Job 15:21

_A DREADFUL SOUND IS IN HIS EARS: IN PROSPERITY THE DESTROYER SHALL COME UPON HIM._ An evil conscience conceives alarm at every sudden sound, though it be in a time of peace ("prosperity"), when there is no real danger (Leviticus 26:36; Proverbs 28:1; 2 Kings 7:6). A DREADFUL SOUND - Hebrew, 'a voice of terrors.'...

17-35 Eliphaz maintains that the wicked are certainly miserable: whence he would infer, that the miserable are certainly wicked, and therefore Job was so. But because many of God's people have prospered in this world, it does not therefore follow that those who are crossed and made poor, as Job, are not God's people. Eliphaz shows also that wicked people, particularly oppressors, are subject to continual terror, live very uncomfortably, and perish very miserably. Will the prosperity of presumptuous sinners end miserably as here described? Then let the mischiefs which befal others, be our warnings. Though no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous, nevertheless, afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. No calamity, no trouble, however heavy, however severe, can rob a follower of the Lord of his favour. What shall...

Verse Job 15:21. _A DREADFUL SOUND_ IS _IN HIS EARS_] If he be an oppressor or tyrant, he can have no rest: he is full of suspicions that the cruelties he has exercised on others shall be one day exercised on himself; for even in his prosperity he may expect the destroyer to rush upon him....

A DREADFUL SOUND IS IN HIS EARS - Margin, “A sound of fears.” He hears sudden, frightful sounds, and is alarmed. Or when he thinks himself safe, he is suddenly surprised. The enemy steals upon him, and in his fancied security he dies. This sentiment might be illustrated at almost any length by the mode of savage warfare in America, and by the sudden attacks which the American savage makes, in the silence of the night, on his unsuspecting foes. The Chaldee renders this, “the fear of the terrors in Gehenna are in his ears; when the righteous dwell in peace and eternal life, destruction comes upon him.” IN PROSPERITY THE DESTROYER SHALL COME UPON HIM - When he supposes he is safe, and his affairs seem to be prosperous, then sudden destruction comes; see 1 Thessalonians 5:3. The history of wicked people, who ha

EXPOSITION The second colloquy between Job and his friends is, like the first (ch. 3-14.), one in which all of them take part, and the same order of speakers is maintained. Job answers each speaker in turn; Eliphaz at some length (Job 16:1; Job 17:1.), the other two more briefly. The present chapter contains the second speech of Eliphaz. Compared with the first, it is harsh and violent in tone, assuming Job's guilt, and reproaching him fiercely and rudely. It naturally divides into three portions: (1) a direct reproof of Job for presumption and impiety (verses 1-6); (2) a sarcastic reflection on him for conceit and arrogance (verses 7-16); (3) an exposition of God's ways with man, based upon the experience of ancient sages (verses 17-3

A DREADFUL SOUND [IS] IN HIS EARS,.... Or "a voice", or "sound of fears" t, of what causes fears; and which are either imaginary; sometimes wicked men, fear when there is no cause or occasion for it; they fancy an enemy at their heels, and flee, when none pursues them; they are a "Magormissabib", or "terror on every side", a fear to themselves and all about them, Jeremiah 20:3; like Cain, who fancied and feared that every man that met him would slay him Genesis 4:13; such is the effect of a guilty conscience: or real; and these either extraordinary sounds, such as were made in the ears of the Syrian host, which caused them to flee, and leave their tents, and all their substance in them, 2 Kings 7:6; or ordinary, as the sound of

THE SECOND SERIES OF CONTROVERSIES CHAPTER 15 Eliphaz's Second Address _ 1. Tells Job that he is self-condemned (Job 15:1)_ 2. Charges him with pride (Job 15:7) 3. The wicked and their lot (Job 15:17) Job 15:1. His second address is not as lofty as his first. Job's language has evidently annoyed him very much. He characterizes his words as vain, unprofitable, which can do no good. He charges him with having cast off fear and having become one who restrained devotion before God. He tells Job that what he has spoken only confirms their views of him, that he is a wicked man and suffers justly for his sins. Thine own m

Eliphaz instructs Job regarding the troubled conscience And the Disastrous Fate of the Wicked Man Having sufficiently rebuked Job's presumption and irreverence Eliphaz proceeds to take up his principles, which "did away with the fear of God," Job 15:4. They are such principles as Job gave forth ch. Job 9:22 _seq_., Job 12:6. The passage has two parts: First, Job 15:17, a brief preface, in which Eliphaz states that his doctrine is that of the wise of all times among the pure-blooded races of men, who have never been contaminated by mixture with foreign tribes, and whose traditions are uncorrupted. Second,...

2. The destiny of the ungodly shows the retributive justice of God. (Job 15:17-35) TEXT 15:17-35 17 I WILL SHOW THEE, HEAR THOU ME; And that which I have seen I will declare 18 (Which wise men have told From their fathers, and have not hid it; 19 Unto whom alone the land was given, And no stranger passed among them): 20 The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, Even the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor. 21 A sound of terrors is in his ears; In prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him. 22 He believeth not that he shall return out of darkness, And he is waiting for the sword. 23 He wandereth abroad for bread, _saying,_ Where Is it? He knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. 24 Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, a

THE SECOND SERIES OF SPEECHES (JOB 15-21) The rejection by Job of the opinions and advice of the friends, his sturdy maintenance of his innocence, and the fearlessness with which in his anguish he has arraigned the divine government of the world, have all alike deepened their conviction of his guilt. Without actually charging Job with definite sin, for which indeed they have no ground, they now administer stern rebukes, and draw terrible pictures of the certain misery which awaits the godless, and this evidently with an eye to the sufferer. They no longer encourage him to repentance, or predict consequent prosperity. Job, for his part, laments their harshness, and rejects anew their doctrine of retribution as contrary to experience, and as not applicable to his case. He feels himself to be abandoned by God and man; he cries out for pity; he reasserts his innocence, and is still troubled...