Job 5:1-27
5:1-7 Eliphaz continued to insist that Job had sinned. He encouraged Job to call out to God and accept punishment; he said that a person who resists discipline is a lost person, a dead person. In a way, he has a point: God wants us to understand discipline as an opportunity for growth, but this was not the case for Job's situation.
5:8-16 Eliphaz states that if he were in Job's position, he would admit his sins to God. Eliphaz was right in stating that God heals his children and restores light to their life. He was right that God catches the deceitful and holds the unjust to their actions. Again, however, this was not the case for Job.
We have to be careful when we give advice or encouragement to ourselves or others. We cannot speak because we like to hear ourselves speak or because it sounds good. Only God understands the details of our lives and therefore only He is able to give true encouragement and advice.
5:17-20 Job's friend thought that if Job just accepted correction, he would be happy. Eliphaz was right: God does bind us up, make us whole, deliver us and redeem us. And such would be the case for Job, though it did not yet seem that way. But he was wrong to continue to assume that Job was guilty of something.
5:21-27 Eliphaz described the peace that God provides His children. He has not said anything wrong, but what he has said has been wrongly applied. Job's "tent" would be "in peace" but not after he confessed to a sin he did not commit. Job's life would be at peace when he finally accepted and understood God's purpose for Him.
