He who informs against his friends to get a share of their property — the eyes of his children will fail.
Job's friends came to comfort him, then accused him of hiding sin. In verse 5 he answers with a line commentators read in two ways: he is either dismissing flattery, or warning that betraying a friend brings ruin on the betrayer's own children.
The setting: a dying man surrounded by mockers
The verse sits in a chapter where Job says he is finished. One writer traces the line from Job's plea to God to a warning about betrayal:
William KellySo Job begs God to give a pledge for him with Himself. Who else would shake hands with him? His friends had proved that they lacked moral judgment. He who had closed their heart to understanding would not lift them up. If someone betrays his friends so that they are plundered, the eyes of his children will waste away.
The pressure behind these words was not only physical. One writer sums up both his condition and the way his friends treated him:
Samuel RidoutHe is marked for death. His very breath declares the decay that the open grave is waiting for. And his "friends" stand by and mock!
Two readings of the line
Commentators differ on what Job means. One reading has him dismissing his friends as flatterers he cannot trust. The other has him making a threat. One writer sets both side by side:
Samuel RidoutMen are ignorant. They are mere flatterers who cannot be trusted. Others render the line, "He who gives his friends for spoil, the eyes of his children shall languish." So he threatens his friends for their disloyalty.
Another writer follows the flattery reading and still leaves the question open:
Leslie M. GrantIn verse 5 he was certainly not accusing his friends of flattering him. But did he mean that he would not dare to flatter them?
Why flattery counts as betrayal
The two readings are closer than they look. One writer, commenting on a proverb about flattery, puts it in the same family as lying:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinOnce more the sin of flattery is mentioned. "A man that flatters his neighbour spreads a net for his feet." Flattery is close to lying. It can never be right. It is always a mistake, and it leads to the gravest consequences. Flattery has ruined more servants of the Lord than anything else. It is literally, as this proverb says, "spreading a net for his feet."
One writer puts the injury as strongly as it can be put:
J. N. DarbyI am sure you will feel, my dear friend and brother, that no one can do a greater injury to another than by praising him and feeding his pride. "He that flatters his neighbour spreads a snare for his feet," and a flattering mouth brings ruin.
The cost to the children
To hand friends over "for spoil" is to give them up to be robbed, and to profit from it. Both renderings then turn to the man's children: their eyes fail, languish, or waste away. The harm does not stop with the man who did it.
Job's spirit in saying it
The writers do not approve Job's threat. The verses right after it show his weakness as well as his integrity:
Samuel RidoutAgain he spoils his testimony. He blames his misery on God as well as on man, and says his sufferings make upright people stumble. Yet despite it all, Job keeps on his steadfast way. In his answer to the friends' attack, though, there is a tone of self-satisfaction that does not suit a truly humble man.
Yet something real lies under the bitterness. Just before this verse, Job longs for someone to plead his case:
Samuel RidoutBut the very fact that Job longs for such an intercessor shows the faith hidden in his soul. That faith will soon say, "I know that my Redeemer lives."
Summary
- Disputed — Commentators give two readings. Job is either dismissing flatterers he cannot trust, or warning the man who hands his friends over to be plundered.
- Betrayal — Either way the charge is the same. Dishonest words sell a friend out, and the writers call flattery a close relative of lying.
- Snare — Flattery spreads a net for the feet of the man flattered. Praising someone and feeding his pride is one of the greatest injuries one person can do another.
- Spreading — The damage does not stop with the guilty man. His children's failing eyes show the harm running on into the next generation.
- Under it all — Job's threat carries a tone that is not admirable. Yet the same man is moving toward the confession that his Redeemer lives.