20 In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword. Job 5:20 . In famine he shall redeem thee from death — From that terrible kind of death. Eliphaz might think that Job feared perishing by want, as being so poor, that he needed the contributions of his friends for his relief. And in war from the sword — These things he utters with more confidence, because the rewards or punishments of this life were more constantly distributed to men in the Old Testament, according to their good or bad behaviour, than they are now: and, because it was his opinion, that great afflictions were the certain evidences of wickedness; and, consequently, that great deliverances would infallibly follow upon true repentance. Job 5:21 Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh. Job 5:21-22 . Thou shalt be hid — Protected, as in some secret and safe place; from the scourge of the tongue — From false accusations, and virulent slanders and reproaches. Neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction — Thou shalt have no cause to fear it, because God will secure thee in it and from it: when it cometh — Namely, upon others, near or round about thee. Bishop Patrick’s paraphrase on the verse is, “False accusers shall not be able to hurt thee; and when whole countries are depopulated, thou shalt be secure.” At destruction, &c., thou shalt laugh — With a laughter of joy and triumph; arising from a just security and confidence in God’s watchful and gracious providence. Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the field — The wild beasts, which were numerous and mischievous in those parts. As no apprehensions of fear shall possess thee in other heavy calamities, so neither shalt thou be under any dreadful consternation, should even the most fierce and savage beasts of the earth rise up against and be ready to devour thee. Perhaps it is not possible for that peace of mind, which arises from a good conscience and a confidence in the divine care and protection, to be expressed more elegantly or poetically than it is in this verse. Thus, leviathan, so far from being terrified, is said to laugh at the shaking of a spear, Job 41:29 . And God himself, in the same beautiful style, is represented as disdaining the politic intrigues of kings, and the crafty counsels of the rulers of the earth against his church. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision, Psalm 2:4 . Job 5:22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. Job 5:23 For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee. Job 5:23 . Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field — Thou shalt be free from any annoyance thereby, as if they had made an inviolable league with thee. It is a bold metaphor, but such are frequent in the Scriptures, as also in other authors. And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee — This is an addition to the former privilege; they shall not hurt thee, Job 5:22 . Nay, they shall befriend thee, as being at peace with thee. Our covenant with God is a covenant with all the creatures, that they shall do us no hurt, but serve and be ready to do us good. Job 5:24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin. Job 5:24 . And thou shalt know — By certain and constant experience; that thy tabernacle shall be in peace — That is, thy habitation, as it follows, including also the inhabitants, children or friends, and servants. They shall enjoy great safety from all their enemies, and concord among themselves, and prosperity in all their concerns; all which things are comprehended under the sweet name of peace. And thou shalt visit thy habitation — Shalt order and manage thy family, and all thy domestic and worldly affairs, with care and diligence; and shalt not sin — Either by unrighteousness in thy dealings, with thy family or others; or by neglecting God and his service in thy family, or by conniving at any sin in thy domestics, which thou canst hinder. But because Job’s duty does not seem to be the subject of Eliphaz’s discourse here, but rather his privilege, and that in outward and worldly things, the clause is probably better rendered thus: And thou shalt not err, or miscarry, or miss thy way. Thou shalt not be disappointed of thy hopes, or blasted in thy endeavours, but shalt succeed in them. “When thou takest an account of thine estate,” says Bishop Patrick, “all things shall answer thine expectation.” Job 5:25 Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth. Job 5:25 . Thou shalt know — By assurance from God’s promises, the impressions of his Spirit, and by experience, in due time, that thy seed shall be great — Thy posterity, which God shall give thee, instead of those whom thou hast lost, shall be high, and honourable, and powerful: or, shall be many, as ?? , rab, often signifies. And thine offspring — The fruit of thy body; (for he speaks of his natural, not of his spiritual seed, as Abraham’s seed is in part to be understood;) as the grass of the earth — Both for its plentiful increase, and for its flourishing greenness. Job 5:26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season. Job 5:26 . Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age: &c. — Heath translates it, In old age shalt thou come to the sepulchre, as the corn is heaped upon the thrashing-floor in its season. Thou shalt die in a mature and old, though vigorous age, as the word implies. It is a great blessing to live to a full age, and not to have the number of our years cut short: much more to be willing to die; to come cheerfully to the grave; and to die seasonably; in the best time, when our souls are just ripe for God. Job 5:27 Lo this, we have searched it, so it is ; hear it, and know thou it for thy good. Job 5:27 . Lo this, we have searched out — It is not my single opinion, but my brethren concur with me, as thou wilt hear from their own mouths. And it is no rash or hasty conceit, but what we have learned by deep consideration, long experience, and diligent observation. Know thou it for thy good — Know it for thyself, (so the word is,) make application of it to thine own case. That which we thus hear and know for ourselves, we hear and know for our good. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary Job 5:1 Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn? VII. THE THINGS ELIPHAZ HAD SEEN Job 4:1-21 ; Job 5:1-27 ELIPHAZ SPEAKS THE ideas of sin and suffering against which the poem of Job was written come now dramatically into view. The belief of the three friends had always been that God, as righteous Governor of human life, gives felicity in proportion to obedience and appoints trouble in exact measure of disobedience. Job himself, indeed, must have held the same creed. We may imagine that while he was prosperous his friends had often spoken with him on this very point. They had congratulated him often on the wealth and happiness he enjoyed as an evidence of the great favour of the Almighty. In conversation they had remarked on case after case which seemed to prove, beyond the shadow of doubt, that if men reject God affliction and disaster invariably follow. Their idea of the scheme of things was very simple, and, on the whole, it had never come into serious questioning. Of course human justice, even when rudely administered, and the practice of private revenge helped to fulfil their theory of Divine government. If any serious crime was committed, those friendly to the injured person took up his cause and pursued the wrong doer to inflict retribution upon him. His dwelling was perhaps burned and his flocks dispersed, he himself driven into a kind of exile. The administration of law was rude, yet the unwritten code of the desert made the evildoer suffer and allowed the man of good character to enjoy life if he could. These facts went to sustain the belief that God was always regulating a man’s happiness by his deserts. And beyond this, apart altogether from what was done by men, not a few accidents and calamities appeared to show Divine judgment against wrong. Then, as now, it might be said that avenging forces lurk in the lightning, the storm, the pestilence, forces which are directed against transgressors and cannot be evaded. Men would say, Yes, though one hide his crimes, though he escape for long the condemnation and punishment of his fellows, yet the hand of God will find him: and the prediction seemed always to be verified. Perhaps the stroke did not fall at once. Months might pass; years might pass; but the time came when they could affirm, Now righteousness has overtaken the offender; his crime is rewarded; his pride is brought low. And if, as happened occasionally, the flocks of a man who was in good reputation died of murrain, and his crops were blighted by the terrible hot wind of the desert, they could always say, Ah! we did not know all about him. No doubt if we could look into his private life we should see why this has befallen. So the barbarians of the island of Melita, when Paul had been shipwrecked there, seeing a viper fasten on his hand, said, "No doubt this is a murderer whom, though he hath escaped from the sea, yet justice suffereth not to live." Thoughts like these were in the minds of the three friends of Job, very confounding indeed, for they had never expected to shake their heads over him. They accordingly deserve credit for true sympathy, inasmuch as they refrained from saying anything that might hurt him. His grief was great, and it might be due to remorse. His unparalleled afflictions put him, as it were, in sanctuary from taunts or even questionings. He has done wrong, he has not been what we thought him, they said to themselves, but he is drinking to the bitter dregs a cup of retribution. But when Job opened his mouth and spoke, their sympathy was dashed with pious horror. They had never in all their lives heard such words. He seemed to prove himself far worse than they could have imagined. He ought to have been meek and submissive. Some flaw there must have been: what was it? He should have confessed his sin instead of cursing life and reflecting on God. Their own silent suspicion, indeed, is the chief cause of his despair; but this they do not understand. Amazed they hear him; outraged, they take up the challenge he offers. One after another the three men reason with Job, from almost the same point of view, suggesting first and then insisting that he should acknowledge his fault and humble himself under the hand of a just and holy God. Now, here is the motive of the long controversy which is the main subject of the poem. And, in tracing it, we are to see Job, although racked by pain and distraught by grief-sadly at disadvantage because he seems to be a living example of the truth of their ideas-rousing himself to the defence of his integrity and contending for that as the only grip he has of God. Advance after advance is made by the three, who gradually become more dogmatic as the controversy proceeds. Defence after defence is made by Job, who is driven to think himself challenged not only by his friends, but sometimes also by God Himself through them. