---
title: "Clarke"
description: "Verse Job 5:1. Call now, if there be any — This appears to be a strong irony. From whom among those whose foundations are in the dust, and who are crushed"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/job/5"
---

Verse [Job 5:1](../../../kjv/job/5/1). ***Call now, if there be any*** — This appears to be a strong *irony*. From whom among those *whose foundations are in the dust,* *and who are crushed before the moth*, canst thou expect succour?
***To which of the saints wilt thou turn?*** — To whom among the *holy* *ones*, (קדשים kedoshim,) or among those who are equally dependent on Divine support with thyself, and can do no good but as influenced and directed by God, *canst thou turn* for help? Neither angel nor saint can help any man unless sent especially from God; and all prayers to *them* must be foolish and absurd, not to say impious. Can the *channel* afford me water, if the *fountain* cease to emit it?

Verse [Job 5:2](../../../kjv/job/5/2). ***For wrath killeth the foolish man*** — *Foolish, silly*, and *simple*, are epithets given by *Solomon* to sinners and transgressors of all kinds. Such parallelisms have afforded a presumptive argument that Solomon was the author of this book. See the *preface*. [Job 1:1](../../../kjv/job/1/1) The words of Eliphaz may be considered as a sort of *maxim*, which the wisdom and experience of ages had served to establish; viz., The wrath of God is manifested only against the wicked and impious; and if thou wert not such, God would not thus contend with thee.

Verse [Job 5:3](../../../kjv/job/5/3). ***I have seen the foolish taking root*** — I have seen wicked men for a time in prosperity, and becoming established in the earth; but I well knew, from God's manner of dealing with men, that they must soon be blasted. I even ventured to *pronounce their* *doom*; for I knew that, in the order of God's providence, that was inevitable. *I cursed his habitation*.

Verse [Job 5:4](../../../kjv/job/5/4). ***His children are far from safety*** — His posterity shall not continue in prosperity. *Ill gotten, ill spent*; whatever is got by wrong must have God's curse on it.
***They are crushed in the gate*** — The *Targum* says, *They shall be* *bruised in the gate of hell, in the day of the great judgment*. There is reference here to a custom which I have often had occasion to notice: viz., that in the Eastern countries the *court-house*, or *tribunal of justice*, was at the *GATE of the* *city*; here the magistrates attended, and hither the plaintiff and defendant came for justice.

Verse [Job 5:5](../../../kjv/job/5/5). ***Whose harvest*** — Their possessions, because acquired by unjust means, shall not be under the protection of God's providence; he shall abandon them to be pillaged and destroyed by the wandering *half-starved* hordes of the *desert banditti*. They shall carry it suddenly off; *even the thorns*- grain, weeds, thistles, and all, shall they carry off in their rapacious hurry.
***The robber swalloweth us*** — Or, more properly, the *thirsty*, צמים tsammim, as is plain from their *swallowing up* or *gulping down*; opposed to the *hungry* or *half-starved*, mentioned in the preceding clause. The *hungry* shall *eat up* their grain, and the *thirsty* shall *drink down* their wine and oil, here termed חילם *cheylam*, their *strength* or *power*, for the most obvious reasons.
There seem to be *two* allusions in this verse: 1. To the hordes of wandering predatory banditti, or half-starved Arabs of the desert, who have their scanty maintenance by the plunder of others. These descendants of Ishmael have ever had their hands against all men, and live to this day in the same predatory manner in which they have lived for several thousands of years. M. *Volney's* account of them is striking: "These men are smaller, leaner, and blacker, than any of the Bedouins yet discovered. Their wasted legs had only tendons without calves. Their belly was shrunk to their back. They are in general small, lean, and swarthy, and more so in the bosom of the desert than on the borders of the more cultivated country. They are ordinarily about five feet or *five feet two inches* high; they seldom have more than about six ounces of food for the whole day. Six or seven dates, soaked in melted butter, a little milk, or curd, serve a man for twenty-four hours; and he seems happy when he can add a small portion of coarse flour, or a little ball of rice. Their *camels* also, which are their only support, are remarkably meagre, living on the meanest and most scanty provision. *Nature* has given it a small head without ears, at the end of a long neck without flesh. She has taken from its legs and thighs every muscle not immediately requisite for motion; and in short has bestowed on its withered body only the vessels and tendons necessary to connect its frame together. She has furnished it with a strong jaw, that it may grind the hardest aliments; and, lest it should consume too much, she has straitened its stomach, and obliged it to chew the cud." Such is the description given of the Bedouin and his camel, by M. Volney, who, while he denies the true God, finds out a deity which he calls *Nature*, whose works evince the highest providence, wisdom, and design! And where does this most wonderful and intelligent *goddess* dwell? Nowhere but in the creed of the infidel; while the genuine believer knows that *nature* is only the *agent* created and employed by the great and wise God to accomplish, under his direction, the greatest and most stupendous beneficial effects.
The *second allusion* in the verse I suppose to be to the loss Job had sustained of his cattle by the predatory *Sabeans*; and all this Eliphaz introduces for the support of his grand argument, to convict Job of hidden crimes, on which account his enemies were permitted to destroy his property; that property, because of this wickedness, being placed out of the protection of God's providence.

