Job 15:4

Yea, thou castest off fear,.... Not of man; a slavish fear of man is to be cast off, because that brings a snare, deters men from their duty, and leads into sin; though there is a fear and reverence

Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God. Castest off fear - Hebrew, 'breakest'-reverence for God (Job 4:6; Psalms 2:11, "Serve the Lord with fear").

Heb. Thou makest void fear, i.e. the fear of God, as the word is oft used for the word of God; or piety and religion, which oft cometh under the name of fear. This may be understood either, 1. Of Job himself; that he cast off all reverence to God, by uttering such bold and reproachful expressions concerning God and his providence. Or, 2. With respect to others; that by his insolent and unworthy speeches of and carriage towards God, and by those false and pernicious principles which he had laid down; as that God dealt with men in way of absolute sovereignty, not of justice; and that he made no difference between good and bad in the course of his providence, but did equally prosper or afflict both of them; he did that which tended to the subversion of the fear and worship of God. Restrainest prayer; as this Hebrew word signifies also, . Or, meditation or speech; which well agrees to prayer, which is accompanied with serious thoughts and expressions. The sense is, either, 1. Instead of humble and fervent prayer to God, which thy condition calleth for, thou breathest forth false and blasphemous speeches against him. Or, 2. Thou dost by thy words, and examples, and principles, as far as in thee lies, banish prayer out of the world, by making it useless and unprofitable to men.

Job 15:4 Yea, thou castest off fear, and restrainest prayer before God.Ver. 4. Yea, thou casiest off fear] Heb. Thou makest void fear; that is, religion, whereof the fear of God is both the beginning, Proverbs 1:7, and the end, Ecclesiastes 12:1. This is a heavy charge indeed; as if Job, by saying the extreme miseries of this life are common to the godly and the wicked, had by consequence taught men to cast off all religion as unprofitable, which none but such a shameless man as thyself, saith Eliphaz, would ever have averred. It cannot be denied but that Job, through the bitterness of his grief and the unreasonableness of his adversaries, was sometimes carried beyond the bounds of that reverence which is due unto God, and reasoneth the matter somewhat hotly with God; but that thereby he betrayed his manifest contempt of his majesty, casting off all awful regard and recourse thereto by prayer, as the wicked, who call not upon God, Psalms 14:4, this was a mere conjecture, or rather an unsufferable injury done to the good man, who gave sufficient testimony of his fearing God, and soon poured out his prayer in his presence. All which, notwithstanding, he heareth in the next words, And restrainest prayer before God] Thou forbearest to pray thyself, and thou discouragest others. If this had been true it had been a foul fault indeed, for while prayer standeth still, the whole trade of godliness standeth still likewise; and to cast off prayer is to cast off God, Jeremiah 10:25. We must take heed of falling from the affections of prayer, though we continue doing the duty. As vessels of wine, when first tapped, are very smart and quick, but at last grow exceedingly flat; so do many Christians, through unbelief, and worldly cares and businesses, or domestic discords, or some other distempers, whereby prayers are hindered, 1 Peter 3:7; either they pray not frequently, or not fervently, but in a customary, formal, dull way. And this Eliphaz might suspect Job of, and assign it as the cause of all his miscarriages in word and deed. Sure it is that, as sleep composeth drunkenness, so doth prayer the affections; a man may pray himself sober again, as a reverend man (Dr Preston) gathereth out of this text.

(4) Yea, thou castest off fear.—The tendency also of Job has been to encourage a kind of fatalism (e.g., Job 12:16-25), and therefore to check the offering of prayer to God, besides setting an example which, if followed, as from Job’s position it was likely to be, would lead to murmuring and blasphemy.

Verse 4. Thou castest off fear] Thou hast no reverence for God. And restrainest prayer] Instead of humbling thyself, and making supplication to thy Judge, thou spendest thy time in arraigning his providence and justifying thyself. When a man has any doubts whether he has grieved God's Spirit, and his mind feels troubled, it is much better for him to go immediately to God, and ask forgiveness, than spend any time in finding excuses for his conduct, or labouring to divest it of its seeming obliquity. Restraining or suppressing prayer, in order to find excuses or palliations for infirmities, indiscretions, or improprieties of any kind, which appear to trench on the sacred limits of morality and godliness, may be to a man the worst of evils: humiliation and prayer for mercy and pardon can never be out of their place to any soul of man who, surrounded with evils, is ever liable to offend.

4. Job was more than unwise, he was doing away with all fear of God. castest off fear] Or, as margin, makest void, doest away with, the fear of God. restrainest prayer] Rather, impairest reverence or devotion. The charge of Eliphaz is not merely that Job was irreligious himself, but that the tendency of his conduct and principles must be to diminish and do away devoutness and religion among men.

Yea, thou castest off fear - Margin, Makest void. Fear here means the fear or reverence of God; and the idea is, that Job had not maintained a proper veneration or respect for his Maker in his argument.

4. Thou castest off — Makest void. Fear — The fear of God is the life of every form of religion. It is the keystone of the arch that upholds the morals of a people, and all that is dear to man.