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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, Job 5:1. They will testify, I. That the sin of sinners is their ruin, Job 5:2-5. II. That yet affliction is the common lot of mankind, Job 5:6,7. III. That when we are in affliction it is our wisdom and duty to apply to God, for he is able and ready to help us, Job 5:8-16. IV. That the afflictions which are borne well will end well; and Job particularly, if he would come to a better temper, might assure himself that God had great mercy in store for him, Job 5:17-27. So that he concludes his discourse in somewhat a better humour than he began it.
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The Address of Eliphaz (1520 BC)
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以利法的宣講（主前1520年）
¹ 你若呼求，有誰肯應允你？你要轉向哪一位聖者呢？
² 因為忿怒殺死愚妄人，嫉妒殺死痴迷人。
³ 我曾見愚妄人扎根，但我忽然咒詛他的住處。
⁴ 他的兒女遠離安穩，在城門口被壓碎，無人搭救。
⁵ 他的莊稼，飢餓的人吃盡了，就是從荊棘裏也奪去了；陷阱吞吃了他們的財產。
約伯與朋友們之間展開了一場激烈的爭論，以利法在此提出一個公正的動議，要將此事交付仲裁。在一切爭辯中，若爭辯的雙方不能自行了結，也許越早這樣做越好。以利法對自己案件的公正性如此有把握，以至於他主動請約伯自己來選擇仲裁者（Job 5:1）：你若呼求，有誰肯應允你；也就是說，1. 「若有誰像你所受的那樣受苦。你能舉出一個真正聖徒遭遇你所遭遇的這種絕境的實例嗎？神從未如此對待任何愛他名的人，因此你必不是他們中的一個。」2. 「若有誰像你所說的那樣說話。曾有哪個好人像你這樣咒詛自己的生日嗎？有哪位聖徒會在這些激憤或激情中稱義你，或說這是神兒女的瑕疵嗎？你將發現沒有任何聖徒願意作你的辯護者或我的反對者。你要轉向哪一位聖者呢？你轉向誰都好，你將發現他們都與我同心。我有信徒的共同意識——信仰一致者的全體贊同站在我這邊；他們都會贊同我將要說的話。」請注意，（1.）好人被稱為聖者，即使在舊約時代也是如此；因此我不知道為甚麼我們在日常言談中（除非因為我們必須隨俗而談），要把這稱號局限於新約時代的人，而不說聖亞伯拉罕、聖摩西、聖以賽亞，如同說聖馬太和聖馬可那樣；說詩人大衛是聖的，如同說英國主教大衛是聖的那樣。亞倫被明確稱為耶和華的聖者。（2.）凡是聖徒的人，都會轉向那些同為聖徒的人，選擇他們作朋友，與他們交往，選擇他們作審判者，向他們請教。見詩篇一一九篇79節。聖徒要審判世界（1Co 6:1,2）。行走善人的道（Pr 2:20），*古道，羊群的腳蹤。*每個人都選擇某種人，努力向他們推薦自己，以他們的意見作為尊榮和羞辱的標準。而一切真正的聖徒都努力向那些同為聖徒的人推薦自己，在他們的評判中站得穩。（3.）有些真理如此明顯、如此普遍為人所知和相信，以至於人可以就這些真理向任何一位聖徒提出上訴。雖然有些事他們不幸地意見不同，但有更多、更重要的事他們是一致的——如罪的邪惡、世界的虛空、靈魂的價值、聖潔生活的必要性等等。雖然他們沒有都按照自己所信的這些真理去生活，但他們都樂意為這些真理作見證。
如今以利法在此所持守、並確信所有聖徒都與他一致的，有兩件事：——
I. 罪人的罪直接導致自己的毀滅（Job 5:2）：忿怒殺死愚妄人，他自己的忿怒，因此他放縱忿怒就是愚妄；那是他骨中的火、血中的火，足以使他發熱。嫉妒是骨中的朽爛，照樣殺死那因嫉妒而心懷不平的痴迷人。「你也是如此，」以利法說，「你與神爭辯，就是在害自己；你對自己患難的忿怒，對我們興旺的嫉妒，不過增加了你的痛苦和悲慘：去問聖徒吧，你就會發現他們更懂得自己的利益。」約伯曾告訴他的妻子，她說話像愚妄的婦人；如今以利法告訴他，他行事像愚妄人、痴迷人。或可以如此理解：「人若被毀滅傾覆，總是他自己的愚昧毀滅傾覆了他。他們因這樣或那樣的情慾而自取滅亡；因此，約伯，毫無疑問，你做了某件愚妄的事，因而把自己帶入瞭如此悲慘的景況。」許多人將此理解為神的忿怒和嫉妒。約伯不必為惡人的興旺而不安，因為世人的笑容永不能遮蔽他們，使他們免受神的皺眉；他們若以為能，便是愚妄痴笨的。神的忿怒將成為那些被它抓住之人的死——永遠的死。地獄是甚麼，不就是神的忿怒，沒有攙雜、沒有止息嗎？
II. 他們的興旺是短暫的，他們的毀滅是確定的（Job 5:3-5）。他在此似乎將約伯的情況與惡人通常的情況相比擬。1. 約伯曾一度興旺，似乎穩固，在自己的興旺中安妥無慮；愚妄的惡人也常常如此：我曾見他們扎根——被栽種，在他們自己和別人的觀念中被認定穩固，可能長久存立。見耶利米書十二章2節、詩篇三十七篇35、36節。我們看見屬世的人在世上扎根；他們把盼望的根基定在地上，從中汲取安慰的汁液。外在的家業或許興旺，但扎根於地的靈魂卻不能興盛。2. 約伯的興旺如今終結了，惡人的興旺也照樣迅速終結。（1.）以利法以信心的眼睛預見了他們的毀滅。那些只看眼前事物的人稱頌他們的住處，以為他們有福，長久稱頌，希望自己也在他們的景況中。但以利法咒詛它，突然咒詛它——就在他看見他們開始扎根的時候——也就是說，他清楚地預見並預告了他們的毀滅；這不是他祈求的（我沒有求那禍患之日），而是他預言的。他進了聖所，在那裏明白了他們的結局，聽見了他們的判決被宣讀（詩篇七十三篇17、18節）：愚頑人的安逸必害自己（Pr 1:32）。信神話語的人能看見惡人的家中有咒詛（Pr 3:33），儘管那房子建造得多麼精緻堅固，充滿了一切美物；他們能預見那咒詛終必在時候滿足之時，將房子連木頭帶石頭一併消耗（亞五章4節）。（2.）他終於看見了他先前所預見的。他對那人的期待沒有失望；事情的結果應驗了他的預言；他的家破人亡，產業盡毀。在這些細節上，他明顯而非常不友善地暗指約伯的災禍。[1.] 他的兒女被壓碎（Job 5:4）。他們以為在長兄家裏很安全，卻*遠離安穩，因為他們在城門口被壓碎。*也許房子的大門或城門建得最高，倒塌時最重地壓在他們身上，無人搭救他們免於在廢墟中滅亡。這通常被理解為指惡人家族的毀滅——藉著執行公義來強迫他們歸還非法所得。他們把產業留給兒女；但繼承不能阻止合法物主的追索，他們要壓碎他們的兒女，按法律程序把他們趕走（沒有人幫助他們），或者也許藉著壓迫（詩篇一〇九篇9、10節等）。[2.] 他的產業被搶奪（Job 5:5）。約伯的產業也是如此。飢餓的強盜——示巴人和迦勒底人——把它席捲而去，吞吃了；他說，這是我在別人身上屢次觀察到的。靠搶奪和勒索得來的，也以同樣的方式失去。謹慎的主人用荊棘圍籬保護它，以為安全了；但這圍籬在搶奪者的貪婪面前卻無濟於事（飢餓若能衝破石牆，更能衝破荊棘籬笆），在神的咒詛面前更是如此——咒詛要穿透荊棘蒺藜，一同焚燒（賽二十七章4節）。
