24 And thou hast known that thy tent `is' peace, And inspected thy habitation, and errest not,
The light hath been dark in his tent, And his lamp over him is extinguished.
Evil happeneth not unto thee, And a plague cometh not near thy tent,
`Blessed `art' thou in thy coming in, and blessed `art' thou in thy going out.
And David cometh in -- and his men -- unto the city, and lo, burnt with fire, and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters have been taken captive!
It dwelleth in his tent -- out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur.
Only these `are' tabernacles of the perverse, And this the place God hath not known.
Wherefore do the wicked live? They have become old, Yea, they have been mighty in wealth. Their seed is established, Before their face with them, And their offspring before their eyes. Their houses `are' peace without fear, Nor `is' a rod of God upon them.
His soul in good doth remain, And his seed doth possess the land.
They wandered in a wilderness, in a desert by the way, A city of habitation they have not found.
Then hath Jehovah prepared Over every fixed place of Mount Zion, And over her convocations, A cloud by day, and smoke, And the shining of a flaming fire by night, That, over all honour a safe-guard, And a covering may be, For a shadow by day from drought, And for a refuge, and for a hiding place, From inundation and from rain!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 5
Commentary on Job 5 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 5
Eliphaz, in the foregoing chapter, for the making good of his charge against Job, had vouched a word from heaven, sent him in a vision. In this chapter he appeals to those that bear record on earth, to the saints, the faithful witnesses of God's truth in all ages (v. 1). They will testify,
Job 5:1-5
A very warm dispute being begun between Job and his friends, Eliphaz here makes a fair motion to put the matter to a reference. In all debates perhaps the sooner this is done the better if the contenders cannot end it between themselves. So well assured is Eliphaz of the goodness of his own cause that he moves Job himself to choose the arbitrators (v. 1): Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; that is,
Now there are two things which Eliphaz here maintains, and in which he doubts not but all the saints concur with him:-
Job 5:6-16
Eliphaz, having touched Job in a very tender part, in mentioning both the loss of his estate and the death of his children as the just punishment of his sin, that he might not drive him to despair, here begins to encourage him, and puts him in a way to make himself easy. Now he very much changes his voice (Gal. 4:20), and speaks in the accents of kindness, as if he would atone for the hard words he had given him.
Job 5:17-27
Eliphaz, in this concluding paragraph of his discourse, gives Job (what he himself knew not how to take) a comfortable prospect of the issue of his afflictions, if he did but recover his temper and accommodate himself to them. Observe,