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar agree in the opinion that Job has done evil and is suffering for it. The language they use and the arguments they bring forward are much alike. Yet a difference will be found in their way of speaking, and a vaguely suggested difference of character. Eliphaz gives us an impression of age and authority. When Job has ended his complaint, Eliphaz regards him with a disturbed and offended look. "How pitiful!" he seems to say; but also, "How dreadful, how unaccountable!" He desires to win Job to a right view of things by kindly counsel; but he talks pompously, and preaches too much from the high moral bench. Bildad, again, is a dry and composed person. He is less the man of experience than of tradition. He does not speak of discoveries made in the course of his own observation; but he has stored the sayings of the wise and reflected upon them. When a thing is cleverly said he is satisfied, and he cannot understand why his impressive statements should fail to convince and convert. He is a gentleman, like Eliphaz, and uses courtesy. At first he refrains from wounding Job’s feelings. Yet behind his politeness is the sense of superior wisdom-the wisdom of ages, and his own. He is certainly a harder man than Eliphaz. Lastly, Zophar is a blunt man with a decidedly rough, dictatorial style. He is impatient of the waste of words on a matter so plain, and prides himself on coming to the point. It is he who ventures to say definitely: "Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth,"-a cruel speech from any point of view. He is not so eloquent as Eliphaz, he has no air of a prophet. Compared with Bildad he is less argumentative. With all his sympathy-and he, too, is a friend-he shows an exasperation which he justifies by his zeal for the honour of God. The differences are delicate, but real, and evident even to our late criticism. In the author’s day the characters would probably seem more distinctly contrasted than they appear to us. Still, it must be owned, each holds virtually the same position. One prevailing school of thought is represented and in each figure attacked. It is not difficult to imagine three speakers differing far more from each other. For example, instead of Bildad we might have had a Persian full of the Zoroastrian ideas of two great powers, the Good Spirit, Ahuramazda, and the Evil Spirit, Ahriman. Such a one might have maintained that Job had given himself to the Evil Spirit, or that his revolt against providence would bring him under that destructive power and work his ruin. And then, instead of Zophar, one might have been set forward who maintained that good and evil make no difference, that all things come alike to all, that there is no God who cares for righteousness among men; assailing Job’s faith in a more dangerous way. But the writer has no such view of making a striking drama. His circle of vision is deliberately chosen. It is only what might appear to be true he allows his characters to advance. One hears the breathings of the same dogmatism in the three voices. All is said for the ordinary belief that can be said. And three different men reason with Job that it may be understood how popular, how deeply rooted is the notion which the whole book is meant to criticise and disprove. The dramatising is vague, not at all of our sharp, modern kind like that of Ibsen, throwing each figure into vivid contrast with every other. All the author’s concern is to give full play to the theory which holds the ground and to show its incompatibility with the facts of human life, so that it may perish of its own hollowness. Nevertheless the first address to Job is eloquent and poetically beautiful. No rude arguer is Eliphaz, but one of the golden-mouthed, mistaken in creed but not in heart, a man whom Job might well cherish as a friend. I. The first part of his speech extends to the eleventh verse. With the respect due to sorrow, putting aside the dismay caused by Job’s wild language, he asks, "If one essay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved?" It seems unpardonable to add to the sufferer’s misery by saying what he has in his mind; and yet he cannot refrain. "Who can withhold himself from speaking?" The state of Job is such that there must be thorough and very serious communication. Eliphaz reminds him of what he had been-an instructor of the ignorant, one who strengthened the weak, upheld the falling, confirmed the feeble. Was he not once so confident of himself, so resolute and helpful that fainting men found him a bulwark against despair? Should he have changed so completely? Should one like him take to fruitless wailings and complaints? "Now it cometh upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art confounded." Eliphaz does not mean to taunt. It is in sorrow that he speaks, pointing out the contrast between what was and is. Where is the strong faith of former days? There is need for it, and Job ought to have it as his stay. "Is not thy piety thy confidence? Thy hope, is it not the integrity of thy ways?" Why does he not look back and take courage? Pious fear of God, if he allows himself to be guided by it, will not fail to lead him again into the light. It is a friendly and sincere effort to make the champion of God serve himself of his own faith. The undercurrent of doubt is not allowed to appear. Eliphaz makes it a wonder that Job had dropped his claim on the Most High; and he proceeds in a tone of expostulation, amazed that a man who knew the way of the Almighty should fall into the miserable weakness of the worst evildoer. Poetically, yet firmly, the idea is introduced:- Bethink thee now, whoever, being innocent, perished, And where have the upright been destroyed As I have seen, they who plough iniquity And sow disaster