Who doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number;
Eliphaz, one of Job's three friends, has just told Job to take his case to God, and verse 9 is his reason: God works on a scale no one can measure or count. The words are true — so the chapter asks a harder question: can a man use true words about God to wound someone who is suffering?
Verse 9 backs up the advice of verse 8, and on its own that advice points Job in the right direction:
It is always good to advise men to trust in God, for He never fails those who trust in Him. "Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him." "Cast your burden on the LORD." He is powerful, good and kind. He can lift up those who are bowed down. He refreshes their dried-up spirits as the rain refreshes thirsty ground. So taken on its own, this advice is good. But the assumption underneath it is that Job is suffering for his sins. Given that, it can only irritate. It is all the more subtle because it comes so near the truth — as Job will learn in due time.
The verse does not only place God beyond human search. The lines just after it speak of rain and of lifting up the poor, and that makes the picture a generous one:
So Job should accept his suffering from God and turn to Him in prayer. God is not only great beyond anything a creature can search out. He is also generous — and generous in a moral way to the lowest and most wretched, just as surely as He defeats the crafty and the strong.
Eliphaz describes a God who sends rain and raises the lowly. Job was not rising; suffering was crushing him. That gap is where the argument turns against him:
He goes on speaking truly of how great God is. God does great things, unsearchable and marvellous. He sends rain to bless man, and He lifts the lowly to places of honour (vv. 9-11). But Job at the time was not lifted up, so Eliphaz thought Job was not right with God!
The picture is also selective. Eliphaz names rain as a mercy, and it is. But rain is not always mercy:
But does not God sometimes try people? The rains are not only for fruitful seasons, but can destroy the fruit. The rains may greatly try the poor farmer and the labourer, and it may all turn out quite the other way. What we find in these men is entirely one-sided argument. It is not the whole case at all; it is never the full case. It is not the judge speaking; it is merely the advocate — and in this case Job was the poor defendant.
Where does Eliphaz get his confidence? He keeps pointing back to what he has seen for himself:
In Job 5 Eliphaz keeps to this note, and again he points to what he had seen. Verse 3 begins, "I have seen …". In his second speech he says again, "what I have seen I will declare" (Job 15:17). So his argument rests mainly on his own powers of observation. He trusted those powers for his opinion about what Job's disasters meant.
Yet this verse calls God's works unsearchable. Eliphaz judged by what one man could watch.
So how can words that brought a rebuke turn up later as Scripture? The answer is simple:
One only has to examine the words of Eliphaz to see that in themselves they contain nothing but truth. But if we weigh them as applied to Job, they are inexcusably wrong… The New Testament quotes the words of Eliphaz in both the first letter to the Corinthians and the letter to the Hebrews. There the application is perfectly right. In the history given in the Old Testament the application was wrong, and the speakers were reproved for it.
The same holds for the whole speech, which ends in real comfort even while resting on a false charge:
The first address of Eliphaz closes with a marvellous climax built on the same wrong assumption — that Job had sinned and must seek God. But Job had not renounced God; he had not left Him. Apart from that, this closing statement shows the gracious power of the Almighty in a most blessed way.
- True. God does great works beyond counting. The sentence itself needs no correction.
- Generous. "Unsearchable" does not only mean far off. The God no one can search out is generous, and generous to the lowest.
- Partial. Eliphaz names the rain that blesses and leaves out the rain that ruins. He argues like an advocate against Job, not like a judge weighing the whole case.
- Borrowed. His confidence rests on what he had seen himself. That is a weak base for judging a God whose works cannot be searched out.
- Misapplied. The New Testament quotes these words as Scripture, and there they fit. Aimed at Job, they were wrong. A true statement about God becomes a weapon when aimed at the wrong person.
Who giveth rain on the face of the earth, and sendeth waters on the face of the fields;
Job 5:10 sits inside the first speech of Eliphaz, one of the friends who came to comfort Job and ended up accusing him. He presses Job to turn to God. To back his advice, he paints a God so generous that He waters every field on earth. The picture is true. The case Eliphaz builds on it is not.
Verses 9 and 10 belong together. God's greatness shows up not in something far away, but in water falling on ordinary farmland. One commentator names the conclusion Eliphaz wants Job to draw from it.
So Job should accept his suffering from God and turn to Him in prayer. God is not only great beyond anything a creature can search out. He is also generous, and generous in a moral way to those brought lowest, as surely as He defeats the crafty and the strong.
Taken by itself, the advice Eliphaz gives is sound, and the picture of rain fits it. Rain is exactly what dried-out ground needs.
It is always good to advise men to trust in God; for He never fails those who trust in Him. "Trust in Him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before Him." "Cast your burden on the LORD." He is powerful, good and kind. He can lift up those who are bowed down, refreshing their parched spirits as the rain refreshes the thirsty land.
Eliphaz's evidence looks unanswerable until you notice what he has left out. The same rain that grows a harvest can ruin one, and a man who has just lost everything knows it.
But does not God sometimes try people? And the rains are not merely for fruitful seasons, but to destroy the fruit. The rains may be such as to greatly try the poor farmer; and it may all turn out quite the other way. What we find in these men is entirely one-sided pleading. It is not the whole case at all; it is never the full case. This is not the judge speaking; it is only the advocate — and in this case Job was the poor defendant.
Read verses 10 and 11 together and the trap appears. God waters the fields and lifts up the lowly. So a man left crushed must be blocking the blessing somehow.
