Job 5:18

Job 5:18 For he maketh sore, and bindeth up: he woundeth, and his hands make whole.

Ver. 18. For he maketh sore, and bindeth up] As a surgeon maketh an incision to let out the imposthumed matter, and then heals up the wound again. God hath a salve for every sore, a medicine for every malady; he is both a Father and a Physician, he lanceth us not unless need be, 1Pe 1:6. We are judged of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world. Would we that God should let us alone to perish in our corruptions (as he did Ephraim, Hos 4:14), and not meddle with us? or that he should scarf our bones before they are set, and lap up our sores before they are searched? this were a mercy more cruel than any cruelty, as a Father calls it. And yet most people are of that countryman’s mind, spoken of by Luther, who being on his sick-bed advised by his minister to take in good part his present pain, as a token of God’s love, answered, Ah quam velim alios amare, non me! If this be his love, I could wish he would love others, and not me (Luth. in Gen.).

He woundeth] This is more than to make sore or sick, like as Heb 12:6. Scourging is worse than chastening. God sometimes makes bloody wales upon the backs of his best children; he wounds them with the wound of an enemy, Psa 68:21; Psa 110:5, and leaves them all gore blood, as the word here used importeth, מחץ cruentavit. stained with blood.

And his hands make whole] He hath, as a chirurgeon should have, a lady’s hand, soft and tender, a father’s heart, relenting over his pained Ephraims, Hos 11:8. He afflicteth not willingly, or from the heart, Lam 3:33; it goeth as much against the heart with him as against the hair with us; and evermore

Deiecit ut relevet, premit ut solatia praestet:

Enecat, ut possit vivificare Deus.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

he maketh sore, and bindeth up-- (Deu 32:39; Hos 6:1; Sa1 2:6). An image from binding up a wound. The healing art consisted much at that time in external applications.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. For he maketh sore, and bindeth up. Thus nervously rendered by Coverdale, For though he make a wounde, he giveth a medicyne agayne; though he smyte, his honde maketh whole agayne.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(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.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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 Deu 32:39.

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

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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 Isa 1:6, note; Isa 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.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Bindeth up, to wit, the wounds, as good surgeons use to do when they have dressed them, in order to their healing. Compare Psa 147:3; Eze 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.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. Bindeth up — Among the ancients the healing art was for the most part confined to external applications. They seem generally to have attributed the curing of diseases to supernatural agency; hence priests were resorted to for healing purposes, since they were supposed to possess peculiar powers of propitiating their deities. On the medical resources of the ancients, see PLINY, Nat. Hist., Books 23-29. Also Leviticus 13, which Kitto calls the most ancient medical treatise in the world.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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. (Deu_32:39 Hos_6:1)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For he, &c. - God's usual method is, first to humble, and then to exalt. And he never makes a wound too great, too deep for his own cure.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.