Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 5:8
I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
8. I would seek unto God ] Rather, But I would seek; i. e. in humility, and for help and light.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
8 27. Eliphaz, in Job’s place, would seek unto God, all whose ways are marked by one purpose, to do good, and whose chastisements, therefore, but open the way to a richer blessing
The passage attaches itself to the picture of man’s evil nature just given, and suggests where man should find refuge from himself, even in God. Eliphaz in Job’s place would seek unto God for help God who is so great in power, and wonderful in His ways ( Job 5:8-9). His ways are not only surpassingly wonderful, but one purpose of goodness runs through them, for even the thirsty wilderness where no man dwells He satisfies with rain, and sets the humble on high ( Job 5:10-11). So on the other hand He disappoints the devices of the crafty and delivers the poor from their hand, and the end is reached towards which all His working tends: the poor hath hope, and evil, ashamed, shuts her mouth ( Job 5:12-16).
And under this general purpose of universal goodness fall even the chastisements of God, and in this light happy should Job consider himself in being afflicted, for God afflicts only that He may be able the more richly to bless ( Job 5:17-18). And, anticipating that his afflictions will “yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness,” Eliphaz draws a brilliant picture of Job’s restoration and happy future, the divine protection ( Job 5:18-19), the plenty and security ( Job 5:20-23), the peaceful homestead ( Job 5:24), the offspring numerous as the grass ( Job 5:25), and the ripe and peaceful end of all ( Job 5:26).
The passage like the preceding section has two divisions, Job 5:8-16 describing the purpose of goodness running through all God’s ways; and Job 5:17-26 applying this to Job’s calamities and painting his restoration; to which is added a concluding verse, in which Eliphaz beseeches Job to ponder his words ( Job 5:27).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I would seek unto God – Our translators have omitted here the adversative particle ‘ulam but, yet, nevertheless, and have thus marred the connection. The meaning of Eliphaz, I take to be, that since affliction is ordered by an intelligent Being, and does not spring out of the ground, therefore he would commit his cause to God, and look to him. Jerome has well expressed it, Quam ob rem ego deprecabor Dominum. Some have understood this as meaning that Eliphaz himself was in the habit of committing his cause to God, and that he exhorted Job to imitate his example. But the correct sense is that which regards it as counsel given to Job to look to God because afflictions are the result of intelligent design, and because God had shown himself to be worthy of the confidence of people. The latter point Eliphaz proceeds to argue in the following verses.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 5:8-9
I would seek unto God.
Marvels and prayer
Nothing could be better than the counsel proffered in the text, nothing more certain than the grounds on which he rests his counsel. To seek unto God, and spread out ones cause before Him, that must be the best thing to do in any emergency. Does not the wonderful actually take place often in human life? Is it only in the great world that marvels occur, unexpected and great elevations, turnings, unfoldings, light, and help? Is it not mere blindness that refuses to see the marvellous in our own sphere, and seeks it far away in old times, or on foreign shores? If we believe that God encompasses and pervades all human life, shall we not see Gods hand in all these things, and learn to look to Him with expectation, what, ever our circumstances may be?
I. Why, then, do we not expect marvellous things from God?
1. One reason is that we go too much by past experience. We have difficulty in rising above the familiar.
2. Some think too much of law. The idea of law pervading all things, not only facts and phenomena of nature, but thought and feeling, soul and heart, has wrought itself deep into many minds. There seems no room for the strange, the marvellous. Men forget two things, freedom and God. A spirit is something not included in the rigid system of law. A spirit is itself a cause, and originates. It produces. That lies in the very nature of a moral being; and God is infinitely free, and deals with the soul in ways unsearchable.
3. Men think only of their own working, and not of Gods. Consequently they settle down into small expectations.
4. We fear to lessen our own diligence by the expectation of great and marvellous things being done for us.
II. Some reasons why we should cherish the expectation of the great and marvellous. Such an expectation is essential to the praying spirit. Prayer expects great things. Could it not breathe courage and joy into us in our own individual sphere, if we could live habitually in the belief that God may do astonishing things for us–raising us out of difficulties, opening a way for us where none appears? (J. Leckie, D. D.)