Verse [Job 5:6](../../../kjv/job/5/6). ***Affliction cometh not forth of the dust*** — If there were not an adequate cause, thou couldst not be so grievously afflicted.
***Spring out of the ground*** — It is not from mere *natural* causes that affliction and trouble come; God's justice inflicts them upon offending man.

Verse [Job 5:7](../../../kjv/job/5/7). ***Yet man is born unto trouble*** — לעמל *leamal*, to *labour.* He must *toil* and be *careful*; and if in the course of his labour he meet with trials and difficulties, he should rise superior to them, and not *sink* as thou dost.
***As the sparks By upward.*** — ובני רשף יגביהי עוף *ubeney resheph* *yagbihu uph; And the sons of the coal lift up their flight*, or *dart upwards*. And who are *the sons of the coal*? Are they not bold, intrepid, ardent, fearless men, who rise superior to all their trials; combat what are termed chance and occurrence; succumb under no difficulties; and rise superior to time, tide, fate, and fortune? I prefer this to all the various meanings of the place with which I have met. *Coverdale* translates, *It is man* *that is borne unto mysery, like as the byrde for to fle*. Most of the ancient *versions* give a similar sense.

Verse [Job 5:8](../../../kjv/job/5/8). ***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.

Verse [Job 5:9](../../../kjv/job/5/9). ***Which doeth great things*** — No work, however complicated, is too deep for his counsel to plan; none, however stupendous, is too great for his power to execute. He who is upright is always safe in referring his cause to God, and trusting in him.

Verse [Job 5:10](../../../kjv/job/5/10). ***Who giveth rain upon the earth*** — The *Chaldee* gives this verse a fine turn: "Who gives rain on the face of the land of *Israel*, and sends waters on the face of the *provinces* of the *people*." Similar to our Lord's saying, which is expressed in the half of the compass: *Your Father which is in heaven*- SENDETH RAIN ON THE JUST AND ON THE UNJUST; [Matthew 5:45](../../../kjv/matthew/5/45).
***Sendeth waters upon the fields*** — The term חצות *chutsoth*, which we translate *fields*, and generally signifies *streets*, may here mean those *plantations* which are *laid out* in *ridges* or *plats*, in an *orderly, regular* manner. God does not only send rain upon the *earth* in a *general* manner, but, by an *especial providence*, waters the *cultivated ground*, so that not one ridge is destitute of its due proportion of fructifying moisture.

Verse [Job 5:11](../../../kjv/job/5/11). ***To set up on high those that be low*** — He so distributes his providential blessings without partiality, that the land of the *poor man* is as well *sunned* and *watered* as that of the *rich;* so that he is thus set upon a level with the lords of the soil.

Verse [Job 5:12](../../../kjv/job/5/12). ***He disappointeth the devices of the crafty*** — All these sayings refer to God's *particular providence*, by which he is ever working for the *good*, and counterworking the plots of the *wicked*. And as various as are the contingent, capricious, and malevolent acts of men, so varied are his providential interferences; disappointing the devices, snares, and plots of the crafty, so that their plans being confounded, and their machinery broken in pieces, *their hands cannot perform their enterprises*.