⁶ 因為禍患不是從土中出來，患難也不是從地裏發生；
⁷ 但人生在世必遇患難，如同火星飛騰。
⁸ 至於我，我必尋求神，把我的案件交託給他；
⁹ 他行大事不可測度，行奇事不可勝數；
¹⁰ 降雨在地上，賜水於田間；
¹¹ 將低微的人安置在高處，使哀慟的人升到穩妥之地。
¹² 破壞狡猾人的計謀，使他們的手所作的不成就。
¹³ 他使有智謀的人中了自己的詭計，使奸詐人的謀略速速敗落。
¹⁴ 他們白晝遇見黑暗，午間摸索如在夜間。
¹⁵ 但神拯救窮乏人脫離刀劍，脫離他們的口，脫離強暴人的手。
¹⁶ 這樣，窮乏人有指望，罪孽閉口無言。
以利法觸及了約伯的痛處——提到他失去產業和喪失兒女是他犯罪的應得刑罰——為了不將他逼到絕望，如今開始鼓勵他，為他指出一條使他自己安心的路。如今他大大改變了語氣（Ga 4:20），以溫柔的口吻說話，彷彿要為他先前所說的嚴厲話語作出補償。
I. 他提醒約伯，沒有任何患難是偶然發生的，也不可歸因於次要原因：*禍患不是從土中出來，也不是從地裏發生，*如同草一樣（Job 5:6）。它不是按季節定期來臨的，不像自然產物那樣，藉著次要原因的鏈條而生。興盛與患難之間的比例，不像日與夜、夏與冬之間那樣被護理精確地維持，而是照著神的旨意和謀略，在他認為合適的時候、以他認為合適的方式臨到。有人如此讀：*罪不是從土中出來，邪惡也不是從地裏發生。*人若敗壞，不可歸咎於土壤、氣候或星辰，而要歸咎於自己。*你若褻慢，就必獨自擔當。*我們不可將自己的患難歸咎於命運，因為它們是從神而來；也不可將自己的罪歸咎於宿命，因為它們是從我們自己而來；因此，無論我們身處何種患難，都當承認是神將它降在我們身上，是我們自己招致的：前者是我們受苦時當極其忍耐的理由，後者是我們受苦時當極其悔改的理由。
II. 他提醒約伯，患難和困苦是我們在這世上都有理由預期會遭遇的：人生在世必遇患難（Job 5:7），不是作為人（人若保持無辜，就必生在享樂中），而是作為罪人，作為婦人所生的人（Job 14:1），那在過犯中有分的人。人生在罪中，因此生在患難中。連那些生在尊榮和產業中的人，在肉體中也是生在患難之中。在我們墮落的狀態中，犯罪對我們來說已成為自然，而其自然的後果就是患難（Ro 5:12）。在這世上，我們生來就有的、能真正稱為自己的東西，除了罪和患難之外，一無所有；二者都如同飛騰的火星。實際的過犯是從原罪的熔爐中飛出來的火星；我們從出胎就被稱為悖逆的，難怪我們行事詭詐（賽四十八章8節）。我們身體的脆弱也是如此，我們一切享受的虛空也是如此——我們的患難也從中如同火星飛騰一般自然地產生——數量如此之多，一個接一個，如此密集而迅速。那麼，我們為何對自己的患難感到驚訝，以為奇怪，或與之爭辯，以為難以忍受呢？它們不過是我們生來就註定要遇見的。人生在勞碌中（旁註如此），被判定要汗流滿面才得糊口，這應當使他習慣於艱難，使他更能忍受患難。
III. 他指教他在患難中當如何行事為人（Job 5:8）：*我必尋求神；*原文如此。這裏有，1. 對約伯沒有尋求神、反而與他爭辯的含蓄責備：「約伯，我若在你這樣的景況中，就不會像你這樣急躁和激憤。我會順服神的旨意。」我們很容易說自己若在某人的景況中會怎樣做；但到了試驗的時候，或許會發現做起來不像說起來那麼容易。2. 對他非常恰當而合時的忠告，以利法以轉換的方式用在自己身上：「至於我，我若在你的景況中，我認為最好的辦法就是轉向神。」請注意，我們給朋友的忠告，不當超過我們若在他們的景況中自己會採取的——好叫我們在患難中得安心，從中得益處，並看見美好的結局。（1.）我們當藉著禱告從神那裏汲取憐憫和恩典，以他為父為友來尋求他——即使他與我們爭辯——他是唯一能扶持和救助我們的。當我們失去世上一切時，仍當尋求他的恩寵；我們當以他為一切美善、一切安慰的泉源和父，轉向他。*有人受苦嗎？他就該禱告。*這是心中的安慰，是百病的良藥。（2.）我們當以忍耐將自己和自己的案件交託給他：*把我的案件交託給他；*既已在他面前陳明，就交託給他；既已放在他腳前，就交在他手中。」「我在這裏，願主憑自己的意旨待我。」我們的案件若確實是好的，就不必懼怕交託給神，因為他既公義又恩慈。那些想要尋求而得著的人，必須將自己交託給神。
IV. 他鼓勵約伯如此尋求神，將案件交託給他。這樣做不會徒然，因為他是我們能在其中找到有效幫助的那一位。
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他推薦約伯思想神全能的權能和至高的主權。總的來說，他行大事（Job 5:9），確實偉大，因為他能做任何事，他確實做了一切事，而且一切都是照著自己旨意的謀略——確實偉大，因為他權能的作為，（1.）不可測度，永不能測透，永不能從始至終查明（Ec 3:11）。自然界的作為是奧秘的；最精細的探索也遠遠不能完全揭示，最有智慧的哲學家也承認自己無能為力。護理的旨意更加深奧難明（Ro 11:33）。（2.）*不可勝數，永不能計算。他行大事不可勝數；*他的能力永不枯竭，他的旨意直到時間的末了才完全成就。（3.）*奇妙，*永不能被充分讚嘆；連永恆也不夠長，不足以用來讚嘆它們。以利法藉著思想這一點，[1.] 要使約伯因與神爭辯的過錯和愚妄而知罪。我們不可假裝判斷他的作為，因為它們是不可測度的，超乎我們的探究；我們也不可與造我們的主相爭，因為他必定比我們強，且能頃刻之間將我們壓碎。[2.] 要鼓勵約伯尋求神，將他的案件交託給他。還有甚麼比看見權能屬於他更鼓舞人心的呢？當我們落到最低谷時，他能為我們的舒解行作又大又奇妙的事。
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他舉出一些神主權和權能的實例。
（1.）神在自然界的國度中行大事：他降雨在地上（Job 5:10），在此代表了一般護理的一切恩賜——一切豐收的年成，藉著這些他以飲食和喜樂充滿我們的心（Ac 14:17）。請注意，當他要表明神行了何等大事時，他說到神降雨——這雖是平常的事，我們容易看作小事，但若我們從它如何產生、又產生了甚麼來思想，就會看見那是極大的權能和良善的作為。
（2.）他在人類的事務中行大事，不僅藉著所降的雨使貧窮人富足、使困乏人得安慰（Job 5:10），而且為了升高那些卑微的人，他*破壞狡猾人的計謀；因為Job 5:11當與Job 5:12相連。比較路加福音一章51-53節：他用膀臂施展大能，那心裏驕傲的被他趕散了，又叫卑賤的升高，*叫飢餓的得飽美物。請看——