Refer all to God
Zachary Macaulay and Wilberforce, the friends of slaves, lived near to each other and were great friends. The latter had such a high opinion of the learning of the former that when he wanted information about any matter he would cry jokingly, Come, let us look it out in Macaulay. To compare small things with great, this is just what we ought to do when in a moral difficulty. Come, we should say, let us look it out in Christ: what would He wish us to say or do in this matter? It is chiefly because the Bible tells us the mind of God as revealed in Jesus Christ that it is a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. (Quiver.)
Which doeth great things and unsearchable.
The great God as viewed by an enlightened natural religionist
He regarded Him as–
I. A trustworthy God. Four things demonstrate the trustworthiness of the Almighty.
1. His love. We could not trust an unloving God. Before we commit our cause, our interest, our all to any being, we must be assured of his love to us.
2. His truthfulness. Truthfulness lies at the foundation of trustworthiness. It is, alas, too true that we trust the false, but we trust them believing that they are true. God is true in Himself. He is truth. He is the One Great Reality in the universe. God is true in His revelations. It is impossible for Him to lie.
3. His capacity. Capability of realising what we expect and need in the object in which we confide is essential to trustworthiness.
4. His constancy. Constancy is essential to trustworthiness.
II. That he regarded Him as a wonder working God. His God was not merely a trustworthy, but an active God.
1. Eliphaz refers to His works in general, which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number, or as the margin has it, till there be no number–passing beyond the bounds of arithmetical calculation. To all His numerous works he applies the epithets great, unsearchable, marvellous. His works in the material universe are wonderful. Go through all the scientific cyclopaedias in the libraries of the world, and you will only have a few specimens of His marvellous achievements. Take the microscope, and you may, like Leeuwenhoek, discover a thousand million animalculae, whose united bulk will not exceed the size of a grain of sand, and all having distinct, formations, with all the array of functions essential to life. Take the telescope: and survey the milky way, and you will find the central suns of a million systems all larger than the solar economy to which our little planet belongs. His works in the spiritual world are even more wonderful.
2. Eliphaz refers to His works in particular.
(1) He refers to the vegetable sphere. Who giveth rain upon the earth: and sendeth waters upon the fields. What a blessed thing is rain! In seasons of drought its value is deeply felt. Our little sages ascribe rain to certain laws: they point us to the shifting of winds and changing of temperatures as the causes of rain. But this old sage of Teman referred the showers to God. He giveth rain upon the earth. This is inspired philosophy.
(2) He refers to the human sphere. He sees God in human history. In Gods conduct towards mankind he sees two things. He favours the good. He confounds the evil. (Homilist.)
God a great worker
The works of God answer the style or attributes of God. He is a great God, and His are great works. The works of God speak a God. And here are four things spoken in this one verse, of the works of God, which speak aloud: this is the finger of God. I will first bundle them together, and then both take and weigh them asunder.