Verse [Job 5:13](../../../kjv/job/5/13). ***He taketh the wise in their own craftiness*** — So counterworks them as to cause their feet to be taken in their own snares, and their evil dealings to fall on their own pate. Such frequent proofs has God given of his especial interference in behalf of the innocent, who have been the objects of the plots and evil designs of the wicked, by turning those evil devices against their framers, that *he who digs a pit for his neighbour shall fall* *into it himself* has become a universal *adage*, and has passed, either in so many words or in sense, into all the languages of all the people of the earth. *Lucretius* expresses it strongly:
Circumretit enim vis atque injuria quemque,
Atque, unde exorta est, ad eum plerumque revortit.
LUCRET. lib. v., ver. 1151.

"For force and wrong entangle the man that uses them;
And, for the most part, recoil on the head of the contriver."

Verse [Job 5:14](../../../kjv/job/5/14). ***They meet with darkness in the daytime*** — God confounds them and their measures; and, with all their cunning and dexterity, they are outwitted, and often act on their own projects, planned with care and skill, as if they had been the crudest conceptions of the most disordered minds. They act in *noonday* as if the *sun were extinct*, and their *eyes put out*. Thus does God "abate their pride, assuage their malice, and confound their devices."

Verse [Job 5:15](../../../kjv/job/5/15). ***He saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth*** — This is rather a harsh construction. To avoid this, some have proposed to render מחרב *mechereb*, which we translate *from the* *sword, the persecuted*, but, I am afraid, on very slender authority. Instead of מחרב מפיהם *mechereb mippihem*, "from the sword, from their mouth," *eleven* of *Kennicott* and *De Rossi's* MSS. read מחרב פיהם *mechereb pihem, from the sword of their mouth*; and with these MSS. the *Chaldee, Vulgate, Syriac*, and *Arabic* agree. The verse, therefore, may be translated thus: -
He saveth from the sword of their mouth;
The poor from the hand of the mighty.

Or thus:-

He saveth from the sword of their mouth;
And with a strong hand the impoverished.

Verse [Job 5:16](../../../kjv/job/5/16). ***So the poor*** — דל *dal*, he who is made *thin*, who is *wasted, extenuated; hath hope*- he sees what God is accustomed to do, and he expects a repetition of gracious dealings in his own behalf; and because God deals thus with those who trust in him, therefore the *mouth of impiety is stopped*.
Religion is kept alive in the earth, because of God's signal interventions in behalf of the bodies and souls of his followers.

Verse [Job 5:17](../../../kjv/job/5/17). ***Behold, happy is the man*** — הנח *hinneh, behold*, is wanting in *five* of *Kennicott's* and *De Rossi's* MSS., and also in the *Syriac, Vulgate*, and *Arabic*.
We have had *fathers of our flesh*, who corrected us for their pleasure, or according to their caprices, and we were subject to them: how much more should we be subject to the *Father of spirits*, and live? for he corrects that we may be partakers of his holiness, in order that we may be rendered fit for his glory. See [Hebrews 12:5](../../../kjv/hebrews/12/5); [James 1:12](../../../kjv/james/1/12); and [Proverbs 3:12](../../../kjv/proverbs/3/12).

Verse [Job 5:18](../../../kjv/job/5/18). ***For he maketh sore, and bindeth up***. Thus nervously rendered by *Coverdale*, *For though he make a wounde, he giveth a* *medicyne agayne; though he smyte, his honde maketh whole agayne*.

Verse [Job 5:19](../../../kjv/job/5/19). ***He shall deliver thee in six troubles*** — The numbers *six* and *seven* are put here for *many*. Though a number of troubles should come upon thee *all at once*, and there should be no hope, humanly speaking, yet God would rid thee out of them all; for he saves as well from *many* as from *few*. We may also understand the words, He who hath been thy deliverer in past troubles, will not deny his help in those which are to come.

Verse [Job 5:20](../../../kjv/job/5/20). ***In famine he shall redeem thee*** — The *Chaldee*, which understands this chapter as speaking of the *troubles and* *deliverances of the Israelites in Egypt and the wilderness*, renders this verse as follows: "In the famine of Egypt he redeemed thee from death; and in the war of Amalek, from the slaying of the sword."