reap the same. By the wrath of God they perish, By the storm of His wrath they are undone. Roaring of the lion, voice of the growling lion, Teeth of the young lions are broken; The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, The whelps of the lioness are scattered. First among the things Eliphaz has seen is the fate of those violent evildoers who plough iniquity and sow disaster. But Job has not been like them and therefore has no need to fear the harvest of perdition. He is among those who are not finally cut off. In the tenth and eleventh verses ( Job 4:10-11 ) the dispersion of a den of lions is the symbol of the fate of those who are hot in wickedness. As in some cave of the mountains an old lion and lioness with their whelps dwell securely, issuing forth at their will to seize the prey and make night dreadful with their growling, so those evildoers flourish for a time in hateful and malignant strength. But as on a sudden the hunters, finding the lions’ retreat, kill and scatter them, young and old, so the coalition of wicked men is broken up. The rapacity of wild desert tribes appears to be reflected in the figure here used. Eliphaz may be referring to some incident which had actually occurred. II. In the second division of his address he endeavours to bring home to Job a needed moral lesson by detailing a vision he once had and the oracle which came with it. The account of the apparition is couched in stately and impressive language. That chilling sense of fear which sometimes mingles with our dreams in the dead of night, the sensation of a presence that cannot be realised, something awful breathing over the face and making the flesh creep, an imagined voice falling solemnly on the ear, -all are vividly described. In the recollection of Eliphaz the circumstances of the vision are very clear, and the finest poetic skill is used in giving the whole solemn dream full justice and effect. Now a word was secretly brought me, Mine ear caught the whisper thereof; In thoughts from visions of the night, When deep sleep falls upon men, A terror came on me, and trembling Which thrilled my bones to the marrow. Then a breath passed before my face, The hairs of my body rose erect. It stood still-its appearance I trace not. An image is before mine eyes. There was silence, and I heard a voice- Shall man beside Eloah be righteous? Or beside his Maker shall man be clean? We are made to feel here how extraordinary the vision appeared to Eliphaz, and, at the same time, how far short he comes of the seer’s gift. For what is this apparition? Nothing but a vague creation of the dreaming mind. And what is the message? No new revelation, no discovery of an inspired soul. After all, only a fact quite familiar to pious thought. The dream oracle has been generally supposed to continue to the end of the chapter. But the question as to the righteousness of man and his cleanness beside God seems to be the whole of it, and the rest is Eliphaz’s comment or meditation upon it, his "thoughts from visions of the night." As to the oracle itself: while the words may certainly bear translating so as to imply a direct comparison between the righteousness of man and the righteousness of God, this is not required by the purpose of the writer, as Dr. A.B. Davidson has shown. In the form of a question it is impressively announced that with or beside the High God no weak man is righteous, no strong man pure; and this is sufficient, for the aim of Eliphaz is to show that troubles may justly come on Job, as on others, because all are by nature imperfect. No doubt the oracle might transcend the scope of the argument. Still the question has not been raised by Job’s criticism of providence, whether he reckons himself more just than God; and apart from that any comparison seems unnecessary, meeting no mood of human revolt of which Eliphaz has ever heard. The oracle, then, is practically of the nature of a truism, and, as such, agrees with the dream vision and the impalpable ghost, a dim presentation by the mind to itself of what a visitor from the higher world might be. Shall any created being, inheritor of human defects, stand beside Eloah, clean in His sight? Impossible. For, however sincere and earnest any one may be toward God and in the service of men, he cannot pass the fallibility and imperfection of the creature. The thought thus solemnly announced, Eliphaz proceeds to amplify in a prophetic strain, which, however, does not rise above the level of good poetry. "Behold, He putteth no trust in His servants." Nothing that the best of them have to do is committed entirely to them; the supervision of Eloah is always maintained that their defects may not mar His purpose. "His angels He chargeth with error." Even the heavenly spirits, if we are to trust Eliphaz, go astray; they are under a law of discipline and holy correction. In the Supreme Light they are judged and often found wanting. To credit this to a Divine oracle would be somewhat disconcerting to ordinary theological ideas. But the argument is clear enough, -If even the angelic servants of God require the constant supervision of His wisdom and their faults need His correction, much more do men whose bodies are "houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed before the moth"-that is, the moth which breeds corrupting worms. "From morning to evening they are destroyed"-in a single day their vigour and beauty pass into decay. "Without observance they perish forever," says Eliphaz. Clearly this is not a word of Divine prophecy. It would place man beneath the level of moral judgment, as a mere earth creature whose life and