He goes on to speak rightly of how great God is. God does great things, unsearchable and marvellous. He sends rain to bless people, and He lifts the lowly to places of dignity (vv.9-11). But Job at the time was not lifted up, so Eliphaz thought Job was not right with God!
God later said Eliphaz had not spoken rightly of Him — yet the New Testament quotes his words. The answer is to separate what he said from the man he aimed it at.
You only have to look at the words of Eliphaz to see that, in themselves, they contain nothing but truth. But weigh them as applied to Job, and they are inexcusably wrong… In the Old Testament history the application was wrong, and God reproved the speakers for it. In the New Testament the application is as right as the words themselves; all is in place.
Set the accusation aside and one fact remains. Rain falls on the fields of people who never thank the One who sends it. God does that on purpose.
God is Creator and Governor of the universe, and it delights Him to pour His good gifts on people, despite their unworthiness and ingratitude. "The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made" (Ps. 145:9). The Lord Jesus, telling His disciples to love their enemies, said, "so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust" (Matt. 5:45). Paul and Barnabas told a crowd in the city of Lystra about the one true God: "He did not leave Himself without witness, for He did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hearts with food and gladness" (Acts 14:17). The seasons, as they come and go, are lasting evidence of God's gracious interest in His creatures.
- Rain proves God. Eliphaz points to water on ordinary fields. It is the visible evidence that God does great and unsearchable things, and that He is generous as well as mighty.
- Rain refreshes. The advice behind the image is good. God can lift up those who are bowed down, as rain refreshes thirsty land.
- Rain also ruins. Rain is not always for fruitful seasons; sometimes it destroys the crop. Eliphaz argues as an advocate, not a judge, and leaves half the evidence out.
- Rain is not a scoreboard. Job was still not lifted up, so Eliphaz concluded he was not right with God. That is a wrong reading of a true verse.
- Rain falls on everyone. God sends rain on the just and the unjust, so no one can read the weather as a verdict on his standing with God.
Setting up on high those that are low; and mourners are exalted to prosperity.
Eliphaz now turns from warning to advice: take your case to God, who sends rain and lifts up the lowly. Every word he says about God is true, but he aims it at a suffering man as proof against him.
Verse 11 sits inside a chain of reasoning. God is beyond searching. He is also generous, and His generosity reaches the ones who have nothing left.
So Job should accept his suffering from God and turn to Him in prayer. God is not only great beyond anything a creature can search out. He is also generous, and generous in a moral way to those who are utterly low, just as certainly as He frustrates the crafty and the strong.
What water does for dry ground, God does for a crushed man.
Taken by itself, the advice is sound. Pointing a man to God never harms him.
It is always good to advise men to trust in God; for He never fails those who trust in Him. He is powerful, good and kind, and can lift up those who are bowed down, refreshing their parched spirits as the rain refreshes the thirsty land. So, taken on its own, this advice is good. But underneath it lies the belief that Job is suffering for his sins, and that can only irritate him. It is as though he were saying, "Sin is common to all, as trouble is to all. So humble yourself as a sinner before God, and He will lift you up." It is all the more subtle because it comes so near the truth.
See what Eliphaz does with these words. If God always lifts the low, and Job is still on the ground, the conclusion writes itself.
He goes on speaking rightly about how great God is. God does great things, unsearchable and marvellous. He sends rain to bless people, and He lifts the lowly to places of dignity (vv.9-11). But Job at the time was not lifted up, so Eliphaz thought Job was not right with God!
Eliphaz's own illustration turns back on him. Weather is not a scoreboard.
But does not God sometimes try people? And the rains do not only bring fruitful seasons; they also destroy the fruit. The rain may be a heavy trial to the poor farmer and the labourer, and it may all turn out the other way round. What we find in these men is entirely one-sided pleading. It is not the whole case at all; it is never the full case. This is not a judge speaking; it is a lawyer arguing one side, and in this case Job was the poor defendant.
The problem is not the truth that God lifts the low. The problem is the assumption underneath it: that a person's circumstances show exactly where he stands with God.
Every word may be true in itself. He says it all with the greatest dignity and force. Yet he misapplies it and tells only one side, so as a whole it is wrong. Eliphaz assumes that God is displaying His rule right now, measuring out prosperity or trouble to exactly what people deserve. This is false ground, and it ruins the whole application.
Strip away Eliphaz's misuse, and the truth of verse 11 still stands. Here it comes as a call to humble yourself, not as a test of who is right with God.
The humbling is to be in the presence of the Lord. It is an inward work that makes the soul aware of its own smallness next to the greatness of God. Our natural tendency is to lift ourselves up in front of one another. Only grace will lead us to humble ourselves before the Lord. As we do so, in His own time He will lift us up. Attempting to lift ourselves up, we shall be humbled.
The lifting is real. God chooses when.
- The saying — God raises the lowest and brings the mourner into safety. This is true of Him, and it is the natural companion to the rain of verse 10: He revives dry ground and dry people alike.
- The speaker — Eliphaz urges Job to commit his cause to God. The advice is good in itself, and all the more persuasive because it comes so near the truth.
- The twist — he treats the promise as a measuring device. Job is not yet lifted, therefore Job must be wrong with God.
- The error — he assumes God is now handing out good and bad in exact proportion to what people deserve. Commentators call this false ground. The rain itself can ruin a harvest as easily as make one.
- The right use — humble yourself before God, and in His own time He lifts you up. Grasp for the height yourself, and you go down.