Bible Commentaries
Job 5

Verse 1

5:1 Call now, if there be any that will {a} answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?

(a) He wills Job to consider the example of all who have lived or live godly, whether any of them are like him in raging against God as he does.

Verse 2

5:2 For {b} wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.

(b) Murmuring against God in afflictions increases the pain, and uttered man’s folly.

Verse 3

5:3 I have seen the {c} foolish taking root: but suddenly I {d} cursed his habitation.

(c) That is, the sinner that does not have the fear of God.

(d) I was not moved by his prosperity but knew that God had cursed him and his.

Verse 4

5:4 His {e} children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the {f} gate, neither [is there] any to deliver [them].

(e) Though God sometimes allows the father’s to pass in this world, yet his judgments will light on their wicked children.

(f) By public judgment they will be condemned and no one will pity them.

Verse 5

5:5 Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the {g} thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.

(g) Though there are only two or three ears left in the hedges, yet these will be taken from him.

Verse 6

5:6 Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, {h} neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;

(h) That is, the earth is not the cause of barrenness and man’s misery, but his own sin.

Verse 7

5:7 Yet man is born unto {i} trouble, as the sparks fly upward.

(i) Which declares that sin is always in our corrupt nature: for before sin it was not subject to pain and affliction.

Verse 8

5:8 I would seek unto {k} God, and unto God would I commit my cause:

(k) If I suffered as you do, I would seek God.

Verse 9

5:9 Which {l} doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

(l) He counsels Job to humble himself to God to whom all creatures are subject and whose works declare that man is inexcusable unless he glorifies God in all his works.

Verse 10

5:10 Who {m} giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:

(m) He shows by particular examples what the works of God are.

Verse 14

5:14 They meet with {n} darkness in the daytime, and {o} grope in the noonday as in the night.

(n) In things plain and evident they show themselves fools instead of wise men.

(o) This declares that God punishes the worldly wise as he threatened in De 28:29.

Verse 15

5:15 But he saveth the {p} poor from the sword, from their {q} mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.

(p) That is, he who humbles himself before God.

(q) He compares the slander of the wicked to sharp swords.

Verse 16

5:16 So the poor hath hope, and iniquity {r} stoppeth her mouth.

(r) If the wicked are compelled by God’s works to shut their mouths, how much more they who profess God.

Verse 19

5:19 He shall deliver thee in {s} six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

(s) He will send trouble after trouble that his children may not for one time, but continually trust in him: but they sill have a comfortable issue, even in the greatest and the last, which is here called the seventh.

Verse 22

5:22 At destruction and famine thou shalt {t} laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

(t) While the wicked lament in their troubles, you will have occasion to rejoice.

Verse 23

5:23 For thou {u} shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.

(u) When we are in God’s favour, all creatures will serve us.

Verse 24

5:24 And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle [shall be] in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not {x} sin.

(x) God will so bless you that you will have opportunity to rejoice in all things, and not be offended.

Verse 26

5:26 Thou shalt come to [thy] grave in {y} a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in his season.

(y) Though the children of God have not always carried out this promise, yet God recompenses it otherwise to their advantage.

Verse 27

5:27 Lo {z} this, we have searched it, so it [is]; hear it, and know thou [it] for thy good.

(z) We have learned these points by experience, that God does not punish the innocent, that man cannot compare in justice with him, that the hypocrites will not prosper for long, and that the affliction which man sustains comes for his own sin.