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Selected Verse: Job 5:22 - Strong Concordance
| Verse |
Translation |
Text |
| Job 5:22 |
Strong Concordance |
At destruction [07701] and famine [03720] thou shalt laugh [07832]: neither shalt thou be afraid [03372] of the beasts [02416] of the earth [0776]. |
| |
King James |
At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh: neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
| A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
| famine thou shalt laugh--Not, in spite of destruction and famine, which is true (Hab 3:17-18), though not the truth meant by Eliphaz, but because those calamities shall not come upon thee. A different Hebrew word from that in Job 5:20; there, famine in general; here, the languid state of those wanting proper nutriment [BARNES]. |
| Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh - That is thou shalt be perfectly safe and happy. They shall not come upon thee; and when they approach with threatening aspect, thou shalt smile with conscious security. The word here rendered famine (כפן kâphân) is an unusual word, and differs from that occurring in Job 5:20, רעב râ‛âb. This word is derived from כפן kâphan - to languish, to pine from hunger and thirst. It then means the languid and feeble state which exists where there is a lack of proper nutriment. A sentiment similar to that which is here expressed occurs in Martial, iv. 19, 4. Ridebis ventos line munere tectus, et imbres. "Neither shalt thou be afraid of the beasts of the earth." Wild beasts in new countries are always objects of dread, and in the fastnesses and deserts of Arabia, they were especially so. They abounded there; and one of the highest images of happiness there would be, that there would be perfect safety from them. A similar promise occurs in Psa 91:13 :
Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder;
The young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under foot.
And a promise similar to this was made by the Savior to his disciples: "They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them." The sentiment of Eliphaz is, that they who put their trust in God would find protection, and have the consciousness that they were secure wherever they were. |
| Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78] |
22 At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh,
And from the beasts of the earth thou hast nothing to fear.
23 For thou art in league with the stones of the field,
And the beasts of the field are at peace with thee.
24 And thou knowest that peace is thy pavilion;
And thou searchest thy household, and findest nothing wanting.
25 Thou knowest also that thy seed shall be numerous,
And thy offspring as the herb of the ground.
26 Thou shalt come to thy grave in a ripe age,
As shocks of corn are brought in in their season.
27 Lo! this we have searched out, so it is:
Hear it, and give thou heed to it.
The verb שׂחק is construed (Job 5:22) with ל of that which is despised, as Job 39:7, Job 39:18; Job 41:21 [Hebr.]. על־תּירא is the form of subjective negation [vid. Ges. 152, 1: Tr.]: only fear thou not = thou hast no occasion. In Job 5:23, בּריתך is the shortest substantive form for לך בּרית. The whole of nature will be at peace with thee: the stones of the field, that they do not injure the fertility of thy fields; the wild beasts of the field, that they do not hurt thee and thy herds. The same promise that Hosea (Hos 2:20) utters in reference to the last days is here used individually. From this we see how deeply the Chokma had searched into the history of Paradise and the Fall. Since man, the appointed lord of the earth, has been tempted by a reptile, and has fallen by a tree, his relation to nature, and its relation to him, has been reversed: it is an incongruity, which is again as a whole put right (שׁלום), as the false relation of man to God is put right. In Job 5:24, שׁלום (which might also be adj.) is predicate: thou wilt learn (וידעתּ, praet. consec. with accented ultima, as e.g., Deu 4:39, here with Tiphcha initiale s. anterius, which does not indicate the grammatical tone-syllable) that thy tent is peace, i.e., in a condition of contentment and peace on all sides. Job 5:24 is to be arranged: And when thou examinest thy household, then thou lackest nothing, goest not astray, i.e., thou findest everything, without missing anything, in the place where thou seekest it.
Job 5:25 reminds one of the Salomonic Psa 72:16. צאצאים in the Old Testament is found only in Isaiah and the book of Job. The meaning of the noun כּלח, which occurs only here and Job 30:2, is clear. Referring to the verb כּלח, Arabic qahila (qalhama), to be shrivelled up, very aged, it signifies the maturity of old age, - an idea which may be gained more easily if we connect כּלח with כּלה (to be completed), like קשׁח with קשׁה (to be hard).
(Note: We may also compare the Arabic khl (from which comes cuhulije, mature manhood, opp. tufulije, tender childhood).)
In the parallel there is the time of the sheaves, when they are brought up to the high threshing-floor, the latest period of harvest. עלה, of the raising of the sheaves to the threshing-floor, as elsewhere of the raising, i.e., the bringing up of the animals to the altar. גּדישׁ is here a heap of sheaves, Arab. kuds, as Job 21:32 a sepulchral heap, Arab. jadat, distinct from אלמּה, a bundle, a single sheaf.
