Job 5:17 Commentary and Bible Study

These words of comfort become words of torment to Job. They are like food held out to a starving man which he cannot eat because his mouth has been gagged, or because it has been laced with poison. He would love to take and eat to relieve his hunger, but he either cannot or dare not do so.Verse 17 presents us with a truth that occurs more than once in Scripture (Deuteronomy 8:5; Proverbs 3:11-12; Hebrews 12:5-6) – Hebrews quotes from Proverbs. Eliphaz purports to be gentle and sympathetic, and Job, who is desperately in need of support and human kindness, would have been strongly tempted to accept this comforter’s offer. The assurance is that the Lord would stop treating him so harshly, and Job would find himself back in God’s favour. All he had to do was admit that he deserved this discipline, and that there was some identifiable sin, of which he was well aware, that he was being chastised for. Were he to repent, he would immediately know all the blessings of God again: material provision in famine, deliverance from the sword in times of war, relief from those who would slander and attack him verbally, and rescue from times of destruction that affect many others. He would have a confidence in God’s protection that would enable him to dismiss fears that normally trouble other men – famine and the violence of wild beasts. It would be as if God turned all potential source of danger into harmless things, and the power which Job was currently experiencing as a source of harm would soon become a source of blessing. Job would live in peace, be kept from sin, and look forward to having many offspring to replace those whom God had taken away. In short, his whole life would be a tale of triumph over adversity and prosperity. ‘You would have nothing ever go wrong with you.’ Eliphaz was probably rich enough to avoid many of these dangers. Isn’t the language too exaggerated for words?But a proverb misapplied brings more pain than relief, more harm than good. With the sort of repentance which Eliphaz demands would have to come the renouncing of all his evangelical theology. He would have had to admit that he had been holding on to a false idea; that they were right about the basis of one’s relationship with God, and he was wrong. But no, Job’s sufferings were not the result of the sort of sin which they imagined. In fact God had twice testified to the uprightness of Job, and made him a thorn in Satan’s side (Job 1:8; 2:3). Job’s conscience told him the same thing, and it is a dangerous step to abandon conscience. Yes, his conscience told him that there were sins to be confessed every day, and pardon to be obtained from the Lord, but not some great sin which explained why he was picked out for special punishment by God. We need to remember that this is not Eliphaz response to what Job had said in chapter 3. It was not just a correction of Job’s overreaction and outburst in response to his troubles. It was the explanation for those troubles in the first place. This was what he wanted Job to admit.