[1.] 他如何挫敗驕傲而有謀略之人的計謀（Job 5:12-14）。有一種至高的能力在管理並統治那些自以為自由絕對的人，不顧他們的計畫而成就自己的旨意。請注意，*第一，*那些行事與神和他的國度利益背道而馳的奸詐人，往往非常狡猾；因為他們是古蛇的後裔，古蛇以詭詐著稱。他們自以為有智慧，但到了終局，必成為愚妄人。*第二，*神國度的奸詐仇敵有他們的計謀、計畫和謀略，對抗神國度和其中忠信的子民。他們在設計上不息不倦，在商議上隱密，在盼望上高漲，在政治上深沉，在結盟上緊密（詩篇二篇1、2節）。*第三，*神輕易地就能，而且（只要歸於他的榮耀）必定挫敗和擊潰他和他百姓仇敵的一切計謀。亞希多弗、參巴拉和哈曼的計謀如何被挫敗！亞蘭和以法蓮聯合對抗猶大，基拜、亞捫和亞瑪力對抗神的以色列，世上的君王和臣宰對抗主和主的受膏者——這些結盟如何被擊碎！那曾向神和他的教會伸出來的手，沒有成就它們的計畫；那攻擊錫安的兵器也沒有興盛。*第四，*仇敵為教會的毀滅所設計的，往往反成了他們自己的毀滅（Job 5:13）：他使有智謀的人中了自己的詭計，又使他們在自己手所作的陷阱中被捉住（詩篇七篇15、16節，九篇15、16節）。使徒（1Co 3:19）引用這話，說明外邦的學者如何被自己虛妄的哲學愚弄了。*第五，*當神使人昏亂時，他們就在最明顯、最容易的事上也迷惑不解（Job 5:14）：*他們白晝遇見黑暗；*不，（如旁註所言），*他們因自己謀略的暴烈和急躁，將自己趕入黑暗之中。*見Job 12:20,24,25。
[2.] 他如何眷顧窮乏謙卑之人的事業，為之出面。第一，他使謙卑人升高（Job 5:11）。驕傲人策畫要壓碎的那些人，他從他們腳下舉起來，使他們安然穩妥（詩篇十二篇5節）。心裏謙卑的人和哀慟的人，他升高、安慰，使他們居住在高處，在堅固的磐石保障中（賽三十三章16節）。錫安的哀慟者是受印記的人，被標記為安全的（Eze 9:4）。*第二，*他拯救受壓迫的人（Job 5:15）。狡猾人的計謀是要毀滅窮人。口、手、刀劍，一切都在為此效力；但那些因貧窮而無力自助、又是屬神的窮人、專歸他讚美的人，既已將自己交託給神，神就特別保護他們。他救他們脫離那對他們說苛刻話的口和對他們行苛刻事的手；因為他何時喜悅，就能綁住舌頭、使手枯乾。其結果是（Job 5:16），1. 軟弱膽怯的聖徒得著安慰：窮乏人——那些開始絕望的人——*有指望。*有些人的經歷是對別人的鼓勵，使他們在最壞的時候也存最好的盼望；因為神的榮耀在於為無助者送去幫助、為無望者送去盼望。2. 膽大威嚇的罪人被困惑：*罪孽閉口無言，*因那奇妙的拯救而驚訝，因對那些顯然是天之寵兒的人所存的敵意而羞愧，因失望而感到痛苦，被迫承認神作為的公義，毫無反對的餘地。那些曾欺壓神的窮人、恐嚇他們、威脅他們、誣告他們的人，當神為他們出頭時，就一言不發，不能再攻擊他們。見詩篇七十六篇8、9節；以賽亞書二十六章11節；彌迦書七章16節。
¹⁷ 看哪，神所懲治的人是有福的；所以你不可輕看全能者的管教。
¹⁸ 因為他打破，又纏裹；他擊傷，他的手也醫治。
¹⁹ 他必從六次災禍中救拔你；就是七次，災殃也必不臨到你。
²⁰ 在饑荒中他必救贖你脫離死亡；在爭戰中必救贖你脫離刀劍的權勢。
²¹ 你必被隱藏，免受口舌的鞭笞；災禍來臨時，你也不必害怕。
²² 你必笑口對著毀滅和饑荒；田野的走獸你也不必懼怕。
²³ 因為你必與田間的石頭立約；田野的走獸也必與你和好。
²⁴ 你必知道你的帳棚平安；你查看你的住處，也不犯罪。
²⁵ 你也必知道你的後裔發達，你的子孫如地上的草。
²⁶ 你必壽高年邁才入墳墓，好像禾捆到了時節被收進來。
²⁷ 看哪，這我們已經查究，本是如此；你當聽，當知道是與自己有益。
以利法在他演講的這結束段落中，給約伯描繪了一幅（他本人不知如何領受的）他患難結局的安慰前景——只要他恢復平靜、順應其中。請看——
I. 他所給予他的合時的警告和勸勉（Job 5:17）：你不可輕看全能者的管教。要稱之為管教——這管教從父的愛而來，為著兒女的益處而設計。要稱之為全能者的管教——與他相爭是瘋狂，順服他是智慧和本分，他要作全足的神（原文如此）賜給一切信靠他的人。不要輕看它；原文用了一個含義豐富的字。1. 「不要對它存反感。讓恩典勝過天性對受苦的厭惡，使自己與神在其中旨意相和。」我們需要這杖，也配受這杖；因此我們不該覺得受苦是奇怪或難以忍受的。當苦丸或苦湯是為我們的好處而開的時，不要讓心排斥它。2. 「不要對它存壞念頭；不要把它推開（以為它有害或至少無益，不必要也無好處），只因為眼前它不使人喜樂，反使人憂愁。」我們永不可恥於向神屈膝，也不可認為來到他的管教之下是貶低自己；相反，當認為神如此*眷顧試煉人，*實在是抬舉了人（Job 7:17,18）。3. 「不要忽略和輕忽它，以為它不過是偶然的事、是次要原因的產物，而要高度留意它，視之為神的聲音和從天上差來的使者。」言外之意更多：*要敬畏主的管教；*對這管教的手要存謙卑可畏的敬重，當獅子吼叫時要戰兢（Am 3:8）。要順服管教，並努力回應它的呼召，達到它的目的——這就是敬畏它。當神藉著患難向我們提取他所交託給我們的一些東西時，我們當藉著接受並認可來尊榮他的票據，在他呼召時歸還屬於他的。
II. 他所給予他的鼓勵之言，好叫他如此順應自己的處境，並（如他自己所言）從神手中接受禍患，不輕看它如同不值一顧的禮物。
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他的患難若如此被忍受，（1.）它的性質和屬性就會改變。它雖然看起來像人的災禍，卻實際上要成為他的福分：神所懲治的人是有福的，只要他善用這管教。好人即使受苦也是有福的，因為無論他失去了甚麼，他沒有失去對神的享受，也沒有失去天堂的權利。不但如此，他因受苦而有福；管教是他兒子名分的證據，是他成聖的途徑；它治死他的敗壞，使他的心脫離世界，拉近他與神的距離，帶他回到聖經，帶他屈膝，為他預備——因此也是為他效力——那極重無比、永遠的榮耀。因此神所懲治的人是有福的（雅各書一章12節）。（2.）它的結果和後果將是好的（Job 5:18）。[1.] 雖然他打破——用毒瘡打破身體，用憂愁的思想打破心靈——卻同時纏裹，如同熟練而溫柔的外科醫生用切割的刀必要造成傷口後便加以纏裹。當神以他護理的責罰造成創傷時，他以他聖靈的安慰來纏裹，這安慰往往在最痛苦的患難中最為豐富，與之相抵，使受苦者得到不能言喻的滿足。[2.] 雖然他擊傷，他的手終必在適當的時候醫治；正如他扶持他的百姓、使他們在患難中得安穩，他也必在適當的時候拯救他們，為他們開一條出路。一切都恢復如初；他必照著從前使他受苦的時候安慰他們。神通常的方法是先擊傷後醫治，先知罪後安慰，先降卑後升高；而且（如卡里爾先生所觀察的），他從不造成一個他自己的醫治所不能勝過的創傷——無論多大、多深。*同一隻手既造成了傷口，也施下了良藥。*神撕裂惡人而離去；任憑願意的人去醫治，若他們能做到的話（Ho 5:14）；但謙卑悔改的人可以說：他撕裂我們，也必醫治我們（Ho 6:1）。這是一般性的原則。但——
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在Job 5:19-27中，以利法直接對約伯說話，給了他許多寶貴的應許——若他肯在神手下謙卑，神必為他成就又大又善的事。雖然那時他們據我們所知沒有聖經，但以利法有充分的根據向約伯保證這些事——基於神已經向他百姓啟示的關於他對他們善意的一般啟示。雖然約伯的朋友們所說的話並不每一句都是受神的靈引導的（因為他們論到神和約伯時，有些話說得不對），但他們所立的一般性教義表達了列祖時代的敬虔意識；正如保羅引用了Job 5:13（1Co 1:19）作為正典聖經，又如Job 5:17的命令（Heb 12:5）對我們毫無疑問地具有約束力，照樣這些應許也可以、並且必須作為神的應許來領受和應用，我們可以藉著忍耐和聖經的安慰得著盼望。因此讓我們殷勤地確保自己在這些應許中有分，然後逐一觀看其中具體的內容並享受其中的安慰。
