Eliphaz sheweth that the wicked are always punished by an avenging God; on which account he highly extols the providence of God: he exhorts Job not to despise the chastening of the Almighty, and to attend diligently to what he says.
Before Christ 1645.
Job 5:1. Call now, &c.— Eliphaz here urges further, that, supposing Job had been guilty of no very atrocious crime, yet the common frailties of human nature were abundantly sufficient to account for any afflictions which it should please God to lay upon man; but he takes care to let Job know, that they had a far worse opinion of him, whom he treats as profligate and abandoned, and consequently a proper object of divine vengeance: Job 5:1-5. Such, he tells him, is the course of things, as was plain from revelation; and if he was not content with this, he was at liberty, if he pleased, to apply to any of the other deities, and see if he could find better treatment. But were it his case, he would endeavour to reconcile himself in a more especial manner to the true God, who was infinitely more powerful than any or all the gods of the nations, and was not only able to deliver him, but would deliver him out of all his troubles: but then it must be attended with an entire submission to him, which could never be effectual without an ample confession and restitution; thereby acknowledging the justice of God's dealing with him: Job 5:17; Job 5:27. It was foolish, therefore, to fret and vex himself in vain, since death was all that he could expect as the issue in that way; whereas, if he submitted himself to God, he might expect not only a perfect restoration, but a long continuance in the enjoyments of a flourishing fortune. All this is delivered by Eliphaz in an authoritative way, as the result of an inquiry which he and his friends had made of God in Job's behalf: he had therefore nothing to do, but diligently to attend and apply himself to it, Job 5:27. Heath. Schultens renders the first words of the present verse, make appeal now, &c.; observing, that call and answer here have a judicial sense, and imply, that if the patriarch should be inclined to plead not guilty, he would meet with no one, either among men or angels, who would undertake the defence of his cause: for, says he, the word קדשׁים kedoshim, rendered saints, signifies the angels, superintendants (under the Almighty) over this visible world. This opinion was probably of great antiquity, especially if the Septuagint version of Deuteronomy 32:8 be right: he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the angels of God. This and the following verse, says Heath, are a strong irony.