The Book of Job
Job 4
Chapter IV · Vol. II, pp. 944–945
1 Eliphaz reproveth Job for want of religious trust. 7 He teacheth God's judgments to be not for the righteous, but for the wicked. 12 His fearful vision, to humble the excellency of creatures before God.
1 Thena Eliphaz1 the Temanite banswered and said,
a See ch.2.11.
1 The name 'Eliphaz,' and his residence 'Teman,' compared with Ge. 36. 11, cannot leave a doubt that Job lived long posterior to the days of Abraham, and that consequently he was well acquainted with the Abrahamic covenant of promise.—C.
b ch.3.1,2; 6.1; 8.1, &c.
2 If we assay to commune2 with thee, wilt thou cbe grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?3
4 Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.4
4 Heb. the bowing knees.
5 But now eit is come upon thee, and thou faintest;5 it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
e ch.3.25,26; 1.11-19; 2.5,7.
5 The same trial in which you instructed and comforted others is come upon yourself: and lo! you 'faint' when rebuked of the Lord.—C.
7 Remember,g I pray thee, who ever perished being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?
g 2 Sa.16.8. Ac.28.4. Ps.7.14. Je. 2. 17,19; 4. 18. Ga.6.7,8. Is.3.10,11. Ro.2.7-10.
8 Even as I have seen, hthey that plough iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.
A.M. cir. 2484. B.C. cir. 1520.
h Ga.6.7?,8.
10 The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the jteeth of the young lions, are broken.
11 The kold lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.
k Ps.34.10; 57.4. 2 Ti. 4. 17. Eze. xix. i.e. powerful oppressors.
12 Nowl a thing was secretly7 brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.8
7 Heb. by stealth.
8 'Mine ear received a whisper along with it,' as the 'still small voice' that spake to Elijah, 1 Ki. 19.12.—C.
13 In mthoughts from the visions of the night, when ndeep sleep falleth on men,
m ch.33.15,16. Da.2.19,29; 4.5. Nu.22.19,20; 12.6. Ge.xl.xli.
n Ge.2.21. Jonah 1.5. 1 Sa.26.12.
16 It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes; there qwas silence, and I heard a 2voice, saying,
q Or, I heard a still voice, 1 Ki.19.12.
2 This seems to have been a real vision, and not a dream, and the communication was worthy of God, however erroneous the use to which Eliphaz applies it.—C.
18 Behold, she put no trust in his servants;5 and his angels6 he charged with folly:7
s ch.15.15; 25.5. Ps.103.21; 104.4. 2 Pe.2.4.
5 'He did not put stability in his servants.' Patoblus.—'Nor ascribeth glory to his angels.' Boothroyd. In other words, all created beings are liable to defection, and the angels that excel in power have no glory in themselves, but must ascribe it all to God, Is.6.3.—C.
6 Or, nor in his angels, in whom he put light.
7 Readiness to slip.
19 How much less in them that dwell in housest of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?8
Notes
Then Eliphaz, a descendant of Esau, replied, ver. 2. Thou wilt doubtless be incensed by the slightest attempts to offer a reply: but who can restrain himself from speaking the truth upon such a pressing occasion? 3. Behold, in former times thou hast, with great pains and success, instructed many under trouble and corrected their mistakes; and by thy kind and pertinent advices hast mightily encouraged the dispirited. 4. By thy discourse thou hast encouraged and supported those whose hearts were ready to sink; and hast settled them who trembled under the burdens of their adversity. 5. But now, when fallen into their condition, thou canst not practise thy own lessons, but faintest and art struck with consternation. 6. Is not this the time to exercise thy piety, thy confidence in God, thy hope of blessings, and thy integrity of conversation? Or shall all thy religious appearances turn out a mere nothing? 7. Too good reason thou hast to suspect thyself a hypocrite: for think if thou canst remember one instance of an innocent and godly man who was ever punished with such remarkable strokes of divine vengeance as thou art. 8. For my part, aged as I am, I have always observed that it is the wicked devisers and practisers of horrible crimes who reap the fruit of their works in such a manner. 9. By the blasting and burning influence of God's fearful judgments they are more suddenly, or more gradually, reduced to misery and ruin. 10. And though, like thee and thy sons, they be oppressors, fierce and strong as lions, their power and influence are broken and themselves afflicted. 11. The mightiest tyrants and their posterity are in due time stripped of their ill-gotten wealth, and violently reduced to misery and servitude. 12-16. Moreover in a vision which exceedingly terrified me, I heard a spirit, whose form I could not comprehend, amidst profound silence all around, say, 17. Shall a wretched man be more righteous than God, or justified before him? or even the most excellent man be pure before his Maker? 18. Behold! he put no firmness in his heavenly ministers, and can put no trust in them; and in his angels he has placed no ground of boasting, and can perceive defect of service and readiness to slide. 19. How then can he perceive perfection in mortal and sinful men, whom he can crush as easily as, or before the face of, a moth? 20. They are pricked and bruised in a mortar of trouble through their whole life and quickly perish for ever, without any oppressing them or regarding their fall. 21. Is not all their power and excellency a plucked-up nothing, is it not destroyed together? They pine and melt away for want of, and without ever attaining, wisdom, or any solid and well-connected good. And though their dignity be ever so great, and their posterity ever so numerous, they die like so many beasts which have no understanding of their latter end.