（1.）這裏應許，患難和困苦重來時，支持和拯救也必恩慈地重複——無論多少次：他必從六次災禍中救拔你；就是七次（Job 5:19）。這暗示，只要我們還在這世上，就必須預期患難會接連而來，雲彩要在雨後返回。六次患難之後可能來第七次；多次之後當預期更多；但屬神的人，神必從這一切中拯救他們（2Ti 3:11；詩篇三十四篇19節）。先前的拯救不像在人中間那樣成為不再施行進一步拯救的理由，反而是進一步拯救的憑據（Pr 19:19）。
（2.）無論好人遭遇甚麼患難，*災殃也必不臨到他們；*患難不能真正傷害他們；其毒性——其毒鉤——已被拔除；它可能發出嘶聲，卻不能傷人（詩篇九十一篇10節）。那惡者也不能侵害神的兒女（1Jo 5:18）。既蒙保守不犯罪，就蒙保守免受一切患難之惡。
（3.）當毀滅性的審判在外盛行時，他們必被置於特別的保護之下（Job 5:20）。許多人在他們周圍因缺乏生活的必需品而滅亡嗎？他們必得供應。在饑荒中他必救贖你脫離死亡；無論別人如何，你必得以存活（詩篇三十三篇19節）。你必得著供應，而且在饑荒的日子你必得飽足（詩篇三十七篇3、19節）。*在爭戰之時，當千萬人在左右仆倒時，他必救贖你脫離刀劍的權勢。*神若願意，它必不觸及你；若它傷了你，若它殺了你，它也不能害你；它不過能殺身體，也沒有權柄這樣做，除非是從上頭賜的。
（4.）無論有甚麼惡意的話針對他們，也不能傷害他們（Job 5:21）。你不僅被保護免受爭戰的殺人之刀，也必被隱藏，免受口舌的鞭笞——口舌如同鞭子，令人煩擾痛苦，雖不致命。最好的人、最無可指摘的人，即使在無辜之中，也不能使自己免受誣蔑、毀謗和虛假的指控。人不能使自己躲避這些，但神能隱藏他，使最惡毒的誹謗在他看來微不足道，不至於擾亂他的平安，在別人看來也微不足道，不至於損害他的聲譽：而且神能、也確實約束了餘下的怒氣；壞人良心的繩索握在神手中，正因如此，口舌的鞭笞才沒有成為這世上好人一切安慰的毀滅。
（5.）他們即使在最壞的時候，也必因著對神的盼望和信靠而擁有神聖的安穩和平靜。當危險最可怕時，他們必安心，相信自己安全；他們*也不必害怕毀滅，*即使看見它來臨（Job 5:21），也不必害怕田野的走獸來攻擊他們，也不必害怕如同走獸般殘忍的人；不但如此，你必笑口對著毀滅和饑荒（Job 5:22）——不是輕看神的任何管教，也不是拿他的審判開玩笑，而是在神裏面，在他的權能和良善中誇勝，藉此勝過世界和世界的一切苦難——不僅在患難中安心，更是歡欣喜樂。蒙福的保羅笑對毀滅，當他說：死啊，你的毒鉤在哪裏？當他以眾聖徒的名義向這現今一切苦難挑戰，說它們不能使我們與神的愛隔絕，並斷言在這一切的事上，我們已經得勝有餘了（Ro 8:35-39等；見以賽亞書三十七章22節）。
（6.）他們既與神相和，他們與整個受造之物之間就必有友誼之約（Job 5:23）。「當你走在自己的田地上時，不必害怕絆跌，因為你必與田間的石頭立約，不會把腳撞在任何石頭上，也不會處於田野的走獸的危險中，因為它們都必與你和好」；比較Ho 2:18，*我必為他們與田野的走獸立約。這暗示，人與造他的主為仇時，低等受造物就與他交戰；但神和睦，萬物皆和睦。*我們與神所立的約，就是與一切受造之物所立的約——它們不加害我們，反而隨時服事我們、善待我們。
（7.）他們的房屋和家人必成為他們的安慰（Job 5:24）。家中的平安和敬虔必使之如此。你必知道並確信你的帳棚是並*必在平安中；*你可以對它現今的和將來的興旺同樣有把握。平安就是你的帳棚（原文如此）；平安就是那些住在神裏面、以神為家之人所居住的房屋。你必查看（即察看）*你的住處，檢視其中一切的事務，也不犯罪。[1.] 神必為他的百姓預備居所——或許簡陋且可移動，一間茅屋、一個帳棚，但卻是固定而安靜的居所。「你必不犯罪，」或不流蕩；即如有人所理解的，「你必不成為逃亡者和流離飄泊的人」（該隱的咒詛），「而是要住在地上，而且確實地——不像流浪者那樣不確定地——得著供應。」[2.] 他們的家庭必被置於神聖護理的特別保護之下，在他們有益的範圍內興旺。[3.] 他們必確信平安，並確信平安的持續和傳承。「你必知道，得著不能言喻的滿足——平安確實屬於你和你的家人，因為有神的話語為保證。」護理可以改變，但應許不能。[4.] 他們必有智慧正當地治理家庭，以謹慎管理事務，好好留心家中的道路——這在此被稱為查看住處。*一家之主不可在家作客，而要留心觀察自己所有的和僕人所行的。[5.] 他們必有恩典以敬虔的方式管理家庭事務，在其中不犯罪。他們要審問僕人，卻不動怒、不驕傲、不貪婪、不世俗；他們要察看事務，卻不因現狀而不滿，也不因將來而疑惑。家庭的敬虔使家庭的平安和興旺得以完全。無論在我們的工作中還是在我們的享受中，最大的福分就是在其中不犯罪。我們在外時，聽見帳棚平安，就感到安慰；當我們回家時，查看住處，既因自己的成功而滿意——沒有在事業上失敗——又因良心無虧而安慰——沒有得罪神，就感到安慰。
（8.）他們的後裔必眾多而興旺。約伯失去了一切兒女；但以利法說，你若歸向神，他必再次建立你的家室，你的後裔必多如從前，而且如同從前那樣昌大，你的子孫不斷增多興旺，如地上的草（Job 5:25），你也必知道。神為忠信之人的後裔所儲備的福分，他們必得著——只要他們不自設障礙、因愚昧而喪失。作父母的看見兒女的興旺——尤其是屬靈的興旺——就感到安慰；他們若真正為善，就真正為大，無論他們在世人面前多麼不起眼。
（9.）他們的死必合時，終必在喜樂和尊榮中走完他們的路程（Job 5:26）。這是極大的恩慈，[1.] 活到高壽，月數不被中途截斷。若神的護理沒有賜我們長壽，然而若神的恩典使我們滿足於所分配的時間，我們就可以說是到了滿了年歲。那人已活得夠長了——他的工作已做完，已預備好進入另一個世界。[2.] 甘心樂意地死，歡然走向墳墓，而不是被勉強拖去——如同那靈魂被索取的人。[3.] 死得其時，如同穀物在完全成熟時被割下收藏；不會在那之前，但在那時也不會被容許多留一天，免得脫粒散落。我們的時候在神手中；這是好的，因為他必看顧屬他的人在最好的時候離世：無論他們的死在我們看來多麼不合時，終必發現並非不合宜。
- 在Job 5:27中，他將這些應許推薦給約伯，（1.）作為可信的話，他可以確信其真實性：*看哪，這我們已經查究，本是如此。*我們確實從我們的列祖領受了這些事，但我們不是僅憑信賴接受；我們仔細查究過，將屬靈的事與屬靈的事相比較，勤奮研讀，並從自己的觀察和經歷中確認了我們對這些事的信仰；我們都一致認為確實如此。真理是一個值得挖掘、值得潛心尋求的寶藏；當我們費心尋求之後，既知道如何自己珍視它，也知道如何向別人傳達。（2.）作為配得一切接受的話，他可以從中得到極大的益處：*你當聽，當知道是與自己有益。*僅僅聽見和知道真理是不夠的，還必須應用它，藉著它變得更有智慧和更善良，領受它的印象，順服它命令的權能。為你自己知道（原文如此），將之應用在自己和自己身上；不僅「這是真的」，而是「這是真的，關乎我」。我們如此為自己聽見並知道的事，就是為自己的益處聽見並知道——如同我們因所消化的食物而得滋養。那確實是對我們有益的講道——是對我們行了善的講道。
英文原文
The Address of Eliphaz (1520 BC)
¹ Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; and to which of the saints wilt thou turn?
