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Having produced what he believes to be irrefutable evidence against Job, Eliphaz challenges Job, “Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?” (5:1). Eliphaz is turning this into a trial with Job as the defendant in the dock. Smugly Eliphaz implies that heaven has already pronounced the verdict, but, just to prove the case, he suggests Job call on heaven. The Hebrew for ‘saints’ is ‘qâdôsh’ meaning sacred and can be applied to God, angels or saints (Strong, H6918). Eliphaz is challenging Job to produce a witness to counter his, i.e. an angelic visitation. Eliphaz is confident that no holy being, either a prophet or an angel will advocate on Job's behalf (Barnes, note on 5:1). The case is opened and closed, Job is guilty.
Eliphaz continues his diatribe with a whirligig of religious talk:
Eliphaz concludes with the assurance that “we” (the three men unless an editorial ‘we’ is assumed), have investigated the matter, and these are the conclusions (5:27). They appear to have discussed Job's case prior to their arrival, or perhaps they have gone aside to discuss. In any case, he presents his thoughts as a well considered corporate opinion.
When Eliphaz says that, “Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple” (5:2, NIV), it is not an idle comment. He is implying that Job is filled with bitterness and envy. The understanding of sin presented throughout the book of Job, even by Job's accusers, includes crimes of the heart, or desire, and not just physical actions.
Eliphaz goes on to imply that Job, fits with one whose children “are crushed in the gate” (5:4). This is more than a tasteless remark, it is a clear slap in the face. The gate is the city's main entry and generally served as a place of business, including that of the courts (Barnes, note on 5:4). The implication is that they didn't just die, but they were judged and condemned by God because of the father's sin. Hindsight being 20-20, Eliphaz is sure that he has seen Job's fault begin to accumulate. “I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation” (5:3). There is no way to pretend that he does not mean Job. With this Eliphaz draws a clear line between himself and Job. This is the first assault on Job's character. Out of oriental propriety the friends withhold, for now, any direct condemnation which would bring a curse.
Eliphaz inserts two lovely proverbs to bolster his point. First, “Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground” (5:6). The earth or dust, it the stuff humankind is made of. So the trouble is brought by non-human intervention. Compare: “As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come” (Prov. 26:2). And the second proverb, “Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (5:7). The Hebrew expression is ‘the sons of flame’ and has been interpreted several ways including ‘the young of the vulture’ and ‘the sons of demons’ (Barnes, note on 5:7). Again the proverbs suggest that man is driven to trouble by outside agents, the sparks that fly upward. He implies that Job is being manipulated by the demonic.
“I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause” (5:8). This carries with it two assumptions: ‘unless you seek God's help, you won't get any sympathy here’ and ‘I know because I am right with God.’ Eliphaz fears to sympathize with Job, lest the damnation of Job transfer. As we know from the narrative, God's pleasure with Job far surpasses that of the three friends. Sympathy would be a better choice. Eliphaz's presumption of righteousness needs little comment. God will deal with him (42:7).
Chapter five hinges on the first part of chapter four in which Eliphaz concludes that only the guilty suffer. All three friends and Job assume this to be the case. To sum up chapter five, Eliphaz suggests that it is foolishness to try to avoid God's wrath. Eliphaz warns Job against trying to outsmart God, “He taketh the wise in their own craftiness” (5:13; see Psalms 7:15, 9:15, 35:8 & 37:15), a verse quoted by Paul (1 Corinthians 3:19).
The sage advice continues: “happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty” (5:17; also Proverbs 3:11-12 and Hebrews 12:5). Job should go to God and beg forgiveness, and then God will bless him: “For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole” (5:18). Eliphaz has timeless wisdom to share. His poetry is rich and beautiful. But the application of this wisdom is entirely without understanding. If Job were under a judgement of wrath, if Job were hiding some secret sin, then this advice would be sound. However, the premise is wrong and the entire lecture falls apart. In fact Eliphaz's accusations and suggested remedies are an offense to Job. We know from chapters one and two that God is quite pleased with Job and that Job is not being punished at all. There is a dangerous flaw in Job which God wants to get at, but it is subtle and slippery. Job doesn't see it, nor do his friends. Job is not hiding some secret sin, but his heart is not right either.
My first inclination is that the three friends are regurgitating undigested religious teaching which is partly true. But there is more to it than that. Job will put his finger on Eliphaz's lack of sympathy.
"He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee," (5:19). Eliphaz lists benefits of turning to God and repenting:
Partly, Eliphaz is assuring himself that Job will be OK, and partly he is urging Job on so that everything will be OK. Eliphaz is not trying to comfort Job, he is trying to comfort himself. This sentiment doesn't help Job. He is not being punished for sin. Job has no idea why his blessings have fled and curses have taken their place. In the end, all seven of these blessings will come to Job, but at this moment Job's faith in it is lacking and his friend's self-serving reassurance is cold comfort.
Job has every reason to be confused. He has every reason to grieve for himself. He has no earthly reason to believe that God is holding blessings in store for him. Job is groping for a cause, for reason. Without a good reason for his current crisis, Job's faith is severely shaken. In this circumstance, Eliphaz's accusations followed by inappropriate solutions mock Job rather than comfort. I heard an interview with a woman whose husband perished in the World Trade Towers collapse. She had lost all faith in God. Platitudes come easy, but how do you really return such a lost child to faith? How do you strengthen the faith of a survivor of Nazi death camps, Serbian or Bosnian torture or Stalin's Gulag? On some larger scale, God is trying to achieve His righteous goodness in the same way as the terrors which came on Israel 2500 years ago. But what about the victims raped, beaten, devouring their own children to stay alive? Job is being very real. Eliphaz has divorced himself from that reality. He is speaking theory that just doesn't apply.
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