6 Is not your fear of God your support, and your upright way of life your hope?
And the Lord said to the Satan, Have you taken note of my servant Job, for there is no one like him on the earth, a man without sin and upright, fearing God and keeping himself far from evil? And the Satan said in answer to the Lord, Is it for nothing that Job is a god-fearing man? Have you yourself not put a wall round him and his house and all he has on every side, blessing the work of his hands, and increasing his cattle in the land?
My feet have gone in his steps; I have kept in his way, without turning to one side or to the other. I have never gone against the orders of his lips; the words of his mouth have been stored up in my heart.
For I was a saviour to the poor when he was crying for help, to the child with no father, and to him who had no supporter. The blessing of him who was near to destruction came on me, and I put a song of joy into the widow's heart. I put on righteousness as my clothing, and was full of it; right decisions were to me a robe and a head-dress. I was eyes to the blind, and feet to him who had no power of walking. I was a father to the poor, searching out the cause of him who was strange to me. By me the great teeth of the evil-doer were broken, and I made him give up what he had violently taken away.
I made an agreement with my eyes; how then might my eyes be looking on a virgin? For what is God's reward from on high, or the heritage given by the Ruler of all from heaven? Is it not trouble for the sinner, and destruction for the evil-doers? Does he not see my ways, and are not my steps all numbered? If I have gone in false ways, or my foot has been quick in working deceit; (Let me be measured in upright scales, and let God see my righteousness:) If my steps have been turned out of the way, or if my heart went after my eyes, or if the property of another is in my hands; Let me put seed in the earth for another to have the fruit of it, and let my produce be uprooted. If my heart went after another man's wife, or if I was waiting secretly at my neighbour's door; Then let my wife give pleasure to another man and let others make use of her body. For that would be a crime; it would be an act for which punishment would be measured out by the judges: It would be a fire burning even to destruction, and taking away all my produce. If I did wrong in the cause of my man-servant, or my woman-servant, when they went to law with me; What then will I do when God comes as my judge? and what answer may I give to his questions? Did not God make him as well as me? did he not give us life in our mothers' bodies? If I kept back the desire of the poor; if the widow's eye was looking for help to no purpose; If I kept my food for myself, and did not give some of it to the child with no father; (For I was cared for by God as by a father from my earliest days; he was my guide from the body of my mother;) If I saw one near to death for need of clothing, and that the poor had nothing covering him; If his back did not give me a blessing, and the wool of my sheep did not make him warm; If my hand had been lifted up against him who had done no wrong, when I saw that I was supported by the judges; May my arm be pulled from my body, and be broken from its base. For the fear of God kept me back, and because of his power I might not do such things. If I made gold my hope, or if I ever said to the best gold, I have put my faith in you; If I was glad because my wealth was great, and because my hand had got together a great store; If, when I saw the sun shining, and the moon moving on its bright way, A secret feeling of worship came into my heart, and my hand gave kisses from my mouth; That would have been another sin to be rewarded with punishment by the judges; for I would have been false to God on high. If I was glad at the trouble of my hater, and gave cries of joy when evil overtook him; (For I did not let my mouth give way to sin, in putting a curse on his life;) If the men of my tent did not say, Who has not had full measure of his meat? The traveller did not take his night's rest in the street, and my doors were open to anyone on a journey; If I kept my evil doings covered, and my sin in the secret of my breast, For fear of the great body of people, or for fear that families might make sport of me, so that I kept quiet, and did not go out of my door; If only God would give ear to me, and the Ruler of all would give me an answer! or if what he has against me had been put in writing! Truly I would take up the book in my hands; it would be to me as a crown; I would make clear the number of my steps, I would put it before him like a prince! The words of Job are ended. If my land has made an outcry against me, or the ploughed earth has been in sorrow; If I have taken its produce without payment, causing the death of its owners; Then in place of grain let thorns come up, and in place of barley evil-smelling plants.
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Commentary on Job 4 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 4
Job 4:1-21. First Speech of Eliphaz.
1. Eliphaz—the mildest of Job's three accusers. The greatness of Job's calamities, his complaints against God, and the opinion that calamities are proofs of guilt, led the three to doubt Job's integrity.
2. If we assay to commune—Rather, two questions, "May we attempt a word with thee? Wilt thou be grieved at it?" Even pious friends often count that only a touch which we feel as a wound.
3. weak hands—Isa 35:3; 2Sa 4:1.
5. thou art troubled—rather, "unhinged," hast lost thy self-command (1Th 3:3).
6. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, &c.—Does thy fear, thy confidence, come to nothing? Does it come only to this, that thou faintest now? Rather, by transposition, "Is not thy fear (of God) thy hope? and the uprightness of thy ways thy confidence? If so, bethink thee, who ever perished being innocent?" [Umbreit]. But Lu 13:2, 3 shows that, though there is a retributive divine government even in this life, yet we cannot judge by the mere outward appearance. "One event is outwardly to the righteous and to the wicked" (Ec 9:2); but yet we must take it on trust, that God deals righteously even now (Ps 37:25; Isa 33:16). Judge not by a part, but by the whole of a godly man's life, and by his end, even here (Jas 5:11). The one and the same outward event is altogether a different thing in its inward bearings on the godly and on the ungodly even here. Even prosperity, much more calamity, is a punishment to the wicked (Pr 1:32). Trials are chastisements for their good (to the righteous) (Ps 119:67, 71, 75). See Preface on the Design of this book (see Introduction).
8. they that plough iniquity … reap the same—(Pr 22:8; Ho 8:7; 10:13; Ga 6:7, 8).
9. breath of his nostrils—God's anger; a figure from the fiery winds of the East (Job 1:16; Isa 5:25; Ps 18:8, 15).
10, 11. lion—that is, wicked men, upon whom Eliphaz wished to show that calamities come in spite of their various resources, just as destruction comes on the lion in spite of his strength (Ps 58:6; 2Ti 4:17). Five different Hebrew terms here occur for "lion." The raging of the lion (the tearer), and the roaring of the bellowing lion and the teeth of the young lions, not whelps, but grown up enough to hunt for prey. The strong lion, the whelps of the lioness (not the stout lion, as in English Version) [Barnes and Umbreit]. The various phases of wickedness are expressed by this variety of terms: obliquely, Job, his wife, and children, may be hinted at by the lion, lioness, and whelps. The one verb, "are broken," does not suit both subjects; therefore, supply "the roaring of the bellowing lion is silenced." The strong lion dies of want at last, and the whelps, torn from the mother, are scattered, and the race becomes extinct.
12. a thing—Hebrew, a "word." Eliphaz confirms his view by a divine declaration which was secretly and unexpectedly imparted to him.
a little—literally, "a whisper"; implying the still silence around, and that more was conveyed than articulate words could utter (Job 26:14; 2Co 12:4).
13. In thoughts from the visions of the night—[So Winer]. While revolving night visions previously made to him (Da 2:29). Rather, "In my manifold (Hebrew, divided) thoughts, before the visions of the night commenced"; therefore not a delusive dream (Ps 4:4) [Umbreit].
deep sleep—(Ge 2:21; 15:12).
16. It stood still—At first the apparition glides before Eliphaz, then stands still, but with that shadowy indistinctness of form which creates such an impression of awe; a gentle murmur: not (English Version): there was silence; for in 1Ki 19:12, the voice, as opposed to the previous storm, denotes a gentle, still murmur.
17. mortal man … a man—Two Hebrew words for "man" are used; the first implying his feebleness; the second his strength. Whether feeble or strong, man is not righteous before God.
more just than God … more pure than his maker—But this would be self-evident without an oracle.
18. folly—Imperfection is to be attributed to the angels, in comparison with Him. The holiness of some of them had given way (2Pe 2:4), and at best is but the holiness of a creature. Folly is the want of moral consideration [Umbreit].
19. houses of clay—(2Co 5:1). Houses made of sun-dried clay bricks are common in the East; they are easily washed away (Mt 7:27). Man's foundation is this dust (Ge 3:19).
before the moth—rather, "as before the moth," which devours a garment (Job 13:28; Ps 39:11; Isa 50:9). Man, who cannot, in a physical point of view, stand before the very moth, surely cannot, in a moral, stand before God.
20. from morning to evening—unceasingly; or, better, between the morning and evening of one short day (so Ex 18:14; Isa 38:12).
They are destroyed—better, "they would be destroyed," if God withdrew His loving protection. Therefore man must not think to be holy before God, but to draw holiness and all things else from God (Job 4:17).
21. their excellency—(Ps 39:11; 146:4; 1Co 13:8). But Umbreit, by an Oriental image from a bow, useless because unstrung: "Their nerve, or string would be torn away." Michaelis, better in accordance with Job 4:19, makes the allusion be to the cords of a tabernacle taken down (Isa 33:20).
they die, even without wisdom—rather, "They would perish, yet not according to wisdom," but according to arbitrary choice, if God were not infinitely wise and holy. The design of the spirit is to show that the continued existence of weak man proves the inconceivable wisdom and holiness of God, which alone save man from ruin [Umbreit]. Bengel shows from Scripture that God's holiness (Hebrew, kadosh) comprehends all His excellencies and attributes. De Wette loses the scope, in explaining it, of the shortness of man's life, contrasted with the angels "before they have attained to wisdom."