Who gives rain upon the earth, and sends waters upon the fields:
All Commentaries on Job 5:10 Go To Job 5
Didymus the Blind
AD 398
Eliphaz acknowledges that God is the ruler and creator of all things. It is likely that he has these convictions. He is a man who possesses wisdom in human things. Eliphaz also has an understanding of the invisible and visible, since he speaks of the inexplorable, the great, the honorable, and of water and rain. If he distinguishes that water from rain, he must have in mind water from wells, from creeks and from cracks in stone. One can find very wise thoughts of this kind in many places in Scripture, not least of all in Paul, who writes, “In him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible.” One has to imagine that Eliphaz became afraid in a human way because of the things that had happened to holy Job. He therefore admired the works of providence. Regarding the “things without number,” one has to think that Eliphaz speaks from a human perspective. For God knows everything. That is no miracle. Doesn’t Solomon say, “For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists, to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements; the beginning and end and middle of times; the alternations of the solstices” and so on? For even what can’t be counted due to its character is not uncountable for God, of whom it is said, “He determines the number of the stars,” and “even the hairs of your head are all counted.” That knowledge is also given to those who are worthy of this benefit, as it is said about Solomon.