² For wrath killeth the foolish man, and envy slayeth the silly one.
³ I have seen the foolish taking root: but suddenly I cursed his habitation.
⁴ His children are far from safety, and they are crushed in the gate, neither is there any to deliver them.
⁵ Whose harvest the hungry eateth up, and taketh it even out of the thorns, and the robber swalloweth up their substance.
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 (Job 5:1): Call now, if there be any that will answer thee; that is, 1. "If there be any that suffer as thou sufferest. Canst thou produce an instance of any one that was really a saint that was reduced to such an extremity as thou art now reduced to? God never dealt with any that love his name as he deals with thee, and therefore surely thou art none of them." 2. "If there be any that say as thou sayest. Did ever any good man curse his day as thou dost? Or will any of the saints justify thee in these heats or passions, or say that these are the spots of God's children? Thou wilt find none of the saints that will be either thy advocates or my antagonists. To which of the saints wilt thou turn? Turn to which thou wilt, and thou wilt find they are all of my mind. I have the communis sensus fidelium—the unanimous vote of the faithful on my side; they will all subscribe to what I am going to say." Observe, (1.) Good people are called saints even in the Old Testament; and therefore I know not why we should, in common speaking (unless because we must loqui cum vulgo—speak as our neighbours), appropriate the title to those of the New Testament, and not say St. Abraham, St. Moses, and St. Isaiah, as well as St. Matthew and St. Mark; and St. David the psalmist, as well as St. David the British bishop. Aaron is expressly called the saint of the Lord. (2.) All that are themselves saints will turn to those that are so, will choose them for their friends and converse with them, will choose them for their judges and consult them. See Ps 119:79. The saints shall judge the world, 1Co 6:1,2. Walk in the way of good men (Pr 2:20), the old way, the footsteps of the flock. Every one chooses some sort of people or other to whom he studies to recommend himself, and whose sentiments are to him the test of honour and dishonour. Now all true saints endeavour to recommend themselves to those that are such, and to stand right in their opinion. (3.) There are some truths so plain, and so universally known and believed, that one may venture to appeal to any of the saints concerning them. However there are some things about which they unhappily differ, there are many more, and more considerable, in which they are agreed; as the evil of sin, the vanity of the world, the worth of the soul, the necessity of a holy life, and the like. Though they do not all live up, as they should, to their belief of these truths, yet they are all ready to bear their testimony to them.
Now there are two things which Eliphaz here maintains, and in which he doubts not but all the saints concur with him:—
I. That the sin of sinners directly tends to their own ruin (Job 5:2): Wrath kills the foolish man, his own wrath, and therefore he is foolish for indulging it; it is a fire in his bones, in his blood, enough to put him into a fever. Envy is the rottenness of the bones, and so slays the silly one that frets himself with it. "So it is with thee," says Eliphaz, "while thou quarrellest with God thou doest thyself the greatest mischief; thy anger at thy own troubles, and thy envy at our prosperity, do but add to thy pain and misery: turn to the saints, and thou wilt find they understand their interest better." Job had told his wife she spoke as the foolish women; now Eliphaz tells him he acted as the foolish men, the silly ones. Or it may be meant thus: "If men are ruined and undone, it is always their own folly that ruins and undoes them. They kill themselves by some lust or other; therefore, no doubt, Job, thou hast done some foolish thing, by which thou hast brought thyself into this calamitous condition." Many understand it of God's wrath and jealousy. Job needed not be uneasy at the prosperity of the wicked, for the world's smiles can never shelter them from God's frowns; they are foolish and silly if they think they will. God's anger will be the death, the eternal death, of those on whom it fastens. What is hell but God's anger without mixture or period?
II. That their prosperity is short and their destruction certain, Job 5:3-5. He seems here to parallel Job's case with that which is commonly the case of wicked people. 1. Job had prospered for a time, seemed confirmed, and was secure in his prosperity; and it is common for foolish wicked men to do so: I have seen them taking root—planted, and, in their own and others' apprehension, fixed, and likely to continue. See Jer 12:2, Ps 37:35,36. We see worldly men taking root in the earth; on earthly things they fix the standing of their hopes, and from them they draw the sap of their comforts. The outward estate may be flourishing, but the soul cannot prosper that takes root in the earth. 2. Job's prosperity was now at an end, and so has the prosperity of other wicked people quickly been. (1.) Eliphaz foresaw their ruin with an eye of faith. Those who looked only at present things blessed their habitation, and thought them happy, blessed it long, and wished themselves in their condition. But Eliphaz cursed it, suddenly cursed it, as soon as he saw them begin to take root, that is, he plainly foresaw and foretold their ruin; not that he prayed for it (I have not desired the woeful day), but he prognosticated it. He went into the sanctuary, and there understood their end and heard their doom read (Ps 73:17,18), that the prosperity of fools will destroy them, Pr 1:32. Those who believe the word of God can see a curse in the house of the wicked (Pr 3:33), though it be ever so finely and firmly built, and ever so full of all good things; and they can foresee that the curse will, in time, infallibly consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof, Zec 5:4. (2.) He saw, at length, what he had foreseen. He was not disappointed in his expectation concerning him; the event answered it; his family was undone, and his estate ruined. In these particulars he plainly and very invidiously reflects on Job's calamities. [1.] His children were crushed, Job 5:4. They thought themselves safe in their eldest brother's house, but were far from safety, for they were crushed in the gate. Perhaps the door or gate of the house was highest built, and fell heaviest upon them, and there was none to deliver them from perishing in the ruins. This is commonly understood of the destruction of the families of wicked men, by the execution of justice upon them, to oblige them to restore what they have ill-gotten. They leave it to their children; but the descent shall not bar the entry of the rightful owners, who will crush their children, and cast them by due course of law (and there shall be none to help them), or perhaps by oppression, Ps 109:9,10, etc. [2.] His estate was plundered, Job 5:5. Job's was so. The hungry robbers, the Sabeans and Chaldeans, ran away with it, and swallowed it; and this, says he, I have often observed in others. What has been got by spoil and rapine has been lost in the same way. The careful owner hedged it about with thorns, and then thought it safe; but the fence proved insignificant against the greediness of the spoilers (if hunger will break through the stone walls, much more through thorn hedges), and against the divine curse, which will go through the thorns and briers, and burn them together, Isa 27:4.
