Job 5:18

For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(18) He maketh sore, and bindeth up.—The sentiment here expressed is one of those obvious ones which lose all their force from familiarity with them, but which come home sometimes in sorrow with a power that is boundless, because Divine.

Benson Commentary

Job 5:18-19. For he maketh sore, &c. — God’s usual method is first to wound and then to heal, first to convince and then to comfort, first to humble and then to exalt. And he never makes a wound too great, too deep, for himself to cure. He will deliver thee — If thou seek to him by prayer and repentance; in six troubles — In distresses, manifold and repeated. Here he applies himself to Job directly. Yea, in seven there shall no evil touch thee — Thou shalt have a good issue out of all thy troubles, though they be both great and many.

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

For he maketh sore - That is, he afflicts.

And bindeth up - He heals. The phrase is taken from the custom of binding up a wound; see Isaiah 1:6, note; Isaiah 38:21, note. This was a common mode of healing among the Hebrews; and the practice of medicine appears to have been confined much to external applications. The meaning of this verse is, that afflictions come from God, and that he only can support, comfort, and restore. Health is his gift; and all the consolation which we need, and for which we can look, must come from him.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

18. he maketh sore, and bindeth up—(De 32:39; Ho 6:1; 1Sa 2:6). An image from binding up a wound. The healing art consisted much at that time in external applications.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Bindeth up, to wit, the wounds, as good surgeons use to do when they have dressed them, in order to their healing. Compare Psalm 147:3 Ezekiel 34:4. The sense is, Though he hath seen it fit to wound thee, yet he will not always grieve thee, but will in due time release thee from all thy miseries. Therefore despair not.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

For he maketh sore, and bindeth up,.... Or, "though he maketh sore, yet he bindeth up" (d); as a surgeon, who makes a wound the sorer by probing and opening it, to let out the matter and make way for his medicine, and then lays on the plaster, and binds it up: so God causes grief and puts his people to pain, by diseases of body, or by making breaches in, their families and estates, and such like cutting providences; and then he binds up their breach, and heals the stroke of their wound, and in the issue makes all whole again: so in spiritual things; he cuts and wounds, and gives pain and uneasiness, by the sharp twoedged sword of the word, and by his Spirit making use of it; and lays open all the corruption of nature, and brings to repentance and humiliation for all transgressions; and then pours in the oil and wine of pardoning grace and mercy, and binds up the wounds that are made:

he woundeth, and his hands make whole; or "heal" (e); the same thing is meant, expressed by different words; and the whole suggests, that every afflicted man, and particularly Job, should he behave well, and as he ought, under the afflicting hand of God, would be healed, and become sound and whole again, in body, mind, family, and estate; for, though God for the present caused grief, yet he would have compassion, since he did not willingly grieve the children of men; did not do it for his own pleasure, but for their good; as a skilful surgeon cuts and wounds in order to heal; see Deuteronomy 32:39.

(d) Assembly's Annotations. (e) "sanabunt", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

Geneva Study Bible

For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

18. maketh sore and bindeth up] Maketh sore in order to bind up, smiteth in order more perfectly to heal. If this physician induce disease, it is in order to procure a sounder health.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 18. - For he maketh sore, and bindeth up. Metaphors drawn from the healing art. He "maketh sore" - applies the scalpel and the cautery when and where they are needed; and then, after a while, "bindeth up" - employs his lint and bandages; in both cases alike seeking the good of the sufferer. He woundeth, and his hands make whole (setup. Deuteronomy 32:39; Hosea 6:1). Job 5:18

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.