Job 5:26

5:17-27 Eliphaz gives to Job a word of caution and exhortation: Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the Father's love, and is for the child's good; and notice it as a messenger from Heaven. Eliphaz also encourages Job to submit to his condition. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for he has not lost his enjoyment of God, nor his title to heaven; nay, he is happy because he is afflicted. Correction mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees. Though God wounds, yet he supports his people under afflictions, and in due time delivers them. Making a wound is sometimes part of a cure. Eliphaz gives Job precious promises of what God would do for him, if he humbled himself. Whatever troubles good men may be in, they shall do them no real harm. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of trouble. And if the servants of Christ are not delivered from outward troubles, they are delivered by them, and while overcome by one trouble, they conquer all. Whatever is maliciously said against them shall not hurt them. They shall have wisdom and grace to manage their concerns. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin. They shall finish their course with joy and honour. That man lives long enough who has done his work, and is fit for another world.

It is a mercy to die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand any longer. Our times are in God's hands; it is well they are so. Believers are not to expect great wealth, long life, or to be free from trials. But all will be ordered for the best. And remark from Job's history, that steadiness of mind and heart under trial, is one of the highest attainments of faith. There is little exercise for faith when all things go well. But if God raises a storm, permits the enemy to send wave after wave, and seemingly stands aloof from our prayers, then, still to hang on and trust God, when we cannot trace him, this is the patience of the saints. Blessed Saviour! how sweet it is to look unto thee, the Author and Finisher of faith, in such moments!

(26) Thou shalt come to thy grave. —There is not improbably a contrast implied here between going into the grave and going up (see the margin) to the barn. The grave in such a case is not the melancholy end of life, but rather the passage to a higher life for which one is already ripe. “Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,” &c. ( 2Timothy 4:8 ).

Job 5:26 . Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age: &c. — Heath translates it, In old age shalt thou come to the sepulchre, as the corn is heaped upon the thrashing-floor in its season. Thou shalt die in a mature and old, though vigorous age, as the word implies. It is a great blessing to live to a full age, and not to have the number of our years cut short: much more to be willing to die; to come cheerfully to the grave; and to die seasonably; in the best time, when our souls are just ripe for God.

26 . And finally he shall receive the crowning blessing of man on earth, to live long and die old and full of years; cf. Psalm 102:24 ; Isaiah 38:10 ; Numbers 23:10 . The Speaker’s Comm . quotes the following from Milton, So mayest thou live, till, like ripe fruits, thou drop Into thy mother’s lap; or be with ease Gathered, not harshly plucked; for death mature. The speech of Eliphaz is one of the masterpieces of the Book. The surprising literary skill of the Author is hardly anywhere so conspicuous. (See remark at the end of ch. 4) Nevertheless, if we follow the clue which the Author himself puts into our hand in the reply which he causes Job to make, we must infer that Eliphaz erred in two particulars. If his religious tone was not too lofty, it was at least too cold, and too little tempered with compassion for the sufferings of men. The moral impropriety of Job’s murmurs and despair so engrosses his mind that he forgets the unbearable misery of the sufferer before him, and the just claims of sentient life not to be put to the torture. The consequence is that he will have to hear from Job language still more shocking to his religious feeling (ch. Job 7:17 seq .). This error was due to another, his theory of suffering (see preliminary remarks to ch. 4–14). This theory gave a full explanation to his mind of Job’s afflictions and compelled him to take the tone towards him which he did.

Verse 26. - Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age (comp. Genesis 15:15 ; Genesis 25:8 ; Genesis 35:29 ). Professor Lee translates, 'Thou shalt come to thy grave in honour." But, on the whole, the rendering of the Authorized Version may well stand. The expression used occurs only here and in Job 30:2 . Like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season ; literally, is lifted up. The shocks of corn were lifted up, and placed on a cart, for transfer to the barn or the threshing-floor. The emphasis, however, is on the closing words, "in his season." Eliphaz promises Job that he will reach a good ripe old age, and not die untimely. (For the result, see Job 42:17 .) Job 5:26

26. in a full age—So "full of days" (Job 42:17; Ge 35:29). Not mere length of years, but ripeness for death, one's inward and outward full development not being prematurely cut short, is denoted (Isa 65:22). Thou shalt come—not literally, but expressing willingness to die. Eliphaz speaks from the Old Testament point of view, which made full years a reward of the righteous (Ps 91:16; Ex 20:12), and premature death the lot of the wicked (Ps 55:23). The righteous are immortal till their work is done. To keep them longer would be to render them less fit to die. God takes them at their best (Isa 57:1). The good are compared to wheat (Mt 13:30). cometh in—literally, "ascends." The corn is lifted up off the earth and carried home; so the good man "is raised into the heap of sheaves" [Umbreit].

In a full age; in a mature and old, but vigorous, age, as the word implies. Thou shalt not be cut off by a hand of violence before thy time, as thy sons and other wicked men have been; but shalt die in a good old age , as did Abraham, Genesis 25:8 , and Moses, Deu 34:7 . As a shock of corn cometh in; as a heap or stack of corn is brought in , to wit, to the barn. Heb. ascendeth , or riseth ; which word is very proper and usual in this case; for a stack of corn is said to rise, when by the addition of new heaps and handfuls it is raised to a higher pitch. Or, is cut off , as this same word is used, Psalm 102:24 . Cut me not off , &c., Heb. Make me not to ascend ; and thus it is fitly used both of the corn, which when it is cut up ascends, or is lifted up from the earth, on which it lay, and is advanced into stacks and high heaps, either in the barn or in the field; and of man, who when he dies his spirit goeth upward to heaven, as is implied even there where in the person of an epicure it is questioned, Ecclesiastes 3:21 . In his season; in harvest, when the corn is ripe.

Thou shalt come to thy grave in full age - That is, thou shalt have long life; thou shalt not be cut down prematurely, nor by any sudden calamity. It is to be remembered that long life was regarded as an eminent blessing in ancient times; see the notes at Isaiah 65:22 . Like as a shock of corn cometh in in his season - Margin, "ascendeth." As a sheaf of grain is harvested when it is fully ripe. This is a beautiful comparison, and the meaning is obvious. He would not be cut off before his plans were fully matured; before the fruits of righteousness had ripened in his life. He would be taken away when he was ripe for heaven - as the yellow grain is for the harvest. Grain is not cut down when it is green; and the meaning of Eliphaz is, that it is as desirable that man should live to a good old age before he is gathered to his fathers, as it is that grain should be suffered to stand until it is fully ripe.