1. Great things,
2. Unsearchable.
3. Wonderful.
4. Innumerable; or without number.
No works of man or angel are capable of such a fourfold stamp as this; no, nor any one work of all the creatures put together. Man may fathom the works of man, his closest ways are not past finding out. More directly. First, He doth great things. There is a greatness upon everything God doth: the great God leaves, as it were, the print of His own greatness even upon those things which we account little: little works of Nature have a greatness in them considered as done by God; and little works of Providence have a greatness in them, considered as done by God: if the thing which God doth be not great in itself, yet it is great because He doth it. Again, when it is said God doth great things we must not understand it as if God dealt not about little things, or as if He let the small matters of the world pass, and did not meddle with them: great in this place is not exclusive of little, for, He doth not only great, but small, even the smallest things. The heathens said their Jupiter had no leisure to be present at the doing of small things, or it did not become him to attend them. God attendeth the doing of small things, and it is His honour to do so. You will say, What is this greatness, and what are these great things? I shall hint an answer to both, for the clearing of the words. There is a two-fold greatness upon the works of God. There is (so we may distinguish)–First, the greatness of quantity. Secondly, the greatness of quality or virtue. And as these works of creation, so the works of providence are great works: when God destroys great enemies, the greatness of His work is proclaimed. So, great works of mercy and deliverance to His people are cried up with admiration, and hath given us such a deliverance as this, saith Ezr 9:13. The spiritual works of God are yet far greater; the work of redemption is called a great salvation. It is the property of God to do great things: and because it is His property He can as easily do great things as small things. And if it be the property of God to do great things, then it is a duty in us to expect great things.
1. He that doth great works ought to have great praises.
2. Seeing God doth great works for us, let us show great zeal (J. Caryl.)great love unto the Lord.
Unsearchable.–
The works of God unsearchable
And these works are unsearchable, two ways. First, in regard of the manner of doing: we cannot find out the ways and contrivances of Gods work. His ways are in the deep, and His footsteps are not known. Secondly, His works are unsearchable in their causes or ends; what it is which God aims at or intends, what moves or provokes Him to such a course is usually a secret. He doth such things us no man can give an account of, or render a reason why. If the works of God are unsearchable, then, we are to submit unto the dispensations of God, whatsoever they are; though we are not able, according to reason, to give an account of them. (J. Caryl.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 8. I would seek unto God] Were I in your place, instead of wasting my time, and irritating my soul with useless complaints, I would apply to my Maker, and, if conscious of my innocence, would confidently commit my cause to him.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
If I were in thy condition; and therefore I would advise thee to the same course.
Seek unto God, to wit, by prayer, and humiliation, and submission, imploring his pardon, and favour, and help, and not repine at him, and accuse his providence, as thou dost.
Would I commit my cause, i.e. commend my afflicted condition to him by fervent prayer, and resign myself and all my concerns to him, and humbly hope for relief from him. Or, propound my matters, i.e. make known my afflictions and requests to him; or, put or dispose my words, i.e. pray to him, and pour out my complaints before him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. Therefore (as affliction isordered by God, on account of sin), “I would” have you to”seek unto God” (Isa 8:19;Amo 5:8; Jer 5:24).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I would seek unto God,…. Or “truly” e, “certainly, doubtless, I do seek unto God”, verily I do so; for so the words are introduced in the original text, and express what Eliphaz had done when under afflictions himself; for he was not without them, though he had not them to such a degree as Job had; and when he was under them, this was the course he took; he sought unto God by prayer to support him under them, to sanctify them to him, and to deliver him out of them; and this he proposes for Job’s imitation, and suggests, that if he was in his case, this would be the first step he should take; and good advice this is, nothing more proper for a man, especially a saint, than, when afflicted of God, to seek unto him, to seek his face and his favour, to entreat his gracious presence, and the discoveries of his love, that he may see that it is not in wrath, but in love, he afflicts him; to submit unto him, humble himself before him, acknowledge his sins, and implore his pardoning grace and mercy; to entreat him to help him, in this time of need, to exercise the graces of faith and patience, and every other; to desire counsel and advice how to behave under the present trial, and to be made acquainted with the reasons, ends, and uses of the dispensation, as well as to beg for strength to bear up under it, and in his own time to grant deliverance from it:
and unto God would I commit my cause; or “direct my word or speech” f to him; that is, in prayer, as Sephorno adds; I would, as if he should say, make known my case to him, tell him the whole of it, and pour out my soul before him; and then I would leave it with him, and not wrangle, quarrel, and contend with him, but say, “here am I, let him do what seemeth good unto him”: some render the words, “truly”, or “indeed I shall discourse concerning God, and order my speech about Deity” g; I shall no longer insist on this subject, but drop it, and hereafter treat of God, his nature, being, and perfections, and particularly his works; though these are rather observed in the following verses, as so many arguments to engage Job to seek the Lord, and leave his case and cause to him.
