Job 5:19

He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) In six troubles.—The special form of speech here used is characteristic mainly of the Proverbs (see Job 6:16; Job 30:15; Job 30:18; Job 30:21). Since evil was emphatically touching Job, the actual irony of these words must have been bitter indeed.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

5:17-27 Eliphaz gives to Job a word of caution and exhortation: Despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty. Call it a chastening, which comes from the Father's love, and is for the child's good; and notice it as a messenger from Heaven. Eliphaz also encourages Job to submit to his condition. A good man is happy though he be afflicted, for he has not lost his enjoyment of God, nor his title to heaven; nay, he is happy because he is afflicted. Correction mortifies his corruptions, weans his heart from the world, draws him nearer to God, brings him to his Bible, brings him to his knees. Though God wounds, yet he supports his people under afflictions, and in due time delivers them. Making a wound is sometimes part of a cure. Eliphaz gives Job precious promises of what God would do for him, if he humbled himself. Whatever troubles good men may be in, they shall do them no real harm. Being kept from sin, they are kept from the evil of trouble. And if the servants of Christ are not delivered from outward troubles, they are delivered by them, and while overcome by one trouble, they conquer all. Whatever is maliciously said against them shall not hurt them. They shall have wisdom and grace to manage their concerns. The greatest blessing, both in our employments and in our enjoyments, is to be kept from sin. They shall finish their course with joy and honour. That man lives long enough who has done his work, and is fit for another world. It is a mercy to die seasonably, as the corn is cut and housed when fully ripe; not till then, but then not suffered to stand any longer. Our times are in God's hands; it is well they are so. Believers are not to expect great wealth, long life, or to be free from trials. But all will be ordered for the best. And remark from Job's history, that steadiness of mind and heart under trial, is one of the highest attainments of faith. There is little exercise for faith when all things go well. But if God raises a storm, permits the enemy to send wave after wave, and seemingly stands aloof from our prayers, then, still to hang on and trust God, when we cannot trace him, this is the patience of the saints. Blessed Saviour! how sweet it is to look unto thee, the Author and Finisher of faith, in such moments!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He shall deliver thee in six troubles - Six is used here to denote an indefinite number, meaning that he would support in many troubles. This mode of speech is not uncommon among the Hebrews, where one number is mentioned, so that an extreme number may be immediately added. The method is, to mention a number within the limit, and then to add one more, meaning that in all instances the thing referred to would occur. The limit here is seven, with the Hebrews a complete and perfect number; and the idea is, that in any succession of troubles, however numerous, God was able to deliver. Similar expressions not unfrequently occur. Thus, in Amos 1:3, Amos 1:6,Amos 1:9, Amos 1:11, Amos 1:13; Amos 2:1, Amos 2:4,Amos 2:6 :

Thus saith the Lord:

For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four,

I will not turn away the punishment thereof.

Thus saith the Lord:

For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four,

I will not turn away, the punishment thereof.

Thus saith the Lord:

For three transgressions of Tyrus, and for four,

I will not turn away the punishment thereof.

Thus in Proverbs 30:15 :

There are three things that are never satisfied,

Yea, four things say not, It is enough.

There be three things that are too wonderful for me,

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

19. in six … yea, in seven—(Pr 6:16; Am 1:3). The Hebrew idiom fixes on a certain number (here "six"), in order to call attention as to a thing of importance; then increases the force by adding, with a "yea, nay seven," the next higher number; here "seven," the sacred and perfect number. In all possible troubles; not merely in the precise number "seven."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

He shall deliver thee, to wit, if thou seekest to him by prayer and repentance.

Six, i.e. manifold or repeated; as six is used for many, Proverbs 6:16.