The speech of Eliphaz, which we have broken up into nine strophes, is now ended. Eliphaz concludes it by an epimythionic distich, Job 5:27, with an emphatic nota bene. He speaks at the same time in the name of his companions. These are principles well proved by experience with which he confronts Job. Job needs to lay them to heart: tu scito tibi.
All that Eliphaz says, considered in itself, is blameless. He censures Job's vehemence, which was certainly not to be approved. He says that the destroying judgment of God never touches the innocent, but certainly the wicked; and at the same time expresses the same truth as that placed as a motto to the Psalter in Psa 1:1-6, and which is even brilliantly confirmed in the issue of the history of Job. When we find Isa 57:1, comp. Psa 12:2, in apparent opposition to this, אבד הצּדּיק, it is not meant that the judgment of destruction comes upon the righteous, but that his generation experiences the judgment of his loss (aetati suae perit). And these are eternal truths, that between the Creator and creature, even an angel, there remains an infinite distance, and that no creature possesses a righteousness which it can maintain before God. Not less true is it, that with God murmuring is death, and that it is appointed to sinful man to pass through sorrow. Moreover, the counsel of Eliphaz is the right counsel: I would turn to God, etc. His beautiful concluding exhortation, so rich in promises, crowns his speech.
It has been observed (e.g., by Lwenthal), that if it is allowed that Eliphaz (Job 5:17.) expresses a salutary spiritual design of affliction, all coherence in the book is from the first destroyed. But in reality it is an effect producing not only outward happiness, but also an inward holiness, which Eliphaz ascribes to sorrow. It is therefore to be asked, how it consists with the plan of the book. There is no doctrinal error to be discovered in the speech of Eliphaz, and yet he cannot be considered as a representative of the complete truth of Scripture. Job ought to humble himself under this; but since he does not, we must side with Eliphaz.
He does not represent the complete truth of Scripture: for there are, according to Scripture, three kinds of sufferings, which must be carefully distinguished.
(Note: Our old dogmatists (vid., e.g., Baier, Compendium Theologiae positivae, ii. 1, 15) and pastoral theologians (e.g., Danhauer) consider them as separate. Among the oldest expositors of the book of Job with which I am acquainted, Olympiodorus is comparatively the best.)
The godless one, who has fallen away from God, is visited with suffering from God; for sin and the punishment of sin (comprehended even in the language in עון and חטּאת) are necessarily connected as cause and effect. This suffering of the godless is the effect of the divine justice in punishment; it is chastisement (מוּסר) under the disposition of wrath (Psa 6:2; Psa 38:2; Jer 10:24.), though not yet final wrath; it is punitive suffering (נקם, נגע, τιμωρία, poena). On the other hand, the sufferings of the righteous flow from the divine love, to which even all that has the appearance of wrath in this suffering must be subservient, as the means only by which it operates: for although the righteous man is not excepted from the weakness and sinfulness of the human race, he can never become an object of the divine wrath, so long as his inner life is directed towards God, and his outward life is governed by the most earnest striving after sanctification. According to the Old and New Testaments, he stands towards God in the relation of a child to his father (only the New Testament idea includes the mystery of the new birth not revealed in the Old Testament); and consequently all sufferings are fatherly chastisements, Deu 8:5; Pro 3:12; Heb 12:6, Rev 3:19, comp. Tob. 12:13 (Vulg.). But this general distinction between the sufferings of the righteous and of the ungodly is not sufficient for the book of Job. The sufferings of the righteous even are themselves manifold. God sends affliction to them more and more to purge away the sin which still has power over them, and rouse them up from the danger of carnal security; to maintain in them the consciousness of sin as well as of grace, and with it the lowliness of penitence; to render the world and its pleasures bitter as gall to them; to draw them from the creature, and bind them to himself by prayer and devotion. This suffering, which has the sin of the godly as its cause, has, however, not God's wrath, but God's love directed towards the preservation and advancement of the godly, as its motive: it is the proper disciplinary suffering (מוּסר or תּוכחת, Pro 3:11; παιδεία, Heb 12). It is this of which Paul speaks, Co1 11:32. This disciplinary suffering may attain such a high degree as entirely to overwhelm the consciousness of the relation to God by grace; and the sufferer, as frequently in the Psalms, considers himself as one rejected of God, over whom the wrath of God is passing. The deeper the sufferer's consciousness of sin, the more dejected is his mood of sorrow; and still God's thoughts concerning him are thoughts of peace, and not of evil (Jer 29:11). He chastens, not however in wrath, but בּמשׁפּט, with moderation (Jer 10:24).
