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Job 4

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Eliphaz Begins His Counsel 1–6

1
Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, ​
2
If we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking? ​
3
Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.
4
Thy words have upholden him that was falling, and thou hast strengthened the feeble knees.
5
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. ​
6
Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

The Doctrine of Retribution 7–11

7
Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off? ​
8
Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same. ​
9
By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.
10
The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. ​
11
The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.

Eliphaz’s Mystical Revelation 12–21

12
Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. ​
13
In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,
14
Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.
15
Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up: ​
16
It stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,
17
Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker? ​
18
Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:
19
How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth? ​
20
They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.
21
Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Job 4

Verse 1

Eliphaz the Temanite — Anah, 'answered', here means to respond: he replies to Job's speech of ch.3 (3:2). Teman was a place Jer 49:7 connects with wisdom, and Eliphaz is also the name of a son of Esau. At the close the LORD directs him and his friends to Job (Job 42:9).

Verse 2

who can withhold himself from speaking? — 'Assay' is nasah, to attempt or test; 'withhold' is atsar, to hold back. The same sense of being unable to keep silent is found in Elihu, 'the spirit within me constraineth me' (Job 32:18), and in Acts 4:20, 'we cannot but speak'.

Verse 5

it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled — 'Faintest' is la'ah, the verb rendered 'grieved' in v.2. 'Toucheth' is naga', the verb of 'touch his bone and his flesh' (Job 2:5); Job himself says 'the hand of God hath touched me' (Job 19:21). 'Troubled' is bahal, to be suddenly alarmed.

Verse 7

who ever perished, being innocent? — Abad is to perish; 'righteous' is yashar, upright, the word of Job 1:1, where Job is 'perfect and upright'. Bildad repeats the claim (Job 8:20). Ecc 9:2 says otherwise of this life: 'one event to the righteous, and to the wicked'.

Verse 8

plow iniquity, and sow wickedness — Three farming verbs: charash, to plow, zara', to sow, qatsar, to reap. The principle is stated in Prov 22:8, 'He that soweth iniquity shall reap vanity', and Gal 6:7. It is true as a rule, but Eliphaz applies it to Job, whom the LORD calls 'a perfect and an upright man' (Job 1:8).

Verse 10

the teeth of the young lions, are broken — Vv.10–11 use five Hebrew words for lion (ari, shachal, kephir, layish, labi), the ravening and the strong alike brought down. The prayer of Ps 58:6, 'break out the great teeth of the young lions, O LORD', uses the same picture of the violent.

Verse 12

a thing was secretly brought — 'Thing' is davar, a word; 'secretly brought' is ganab, to steal, so the word came by stealth. 'A little' is shemets, an inkling: he claims only a fragment, as Job 26:14 says of God, 'how little a portion is heard of him?' The vision itself follows in vv.13–16.

Verse 15

a spirit passed before my face — Ruach means wind, breath or spirit; the verse does not say whose. 'Stood up' is samar, to bristle. In Luke 24:37 the disciples likewise 'supposed that they had seen a spirit'. The words the spirit speaks begin at v.17.

Verse 17

more just than God — 'Just' is tsadaq and 'pure' is tahar; 'mortal man' is enosh, man in his frailty. Job asks nearly the same, 'how should man be just with God?' (Job 9:2), and Paul sets the same contrast: 'let God be true, but every man a liar' (Rom 3:4).

Verse 19

houses of clay — Chomer, clay: the body as a dwelling made of the ground, as 'the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground' (Gen 2:7). Job uses the same picture of himself (Job 10:9), and Paul speaks of 'earthen vessels' (2 Cor 4:7). 'Crushed' is daka', beaten to pieces.

Verse 21

their excellency which is in them go away — Yether is what is left over, hence pre-eminence ('the excellency of dignity', Gen 49:3), and also a cord; nasa' is to pull up tent-pins, so the loss may be pictured as a tent-cord pulled up. 'Without wisdom' is chokmah; Job 36:12 has a similar phrase, 'die without knowledge'.