Eliphaz points Job to a long understood and believed tradition among the children of God, namely, that the Lord corrects those he loves, as any good father would his own children (Job 5:17; cp. Psalm 94:12; Proverbs 3:11). Moreover, in the New Covenant text Paul points out that the children of God should expect his chastening, and when that occurs, we shouldn’t discard it, as though it were something evil happening in our lives. Rather, we should embrace it, knowing we are blessed in doing so, because we are not judged with the world (Hebrews 12:5-11; cp. James 1:12; 1Corinthians 11:32). Furthermore, although enduring hardship is never easy, Eliphaz tells Job to be happy, because his hardship or discipline is proof that he should regard himself as God’s own son (cp. Hebrews 12:8).
While all of the above is true, Eliphaz speaks with Job, as though Job wasn’t putting his trust in the Lord, but this is precisely what Job has done. Nevertheless, because he expected God to act differently than what he had, Job expressed his confusion in chapter 3. There he also claimed it would be good for him to die rather than live in his present state of confusion, where God doesn’t act like he always had in the past.
With this as a background, Eliphaz continues to tell Job how the Lord would save him out of every trouble (verse-19), because, although he wounds those whom he corrects (verse-17), he also restores them and binds up their wounds (verse-18). In the midst of famine his children have no reason to fear (Job 5:20; cp. Genesis 45), nor will the Lord permit the sword to destroy them (cp. Exodus 17). When an enemy would seek to curse them, they would be blessed instead (Job 5:21; cp. Numbers 22), and when his enemy would seek to outright destroy him, the Lord’s children would be saved out of the desires of an enemy (cp. Numbers 31). Finally, Eliphaz tells Job that, even if destruction and famine come at the same time (Job 5:22), the Lord would save him out of it (Numbers 21:4-30), and would even keep the beasts of the field from devouring him (cp. Numbers 21:31-35). While all this is true, as verified in Israel’s own history, Eliphaz’ motive is that Job hasn’t been trusting in the Lord, but he has! So, Eliphaz’s advice continues to be misplaced.
Eliphaz concludes by saying all Job owned would be secure. He describes his potential condition by saying he would have a covenant between the stones of the field and himself, and he would be at peace with the beasts of the land (Job 5:23). In other words, his property’s boundaries (the stones) would be secure (cp. Genesis 23:17), and evil men (the beasts) would leave him alone. Moreover, he would be content in knowing this, because, whenever he inspects his property, he will find nothing amiss, and all things would be accounted for (Job 5:24).
Moreover, not only would his property be respected and nothing taken from him, but the Lord would add the blessing of children, a large household, so it would be obvious to all that he was a man whose prosperity included not only the fruits of the field, but also the fruit of his own body (Job 5:25), and he would go to the grave ripe in years, harvested as the fruit of the field, and not end his days prematurely as one judged by God (verse-26).
Eliphaz ends his first response to Job by saying his claims had been well searched out and were true, and Job would do good to heed his advice (Job 5:27). The problem with Eliphaz’s remarks is not the content, itself, so much as why he responded to Job in this manner. He had already judged Job’s condition as discipline from the Lord, because Job had sinned, which Job denied. Nevertheless, according to Eliphaz, Job did sin, and this is the reason behind his recent disastrous circumstance. Eliphaz has assumed that the truism: what one sows is what he reaps is true in every circumstance, but this isn’t so. Folks do suffer, even when they are innocent (cp. John 9:1-3). God is sovereign, and he will do his pleasure. Certain things are done, which are meant to point to his glory. Man needs to consider what is done and to seek to apply what he finds in a manner that unveils the true nature of the work of God. All things are not as clear or as simple as Eliphaz believes and would have Job accept. Life can be quite complicated, and in this Eliphaz misses the mark.
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