NOTES for Job 5:2-3

Eliphaz speaks about how a fool acts, and as a result of his actions suffers hardship. In doing so, Eliphaz accuses Job of having brought all his troubles on himself by his own foolishness. This attitude toward a person who has fallen into a difficult situation is not rare in our own time either, but in relation to Job, as to many other victims, such arrogance looks strange and tactless.

There is immeasurably more sense in Eliphaz's words that man is born to trouble, but sufferings are not meaningless if through them a person is able to strive upward. Yes, reality is such that the world is full of suffering, and Job's former prosperity was not the generally prevailing norm. And if Eliphaz's confidence that the disasters that came down on Job were justified has no real grounds, his advice to turn to God, who wounds, and His hands heal, must be recognized as reasonable.

Job, who reasons, "God gave, God has taken away," reflects about Him, but so far he does not address Him. But the Lord reveals Himself to the one who stands before Him, for whom God is not only He, but also You.