Nearly allied to this suffering, but yet, as to its cause and purpose, distinct, is another kind of the suffering of the godly. God ordains suffering for them, in order to prove their fidelity to himself, and their earnestness after sanctification, especially their trust in God, and their patience. He also permits Satan, who impeaches them, to tempt them, to sift them as wheat, in order that he may be confounded, and the divine choice justified, - in order that it may be manifest that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, are able to separate them from the love of God, and to tear away their faith (אמונה) from God, which has remained stedfast on Him, notwithstanding every apparent manifestation of wrath. The godly will recognise his affliction as such suffering when it comes upon him in the very midst of his fellowship with God, his prayer and watching, and his struggling after sanctification. For this kind of suffering - trial - Scripture employs the expressions נסּה (Deu 8:2, Deu 8:16) and בּחן (Pro 17:3), πειρασμός (Jam 1:12; Pe1 1:6., Job 4:19; comp. Sir. 2:1ff.). Such suffering, according to a common figure, is for the godly what the smelting-furnace or the fining-pot is to precious metals. A rich reward awaits him who is found proof against the trial, temptation, and conflict, and comes forth from it as pure, refined gold. Suffering for trial is nearly allied to that for chastisement, in so far as the chastisement is at the same time trial; but distinct from it, in so far as every trial is not also chastisement (i.e., having as its purpose the purging away of still existing sin).
A third kind of the suffering of the righteous is testimony borne by suffering, - reproach, persecution, and perhaps even martyrdom, which are endured for the sake of fidelity to God and His word. While he is blessed who is found proof against trial, he is blessed in himself who endures this suffering (Mat 5:11., and other passages); for every other suffering comes upon man for his own sake, this for God's. In this case there is not even the remotest connection between the suffering and the sinfulness of the sufferer. Ps 44 is a prayer of Israel in the midst of this form of suffering. Σταυρός is the name expressly used for it in the New Testament - suffering for the kingdom of heaven's sake.
Without a knowledge of these different kinds of human suffering, the book of Job cannot be understood. "Whoever sees with spiritual eyes," says Brentius, "does not judge the moral character of a man by his suffering, but his suffering by his moral character." Just the want of this spiritual discernment and inability to distinguish the different kinds of suffering is the mistake of the friends, and likewise, from the very first, the mistake of Eliphaz. Convinced of the sincere piety of his friend, he came to Job believing that his suffering was a salutary chastisement of God, which would at last turn out for his good. Proceeding upon this assumption, he blames Job for his murmuring, and bids him receive his affliction with a recognition of human sinfulness and the divine purpose for good. Thus the controversy begins. The causal connection with sin, in which Eliphaz places Job's suffering, is after all the mildest. He does not go further than to remind Job that he is a sinner, because he is a man.
But even this causal connection, in which Eliphaz connects Job's sufferings, though in the most moderate way, with previous sin deserving of punishment, is his πρώτον ψεῦδος. In the next place, Job's suffering is indeed not chastisement, but trial. Jehovah has decreed it for His servant, not to chasten him, but to prove him. This it is that Eliphaz mistakes; and we also should not know it but for the prologue and the corresponding epilogue. Accordingly, the prologue and epilogue are organic parts of the form of the book. If these are removed, its spirit is destroyed.
But the speech of Eliphaz, moreover, beautiful and true as it is, when considered in itself, is nevertheless heartless, haughty, stiff, and cold. For (1.) it does not contain a word of sympathy, and yet the suffering which he beholds is so terribly great: his first word to his friend after the seven days of painful silence is not one of comfort, but of moralizing. (2.) He must know that Job's disease is not the first and only suffering which has come upon him, and that he has endured his previous afflictions with heroic submission; but he ignores this, and acts as though sorrow were now first come upon Job. (3.) Instead of recognising therein the reason of Job's despondency, that he thinks that he has fallen from the love of God, and become an object of wrath, he treats him as self-righteous;
(Note: Oetinger: "Eliphaz mentioned the oracle to affect seriously the hidden hypocrisy of Job's heart.")
