_A.M. 2484. B.C. 1520._ Eliphaz owns Job's former usefulness, but infers from his present state and behaviour that he was a hypocrite, Job 4:1. He affirms that God never afflicts man but for his wickedness, Job 4:7. He confirms his assertion by the words he heard in a vision, Job 4:12. By all this... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered_ Job's three friends reasoning on the principles of an equal providence, and supposing that affliction could happen only in the way of punishment, which necessarily inferred guilt, and thinking his complaints exceeded the bounds of decency, the eldest of them, Eli... [ Continue Reading ]
_If we assay to commune with thee_, &c. This is nearly the sense, but not exactly the construction of the Hebrew, הנסה דבר אליךְ, _hanissah dabar eeleka_, is rather, _Annon aggrediemur sermonem adversus te. Shall we not attempt a discourse against thee?_ Shall we suffer thee to go on with thy compla... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold, thou hast instructed many_ It is well known thou hast given good counsel unto others, teaching them those lessons which, it appears, thou hast not thyself learned, and wilt not practise, namely, patiently to bear afflictions, and to submit to God's will and providence in all things. _And th... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thy words have upholden him that was falling_ That was ready to sink under his pressures, or to fall into sin, or from God, through despondency and distrust of his providence and promise, or through impatience. _And thou hast strengthened the feeble knees_ Such as were weak-hearted, and fainting un... [ Continue Reading ]
_But now it is come upon thee_ That is, the evil which thou didst fear, (Job 3:25,) or, that which had come upon those whom thou didst so comfort. _And thou faintest_ There is no more spirit left in thee: and thou canst not practise thy own advice. _It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled_ It is now... [ Continue Reading ]
_Is not this thy fear?_ &c. We now plainly see what was the nature of thy fear of God, thy confidence in him, the uprightness of thy ways, and thy hope in God's mercy. Thy present conduct discovers that it was but mere talk and appearance. In thy prosperity it was easy for thee to make a splendid pr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Remember, I pray thee_ Consult thy own experience, observation, or reading, and produce one example. _Who ever perished_ That is, was so utterly undone as thou art, so miserably afflicted by such unparalleled and various judgments from God and men, all conspiring against thee; _being innocent_ Who... [ Continue Reading ]
_Even as I have seen_, &c. As thou hast never seen any example of a righteous man cut off, so I have seen many of wicked men cut off for their wickedness. _They that plough_, &c. They that designedly work wickedness, first preparing themselves for it, and then continuing to execute it, as husbandmen... [ Continue Reading ]
_By the blast of God they perish_, &c. These two verses are thus interpreted by Heath: _By the breath of God they perish; for, at the blast of his anger, the roarings of the lion, and the growling of the black lion, are hushed, and the teeth of the young lions are broken;_ that is, by the mere breat... [ Continue Reading ]
_How much less in them_ Doth he _put trust_, &c., or, _How much more_ (as the Hebrew particle א Š, _aph_, equally signifies) _doth he charge folly on them_, &c. One or other of these supplements seems necessary to complete the sense, and they are either of them natural and easy, being fetched from t... [ Continue Reading ]
_The old lion perisheth for lack of prey_ Dares not venture out of his den in search of prey, amidst the roar of thunder, the blaze of lightning, and the violence of the storm, that blast of God, mentioned in the preceding verse. _And the young lion's whelps are scattered abroad_ Are so affrighted w... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now_ Hebrew, _and_, or _moreover, a thing_, &c. To show Job more evidently the sin and folly of impatience, and to impress what he had already advanced, or should yet further advance on that subject, more fully on his mind, Eliphaz relates a vision he had had, perhaps since he came to him: as if he... [ Continue Reading ]
_In thoughts_ Or, _By reason of my thoughts;_ my perplexing thoughts. These thoughts, it seems, arose from _the visions of the night_, which, probably, he had had before, and were the occasion of the fear mentioned Job 4:14. _Visions_ differed from _dreams_ herein, that God imparted his mind to men... [ Continue Reading ]
_Fear came upon me, and trembling_ The Hebrew is very poetical, namely, _Fear called me_, or _called to me._ Job expresses himself in similar language, Job 17:14. _I have said_, קראתי _, karati_, literally, I have called to corruption. Thus also Jeremiah 30:5, _We have heard a voice of trembling, of... [ Continue Reading ]
_Then_ Hebrew, _And_, as the particle ו, _vau_, generally signifies. _A spirit passed before my face_ An angel in a visible shape, otherwise he could not have discerned it, nor would have been affrighted by it. _The hair of my flesh stood up_ Through that excessive consternation and horror, which se... [ Continue Reading ]
_It stood still_ Though it passed by me, it did not immediately disappear and vanish, but made a stand, as having some business with me, and designing to address me. _But I could not discern the form thereof_ Namely, exactly and distinctly, so as to know what or who it was. _An image was before my e... [ Continue Reading ]
_Shall mortal man be more just than God?_ Shall man, _fallen man_, as the word אנושׁ, _enosh_, here used, signifies, subject as he is to diseases, troubles, and all those calamities which are the necessary consequences of sin and disobedience, pretend more strictly to observe the laws of justice, an... [ Continue Reading ]
_Behold_, &c. For it deserves thy serious consideration. These and the following words seem to be the words of Eliphaz, explaining the former vision, and applying it to Job's case, and enforcing it by further arguments. _He put no trust in his servants_ That is, in his angels, as appears both by the... [ Continue Reading ]
_They are destroyed_ Bruised, or broken, as the same word, יכתו, _juccattu_, is rendered, Micah 1:7, where we read, _The graven images shall be broken to pieces; from morning to evening_ That is, either _speedily_, between the morning and evening, like the grass, Psalms 90:5. They flourish in the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
_Doth not their excellency which is in them go away?_ Whatsoever is really, or by common estimation, excellent in men, all their natural, and moral, and civil accomplishments, as high birth, great riches, power, and wisdom; these are so far from preserving them from perishing, as one would think the... [ Continue Reading ]