⁶ Although affliction cometh not forth of the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground;
⁷ Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
⁸ I would seek unto God, and unto God would I commit my cause:
⁹ Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
¹⁰ Who giveth rain upon the earth, and sendeth waters upon the fields:
¹¹ To set up on high those that be low; that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.
¹² He disappointeth 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 froward is carried headlong.
¹⁴ They meet with darkness in the daytime, and grope in the noonday as in the night.
¹⁵ But he saveth the poor from the sword, from their mouth, and from the hand of the mighty.
¹⁶ So the poor hath hope, and iniquity stoppeth her mouth.
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 (Ga 4:20), and speaks in the accents of kindness, as if he would atone for the hard words he had given him.
I. He reminds him that no affliction comes by chance, nor is to be attributed to second causes: It doth not come forth of the dust, nor spring out of the ground, as the grass doth, Job 5:6. It doth not come of course, at certain seasons of the year, as natural productions do, by a chain of second causes. The proportion between prosperity and adversity is not so exactly observed by Providence as that between day and night, summer and winter, but according to the will and counsel of God, when and as he thinks fit. Some read it, Sin comes not forth out of the dust, nor iniquity of the ground. If men be bad, they must not lay the blame upon the soil, the climate, or the stars, but on themselves. If thou scornest, thou alone shalt bear it. We must not attribute our afflictions to fortune, for they are from God, nor our sins to fate, for they are from ourselves; so that, whatever trouble we are in, we must own that God sends it upon us and we procure it to ourselves: the former is a reason why we should be very patient, the latter why we should be very penitent, when we are afflicted.
II. He reminds him that trouble and affliction are what we have all reason to expect in this world: Man is brought to trouble (Job 5:7), not as man (had he kept his innocency he would have been born to pleasure), but as sinful man, as born of a woman (Job 14:1), who was in the transgression. Man is born in sin, and therefore born to trouble. Even those that are born to honour and estate are yet born to trouble in the flesh. In our fallen state it has become natural to us to sin, and the natural consequence of that is affliction, Ro 5:12. There is nothing in this world we are born to, and can truly call our own, but sin and trouble; both are as the sparks that fly upwards. Actual transgressions are the sparks that fly out of the furnace of original corruption; and, being called transgressors from the womb, no wonder that we deal very treacherously, Isa 48:8. Such too is the frailty of our bodies, and the vanity of all our enjoyments, that our troubles also thence arise as naturally as the sparks fly upwards—so many are they, so thick and so fast does one follow another. Why then should we be surprised at our afflictions as strange, or quarrel with them as hard, when they are but what we are born to? Man is born to labour (so it is in the margin), is sentenced to eat his bread in the sweat of his face, which should inure him to hardness, and make him bear his afflictions the better.
III. He directs him how to behave himself under his affliction (Job 5:8): I would seek unto God; surely I would: so it is in the original. Here is, 1. A tacit reproof to Job for not seeking to God, but quarrelling with him: "Job, if I had been in thy case, I would not have been so peevish and passionate as thou art. I would have acquiesced in the will of God." It is easy to say what we would do if we were in such a one's case; but when it comes to the trial, perhaps it will be found not so easy to do as we say. 2. Very good and seasonable advice to him, which Eliphaz transfers to himself in a figure: "For my part, the best way I should think I could take, if I were in thy condition, would be to apply to God." Note, We should give our friends no other counsel than what we would take ourselves if we were in their case, that we may be easy under our afflictions, may get good by them, and may see a good issue of them. (1.) We must by prayer fetch in mercy and grace from God, seek to him as a Father and friend, though he contend with us, as one who is alone able to support and succour us. His favour we must seek when we have lost all we have in the world; to him we must address ourselves as the fountain and Father of all good, all consolation. Is any afflicted? let him pray. It is heart's-ease, a salve for every sore. (2.) We must by patience refer ourselves and our cause to him: To God would I commit my cause; having spread it before him, I would leave it with him; having laid it at his feet, I would lodge it in his hand. "Here I am, let the Lord do with me as seemeth him good." If our cause be indeed a good cause, we need not fear committing it to God, for he is both just and kind. Those that would seek so as to speed must refer themselves to God.
IV. He encourages him thus to seek to God, and commit his cause to him. It will not be in vain to do so, for he is one in whom we shall find effectual help.
1. He recommends to his consideration God's almighty power and sovereign dominion. In general, he doeth great things (Job 5:9), great indeed, for he can do any thing, he doth do every thing, and all according to the counsel of his own will—great indeed, for the operations of his power are, (1.) Unsearchable, and such as can never be fathomed, can never be found out from the beginning to the end, Ec 3:11. The works of nature are mysterious; the most curious searches come far short of full discoveries and the wisest philosophers have owned themselves at a loss. The designs of Providence are much more deep and unaccountable, Ro 11:33. (2.) Numerous, and such as can never be reckoned up. He doeth great things without number; his power is never exhausted, nor will all his purposes ever be fulfilled till the end of time. (3.) They are marvellous, and such as never can be sufficiently admired; eternity itself will be short enough to be spent in the admiration of them. Now, by the consideration of this, Eliphaz intends, [1.] To convince Job of his fault and folly in quarrelling with God. We must not pretend to pass a judgment upon his works, for they are unsearchable and above our enquiries; nor must we strive with our Maker, for he will certainly be too hard for us, and is able to crush us in a moment. [2.] To encourage Job to seek unto God, and to refer his cause to him. What more encouraging than to see that he is one to whom power belongs? He can do great things and marvellous for our relief, when we are brought ever so low.
2. He gives some instances of God's dominion and power.
(1.) God doeth great things in the kingdom of nature: He gives rain upon the earth (Job 5:10), put here for all the gifts of common providence, all the fruitful seasons by which he filleth our hearts with food and gladness, Ac 14:17. Observe, When he would show what great things God does he speaks of his giving rain, which, because it is a common thing, we are apt to look upon as a little thing, but, if we duly consider both how it is produced and what is produced by it, we shall see it to be a great work both of power and goodness.
(2.) He doeth great things in the affairs of the children of men, not only enriches the poor and comforts the needy, by the rain he sends (Job 5:10), but, in order to the advancing of those that are low, he disappoints the devices of the crafty; for Job 5:11 is to be joined to Job 5:12. Compare with Lu 1:51-53. He hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts, and so hath exalted those of low degree, and filled the heart with good things. See,
[1.] How he frustrates the counsels of the proud and politic, Job 5:12-14. There is a supreme power that manages and overrules men who think themselves free and absolute, and fulfils its own purposes in spite of their projects. Observe, First, The froward, that walk contrary to God and the interests of his kingdom, are often very crafty; for they are the seed of the old serpent that was noted for his subtlety. They think themselves wise, but, at the end, will be fools. Secondly, The Froward enemies of God's kingdom have their devices, their enterprises, and their counsels, against it, and against the loyal faithful subjects of it. They are restless and unwearied in their designs, close in their consultations, high in their hopes, deep in their politics, and fast-linked in their confederacies, Ps 2:1,2. Thirdly, God easily can, and (as far as is for his glory) certainly will, blast and defeat all the designs of his and his people's enemies. How were the plots of Ahithophel, Sanballat, and Haman baffled! How were the confederacies of Syria and Ephraim against Judah, of Gebal, and Ammon, and Amalek, against God's Israel, the kings of the earth and the princes against the Lord and against his anointed, broken! The hands that have been stretched out against God and his church have not performed their enterprise, nor have the weapons formed against Sion prospered. Fourthly, That which enemies have designed for the ruin of the church has often turned to their own ruin (Job 5:13): He takes the wise in their own craftiness, and snares them in the work of their own hands, Ps 7:15,16,9:15,16. This is quoted by the apostle (1Co 3:19) to show how the learned men of the heathen were befooled by their own vain philosophy. Fifthly, When God infatuates men they are perplexed, and at a loss, even in those things that seem most plain and easy (Job 5:14): They meet with darkness even in the day-time: nay (as in the margin), They run themselves into darkness by the violence and precipitation of their own counsels. See Job 12:20,24,25.