Verse [Job 5:21](../../../kjv/job/5/21). ***Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue*** — The *Targum* refers this to the *incantations of Balaam*: "From injury by the tongue of Balaam thou shalt be hidden in the clouds; and thou shalt not fear from the blasting of the Midianites, when it shall come."
Perhaps no evil is more dreadful than the *scourge of the tongue*: evil-speaking, detraction, backbiting, calumny, slander, tale-bearing, whispering, and scandalizing, are some of the terms which we use when endeavouring to express the baleful influence and effects of that member, which is a *world of fire*, kindled from the nethermost hell. The Scripture abounds with invectives and execrations against it. See [Psalms 31:20](../../../kjv/psalms/31/20); [Psalms 52:2-4](../../../kjv/psalms/52/2-4); [Proverbs 12:18](../../../kjv/proverbs/12/18); [Proverbs 14:3](../../../kjv/proverbs/14/3); [James 3:1-8](../../../kjv/james/3/1-8).
***Neither shalt thou be afraid*** — "Thou shouldst have such strong confidence in God, that even in the presence of destruction thou shouldst not fear death," the God of life and power being with thee.

Verse [Job 5:22](../../../kjv/job/5/22). ***At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh*** — This most forcibly expresses the strongest security, and confidence in that security. "In the desolation of Sihon, and in the famine of the desert, thou shalt laugh; and of the camps of Og, who is compared to a wild beast of the earth, thou shalt not be afraid." - *Targum*.

Verse [Job 5:23](../../../kjv/job/5/23). ***Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field*** — Instead of אבני *abney, stones*, Mr. *Good* reads *beney,* *sons*, or *produce*; but this reading is not supported by any ancient *version*, nor, as far as I know, by any MS. yet collated. We must, therefore, take up the text as we find it, and make the best we can of the present reading.
The *Chaldee* gives a plausible sense: Thou needest not to fear, "because thy covenant is on tables of stone, which are publicly erected in the field; and the Canaanites, which are compared to the beasts of the field, have made peace with thee."
Perhaps the reference is to those *rocks* or *strong holds*, where banditti secured themselves and their prey, or where the *emirs* or neighbouring *chiefs* had their ordinary residence. Eliphaz may be understood as saying: Instead, then, of taking advantage of thee, as the *Sabeans* have done, the circumjacent chieftains will be confederate with thee; and the very beasts of the field will not be permitted to harm thy flocks.
*Coverdale* seems to have had an idea of this kind, as we find he translates the verse thus: -

I believe the above to be the meaning of the place. See the [Job 5:23](../../../kjv/job/5/23).

Verse [Job 5:24](../../../kjv/job/5/24). ***Thou shalt know*** — Thou shalt be so fully satisfied of the friendly disposition of all thy neighbours, that thou shalt rest secure in thy bed, and not be afraid of any danger, though sleeping in thy *tent* in the *field*; and when thou returnest from thy country excursions, thou shalt find that thy *habitation* has been preserved in peace and prosperity, and that thou hast *made no* *mistake* in thy trust, in thy confidence, or in thy confederates.
The word אהלך *oholecha*, "thy tabernacle," means simply a *tent*, or *moveable dwelling*, composed of *poles, pins*, and *cloth*, or *skin*, to be pitched any where in a few moments, and struck again with the same ease.
The word נוך *navecha*, which we properly translate thy *habitation*, signifies a *solid, permanent dwelling-place*. ee [Joshua 22:4](../../../kjv/joshua/22/4), [Joshua 22:6-8](../../../kjv/joshua/22/6-8); [2 Samuel 18:17](../../../kjv/2-samuel/18/17); [2 Samuel 19:8](../../../kjv/2-samuel/19/8); [1 Kings 12:16](../../../kjv/1-kings/12/16); [Psalms 52:7](../../../kjv/psalms/52/7); [Psalms 91:10](../../../kjv/psalms/91/10); [Psalms 132:3](../../../kjv/psalms/132/3); [Lamentations 2:4](../../../kjv/lamentations/2/4); [Malachi 2:12](../../../kjv/malachi/2/12); and with these passages compare the place in the text.
As to תחטא *techeta*, which we translate *thou shalt* not SIN, it comes from חטא *chata*, to *err*, to *mistake*, to *miss the* *mark*: hence to *sin, transgress God's laws*, seeking for happiness in forbidden and unlawful things, and therefore *missing the mark*, because in *them* happiness is not to be found: and it is very likely, from the connection above, that to *mistake* or *err* is its meaning in this place. I need not add, that the Arab chiefs, who had their castles or strong holds, frequently in their country excursions lodged in *tents* in the open fields; and that on such occasions a hostile neighbour sometimes took advantage of their absence, attacked and pillaged their houses, and carried off their families and household. See at the end of this chapter. [Job 5:27](../../../kjv/job/5/27).

