Job 4:14

Fear came upon me, and trembling,.... Not only a dread of mind, but trembling of body; which was often the case even with good men, whenever there was any unusual appearance of God unto them by a

Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Fear came upon me; either caused by the apparition following; or sent by God to humble him, and to prepare him for the more diligent attention to, reverent reception of; and ready compliance with, the Divine message.

Job 4:14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.Ver. 14. Fear came on me, and trembling] Fear in the inward man, and trembling in the outward. And this is God’ s method still: the more he draweth nigh to any man the more doth rottenness enter into his bones, and he is horribly afraid of God’ s judgments, with David; he trembleth at his word, with Josiah, that it may be the more efficacious in his soul. "Let us have grace" (saith the apostle), "whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for even our God also" (and not the God of the Jews only) "is a consuming fire," Hebrews 12:28-29. Aξιωματικωτατοςμενεστινοβασιλευςημων, saith Basil. Our King will be served like himself, served in state; and although he alloweth us a humble familiarity, yet he expecteth our reverential fear; acquainted he will be with us in our walks of obedience; but yet he takes state upon him in his ordinances, and will be trembled at in the addresses we make unto his majesty; he looks we should bring with us a legal faith and a legal repentance, as well as an evangelical; and that we should work out our salvation with fear and trembling, Philippians 2:12. Terrors and humiliations prepare and posture the heart for revelations; never is it right till a man lie low at God’ s feet, putting his mouth in the dust, and crying out, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth: there shall be only fear to make them understand the hearing, Isaiah 28:19; fear met Eliphaz, and made way for the heavenly vision. Which made all my bones to shake] Heb. The multitude of my bones, or the number of my bones, how many soever they be, and they are as many (say the Hebrews) as there are affirmative precepts in the law. These pillars of my body shook sore, and threatened a downfall. - Gelidusque per ima cucurrit Ossa tremor. - (Aeneid ii.)

14. Eliphaz depicts graphically the circumstances in which he received the message from heaven. In the dead night, in the midst of his perplexing thoughts upon his bed, a supernatural terror suddenly seized him. Then he was conscious of a breath passing before him, Job 4:15. Then he seemed to perceive a figure in his presence, too dim, however, to be discerned; and at last a whisper of a voice gave utterance to the awful words that expressed the relations of man to God, Job 4:16. So awful were the impressions of that night, that Eliphaz in recalling the circumstances almost feels himself in the midst of them again, and he falls into the present tense in describing them: a breath passeth before my face … an image is before mine eyes … and I hear a voice, &c.

Fear came upon me - Margin, “Met me.” The Chaldee Paraphrase renders this, “a tempest,” זיקא. The Septuagint, φρίκη frikē - “shuddering,” or “horror.” The sense is, that he became greatly alarmed at the vision.

14. All my bones — Literally, the multitude of my bones. Virgil similarly describes the effects of horror, — “gelidus per ima cucurrit ossa tremor,” (AEneid, 2:120,) — through the inmost bones an icy tremor ran.