Ver. 1. [Teman is closely connected with Edom, and must have been a province of it, or have bordered upon it, Je. 49. 7, 20. In one passage it is included in the same curse with the capital of Edom, Am. 1. 12. Habakkuk joins it with Mount Paran, and this may indicate that it embraced that section of Edom which lay opposite to Kadesh, Hab. 3. 3. Probably as the northern section of Edom was called Gebal, the southern may have been called Teman. P.]
Ver. 6. [Delitzsch's translation brings out what appears to be the true meaning:—'Is not thy piety thy confidence, thy hope? and the uprightness of thy ways?' That is, Dost thou not rely on thy presumed innocence before God? P.]
Ver. 9. [The argument is this: What a man sows, that shall he reap—if he sow wickedness, by the blast of God he will perish; but you, Job, are suffering by that blast, therefore it is evident you have been secretly wicked. So dark is the understanding, so uncharitable the judgment of man! But to the believer 'it is a small thing to be judged of man's judgment—he that judgeth is the Lord,' 1 Co. 4. 3, 4. C.]
Ver. 17. [How blessed the truth, that notwithstanding all man's weakness, imperfection, and sin, God has provided a way in which man shall be 'justified,' and God shall be, not merely merciful, but 'just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus,' Ro. 3. 26. C.]
Reflections.—Such as are in sore trouble ought to be spoken to and dealt with in great tenderness. But affection must not hinder, but promote faithfulness in our reproofs and admonitions. We must not, for fear of offending, suffer sins upon our brother. And it is very edifying when such as are noted in their profession, lay out themselves for the instruction and encouragement of others in the Lord's war; warning the unruly, supporting the weak, and comforting the feeble-minded. Yet through the sorruption of our nature, it is far easier to give good counsel than to take it. Extremely trying is the situation when Satan employs the saints' godly friends to make them raise their hopes and acknowledge themselves hypocrites. The charge of hypocrisy is most frequently laid against the people of God, and is one of the hardest to be borne. But exceeding sinful is the indulgence of a censorious spirit. We must never judge of a man's state from a particular failing or from his outward lot. Though tyrannical oppressors and other sinners be recompensed in this life, yet no man knows either love or hatred by all that is before him. What singular intimacy with God might saints enjoy if duly weaned and withdrawn from the things of this life! Were our tempers duly holy, even our dreams might be means of our noted fellowship with God. O how men's spirits shrink under visits from the other world! What then must be the terrible majesty, infinite holiness, and equity of God himself! Insignificant and impure are all creatures in comparison of him. Mean are men while they live; and wretched in death if driven away in their sins. But for senseless, sinful, dying worms to impeach the wisdom, goodness, or equity of Jehovah's dispensations of providence, or to plead their own wealth and excellency in his presence, is the boldest presumption. How strange is it that amidst so many and remarkable warnings of an entrance into eternity, most men should live entirely unconcerned about it! And scarcely less strange that even good men should so often wrest God's oracles to serve their own humours. This oracle which Eliphaz heard gave ground to rebuke Job for his murmuring, but none to condemn him as a hypocrite.