6 Hath not thy piety been thy confidence, and the perfection of thy ways thy hope?
for Jehovah shall be thy confidence, and he will keep thy foot from being taken.
There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and this man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and abstained from evil.
And Jehovah said to Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God and abstaineth from evil? And Satan answered Jehovah and said, Doth Job fear God for nought? Hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is spread abroad in the land.
Behold, if he slay me, yet would I trust in him; but I will defend mine own ways before him.
And where is then my hope? yea, my hope, who shall see it?
My foot hath held to his steps; his way have I kept, and not turned aside. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have laid up the words of his mouth more than the purpose of my own heart.
For I delivered the afflicted that cried, and the fatherless who had no helper. The blessing of him that was perishing came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was as a mantle and a turban. I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I to the lame; I was a father to the needy, and the cause which I knew not I searched out; And I broke the jaws of the unrighteous, and plucked the spoil out of his teeth.
I made a covenant with mine eyes; and how should I fix my regard upon a maid? For what would have been [my] portion of +God from above, and what the heritage of the Almighty from on high? Is not calamity for the unrighteous? and misfortune for the workers of iniquity? Doth not he see my ways, and number all my steps? If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot hath hasted to deceit, (Let me be weighed in an even balance, and +God will take knowledge of my blamelessness;) If my step have turned out of the way, and my heart followed mine eyes, and if any blot cleaveth to my hands; Let me sow, and another eat; and let mine offspring be rooted out. If my heart have been enticed unto a woman, so that I laid wait at my neighbour's door, Let my wife grind for another, and let others bow down upon her. For this is an infamy; yea, it is an iniquity [to be judged by] the judges: For it is a fire that consumeth to destruction, and would root out all mine increase. If I have despised the cause of my bondman or of my bondmaid, when they contended with me, What then should I do when ùGod riseth up? and if he visited, what should I answer him? Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not One fashion us in the womb? If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or caused the eyes of the widow to fail; Or have eaten my morsel alone, so that the fatherless ate not thereof, (For from my youth he grew up with me as with a father, and I have guided the [widow] from my mother's womb;) If I have seen any perishing for want of clothing, or any needy without covering; If his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my lambs; If I have lifted up my hand against an orphan, because I saw my help in the gate: [Then] let my shoulder fall from the shoulder-blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone! For calamity from ùGod was a terror to me, and by reason of his excellency I was powerless. If I have made gold my hope, or said to the fine gold, My confidence! If I rejoiced because my wealth was great, and because my hand had gotten much; If I beheld the sun when it shone, or the moon walking in brightness, And my heart have been secretly enticed, so that my mouth kissed my hand: This also would be an iniquity for the judge, for I should have denied the ùGod who is above. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, and exulted when evil befell him; (Neither have I suffered my mouth to sin by asking his life with a curse;) If the men of my tent said not, Who shall find one that hath not been satisfied with his meat? -- The stranger did not lodge without; I opened my doors to the pathway. If I covered my transgressions as Adam, by hiding mine iniquity in my bosom, Because I feared the great multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and went not out of the door, ... Oh that I had one to hear me! Behold my signature: let the Almighty answer me! And let mine opponent write an accusation! Would I not take it upon my shoulder? I would bind it on to me [as] a crown; I would declare unto him the number of my steps; as a prince would I come near to him. If my land cry out against me, and its furrows weep together; If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, and have tormented to death the souls of its owners: Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and tares instead of barley. The words of Job are ended.
Wherefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, [be] sober [and] hope with perfect stedfastness in the grace [which will be] brought to you at [the] revelation of Jesus Christ;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Job 4
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."