and to excite his feelings, presents an oracle to him, which contains nothing but what Job might sincerely admit as true. (4.) Instead of considering that Job's despair and murmuring against God is really of a different kind from that of the godless, he classes them together, and instead of gently correcting him, present to Job the accursed end of the fool, who also murmurs against God, as he has himself seen it. Thus, in consequence of the false application which Eliphaz makes of it, the truth contained in his speech is totally reversed. Thus delicately and profoundly commences the dramatical entanglement. The skill of the poet is proved by the difficulty which the expositor has in detecting that which is false in the speech of Eliphaz. The idea of the book does not float on the surface. It is clothed with flesh and blood. It is submerged in the very action and history. |
| Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
| Laugh - With a laughter of joy and triumph, arising from a just security and confidence in God's watchful and gracious providence. |
| Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
At destruction and famine thou shalt laugh - This most forcibly expresses the strongest security, and confidence in that security.
"In the desolation of Sihon, and in the famine of the desert, thou shalt laugh; and of the camps of Og, who is compared to a wild beast of the earth, thou shalt not be afraid." - Targum. |
20 In famine [07458] he shall redeem [06299] thee from death [04194]: and in war [04421] from the power [03027] of the sword [02719].
17 Although the fig tree [08384] shall not blossom [06524], neither shall fruit [02981] be in the vines [01612]; the labour [04639] of the olive [02132] shall fail [03584], and the fields [07709] shall yield [06213] no meat [0400]; the flock [06629] shall be cut off [01504] from the fold [04356], and there shall be no herd [01241] in the stalls [07517]:
18 Yet I will rejoice [05937] in the LORD [03068], I will joy [01523] in the God [0430] of my salvation [03468].
13 Thou shalt tread [01869] upon the lion [07826] and adder [06620]: the young lion [03715] and the dragon [08577] shalt thou trample under feet [07429].
20 In famine [07458] he shall redeem [06299] thee from death [04194]: and in war [04421] from the power [03027] of the sword [02719].
11 Blessed [3107] are ye [2075], when [3752] men shall revile [3679] you [5209], and [2532] persecute [1377] you, and [2532] shall say [2036] all manner [3956] of evil [4190] [4487] against [2596] you [5216] falsely [5574], for my sake [1752] [1700].
19 How much less [0637] in them that dwell [07931] in houses [01004] of clay [02563], whose foundation [03247] is in the dust [06083], which are crushed [01792] before [06440] the moth [06211]?
6 Wherein [1722] [3739] ye greatly rejoice [21], though now [737] for a season [3641], if [1487] need [1163] be [2076], ye are in heaviness [3076] through [1722] manifold [4164] temptations [3986]:
12 Blessed [3107] is the man [435] that [3739] endureth [5278] temptation [3986]: for [3754] when he is tried [1384] [1096], he shall receive [2983] the crown [4735] of life [2222], which [3739] the Lord [2962] hath promised [1861] to them that love [25] him [846].
3 The fining pot [04715] is for silver [03701], and the furnace [03564] for gold [02091]: but the LORD [03068] trieth [0974] the hearts [03826].
16 Who fed [0398] thee in the wilderness [04057] with manna [04478], which thy fathers [01] knew [03045] not, that he might humble [06031] thee, and that he might prove [05254] thee, to do thee good [03190] at thy latter end [0319];
2 And thou shalt remember [02142] all the way [01870] which the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] led [03212] thee these forty [0705] years [08141] in the wilderness [04057], to humble [06031] thee, and to prove [05254] thee, to know [03045] what was in thine heart [03824], whether thou wouldest keep [08104] his commandments [04687], or no.
24 O LORD [03068], correct [03256] me, but with judgment [04941]; not in thine anger [0639], lest thou bring me to nothing [04591].
11 For I know [03045] the thoughts [04284] that I think [02803] toward you, saith [05002] the LORD [03068], thoughts [04284] of peace [07965], and not of evil [07451], to give [05414] you an expected [08615] end [0319].
32 But [1161] when we are judged [2919], we are chastened [3811] of [5259] the Lord [2962], that [3363] we should [2632] not [3363] be condemned [2632] with [4862] the world [2889].
11 My son [01121], despise [03988] not the chastening [04148] of the LORD [03068]; neither be weary [06973] of his correction [08433]:
19 As many as [3745] [1437] I love [5368], I [1473] rebuke [1651] and [2532] chasten [3811]: be zealous [2206] therefore [3767], and [2532] repent [3340].
6 For [1063] whom [3739] the Lord [2962] loveth [25] he chasteneth [3811], and [1161] scourgeth [3146] every [3956] son [5207] whom [3739] he receiveth [3858].
