19 How much less H637 in them that dwell H7931 in houses H1004 of clay, H2563 whose foundation H3247 is in the dust, H6083 which are crushed H1792 before H6440 the moth? H6211
Remember, H2142 I beseech thee, that thou hast made H6213 me as the clay; H2563 and wilt thou bring H7725 me into dust H6083 again? H7725
In the sweat H2188 of thy face H639 shalt thou eat H398 bread, H3899 till H5704 thou return H7725 unto the ground; H127 for out of it wast thou taken: H3947 for dust H6083 thou H859 art, and unto dust H6083 shalt thou return. H7725
And Abraham H85 answered H6030 and said, H559 Behold now, I have taken upon me H2974 to speak H1696 unto the Lord, H136 which H595 am but dust H6083 and ashes: H665
But G1161 we have G2192 this G5126 treasure G2344 in G1722 earthen G3749 vessels, G4632 that G2443 the excellency G5236 of the power G1411 may be G5600 of God, G2316 and G2532 not G3361 of G1537 us. G2257
He cometh forth H3318 like a flower, H6731 and is cut down: H5243 he fleeth H1272 also as a shadow, H6738 and continueth H5975 not.
His breath H7307 goeth forth, H3318 he returneth H7725 to his earth; H127 in that very day H3117 his thoughts H6250 perish. H6
As for man, H582 his days H3117 are as grass: H2682 as a flower H6731 of the field, H7704 so he flourisheth. H6692 For the wind H7307 passeth over H5674 it, and it is gone; and the place H4725 thereof shall know H5234 it no more.
Thou carriest them away as with a flood; H2229 they are as a sleep: H8142 in the morning H1242 they are like grass H2682 which groweth up. H2498 In the morning H1242 it flourisheth, H6692 and groweth up; H2498 in the evening H6153 it is cut down, H4135 and withereth. H3001 For we are consumed H3615 by thine anger, H639 and by thy wrath H2534 are we troubled. H926
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 4
Commentary on Job 4 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 4
Job having warmly given vent to his passion, and so broken the ice, his friends here come gravely to give vent to their judgment upon his case, which perhaps they had communicated to one another apart, compared notes upon it and talked it over among themselves, and found they were all agreed in their verdict, that Job's afflictions certainly proved him to be a hypocrite; but they did not attack Job with this high charge till by the expressions of his discontent and impatience, in which they thought he reflected on God himself, he had confirmed them in the bad opinion they had before conceived of him and his character. Now they set upon him with great fear. The dispute begins, and it soon becomes fierce. The opponents are Job's three friends. Job himself is respondent. Elihu appears, first, as moderator, and at length God himself gives judgment upon the controversy and the management of it. The question in dispute is whether Job was an honest man or no, the same question that was in dispute between God and Satan in the first two chapters. Satan had yielded it, and durst not pretend that his cursing his day was a constructive cursing of his God; no, he cannot deny but that Job still holds fast his integrity; but Job's friends will needs have it that, if Job were an honest man, he would not have been thus sorely and thus tediously afflicted, and therefore urge him to confess himself a hypocrite in the profession he had made of religion: "No,' says Job, "that I will never do; I have offended God, but my heart, notwithstanding, has been upright with him;' and still he holds fast the comfort of his integrity. Eliphaz, who, it is likely, was the senior, or of the best quality, begins with him in this chapter, in which,
By all this he aims to bring down Job's spirit and to make him both penitent and patient under his afflictions.
Job 4:1-6
In these verses,
Job 4:7-11
Eliphaz here advances another argument to prove Job a hypocrite, and will have not only his impatience under his afflictions to be evidence against him but even his afflictions themselves, being so very great and extraordinary, and there being no prospect at all of his deliverance out of them. To strengthen his argument he here lays down these two principles, which seem plausible enough:-
Job 4:12-21
Eliphaz, having undertaken to convince Job of the sin and folly of his discontent and impatience, here vouches a vision he had been favoured with, which he relates to Job for his conviction. What comes immediately from God all men will pay a particular deference to, and Job, no doubt, as much as any. Some think Eliphaz had this vision now lately, since he came to Job, putting words into his mouth wherewith to reason with him; and it would have been well if he had kept to the purport of this vision, which would serve for a ground on which to reprove Job for his murmuring, but not to condemn him as a hypocrite. Others think he had it formerly; for God did, in this way, often communicate his mind to the children of men in those first ages of the world, ch. 33:15. Probably God had sent Eliphaz this messenger and message some time or other, when he was himself in an unquiet discontented frame, to calm and pacify him. Note, As we should comfort others with that wherewith we have been comforted (2 Co. 1:4), so we should endeavour to convince others with that which has been powerful to convince us. The people of God had not then any written word to quote, and therefore God sometimes notified to them even common truths by the extraordinary ways of revelation. We that have Bibles have there (thanks be to God) a more sure word to depend upon than even visions and voices, 2 Pt. 1:19. Observe,