the failure of the “guile” and the “advice” of those in the previous verse to achieve their goals.
5:15 God saves the poor from a sword in their mouth and from the hand of the powerful.
While is not clear whose “mouths” create such mortal danger—it could be the mouths of the people or their enemies—the Targum attempts to clarify the verse by suggesting this translation: “God saves God’s people from being killed by their mouths and God’s unfortunate people from the hand of the powerful Sovereign Ruler.” For Ibn Ezra, the “mouth” is mentioned because the destruction of the people comes through famine. He further argues that if God wants to do so, God can chastise humans with drought—which leads to famine. However, if they repent and return to God, then God will answer their prayers with rain.
5:16 So that the poor may hope and injustice shut its mouth.
If God saves the poor, as is suggested in 5:15, and this is witnessed or known by others, then it gives hope to the poor—that they, the poor, too may be saved from their unfortunate circumstances.
5:17 Happy, then, is the person whom God chastens. Don’t reject the instruction of the Almighty.
This verse serves as a conclusion to the previous verses. Since the statements made in these verses seem obvious, then the chastening of the individual—the chastening of Job—is for one’s own good, and will bring the individual happiness in the end. So don’t reject what God tells you to do. For Rashi, the chastening is really yissurim (suffering). But just as God has healed such pain in the past, God will do so in the future. That is why Job should not reject such chastisement. Rather, he should accept it.
5:18 God hurts and binds up. God smashes and then God’s hands let loose.
Reminiscent of the kinds of things we read in the book of Lamentations, the statement that the author of Job puts into the mouth of Eliphaz is the notion that God is the source of all that befalls us: pain and the removal of pain, illness and the recovery from illness are all due to God.
5:19 God shall deliver you from six troubles. Nothing bad shall happen to you from seven [troubles].
The use of paired numbers (e.g., “six” and “seven”) as a rhetorical form is found elsewhere in the Bible.
5:20 God will save you from death in the midst of a famine. God will save you from the sword in the midst of war.
This verse identified the specific kind of saving that God will undertake that is enumerated in the previous verse. The Targum wants to identify the salvation even more specifically as similar to the one endured by the Israelites in Egypt and the war that was fought against Amalek. By looking at what God has done, the reader is assured of God’s power and what can happen in the future—both to the people and to the individual.
5:21 You will be concealed from the scourge of the tongue. You will not fear from destruction were it to come.
This continues the theme of the previous verse. Although the precise reference or action described as the “scourge of the tongue” is not clear, nor is the source of “destruction” (unless it is an acknowledgement once again of God as the source), Rashi suggests that Satan’s tongue and the “scourge” are two of the calamities alluded to in 5:19. For Ibn Ezra, the “scourge” is a reference to lashon hara (evil speech, gossip) which Gersonides claims is the cause of all kinds of terrible arguments among people.
5:22 You will laugh at destruction and famine. You won’t fear the wild animals of the earth.
Through Eliphaz, the author is presenting the notion that faith in God and following God’s way will protect the believer from natural calamities.
5:23 For even the stones of the field will be on your side and you will be at peace with the wild animals of the field.
This is the author’s description of real tranquility. We have idiomatically rendered breetecha (literally, your covenant) as “on your side.” The Targum explains “the stones of the field” and the “wild animals of the field” in a telling manner: “For the tablets of stone which were given publicly in the field will be your covenant and the Canaanites who are compared to the wild animals of the field will make peace with you.”
5:24 You will know that your tent is at peace. You will miss nothing when you visit your home.
A home is supposed to be the source of tranquility and peace for the individual. The Targum takes the first clause to refer to “your house of study” and the second clause to mean “when you arrange the dwelling for your rest, you will not be injured.” Rashi’s sense of the verse is far more wide-reaching. He understands the verse to mean that wherever you will be, you will know that your habitation is secure.
5:25 You shall know that you will have many children and your descendants will be as the grass of the field.
This verse has some resonance with the promise to Abraham in the book of Genesis (15:4–5): “Behold, the word of God came unto him [Abraham], saying: ‘This person will not be your heir; but the one who comes out of your own body will be your heir.’ So God took him forth outside and said: ‘Look up to the heavens, and count the stars, if you can count them’; and then God said to him: ‘So shall your offspring be.’”
5:26 You will come to the grave in ripe old age, like sheaf gathered at its [proper] time [of harvest].
While this verse speaks of death, it is the kind of death that reflects a life well-lived. The individual dies only after making a contribution, applying God-given gifts to life. The verse contains the word celach, which appears nowhere else in the Bible. It is usually defined as “ripeness” or “ripe age,” which we have rendered as “ripe old age.”
5:27 Look, we have examined it. That is how it is. Listen to it and you will know something.
Since we are at the conclusion of the chapter, Gersonides seizes the opportunity for Eliphaz to offer a lesson in philosophy to Job and through Job to the reader. His lesson contains two elements: the improvement of society and the improvement of the individual. Society is improved—even maintained—by the belief that sin is punished and virtue is rewarded. The individual is improved by receiving philosophical insights.
Good Inclination and Evil Inclination
The Rabbis identified two complementary sets of drives that coexist in each person. One set of drives, which may be classified as libidinal drives or urges—including sex, hunger and the like—are grouped under the term yetzer hara (the inclination to do evil). While these drives are not evil in and of themselves, left unchecked, they may lead the individual to evil. For example, while the sexual drive may lead an individual to procreate, it can also lead to lust and illicit sexual behavior. Similarly, the hunger drive can lead an individual to nourishing his or her body with food, but it can also lead to obesity. The yetzer hara is kept in balance by the yetzer tov (the inclination to do good). But this inclination also needs to be kept in balance. Both the yetzer hara and the yetzer tov serve a purpose. For example, an individual who gives tzedakah (charitable giving)—driven by an inclination to do good—runs the risk of placing himself or his family in jeopardy should he or she give all his or her money to charitable causes.3
Lashon Hara (Deceitful Speech)
The Rabbis were so concerned with the potential harm inherent in speech that, employing a word game, they suggested that harmful speech is equivalent to what the Bible calls m’tzora (a kind of serious skin