e “profecto”, Junius Tremellius “enimvero”, Piscator, Cocceius, Schultens; “certe”, Mercerus, Vatablus, Beza; “verum, enimvero”, Schmidt, Michaelis; so Broughton. f “ponam eloquium meum”, V. L. Pagninus, Montanus; “deponerem verba mea, i.e. dirigerem”, Vatablus; “dirigerem sermonem meum”, Beza, Michaelis; “dispose my talk unto God”, Broughton. g “Enucleatius disseram de Deo, et de Numine instruam sermocinationem meam”, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
4. My advicea) Return to God who rewards the righteous. (Job. 5:8-16)
TEXT 5:816
8 But as for me, I would seek unto God,
And unto God would I commit my cause;
9 Who doeth great things and unsearchable,
Marvellous things without number:
10 Who giveth rain upon the earth,
And sendeth waters upon the fields;
11 So that he setteth up on high those that are low,
And those that mourn are exalted to safety.
12 He frustrateth the devices of the crafty,
So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
13 He taketh the wise in their own craftiness;
And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
14 They meet with darkness in the day-time,
And grope at noonday as in the night.
15 But he saveth from the sword of their mouth,
Even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
16 So the poor hath hope,
And iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
COMMENT 5:816
Job. 5:8Job is not prepared to agree that his misfortunes are Gods judgments on his sins. The strong Hebrew adversative But contrasts what is being said with what precedes. In verse one, Eliphaz had warned Job against appealing to angels for help. He should go directly to God. Seeking God (dams) is a vital theme in the prophetsAmo. 5:4-6. The two lines contain two different words for Godel and elohim (see parallel Shaddai, el and eloah, Job. 5:17; Job. 6:4; Job. 8:3; Job. 13:3; Job. 22:2-3; Job. 27:10; and Job. 31:2). Elohim is rare in the Dialogue (here and Job. 28:23 and once in the Elihu speeches in Job. 34:9).
Job. 5:9Repeated by Job in Job. 9:10 (Psa. 136:4; Psa. 145:3; and Eccl. 43:32), Eliphaz reveals a very perceptive mind but often draws erroneous conclusions from his own analysis.
Job. 5:10God is lord of nature. He sends rain upon the fields, which is an example of Gods power and benevolence (Psa. 65:10; Psa. 68:10; Psa. 104:13). He who makes the barren places fruitful can also change suffering into joy. To his power in nature corresponds His power among men.[73]
[73] F. Delitzsch, Job, Vol. I, Eerdmans, p. 99.
Job. 5:11Job. 5:11-16 are echoed in the magnificatLuk. 1:51-53. The high, steep almost inaccessible place is Gods reward to the lowly. Mourners wear dirty black clothes or have dirty bodies, because they sprinkle ashes on their heads as a sign of grief. These very mourners shall be set on high (word rendered stronghold in Psa. 9:9 is from this root) in prosperity.
Job. 5:12God frustrates the malicious devices of the crafty who scheme to gain from the poor and innocent (Mic. 3:1-3; Mic. 7:3; Isa. 32:7). The translation cannot perform their enterprise is a technical term employed in Wisdom Literature, two exceptions Isa. 28:29 and Mic. 6:9, found only in Job and Proverbs. It means true wisdom or true prosperity. Those who trust God are truly pious.
Job. 5:13This verse is the only directly quoted Jobian text in the New Testament1Co. 3:19 (cf. allusion to Job. 41:11 in Rom. 11:35). Theologically, the same point is at issue in both Job and Paul. The counsel of the cunning, or tortuous men who pursue any means to attain their ends. The word translated cunning connotes success or victory without regard to moral quality. This type of person is brought to a quick end.[74]
[74] Driver & Gray, Job, ICC, p. 54; Pope, Job, p. 43.
