Job 5:4 | KingComments | STEP | Eliphaz is sure of his view on ‘the Job case’. He challenges Job to summon as a witness someone who proves he (Job) is right ( ). In Job 3, Job has made a complaint against God. Eliphaz wants to refute this complaint in this chapter. The call here is not a call for help, but a call for justice. Is there anyone “of the holy ones” to whom Job can turn who has had to endure suffering similar to his? But, as Eliphaz’s challenge sounds, there is no such holy one, for God does not do this to God-fearing people (cf. ). So Job must ascribe this suffering to himself. All that crying out of Job in Job 3 has been meaningless. It also sounds that all holy people have the same opinion about this as Eliphaz and that Job stands alone in his vision of his suffering. The anger of Job ( ) against the law of God – that he who sows sin reaps punishment – is more than useless in the eyes of Eliphaz, it is harmful. Eliphaz puts it this way: the foolish and simple – that is Job, for he does not agree with the logic of Eliphaz – is provoked, angry, jealous. He resists judgment, but this reaction will eventually kill and destroy him. Yes, none of this is a fabrication of Eliphaz, he has seen it with his own eyes ( ). He has seen a fool take root, that is to say that such a person had prosperity. Again Eliphaz reasons from his own rich experience what he has seen and heard ( ), but not from what God has shown him, because he is not open to it. The curse he pronounces on the fool’s dwelling-place immediately after his observation, he pronounces because he supposes that a fool’s prosperity was obtained by deceit. It is again such a veiled allusion to the prosperity of Job which he must have obtained in an unfair way given the misery in which he now finds himself. Following his observations, Eliphaz alludes in , in a veiled way, to what happened to Job’s children. The fool does not serve God and therefore his children will suffer too. They are far from safety because of the foolishness of their father, who does not take God into account. Deliverance from a situation of need can only be found with God. But what do you do if you do not take Him into account? Even “in the gate”, the place where justice is done, there is no one to deliver them, no one to stand up for them. Instead of deliverance there is oppression, literally “crushing”, for them. Eliphaz could hardly have said anything more insensitive than this allusion to the children of Job. He is sitting opposite a man who has lost all his possessions, all his health, and, moreover, all his children, and he knows nothing better to say than that the children of a fool have been crushed by the accident. Let us be wary that we do not make such unsophisticated, insensitive allusions to someone who is in the deepest misery. Then Eliphaz speaks of the possession of the fool ( ). The fool will not be able to enjoy his property either, for that too is taken away from him. Hungry people come to plunder him and to eat what he intended for himself and his family. Even if something edible has come up between the thorns, it is not for the fool, but for the hungry. The fool is left to himself, without children and without possessions and food. Eliphaz’s argument is very transparent. Without mentioning the name of Job, it is clear to the listener that with the fool here he means Job.

‏ Job 5:4

Experience of God’s Ways

Eliphaz is sure of his view on ‘the Job case’. He challenges Job to summon as a witness someone who proves he (Job) is right (Job 5:1). In Job 3, Job has made a complaint against God. Eliphaz wants to refute this complaint in this chapter. The call here is not a call for help, but a call for justice. Is there anyone “of the holy ones” to whom Job can turn who has had to endure suffering similar to his? But, as Eliphaz’s challenge sounds, there is no such holy one, for God does not do this to God-fearing people (cf. Psa 9:10b ; Psa 37:25). So Job must ascribe this suffering to himself. All that crying out of Job in Job 3 has been meaningless. It also sounds that all holy people have the same opinion about this as Eliphaz and that Job stands alone in his vision of his suffering.

The anger of Job (Job 5:2) against the law of God – that he who sows sin reaps punishment – is more than useless in the eyes of Eliphaz, it is harmful. Eliphaz puts it this way: the foolish and simple – that is Job, for he does not agree with the logic of Eliphaz – is provoked, angry, jealous. He resists judgment, but this reaction will eventually kill and destroy him.

Yes, none of this is a fabrication of Eliphaz, he has seen it with his own eyes (Job 5:3). He has seen a fool take root, that is to say that such a person had prosperity. Again Eliphaz reasons from his own rich experience what he has seen and heard (Job 4:8 ; 12), but not from what God has shown him, because he is not open to it. The curse he pronounces on the fool’s dwelling-place immediately after his observation, he pronounces because he supposes that a fool’s prosperity was obtained by deceit. It is again such a veiled allusion to the prosperity of Job which he must have obtained in an unfair way given the misery in which he now finds himself.

Following his observations, Eliphaz alludes in Job 5:4, in a veiled way, to what happened to Job’s children. The fool does not serve God and therefore his children will suffer too. They are far from safety because of the foolishness of their father, who does not take God into account. Deliverance from a situation of need can only be found with God. But what do you do if you do not take Him into account? Even “in the gate”, the place where justice is done, there is no one to deliver them, no one to stand up for them. Instead of deliverance there is oppression, literally “crushing”, for them.

Eliphaz could hardly have said anything more insensitive than this allusion to the children of Job. He is sitting opposite a man who has lost all his possessions, all his health, and, moreover, all his children, and he knows nothing better to say than that the children of a fool have been crushed by the accident. Let us be wary that we do not make such unsophisticated, insensitive allusions to someone who is in the deepest misery.

Then Eliphaz speaks of the possession of the fool (Job 5:5). The fool will not be able to enjoy his property either, for that too is taken away from him. Hungry people come to plunder him and to eat what he intended for himself and his family. Even if something edible has come up between the thorns, it is not for the fool, but for the hungry. The fool is left to himself, without children and without possessions and food.

Eliphaz’s argument is very transparent. Without mentioning the name of Job, it is clear to the listener that with the fool here he means Job.