Job 5:3 Commentary and Bible Study

‘I have seen it before’, says Eliphaz. ‘I have seen people like you, Job. They were people who seemed to be upright, and for a time they won the respect of many. They took root in that their teaching was received, and their reputation enhanced, but eventually the fraud came to light. They were not what they seemed and when the time came for God to expose them, their fall was startling and sudden.’‘I cursed their habitation’, which does not mean that Eliphaz was the cause of their downfall, but that he concurred with it. A sinner may do pretty well for a time, and get rich, but it all collapses, and his true character is exposed. ‘His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.’ It is deeply cruel of Eliphaz to speak like this and to make out that Job is the cause of own his children’s death. They are being punished for his wickedness; dying a horrible death and beyond hope of delivery or recovery. ‘Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.’ It is as if Eliphaz has had his speech written for him by the events that have already taken place, and what feeds into it is exactly what has happened to Job. These are worst features of what happens to every hypocrite, he says. In fighting all these charges Job can only hold up the shield of faith and hold onto the goodness of God. He must not only bear with all his suffering, but resist the attacks of Satan that threaten to pierce his heart, and rob him of his faith also. But since God has removed all visible support and comfort from him, this is beyond his natural power and he is bruised and driven close to despair by all these vicious words. Eliphaz has stabbed him and now he is turning the knife. And yet God upholds him and he does not collapse utterly.