Job. 5:14The image of total confusion which ensnares the crafty (Deu. 28:29; Isa. 19:14; and Isa. 59:10). They are like blind people groping at mid-day.
Job. 5:15God frustrates the designs of the crafty, the poor He savesfrom their craftiness. The major problem in this text is whether deliverance is from the mouth or the sword.[75] The technical issue is that poetic parallel demands a companion word to the poor, which our present text lacks. What does all this mean to Job?
[75] Dhorme, Job, p. 63, for the technical discussion. His solution is to be preferred over the other suggestions, as it involves no change of the Hebrew text.
Job. 5:16The social customs of the Near East are clearly set before us. Men of power and wealth aggrandize themselves at the expense of the poor and defenseless. But there is hope in the time of abandonmentJob. 8:13; 17:18; Job. 14:7; Jer. 31:17; Eze. 37:11; Pro. 19:18; Rth. 1:2; and Lam. 3:29. This verse sums up the results of Gods intervention in human affairs according to Eliphazs theological assumptionsthat justice always triumphs (Psa. 107:42; Isa. 52:15).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
Fourth double strophe GOD’S MORAL GOVERNMENT, Job 5:8-16.
First strophe His government is as beneficent in the moral as in the natural world, Job 5:8-11.
8. I would seek Literally, But I, I would seek. As for me, whatever others may do, I would seek unto God. He proposes to go, not to saints or angels, or through the medium of saints or angels, but directly to God himself.
God The first name of God is El, the second Elohim. The first designation of God presents him as the mighty one; the second, as “God in the totality of his variously manifested nature.” He turns with strongest aversion from the thought of Job’s outcries of despair, in like manner as afterward (Job 22:18) from the spectacle of successful antediluvian sinners, and betakes himself to God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 5:8-9. I would seek unto God, &c. i.e. (For Eliphaz had precluded him from all attempts to justify himself in the foregoing part of his advice.) “I would apply to God with a full and free confession of those sins which have drawn this sad calamity upon me:” to God, who was able to do wonders, as he presently adds, and who could and would restore him to his former happy state, if he saw him truly penitent for his past transgressions; for this is the whole purport of the following part of his speech; namely, to give him hopes of a happy turn to his condition, if he would do what he thought was absolutely necessary to be done in this case; that is, make a frank confession of those secret crimes and enormities which had brought down this severe chastisement upon him. See Peters, and the 78th Psalm.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(8) I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
This advice is truly scriptural; though it is rather to be feared, when viewed in connexion with what Eliphaz said before and after, it is rather meant to imply that Job did not seek to GOD in his affliction. But, Reader! let you and I not consider the Temanite’s motive so much as the goodness of his counsel. One of the sweetest signs that grace is in the heart, and that trouble will be sanctified, is when that trouble leads the heart to GOD, and not from GOD. That it was so in Job’s instance is evident by what the poor man said in another chapter, Show me wherefore thou contendest with me? Job 10:2 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Job 5:8 I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
Ver. 8. Surely I would seek unto God ] Not let fly at him, as thou hast done, cursing thy birthday, and wishing thyself out of the world. Assure thyself, this that thou takest is not the way to get off with comfort, but rather to return by repentance unto him that smiteth thee, and to seek the Lord of hosts, Isa 9:12 , since else his anger will not turn away, but his hand will be stretched out still (as the prophet there hath it); for is it fit that he should lay down the bucklers first? or that we should stand upon terms, and capitulate with him, and not stoop unto him by a humble yieldance? especially since,
– Deus crudelius urit
Quos videt invitos succubuisse sibi (Tibul. Eleg. i. 8).