12 For whom the LORD [03068] loveth [0157] he correcteth [03198]; even as a father [01] the son [01121] in whom he delighteth [07521].
5 Thou shalt also consider [03045] in [05973] thine heart [03824], that, as a man [0376] chasteneth [03256] his son [01121], so the LORD [03068] thy God [0430] chasteneth [03256] thee.
24 O LORD [03068], correct [03256] me, but with judgment [04941]; not in thine anger [0639], lest thou bring me to nothing [04591].
2 For thine arrows [02671] stick fast [05181] in me, and thy hand [03027] presseth me sore [05181].
2 Have mercy [02603] upon me, O LORD [03068]; for I am weak [0536]: O LORD [03068], heal [07495] me; for my bones [06106] are vexed [0926].
17 Behold, happy [0835] is the man [0582] whom God [0433] correcteth [03198]: therefore despise [03988] not thou the chastening [04148] of the Almighty [07706]:
2 They speak [01696] vanity [07723] every one [0376] with his neighbour [07453]: with flattering [02513] lips [08193] and with a double [03820] heart [03820] do they speak [01696].
1 The righteous [06662] perisheth [06], and no man [0376] layeth [07760] it to heart [03820]: and merciful [02617] men [0582] are taken away [0622], none considering [0995] that the righteous [06662] is taken away [0622] from [06440] the evil [07451] to come.
1 Blessed [0835] is the man [0376] that walketh [01980] not in the counsel [06098] of the ungodly [07563], nor standeth [05975] in the way [01870] of sinners [02400], nor sitteth [03427] in the seat [04186] of the scornful [03887].
2 But his delight [02656] is in the law [08451] of the LORD [03068]; and in his law [08451] doth he meditate [01897] day [03119] and night [03915].
3 And he shall be like a tree [06086] planted [08362] by the rivers [06388] of water [04325], that bringeth forth [05414] his fruit [06529] in his season [06256]; his leaf [05929] also shall not wither [05034]; and whatsoever he doeth [06213] shall prosper [06743].
4 The ungodly [07563] are not so: but are like the chaff [04671] which the wind [07307] driveth away [05086].
5 Therefore the ungodly [07563] shall not stand [06965] in the judgment [04941], nor sinners [02400] in the congregation [05712] of the righteous [06662].
6 For the LORD [03068] knoweth [03045] the way [01870] of the righteous [06662]: but the way [01870] of the ungodly [07563] shall perish [06].
27 Lo this, we have searched [02713] it, so it is; hear [08085] it, and know [03045] thou it for thy good.
32 Yet shall he be brought [02986] to the grave [06913], and shall remain [08245] in the tomb [01430].
2 Yea, whereto [04100] might the strength [03581] of their hands [03027] profit me, in whom old age [03624] was perished [06]?
16 There shall be an handful [06451] of corn [01250] in the earth [0776] upon the top [07218] of the mountains [02022]; the fruit [06529] thereof shall shake [07493] like Lebanon [03844]: and they of the city [05892] shall flourish [06692] like grass [06212] of the earth [0776].
25 Thou shalt know [03045] also that thy seed [02233] shall be great [07227], and thine offspring [06631] as the grass [06212] of the earth [0776].
24 And thou shalt know [03045] that thy tabernacle [0168] shall be in peace [07965]; and thou shalt visit [06485] thy habitation [05116], and shalt not sin [02398].
39 Know [03045] therefore this day [03117], and consider [07725] it in thine heart [03824], that the LORD [03068] he is God [0430] in heaven [08064] above [04605], and upon the earth [0776] beneath: there is none else.
24 And thou shalt know [03045] that thy tabernacle [0168] shall be in peace [07965]; and thou shalt visit [06485] thy habitation [05116], and shalt not sin [02398].
20 I will even betroth [0781] thee unto me in faithfulness [0530]: and thou shalt know [03045] the LORD [03068].
23 For thou shalt be in league [01285] with the stones [068] of the field [07704]: and the beasts [02416] of the field [07704] shall be at peace [07999] with thee.
21 His breath [05315] kindleth [03857] coals [01513], and a flame [03851] goeth out [03318] of his mouth [06310].
18 What time [06256] she lifteth up [04754] herself on high [04791], she scorneth [07832] the horse [05483] and his rider [07392].
7 He scorneth [07832] the multitude [01995] of the city [07151], neither regardeth [08085] he the crying [08663] of the driver [05065].
22 At destruction [07701] and famine [03720] thou shalt laugh [07832]: neither shalt thou be afraid [03372] of the beasts [02416] of the earth [0776].