What is the meaning of Job 5:5? The hungry consume his harvest “ ‘The hungry consume his harvest…’ ” (Job 5:5a) • Eliphaz has just said, “I have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed” (Job 5:3), showing that any prosperity gained apart from God evaporates. • Here he pictures ravenous people sweeping in to eat what the fool planted, a literal fulfillment of Deuteronomy 28:33, “A nation you do not know will eat the produce of your land and all your labor.” • Psalm 37:25–26 confirms God’s pattern: “I have not seen the righteous forsaken… they are ever generous,” but the fool’s field feeds strangers. • Proverbs 11:29 warns, “He who brings trouble on his house will inherit the wind.” That wind becomes real hunger stalking the fields of the ungodly. Taking it even from the thorns “ ‘…taking it even from the thorns…’ ” (Job 5:5b) • Thorns were the ancient farmer’s living fence (Isaiah 5:5). If the hungry rip grain out from between the briars, nothing is secure. • Gideon’s day illustrates this picture: Midianites raided Israel “like locusts,” leaving “no sustenance” (Judges 6:3–5). • Hosea 2:6 shows God hedging the way of the unfaithful with thorns, yet even that barrier cannot protect ill-gotten gain. • The lesson: self-reliant defenses fail; only the Lord is “a shield to those who take refuge in Him” (Proverbs 30:5). And the thirsty pant after his wealth “ ‘…and the thirsty pant after his wealth.’ ” (Job 5:5c) • Need intensifies: first hunger, now thirst. What the fool stored as riches becomes another man’s drink. • Habakkuk 2:5 says the proud man “enlarges his appetite like Sheol” yet can never be satisfied; here that appetite drains the fool’s resources. • Jeremiah 2:13 contrasts broken cisterns with “the fountain of living water.” When a life rejects that fountain, others rush in, parched for what little remains. • Proverbs 5:10 warns, “Strangers will consume your wealth, and your labor will enrich another man’s house,” echoing Eliphaz’s words. summary Job 5:5 paints the fool’s harvest, hedges, and hoarded wealth as easy prey for the needy. God allows the hungry and thirsty to strip away what was gained or protected without Him. The verse underscores a timeless principle: apart from the Lord, labor cannot guarantee security; with Him, even lean times bow to His faithful provision. |
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