God burns more severely those he sees to have laid themselves down in envy. The way to disarm God’s heavy indignation, is to submit to his justice, and to implore his mercy, Hos 5:14
And unto God ] The righteous judge, as the word importeth, who , (Phocyl.), neither hateth nor feareth any man (as it was said of Trajan the emperor, but more truly of God): he proceedeth according to truth, not according to opinion or appearance, and greatly scorneth to look at displeasure, revenge, or recompense.
Would I commit my cause
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
I would seek. The pronoun “I” is emphatic, and stands in contrast with “thou” in Job 5:1.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Job 5:8-16
Job 5:8-16
SOME MORE GENERALITIES IN THE SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ
“But as for me, I would seek unto God,
And unto God would I commit my cause;
Who doeth great things, and unsearchable,
Marvelous things without number:
Who giveth rain upon the earth,
And sendeth waters upon the fields;
So that he setteth upon on high those that are low,
And those that mourn are exalted to safety.
He frustrateth the devices of the crafty,
So that their hands cannot perform their enterprise.
He taketh the wise in their own craftiness;
And the counsel of the cunning is carried headlong.
They meet with darkness in the daytime,
And grope at noonday as in the night.
But he saveth from the sword of their mouth,
Even the needy from the hand of the mighty.
So the poor have hope,
And iniquity stoppeth her mouth.”
“Unto God would I commit my cause” (Job 5:8). We like Dilday’s paraphrase here: “If I were you Job, I would quit complaining and humbly trust God to help me. He thinks that Job should rejoice in sufferings because they open the way to richer blessings.” Eliphaz, however, was mistaken. “Suffering does not come to men in proportion to their sins, and neither is prosperity granted in proportion to one’s piety. Everything depends upon the will of God.” Indeed God did, at a later time, bless Job superlatively, “But not upon the conditions which Eliphaz here imagined.”
“He setteth up on high those that are low” (Job 5:11). Barnes pointed out that the Virgin Mary very beautifully expressed much the same thought in Luk 1:52-53.
“He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (Job 5:13). Also, it appears that Eliphaz’ remarks here prompted the apostle Paul to write 1Co 3:19; but our own opinion is that no New Testament writer quoted from the Book of Job. Some scholars think that Paul did so in the verse cited; but Driver and Gray pointed out that, “If Paul here quoted from Job, he either translated from the Hebrew himself, or quoted from some other than any of the known versions.” We learned in our New Testament studies that Paul often used the language of Old Testament passages to formulate his own inspired writings, and that in a number of passages where Paul is sometimes alleged to have “misquoted” or garbled some Old Testament Scripture, he was by no means `quoting’ Scripture; he was `writing’ Scripture. Heavenor stated that 1Co 3:19 is the only clear case of a quotation from Job to be found in the New Testament; and, in the light of Driver’s analysis, this writer does not believe that even that reference qualifies as a bona fide quotation.
Eliphaz’ message to Job in this speech is, “Repent, confess your sins to God, and he will bless you.” “Good old orthodox, conceited prosperous Eliphaz; he thinks he is a prophet; but, if he had been tried like Job, he would have been just as unreasonable, just as perplexed, just as eager for death and just as wild and passionate as was Job,” perhaps more so.
“He taketh the wise in their craftiness” (Job 5:13). DeHoff reminds us that Sanballat, Ahithophel and Haman are Old Testament examples of instances when God did that very thing. But what comfort is there in such information for one who is not wicked, and who is not planning some crafty deception against another?
“He saveth from the sword of their mouth” (Job 5:15). What an eloquent description we have here of a slanderous tongue. It is the `mouth-sword’ of evil men.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 5:8. This verse gave some advice to Job. The speaker assumed that Job had turned from God and that it would be well for him to return. The claim had not been proved and therefore the advice was out of place.
Job 5:9-12. Everything asserted in the paragraph was true, but still there was the missing link in the argument of Eliphaz. Job would have agreed to all the claims made for the greatness of God, but that would have had nothing to do with his afflictions. The greatness of God would not necessarily require that any man whosoever should be afflicted unless some cause existed for such punishment to be administered.
