NOTES for Job 5:1-27
Continuing his speech, Eliphaz gives examples of how a fool acts and consequently suffers because of his deeds. In this way, Eliphaz accuses Job of having brought all his troubles upon himself through his own foolishness. Such an attitude toward someone who has fallen into difficult circumstances is not uncommon in our own time, but when directed at Job, as at many other sufferers, such arrogance appears strange and tactless.
There is immeasurably more meaning in Eliphaz’s words that man is born to suffer, but suffering is not meaningless if through it a person is able to strive upward. Yes, the reality is that the world is full of suffering, and Job’s former prosperity was not the general norm. Although Eliphaz’s certainty that the disasters that befell Job were justified has no real grounds, his advice to turn to God, who wounds, and His hands also heal, must be acknowledged as sound.
Job, who reasons, “God gave, God has taken away,” reflects upon Him, but does not yet turn to Him. Yet the Lord reveals Himself to the one who stands before Him, for whom God is not only He, but also You.