Verse [Job 5:25](../../../kjv/job/5/25). ***Thine offspring as the grass*** — Thou shalt have a numerous and permanent issue.

Verse [Job 5:26](../../../kjv/job/5/26). ***Thou shalt come to thy grave*** — Thou shalt not die before thy time; thou shalt depart from life like a full-fed guest; happy in what thou hast known, and in what thou hast enjoyed.
***Like as a shock of corn*** — Thou shalt completely run through the round of the *spring, summer, autumn*, and *winter* of life; and thou shalt be buried like a wholesome seed in the earth; from which thou shalt again rise up into an eternal *spring*!

Verse [Job 5:27](../../../kjv/job/5/27). ***Lo this, we have searched it*** — What I have told thee is the sum of our wisdom and experience on these important points. These are established maxims, which universal experience supports. *Know*- understand, and reduce them to practice *for thy good*. Thus ends *Eliphaz*, the *Temanite*, "full of wise saws and ancient instances;" but he miserably perverted them in his application of them to Job's case and character. They contain, however, many wholesome truths, of which the wise in heart may make a very advantageous practical use.
THE predatory excursions referred to in [Job 5:23](../../../kjv/job/5/23) were not unfrequent among our own barbarous ancestors. An affecting picture of this kind is drawn by *Shakespeare*, from *Holinshed's Chronicles*, of the case of *Macduff*, whose castle was attacked in his absence by *Macbeth* and his wife and all his children murdered. A similar incident was the ground of the old heroic ballad of *Hardicanute*. When the veteran heard that a host of Norwegians had landed to pillage the country, he armed, and posted to the field to meet the invading foe. He slew the chief in battle, and routed his pillaging banditti. While this was taking place, another party took the advantage of his absence, attacked his castle, and carried off or murdered his lovely wife and family; which, being perceived on his return by the war and age-worn chief, is thus affectingly described by the unknown poet: -
Wan neir his stately tower:

His tower that us'd with torches bleise
To shine sae far at night,
Seim'd now as black as mourning weid,
Nae marvel, sair he sich'd.

"Thair's nae light in my lady's bowir,
Thair's nae light in my hall;
Nae blink shynes round my *Fairly* fair,
Nor *ward* stands on my wall.

"What bodes it, *Thomas! Robert!* say?"
Nae answer - speaks their dreid;
"Stand back, my sons, I'll be your gyde;"
But bye they pass'd with speid.

"As fast I haif sped owr Scotland's foes"
There ceis'd his brag of weir.
Sair schamt to mind ocht but his dame,
And maiden *Fairly* fair.

Black feir he felt; but what to feir
He wist not yet with dreid;
Sair schook his body, sair his limbs,
And all the warrior fled.

The ending of this poem is lost; but we here see that the castle of *Hardicanute* was surprised, and his family destroyed, or carried off, while he and his sons had been employed in defeating the invading Norwegians. Thank God! *civilization*, the offspring of the spread of *Christianity*, has put an end to these barbarous practices among us; but in the *East*, where *Christianity* is not, they flourish still. Britons! send out your Bible and your missionaries to tame these barbarians; for whom *heathenism* has done nothing, and the *Koran* next to nothing. *Civilization* itself, without the *Bible*, will do as little; for the civilized Greeks and Romans were barbarians, fell and murderous; living in envy and malice, hateful, hating one another, and offering *hundreds* at a time of *human victims* to their ruthless deities. Nothing but *Christianity* ever did, or even can, cure these evils.

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