[2.] How he favours the cause of the poor and humble, and espouses that. First, He exalts the humble, Job 5:11. Those whom proud men contrive to crush he raises from under their feet, and sets them in safety, Ps 12:5. The lowly in heart, and those that mourn, he advances, comforts, and makes to dwell on high, in the munitions of rocks, Isa 33:16. Sion's mourners are the sealed ones, marked for safety, Eze 9:4. Secondly, He delivers the oppressed, Job 5:15. The designs of the crafty are to ruin the poor. Tongue, and hand, and sword, and all, are at work in order to this; but God takes under his special protection those who, being poor and unable to help themselves, being his poor and devoted to his praise, have committed themselves to him. He saves them from the mouth that speaks hard things against them and the hand that does hard things against them; for he can, when he pleases, tie the tongue and wither the hand. The effect of this is (Job 5:16), 1. That weak and timorous saints are comforted: So the poor, who began to despair, has hope. The experiences of some are encouragement to others to hope the best in the worst of times; for it is the glory of God to send help to the helpless and hope to the hopeless. 2. That daring threatening sinners are confounded: Iniquity stops her mouth, being surprised at the strangeness of the deliverance, ashamed of its enmity against those who appear to be the favourites of Heaven, mortified at the disappointment, and compelled to acknowledge the justice of God's proceedings, having nothing to object against them. Those that domineered over God's poor, that frightened them, menaced them, and falsely accused them, will not have a word to say against them when God appears for them. See Ps 76:8,9, Isa 26:11, Mic 7:16.
¹⁷ Behold, happy is the man whom God correcteth: therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty:
¹⁸ For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.
¹⁹ He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.
²⁰ In famine he shall redeem thee from death: and in war from the power of the sword.
²¹ Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue: neither shalt thou be afraid of destruction when it cometh.
²² At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth.
²³ For thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field: and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with thee.
²⁴ And thou shalt know that thy tabernacle shall be in peace; and thou shalt visit thy habitation, and shalt not sin.
²⁵ Thou shalt know also that thy seed shall be great, and thine offspring as the grass of the earth.
²⁶ Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season.
²⁷ Lo this, we have searched it, so it is; hear it, and know thou it for thy good.
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,
I. The seasonable word of caution and exhortation that he gives him (Job 5:17): "Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the father's love and is designed for the child's good. Call it the chastening of the Almighty, with whom it is madness to contend, to whom it is wisdom and duty to submit, and who will be a God all-sufficient (for so the word signifies) to all those that trust in him. Do not despise it;" it is a copious word in the original. 1. "Be not averse to it. Let grace conquer the antipathy which nature has to suffering, and reconcile thyself to the will of God in it." We need the rod and we deserve it; and therefore we ought not to think it either strange or hard if we feel the smart of it. Let not the heart rise against a bitter pill or potion, when it is prescribed for our good. 2. "Do not think ill of it; do not put it from thee (as that which is either hurtful or at least not useful, which there is not occasion for nor advantage by) only because for the present it is not joyous, but grievous." We must never scorn to stoop to God, nor think it a thing below us to come under his discipline, but reckon, on the contrary, that God really magnifies man when he thus visits and tries him, Job 7:17,18. 3. "Do not overlook and disregard it, as if it were only a chance, and the production of second causes, but take great notice of it as the voice of God and a messenger from heaven." More is implied than is expressed: "Reverence the chastening of the Lord; have a humble awful regard to this correcting hand, and tremble when the lion roars, Am 3:8. Submit to the chastening, and study to answer the call, to answer the end of it, and then you reverence it." When God by an affliction draws upon us for some of the effects he has entrusted us with we must honour his bill by accepting it, and subscribing it, resigning him his own when he calls for it.
II. The comfortable words of encouragement which he gives him thus to accommodate himself to his condition, and (as he himself had expressed it) to receive evil at the hand of God, and not despise it as a gift not worth the accepting.
1. If his affliction was thus borne, (1.) The nature and property of it would be altered. Though it looked like a man's misery, it would really be his bliss: Happy is the man whom God correcteth if he make but a due improvement of the correction. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for, whatever he has lost, he has not lost his enjoyment of God nor his title to heaven. Nay, he is happy because he is afflicted; correction is an evidence of his sonship and a means of his sanctification; it mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees, works him for, and so is working for him, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Happy therefore is the man whom God correcteth, Jam 1:12. (2.) The issue and consequence of it would be very good, Job 5:18. [1.] Though he makes sore the body with sore boils, the mind with sad thoughts, yet he binds up at the same time, as the skilful tender surgeon binds up the wounds he had occasion to make with his incision-knife. When God makes sores by the rebukes of his providence he binds up by the consolations of his Spirit, which oftentimes abound most as afflictions do abound, and counterbalance them, to the unspeakable satisfaction of the patient sufferers. [2.] Though he wounds, yet his hands make whole in due time; as he supports his people, and makes them easy under their afflictions, so in due time he delivers them, and makes a way for them to escape. All is well again; and he comforts them according to the time wherein he afflicted them. God's usual method is first to wound and then to heal, first to convince and then to comfort, first to humble and then to exalt; and (as Mr. Caryl observes) he never makes a wound too great, too deep, for his own cure. Una eademque manus vulnus opemque tulit—The hand that inflicts the wound applies the cure. God tears the wicked and goes away; let those heal that will, if they can (Ho 5:14); but the humble and penitent may say, He has torn and he will heal us, Ho 6:1. This is general, but,
2. In the Job 5:19-27 Eliphaz addresses himself directly to Job, and gives him many precious promises of great and kind things which God would do for him if he did but humble himself under his hand. Though then they had no Bibles that we know of, yet Eliphaz had sufficient warrant to give Job these assurances, from the general discoveries God had made of his good will to his people. And, though in every thing which Job's friends said they were not directed by the Spirit of God (for they spoke both of God and Job some things that were not right), yet the general doctrines they laid down expressed the pious sense of the patriarchal age, and as St. Paul quoted Job 5:13, 1Co 1:19 for canonical scripture, and as the command Job 5:17, Heb 12:5 is no doubt binding on us, so these promises here may be, and must be, received and applied as divine promises, and we may through patience and comfort of this part of scripture have hope. Let us therefore give diligence to make sure our interest in these promises, and then view the particulars of them and take the comfort of them.
(1.) It is here promised that as afflictions and troubles recur supports and deliverances shall be graciously repeated, be it ever so often: In six troubles he shall be ready to deliver thee; yea, and in seven, Job 5:19. This intimates that, as long as we are here in this world, we must expect a succession of troubles, that the clouds will return after the rain. After six troubles may come a seventh; after many, look for more; but out of them all will God deliver those that are his, 2Ti 3:11, Ps 34:19. Former deliverances are not, as among men, excuses from further deliverances, but earnests of them, Pr 19:19.
