Job 4

Job 4:6

6. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, &c.] That is, thy fear of God should be thy confidence: and thy hope and thy integrity should go together. Peters. The original is a period, divided into two members, and may be translated thus: “Should not thy piety be thy confidence? and the uprightness of thy ways thy hope?” The words may be construed as a friendly admonition to recollect his religious principles, and to support himself by the clearness of his conscience. On the other hand they may import, that no good man would fall into despair under affliction, as he had done. Scott. — thy fear.] Michaelis remarks, that the word “fear,” reverence, is used for piety, or the fear of God, though the name of God is omitted. See also chap. xv. 4. Parkhurst.

Job 4:7

7, 8. — who ever perished being innocent? &c.] The strong terms which Eliphaz here uses, “who ever perished, being innocent?” and his adding what he had observed himself of the punishment that sometimes remarkably befalls wicked men, contain a shrewd insinuation that he believed Job to have been guilty of some secret sins, for which the hand of God was thus heavy upon him. What follows (ver. 16—19) more and more confirms this notion; for, by the recital of a vision which he had, he intimates to him what a folly it would be to presume to justify himself before God, in whose sight the angels themselves were not pure or perfect. Peters. Although it be true in general that the innocent never perish, and that God afflicts men for their sins, yet Eliphaz was to blame for concluding from thence, that Job’s virtue had not been sincere; since God does also send misfortunes upon the virtuous. It would be a rash and hasty judgment, to believe that men are wicked, or hypocrites, only because they are afflicted; on the contrary, justice and piety require us to judge charitably of them, especially when their lives have been innocent, as Job’s had been. Ostervald.

Job 4:10

10. The roaring of the lion, &c.] And not only such Before CHRIST about 1520. hearing knees. a Prov. 22. 8. Hos. 10. 13. by his anger, as Icel. 30. 33. Eliphas’s fearful vision, to humble the excellency of creatures before God. Before CHRIST about 1350. by stealth. met me. multitude of my bones. voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken.

Job 4:11

11. The old lion — the stout lion’s whelps] Tyrants and their children soon perish. Bp. Wilson. We have here in the original no less than five different words to express a lion. This animal was esteemed by the Eastern people a creature of so much strength and courage, so far superiour to other beasts, that the Arabians put their invention to the utmost stretch to find out names suitable to his qualities. There are, it is said, more than five hundred appropriated to him. Chappelow.

Job 4:12

12. Now a thing was secretly brought to me,] If these observations be not sufficient to convince thee, hear what God Himself secretly whispered to me. Bp. Patrick. There are different opinions concerning this “thing,” word, or oracle, as it may be interpreted; and whether it was real or imaginary only. The circumstances attending it, though it was misapplied by Eliphas, would incline one to think it was more than a speculative imagination. Revelation by dreams was, we are assured, one of the means that God vouchsafed to make use of to signify His will and pleasure. As to revelations, they were not always made to the best of men: witness the corrupt and deceitful heart of Balsam. And if this was a true revelation, Eliphas’s great fault was in not applying it to a right purpose, but rather to ver and disquiet a good man. Chappelow.

Job 4:15

15. — the hair of my flesh stood up:] Thus Homer, speaking of Priam, when terrified at the appearance of Mercury, “His hairs stood upright on his bending limbs.” Parkhurst.

Job 4:17

17. Shall mortal man be more just than God?] The important instructions conveyed in this Divine vision are, the absolute rectitude of God, the exceeding imperfection of human virtue, and the impiety of arraigning the justice of His moral government. The manifest design of Eliphas in relating it was, to fix a Divine censure on the latter part of Job’s speech, and to warn him against falling into such querulous language any more: since all complaint supposes, that the complainant thinks himself injured by the party of whom he complains. Scott.

Job 4:18

18. Behold, he put no trust in his servants; &c.] The imperfection of the most exalted spirits is meant to was before mine eyes, || there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

Job 4:19

19. — in houses of clay, &c.] Frail mutable bodies, whose original is from the dust, which are crushed sooner than a moth. Clark. “Houses of clay,” or of mud. This description of our frail perishing bodies receives additional force from remarking, that one usual mode of building in the East is literally with mud dried in the sun; and that of course such mud-houses soon decay, and are of short duration. Parkhurst. — which are crushed before the moth?] Or, more strictly, the moth-worm. Parkhurst. This creature is usually taken for the moth, which consumes clothes and wool, by reducing them to a dust and powder. The signification of the passage may be; As the habitation of a worm is consumed by its inhabitants, so is the person of man; it is no more capable of resisting disease, than a woollen cloth is capable of resisting decay, when devoured and demolished by the worm appointed to it: otherwise, crushed as a feeble and contemptible insect is crushed; as we crush a mothworm, without compunction or reluctance. Script. illust. Expos. Ind.

Job 4:20

20. They are destroyed from morning to evening:] They are subject or liable to destruction the whole day. Caryl. There is not a moment, wherein man is not sinking and drawing on towards death and corruption. Poole. 21. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away?] Rather, Doth not their excellency go away with them? Dr. Durell. — they die, even without wisdom.] Though they are masters of never so much wisdom in their lifetime, yet in death it all vanishes, together with their other excellencies. Clark. “They die, even without wisdom:” like beasts, who Before CHRIST about 1350. Or, I heard a still voice. b Chap. 15. 15.