Job 5:13. While the statement of this verse has nothing to do with Job, it is a true one and has been quoted for many generations. It is even quoted by Paul in 1Co 3:19. However, that does not prove that it was inspired when Eliphaz uttered it. Paul even quoted from the literature of the heathen (Act 17:28), but that only shows that the apostle accepted the statement as being true and he gave it his endorsement. The meaning of the present statement is that just when a man of worldly wisdom thinks he has a scheme arranged for his own advantage, the Lord will use that as a trap to capture the “wise” man.
Job 5:14-16. Eliphaz said so many things that were true but they had nothing to do with Job. Had he been guilty of some special sin he would have needed the exhortations spoken to him, but he was as sure of all these truths as was the one speaking to him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
seek: Job 8:5, Job 22:21, Job 22:27, Gen 32:7-12, 2Ch 33:12, 2Ch 33:13, Psa 50:15, Psa 77:1, Psa 77:2, Jon 2:1-7
unto God: Psa 37:5, 2Ti 1:12, 1Pe 2:23, 1Pe 4:19
Reciprocal: 1Sa 24:12 – Lord judge 2Sa 21:1 – of the Lord Job 9:15 – I would Job 11:13 – prepare Job 15:4 – restrainest Job 15:11 – the consolations Psa 119:154 – Plead Pro 16:3 – thy works Ecc 9:1 – that the Jer 11:20 – revealed
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THINGS UNSEARCHABLE
I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause: which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number.
Job 5:8-9
I. How many unsearchable things we might study.Why was the world so old before the glorious gospel of the grace of God was fully revealed? Or why had the disease proved so virulent, and so fatal to myriads, ere the remedy was made known? Why are so many millions still ignorant of the Saviour, though He has been fully revealed in all His glory to our fallen world for at least eighteen hundred years? Why do so few of those who hear the gospel of the Son of God really welcome it, and rejoice in its light, and exhibit its spirit, and adorn its doctrine? Why is so large a portion of Christendom Christian only in name? How has it happened that Gods people have so often been an afflicted and a poor people, while the wicked are exalted, or sit upon thrones, with the lives, perhaps, of millions at their mercy? How has the persecutor so often prospered, and the blood of Gods saints been shed by him like water?
II. To these, and a hundred other questions of a similar kind, various answers might be given.Some of the inquiries are very bafflingothers of them might be solved; but after all, the words of Eliphaz, in the text, contain the best explanation. There is no searching of His ways; He renders no account of His proceedings; and mans best wisdom, when he cannot scan, is to be silent and adoreto commit his cause unto God, Who will at last make crooked things straight and rough places smooth. We assume that we are omniscient, or, at least, that the Omniscient should make all things plain and level to our capacity. He insists, however, that we shall be still, and know that He is God. He sets limits to our power, and leaves us baffled, bewildered, and perplexed if we attempt to overstep our bounds.
III. Would we, then, be happy? Would we enjoy that contentment which, together with godliness, is great gain.Then be it ours to bow to the Holy One and the Just, to imitate the Redeemer, Whose joy it was to see His God and our God glorified. The heavier any trial may be, the greater is our need of simple dependence on a covenant God, and the Holy One has made that man wise who thus waits on God, and has no will but His.