(2.) That, whatever troubles good men may be in, there shall no evil touch them; they shall do them no real harm; the malignity of them, the sting, shall be taken out; they may hiss, but they cannot hurt, Ps 91:10. The evil one toucheth not God's children, 1Jo 5:18. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of every trouble.
(3.) That, when desolating judgments are abroad, they shall be taken under special protection, Job 5:20. Do many perish about them for want of the necessary supports of life? They shall be supplied. "In famine he shall redeem thee from death; whatever becomes of others, thou shalt be kept alive, Ps 33:19. Verily, thou shalt be fed, nay, even in the days of famine thou shalt be satisfied, Ps 37:3,19. In time of war, when thousands fall on the right and left hand, he shall redeem thee from the power of the sword. If God please, it shall not touch thee; or if it wound thee, if it kill thee, it shall not hurt thee; it can but kill the body, nor has it power to do that unless it be given from above."
(4.) That, whatever is maliciously said against them, it shall not affect them to do them any hurt, Job 5:21. "Thou shalt not only be protected from the killing sword of war, but shalt be hidden from the scourge of the tongue, which, like a scourge, is vexing and painful, though not mortal." The best men, and the most inoffensive, cannot, even in their innocency, secure themselves from calumny, reproach, and false accusation. From these a man cannot hide himself, but God can hide him, so that the most malicious slanders shall be so little heeded by him as not to disturb his peace, and so little heeded by others as not to blemish his reputation: and the remainder of wrath God can and does restrain, for it is owing to the hold he has of the consciences of bad men that the scourge of the tongue is not the ruin of all the comforts of good men in this world.
(5.) That they shall have a holy security and serenity of mind, arising from their hope and confidence in God, even in the worst of times. When dangers are most threatening they shall be easy, believing themselves safe; and they shall not be afraid of destruction, no, not when they see it coming (Job 5:21), nor of the beasts of the field when they set upon them, nor of men as cruel as beasts; nay, at destruction and famine thou shalt laugh (Job 5:22), not so as to despise any of God's chastenings or make a jest of his judgments, but so as to triumph in God, in his power and goodness, and therein to triumph over the world and all its grievances, to be not only easy, but cheerful and joyful, in tribulation. Blessed Paul laughed at destruction when he said, O death! where is thy sting? when, in the name of all the saints, he defied all the calamities of this present time to separate us from the love of God, concluding that in all these things we are more than conquerors, Ro 8:35-39, etc. See Isa 37:22.
(6.) That, being at peace with God, there shall be a covenant of friendship between them and the whole creation, Job 5:23. "When thou walkest over thy grounds thou shalt not need to fear stumbling, for thou shalt be at league with the stones of the field, not to dash thy foot against any of them, nor shalt thou be in danger from the beasts of the field, for they shall all be at peace with thee;" compare Ho 2:18, I will make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field. This implies that while man is at enmity with his Maker the inferior creatures are at war with him; but tranquillus Deus tranquillat omnia—a reconciled God reconciles all things. Our covenant with God is a covenant with all the creatures that they shall do us no hurt but be ready to serve us and do us good.
(7.) That their houses and families shall be comfortable to them, Job 5:24. Peace and piety in the family will make it so. "Thou shalt know and be assured that thy tabernacle is and shall be in peace; thou mayest be confident both of its present and its future prosperity." That peace is thy tabernacle (so the word is); peace is the house in which those dwell who dwell in God, and are at home in him. "Thou shalt visit" (that is, enquire into the affairs of) "thy habitation, and take a review of them, and shalt not sin." [1.] God will provide a settlement for his people, mean perhaps and movable, a cottage, a tabernacle, but a fixed and quiet habitation. "Thou shalt not sin," or wander; that is, as some understand it, "thou shalt not be a fugitive and a vagabond" (Cain's curse), "but shalt dwell in the land, and verily, not uncertainly as vagrants, shalt thou be fed." [2.] Their families shall be taken under the special protection of the divine Providence, and shall prosper as far as is for their good. [3.] They shall be assured of peace, and of the continuance and entail of it. "Thou shalt know, to thy unspeakable satisfaction, that peace is sure to thee and thine, having the word of God for it." Providence may change, but the promise cannot. [4.] They shall have wisdom to govern their families aright, to order their affairs with discretion, and to look well to the ways of their household, which is here called visiting their habitation. Masters of families must not be strangers at home, but must have a watchful eye over what they have and what their servants do. [5.] They shall have grace to manage the concerns of their families after a godly sort, and not to sin in the management of them. They shall call their servants to account without passion, pride, covetousness, worldliness, or the like; they shall look into their affairs without discontent at what is or distrust of what shall be. Family piety crowns family peace and prosperity. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin in them. When we are abroad it is comfortable to hear that our tabernacle is in peace; and when we return home it is comfortable to visit our habitation with satisfaction in our success, that we have not failed in our business, and with a good conscience, that we have not offended God.
(8.) That their posterity shall be numerous and prosperous. Job had lost all his children; "but," says Eliphaz, "if thou return to God, he will again build up thy family, and thy seed shall be many and as great as ever, and thy offspring increasing and flourishing as the grass of the earth (Job 5:25), and thou shalt know it." God has blessings in store for the seed of the faithful, which they shall have if they do not stand in their own light and forfeit them by their folly. It is a comfort to parents to see the prosperity, especially the spiritual prosperity, of their children; if they are truly good, they are truly great, how small a figure soever they may make in the world.
(9.) That their death shall be seasonable, and they shall finish their course, at length, with joy and honour, Job 5:26. It is a great mercy, [1.] To live to a full age, and not to have the number of our months cut off in the midst. If the providence of God do not give us long life, yet, if the grace of God give us to be satisfied with the time allotted us, we may be said to come to a full age. That man lives long enough that has done his work and is fit for another world. [2.] To be willing to die, to come cheerfully to the grave, and not to be forced thither, as he whose soul was required of him. [3.] To die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when it is fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand a day longer, lest it shed. Our times are in God's hand; it is well they are so, for he will take care that those who are his shall die in the best time: however their death may seem to us untimely, it will be found not unseasonable.
3. In the Job 5:27 he recommends these promises to Job, (1.) As faithful sayings, which he might be confident of the truth of: "Lo, this we have searched, and so it is. We have indeed received these things by tradition from our fathers, but we have not taken them upon trust; we have carefully searched them, have compared spiritual things with spiritual, have diligently studied them, and been confirmed in our belief of them from our own observation and experience; and we are all of a mind that so it is." Truth is a treasure that is well worth digging for, diving for; and then we shall know both how to value it ourselves and how to communicate it to others when we have taken pains in searching for it. (2.) As well worthy of all acceptation, which he might improve to his great advantage: Hear it, and know thou it for thy good. It is not enough to hear and know the truth, but we must improve it, and be made wiser and better by it, receive the impressions of it, and submit to the commanding power of it. Know it for thyself (so the word is), with application to thyself, and thy own case; not only "This is true," but "this is true concerning me." That which we thus hear and know for ourselves we hear and know for our good, as we are nourished by the meat which we digest. That is indeed a good sermon to us which does us good.
以利法在前一章為要證實他對約伯的指控，曾引證了從天上來、在異象中賜給他的一句話。在本章裏他向地上作見證的人——向聖徒，就是歷代神真理的忠實見證人——發出呼籲（Job 5:1）。他們將要見證：I. 罪人的罪就是他們的敗亡（Job 5:2-5）。II. 然而災禍是全人類共有的命運（Job 5:6,7）。III. 當我們身處災禍之中，向神祈求乃是我們的智慧與本分，因為他能、也樂意幫助我們（Job 5:8-16）。IV. 忍耐承受的災禍終必有好的結局；特別是約伯，他若能轉為更好的心境，就可以確信神為他存留了極大的憐憫（Job 5:17-27）。如此，他以比起頭稍好的心情結束了他的講論。