death are of no account even to God. Men go their way when a comrade falls, and soon forget. True enough. But "One higher than the highest regardeth." The stupidity or insensibility of most men to spiritual things is in contrast to the attention and judgment of God. The description of man’s life on earth, its brevity and dissolution, on account of which he can never exalt himself as just and clean beside God, ends with words that may be translated thus:- "Is not their cord torn asunder in them? They shall die, and not in wisdom." Here the tearing up of the tent cord or the breaking of the bow string is an image of the snapping of that chain of vital functions, the "silver cord," on which the bodily life depends. The argument of Eliphaz, so far, has been, first, that Job, as a pious man, should have kept his confidence in God, because he was not like those who plough iniquity and sow disaster and have no hope in Divine mercy; next, that before the Most High all are more or less unrighteous and impure, so that if Job suffers for defect, he is no exception, his afflictions are not to be wondered at. And this carries the further thought that he ought to be conscious of fault and humble himself under the Divine hand. Just at this point Eliphaz comes at last within sight of the right way to find Job’s heart and conscience. The corrective discipline which all need was safe ground to take with one who could not have denied in the last resort that he, too, had "Sins of will, Defects of doubt and taints of blood." This strain of argument, however, closes, Eliphaz having much in his mind which has not found expression and is of serious import. III. The speaker sees that Job is impatient of the sufferings which make life appear useless to him. But suppose he appealed to the saints-holy ones, or angels-to take his part, would that be of any use? In his cry from the depth he had shown resentment and hasty passion. These do not insure, they do not deserve help. The "holy ones" would not respond to a man so unreasonable and indignant. On the contrary, "resentment slayeth the foolish man, passion killeth the silly." What Job had said in his outcry only tended to bring on him the fatal stroke of God. Having caught at this idea, Eliphaz proceeds in a manner rather surprising. He has been shocked by Job’s bitter words. The horror he felt returns upon him, and he falls into a very singular and inconsiderate strain of remark. He does not, indeed, identify his old friend with the foolish man whose destruction he proceeds to paint. But an instance has occurred to him-a bit of his large experience-of one who behaved in a godless, irrational way and suffered for it; and for Job’s warning, because he needs to take home the lesson of the catastrophe, Eliphaz details the story. Forgetting the circumstances of his friend, utterly forgetting that the man lying before him has lost all his children and that robbers have swallowed his substance, absorbed in his own reminiscence to the exclusion of every other thought, Eliphaz goes deliberately through a whole roll of disasters so like Job’s that every word is a poisoned arrow:- Plead then: will any one answer thee; And to which of the holy ones wilt thou turn? Nay, resentment killeth the fool, And hasty indignation slayeth the silly, I myself have seen a godless fool take root; Yet straightway I cursed his habitation:- His children are far from succour, They are crushed in the gate without deliverer While the hungry eats up his harvest And snatches it even out of the thorns, And the snare gapes for their substance. The desolation he saw come suddenly, even when the impious man had just taken root as founder of a family, Eliphaz declares to be a curse from the Most High; and he describes it with much force. Upon the children of the household disaster falls at the gate or place of judgment; there is no one to plead for them, because the father is marked for the vengeance of God. Predatory tribes from the desert devour first the crops in the remoter fields, and then those protected by the thorn hedge near the homestead. The man had been an oppressor; now those he had oppressed are under no restraint and all he has is swallowed up without redress. So much for the third attempt to convict Job and bring him to confession: It is a bolt shot apparently at a venture, yet it strikes where it must wound to the quick. Here, however, made aware, perhaps by a look of anguish or a sudden gesture, that he has gone too far, Eliphaz draws back. To the general dogma that affliction is the lot of every human being he returns, that the sting may be taken out of his words:- "For disaster cometh not forth from the dust, And out of the ground trouble springeth not; But man is born unto trouble As the sparks fly upward." By this vague piece of moralising, which sheds no light on anything, Eliphaz betrays himself. He shows that he is not anxious to get at the root of the matter. The whole subject of pain and calamity is external to him, not a part of his own experience. He would speak very differently if he were himself deprived of all his possessions and laid low in trouble. As it is he can turn glibly from one thought to another, as if it mattered not which fits the case. In fact, as he advances and retreats we discover that he is feeling his way, aiming first at one thing, then at another, in the hope that this or that random arrow may hit the mark. No man is just beside God. Job is like the rest, crushed before the moth. Job has spoken passionately, in wild resentment. Is he then among the foolish whose habitation is cursed? But again, lest that should not be true, the