Illustration
Let us consider the closing verses of this chapter in the light of the Gospel. They describe the career of the good man, for whom some might even be prepared to die. They anticipate Psalms 91. And the experience of the saints witnesses to their literal truth. With one voice the holy ones of all ages affirm, Lo this, we have searched it, so it is. Whatever be our special need, let us claim its antidote.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Job 5:8. I would seek unto God, &c. If I were in thy condition, instead of accusing the dispensations of Divine Providence, and repining under them, I would apply to God, by a full and free confession of those sins which have drawn this sad calamity upon me, and by sincere repentance, humiliation, and submission to his will: to God, who is able to do wonders, (as he presently adds,) and who can and will restore thee to thy former happy state, if he sees that thou art penitent for thy past transgressions, and hast reformed thy conduct. For this is the whole purport of the following part of his speech, namely, to give him hopes of a happy turn to his condition, if he would do what he thought was absolutely necessary to be done in this case; make a frank confession of those crimes which had brought down this severe chastisement upon him. See Peters and Dodd. And unto God would I commit my cause Would resign myself and all my concerns to him, and humbly hope for relief from him. And let my cause be what it would, and my own opinion of it ever so favourable, I would commit it wholly to him, and leave him to judge and determine it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 5:8-27. Eliphaz advises Job to accept the Divine discipline so that God may again show Himself gracious. As for me, instead of being impatient like a fool, I would seek unto God (cf. Job 1:21, Job 2:10).
Job 5:9-16 gives the motive for submission, viz. the omnipotence of God, which is also a reason for hope. Gods power is manifest in nature (Job 5:10). He also shows it by the restoration of those who abase themselves (Job 5:11), and equally by crashing the impious (Job 5:12-14).[Job 5:13 is quoted, 1Co 3:19*the only quotation from Job in NT apart, perhaps, from Rom 11:35.]
Job 5:15 f. continues the theme of Job 5:11-14. But in Job 5:15 the text is undoubtedly corrupt. The usual parallelism is wanting, and the words he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth yield no satisfactory sense (Peake). Duhm accepts Siegfrieds emendation: He saves from the sword the needy, and from the hand of the mighty the poor.
Job 5:17-26 paints an idyllic picture of the happy condition of the man who submissively accepts the Divine discipline and so is restored to prosperity.
Job 5:17 f. takes us back to Job 5:8. The reason of Divine chastisement is not in some obscure mystery of Gods nature (Jobs why? Job 3:23), but in mans own sinfulness; it is educational (Pro 3:11*). Observe that the poet often puts the name Shaddai (the Almighty) into the mouth of Job and his friends, as a name of God suitable to non-israelites (Joe 1:15*). It is the name by which, according to P, God made Himself known to Abraham (Gren. Job 17:1*) long before the revelation of the name Yahweh (Exo 6:3), The six or seven troubles from which Eliphaz promises Job that God will deliver him (Job 5:19) is a round number meaning many or all: so three, four (Pro 6:16, Amo 1:3). The wild beasts will not devour Jobs flocks, the stones will keep out of his field (Job 5:22 f.). Duhm quotes in illustration the couplet: vom Acker, den sein Pflug berhrte, schwand das Gestein, als obs der Wind entfhrte. The idea of a sympathy between man and nature is often expressed in the OT, e.g. Psalms 104, but especially belongs to the picture of the Messianic age (Isa 11:6-9; Isa 65:21-25). The climax of blessings promised to Job is that he shall have a large posterity, and die in a ripe old age (Job 5:25 f.) [An interesting theological point in connexion with Job 5:26 is that death is here conceived not as the punishment of sin, but merely as the natural close of life. In general the OT is not governed by Genesis 33, as are the later Judaism and the NT. The true OT idea is rather that a premature death is the punishment of sin (Psa 55:23).] Eliphaz concludes his speech (Job 5:27) by bidding Job lay to heart the truth which it contains.
The first speech of Eliphaz is a literary masterpiece; yet how out of touch with facts it is! Eliphaz does not perceive that he is stating a mere doctrine; he has, like the vast majority of both cultured and uncultured men, continually found in life his own opinions confirmed, because he has always presupposed them, and has finally taken them for experiences (Duhm). Thus he cannot enter into Jobs problem. His prejudices prevent him from understanding his friends perplexity. To Eliphaz it is as plain as the sun in heaven that affliction is due to human sin, and Jobs questionings about God seem simply impious. Hence, with the best intentions in the world, he fails in sympathy; and the psalm-like conclusion (Job 5:17-27), in spite of its beauty, can in Jobs circumstances only be an irony.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
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.