Job 5:22

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 t…

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, Job 5:7). 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.