There shall no evil touch thee, to wit, so as to undo or destroy thee, as touching is used, Joshua 9:19 Hebrews 11:28 1Jo 5:18. See also Genesis 26:11,29 2 Samuel 14:10 Psalm 105:15 Zechariah 2:8. Thou shalt have a good issue out of all thy troubles, though they are both great and many.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

He shall deliver thee in six troubles,.... Behaving as before directed; seeking unto God, committing his cause and case to him, and leaving it with him; and not despising the chastening of the Lord, but receiving and bearing it with reverence, patience, and submission: and then the sense is, that God would deliver out of whatsoever troubles he was or should be in, though they were ever so many; a certain number being put for an uncertain one, Psalm 34:19,

yea, seven there shall no evil touch thee; which is a number expressive of multitude and of perfection, and so may denote the multitude and fulness of afflictions: the tribulations of God's people are many, through which they pass to heaven, and there is a measure of them to be filled up; and when they are come to the height, and the measure is fully up, then the Lord puts a stop to them, and delivers out of all their troubles; and in the midst of them all, so preserves them, that "no evil" shall so much as "touch" them; not the evil of punishment; for, though those troubles and afflictions that attend them are evil things, in a natural or civil sense, they are disagreeable and distressing, yet they are not the effect of vindictive justice; there is not a drop wrath and vengeance in them; and though they do come upon them and unto them, upon their persons and families; yet not so as to do any real hurt, or as to destroy them; see Psalm 91:10; some think that seven particular troubles are meant, hereafter mentioned, as Jarchi; as famine, war, an evil tongue, destruction, dearness of provision, the beasts of the earth, and the stones of the field.

Geneva Study Bible

He shall deliver thee in {s} six troubles: yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee.

(s) He will send trouble after trouble that his children may not for one time, but continually trust in him: but they sill have a comfortable issue, even in the greatest and the last, which is here called the seventh.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19. “Six” and “seven” are round numbers meaning “many” or “all,” like “three” and “four” and other numbers, elsewhere, cf. Proverbs 6:16; see Amos 1:3 seq., Micah 5:5. Eliphaz assumes that God’s afflictions will have their due effect on Job, he will turn unto the Lord, whose hands will “make him whole,” and the care and protection specified in this and the following verses shall mark his restored life.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 19. - He shall deliver thee in six troubles: yea, in seven (comp. Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13, "For three transgressions... and for four"). An idiomatic way of expressing an indefinite number. There shall no evil touch thee; i.e. no real evil, nothing calculated to do thee real hurt. All affliction is "for the present grievous;" but if it "afterward yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them that are exercised thereby" (Hebrews 12:11), it does not do us harm, but good. Job 5:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

17 Behold, happy is the man whom Eloah correcteth;

So despise not the chastening of the Almighty!

18 For He woundeth, and He also bindeth up;

He bruiseth, and His hands make whole.

19 In six troubles He will rescue thee,

And in seven no evil shall touch thee.

20 In famine He will redeem thee from death,

And in war from the stroke of the sword.

21 When the tongue scourgeth, thou shalt be hidden;

And thou shalt not fear destruction when it cometh.

The speech of Eliphaz now becomes persuasive as it turns towards the conclusion. Since God humbles him who exalts himself, and since He humbles in order to exalt, it is a happy thing when He corrects (הוכיח) us by afflictive dispensations; and His chastisement (מוּסר) is to be received not with a turbulent spirit, but resignedly, yea joyously: the same thought as Proverbs 3:11-13; Psalm 94:12, in both passages borrowed from this; whereas Job 5:18 here, like Hosea 6:1; Lamentations 3:31., refers to Deuteronomy 32:39. רפא, to heal, is here conjugated like a הל verb (Ges. 75, rem. 21). Job 5:19 is formed after the manner of the so-called number-proverbs (Proverbs 6:16; Proverbs 30:15, Proverbs 30:18), as also the roll of the judgment of the nations in Amos 1-2: in six troubles, yea in still more than six. רע is the extremity that is perhaps to be feared. In Job 5:20, the praet. is a kind of prophetic praet. The scourge of the tongue recalls the similar promise, Psalm 31:21, where, instead of scourge, it is: the disputes of the tongue. שׁוד, from שׁדד violence, disaster, is allied in sound with שׁוט. Isaiah has this passage of the book of Job in his memory when he writes Job 28:15. The promises of Eliphaz now continue to rise higher, and sound more delightful and more glorious.