#640 Sparks Fly

“Call out now;

Is there anyone who will answer you?

And to which of the holy ones will you turn?

2 For wrath kills a foolish man,

And envy slays a simple one.

3 I have seen the foolish taking root,

But suddenly I cursed his dwelling place.

4 His sons are far from safety,

They are crushed in the gate,

And there is no deliverer.

5 Because the hungry eat up his harvest,

[a]Taking it even from the thorns,

[b]And a snare snatches their [c]substance.

6 For affliction does not come from the dust,

Nor does trouble spring from the ground;

7 Yet man is born to trouble,

As the sparks fly upward.

8 “But as for me, I would seek God,

And to God I would commit my cause—

9 Who does great things, and unsearchable,

Marvelous things without number.

10 He gives rain on the earth,

And sends waters on the fields.

11 He sets on high those who are lowly,

And those who mourn are lifted to safety.

12 He frustrates the devices of the crafty,

So that their hands cannot carry out their plans.

13 He catches the wise in their own craftiness,

And the counsel of the cunning comes quickly upon them.

14 They meet with darkness in the daytime,

And grope at noontime as in the night.

15 But He saves the needy from the sword,

From the mouth of the mighty,

And from their hand.

16 So the poor have hope,

And injustice shuts her mouth.

17 “Behold, happy is the man whom God corrects;

Therefore do not despise the chastening of the Almighty.

18 For He bruises, but He binds up;

He wounds, but His hands make whole.

19 He shall deliver you in six troubles,

Yes, in seven no evil shall touch you.

20 In famine He shall redeem you from death,

And in war from the [e]power of the sword.

21 You shall be hidden from the scourge of the tongue,

And you shall not be afraid of destruction when it comes.

22 You shall laugh at destruction and famine,

And you shall not be afraid of the beasts of the earth.

23 For you shall have a covenant with the stones of the field,

And the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

24 You shall know that your tent is in peace;

You shall visit your dwelling and find nothing amiss.

25 You shall also know that your descendants shall be many,

And your offspring like the grass of the earth.

26 You shall come to the grave at a full age,

As a sheaf of grain ripens in its season.

27 Behold, this we have searched out;

It is true.

Hear it, and know for yourself.” Job 5 NKJV

Cry out, ask anyone of consequence, wisdom, and they will tell you the same thing I am telling you, Job. Wrath and envy do not spare the foolish and the simple, much less you, who when we read the preceding chapters, is considered wise. There is the implication in verse 4 that his sons have died for such reasons, and the use of the word gate implies the place of judiciary settlement. This is where issues were brought, contracts resolved, accusations made. This, in Eliphaz's mind is happening to Job on such a grand scale so it be public, to show God's judgment against him.

Also Ruth the Moabite, the widow of Mahlon, I have bought to be my wife, fto perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brothers and from the gate of his native place. You are witnesses this day.” 11 Then all the people who were gat the gate and the elders said, “We are witnesses. May the Lord make the woman, who is coming into your house, like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the house of Israel. May you act worthily in Ephrathah and be renowned in Bethlehem, Ruth 4: 10-11

There is no one to deliver your children because they are without excuse. Affliction doesn't come from nowhere, and trouble doesn't spring from the ground. Again, we are back to reaping what has been sewn, and to him, the proof that they have sewn is that they reap. The proof of what they have sewn is in what they harvested, death unto death, wrath and pestilence. Man is born to trouble and sin, as the sparks fly upward. The wording used here is "sons of Resheph", the arrow, the bolt and I think signifies in the context, a report. They go up and accuse, and the wrath of God comes down on the accused. To Eliphaz it is all simply cause and effect; there is always a searchable answer that must fit inside the framework of his system. It does not allow for a God Who is unfathomable, things that cannot be comprehended here, or the conversation that he did not hear. 

If it were me, I would seek God, and this is good general advice again, but as he goes on and from what he has said prior, it is also the accusation that he has not sought God. If you would just humble yourself, then the boils would go away. If you repent of your sin, God will give you a million dollars, and you can stop hurting. Smick says it well,

ii. “These lines are a fine example of hymn genre in OT poetry. A similar creedal hymn appears in Isaiah 44:24-28. That is why the apostle Paul could cite a line from Job 5:13 in 1 Corinthians 3:19: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness.’ But in Eliphaz’s case what is absolutely true is misapplied – the sick forum is not the place for theological strictures that may turn out to do more harm than good… Great truths misapplied only hurt more those who are already hurting.” (Smick)

Call out to God, who even helps the needy, come clean and he will help you. The paradox here is that he says God protects the needy from the very thing he is doing to his poor friend. The tongue is sharper than any two edged sword, and every word he says under the assumption of Job's sin is coercion to a false confession. 

Starting in verse 17 he pushes the sword in deeper and applies pressure with yet another good general rule, "a wise man takes correction." Now this is the truth, the saying is good, if only it had the strength of being relevant to this man. It assumes he is holding back from God, yet he is holding on to God with every last fiber of his broken being. I think his friend means well, and this is again from experience, but we make so many truths vane when we pull them out of context. Job, if you take God's correction, admitting your sin and repent, then He will remove all slander and if this is what his friends were saying imagine the gossip of those who envied him. It is a sad truth, that men will enjoy watching you fall, that they will spin some story to the reason, citing poetic justice and cheering revenge. The truth will not get in their way for they don't know what it is. He can't see the bigger picture, so he transforms great truths into clichés and applies them without knowledge. Job, if you do all these things then it is guaranteed that you shall see a ripe old age, and your sons didn't because of their sin, because of their pride they were taken, and because of yours you still sit here in the ashes. 

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of His creation. 19My beloved brothers, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, 20for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.…James 1: 18-20