But he saves the needy from the sword of their mouth and from the hand of the mighty.
Job 5:15 comes near the end of Eliphaz's first speech. There he stacks up examples of God defeating the plans of the powerful and rescuing those with no power at all. The words are true and beautifully said. The question the book raises is whether they were the right words for a man in Job's pain.
Where the verse sits
Chapters 4 and 5 are one carefully built speech. One outline puts this verse in the part about God's triumph over evil, just before Eliphaz turns to the value of suffering.
Samuel RidoutEliphaz begins his speech partly as a reply to Job's sad complaint, but mainly to give the help he thinks Job's spiritual condition needs. The speech, in chapters 4 and 5, has great dignity and beauty of language, and holds much truth that is plain to see. It falls into seven parts … (5) Eliphaz urges Job to seek God (verses 6-11). (6) God's triumph over evil (verses 12-16). (7) The uses of affliction (verses 17-27).
The sword of the mouth
The weapon in this verse is speech. Powerful men threaten the needy with the sword and with cruel accusations. Eliphaz says God saves them from both.
Leslie M. GrantHe had also observed that the Lord saves the needy from the sword, from the mouth of powerful men — that is, from their cruel accusations — and from their persecution. So the poor have hope, and injustice is silenced (verses 15-16). This is true in the long run: God will certainly silence injustice. But in the meantime injustice often seems to prevail, and for this Eliphaz had no answer.
True words on a false footing
The problem is not the sentence itself but the theory it serves. Eliphaz assumes God settles every account now, so ruin today must mean guilt today.
William KellyEvery word may be true in itself. He says it all with the greatest dignity and force. Yet it is misapplied and one-sided, so as a whole it is in effect wrong. Eliphaz assumes that God is displaying His government right now, and measures out prosperity or trouble to match exactly what people deserve. That is false ground, and it spoils the way he applies his words — above all to a man like Job, who was handed over to be attacked by Satan.
A promise that came back on the speaker
In the end the verse turns back on the man who said it. Eliphaz says all evil will have to shut its mouth. That is what happens at the close of the book — but not in the way he expected.
Samuel RidoutEliphaz is putting together his theory: "Be good, and you will be happy in the long run." Job would then be cleared, and all evil would have to shut its mouth. Eliphaz and his friends do have to learn this later, and these words read like a prophecy of what happens when Job prays for them. Yes, God will triumph over evil, and will make His people "more than conquerors through Him who loved us." But it will not be in man's way, and He alone will be exalted.
The needy man in the room
There is a sharp irony here. Eliphaz describes God saving people from cutting words. Yet Job's own comforters are cutting him with theirs, and they never make a plain charge he can answer.
William KellyIt is hard to imagine anything more crushing to the spirit of a godly man. There is no plain, definite charge, and they bring no facts to lay on his conscience. The judging spirit that ruled them kept their hearts from waiting until God showed the truth of things. It made them quick to seize, without even knowing it, on the sufferer's wild words, and to build on them the suspicion of worse deeds behind it all.
How the rescue came
Job did get the deliverance the verse promises. It came only after he stopped defending his own name.
F. B. HoleOppression and slander are very hard to bear, and twice as hard when they come from friends. When his friends slandered him, Job felt it deeply. But for a long time he fought for his own good name instead of committing his way to the Lord. When at last he did commit it, God soon brought forth His righteousness as the light and His judgment as the noonday.
Summary
- Sword. The danger named here is the mouth — cruel accusations from powerful men. Eliphaz says God saves the needy from words and from blows alike.
- Speaker. The sentence is true, but Eliphaz stands on false ground. He assumes God hands out prosperity and trouble now, to match what each person deserves.
- Silence. God does silence injustice in the long run; in the meantime it often seems to win, and Eliphaz had no answer to that gap.
- Sufferer. Eliphaz preached rescue from cutting speech while his own hints crushed Job. His friends never made a plain charge, so Job had nothing he could answer.
- Surrender. The promise came true for Job. He stopped fighting for his own name, gave his cause to God, and God alone was exalted.