speaker falls back on the common lot of men born to trouble-why, God alone can tell. Afterwards he makes another suggestion. Is not God He who frustrates the devices of the crafty and confounds the cunning, so that they grope in the blaze of noon as if it were night? If the other explanations did not apply to Job’s condition, perhaps this would. At all events something might be said by way of answer that would give an inkling of the truth. At last the comparatively kind and vague explanation is offered, that Job suffers from the chastening of the Lord, who, though He afflicts, is also ready to heal. Glancing at all possibilities which occur to him, Eliphaz leaves the afflicted man to accept that which happens to come home. IV. Eloquence, literary skill, sincerity, mark the close of this address. It is the argument of a man who is anxious to bring his friend to a right frame of mind so that his latter days may be peace. "As for me," he says, hinting what Job should do, "I would turn to God, and set my expectation upon the Highest." Then he proceeds to give his thoughts on Divine providence. Unsearchable, wonderful are the doings of God. He is the Rain-giver for the thirsty fields and desert pastures. Among men, too, He makes manifest His power, exalting those who are lowly, and restoring the joy of the mourners. Crafty men, who plot to make their own way, oppose His sovereign power in vain. They are stricken as if with blindness. Out of their hand the helpless are delivered, and hope is restored to the feeble. Has Job been crafty? Has he been in secret a plotter against the peace of men? Is it for this reason God has cast him down? Let him repent, and he shall yet be saved. For Happy is the man whom Eloah correcteth, Therefore spurn not thou the chastening of Shaddai. For He maketh sore and bindeth up; He smiteth, but His hands make whole. In six straits He will deliver thee; In seven also shall not evil touch thee. In famine He will rescue thee from death, And in war from the power of the sword. When the tongue smiteth thou shalt be hid; Nor shalt thou fear when desolation cometh. At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh; And of the beasts of the earth shalt not be afraid. For with the stones of the field shall be thy covenant; With thee shall the beasts of the field be at peace. So shalt thou find that thy tent is secure, And surveying thy homestead thou shalt miss nothing Thou shalt find that thy seed are many, And thy offspring like the grass of the earth; Thou shalt come to thy grave with white hair, As a ripe shock of corn is carried home in its season. Behold! This we have searched out: thus it is. Hear it, and, thou, consider it for thyself! Fine, indeed, as dramatic poetry; but is it not, as reasoning, incoherent? The author does not mean it to be convincing. He who is chastened and receives the chastening may not be saved in those six troubles, yea seven. There is more of dream than fact. Eliphaz is apparently right in everything, as Dillmann says; but right only on the surface. He has seen that they who plough iniquity and sow disaster reap the same. He has seen a vision of the night, and received a message; a sign of God’s favour that almost made him a prophet. He has seen a fool or impious man taking root, but was not deceived; he knew what would be the end, and took upon him to curse judicially the doomed homestead. He has seen the crafty confounded. He has seen the man whom God corrected, who received his chastisement with submission, rescued and restored to honour. "Lo, this we have searched out," he says; "it is even thus." But the piety and orthodoxy of the good Eliphaz do not save him from blunders at every turn. And to the clearing of Job’s position he offers no suggestion of value. What does he say to throw light on the condition of a believing, earnest servant of the Almighty who is always poor, always afflicted, who meets disappointment after disappointment, and is pursued by sorrow and disaster even to the grave? The religion of Eliphaz is made for well-to-do people like himself, and such only. If it were true that, because all are sinful before God, affliction and pain are punishments of sin and a man is happy in receiving this Divine correction, why is Eliphaz himself not lying like Job upon a heap of ashes, racked with the torment of disease? Good orthodox prosperous man, he thinks himself a prophet, but he is none. Were he tried like Job he would be as unreasonable and passionate, as wild in his declamation against life, as eager for death. Useless in religion is all mere talk that only skims the surface, however often the terms of it may be repeated, however widely they find acceptance. The creed that breaks down at any point is no creed for a rational being. Infidelity in our day is very much the consequence of crude notions about God that contradict each other, notions of the atonement, of the meaning of suffering, of the future life, that are incoherent, childish, of no practical weight. People think they have a firm grasp of the truth; but when circumstances occur which are at variance with their preconceived ideas, they turn away from religion, or their religion makes the facts of life appear worse for them. It is the result of insufficient thought. Research must go deeper, must return with new zeal to the study of Scripture and the life of Christ. God’s revelation in providence and Christianity is one. It has a profound coherency, the stamp and evidence of its truth. The rigidity of natural law has its meaning for us in our study of the spiritual life. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.