Job 4:16

_IT STOOD STILL, BUT I COULD NOT DISCERN THE FORM THEREOF: AN IMAGE WAS BEFORE MINE EYES, THERE WAS SILENCE, AND I HEARD A VOICE, SAYING,_ 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 1 Kings 19:12 the still small voice, as opposed to the previous storm, denotes a gentle still murmur х_ QOWL_ (H6963) _ DªMAAMAAH_ (H1827)], translated, 'I heard a whisper and a voice' - i:e., a whispering voice....

12-21 Eliphaz relates a vision. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still, Psalms 4:4, then is a time for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. This vision put him into very great fear. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive communications from Heaven, conscious that he can expect no good tidings thence. Sinful man! shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who being his Maker, is his Lord and Owner? How dreadful, then, the pride and presumption of man! How great the patience of God! Look upon man in his life. The very foundation of that cottage of clay in which man dwells, is in the dust, and it will sink with its own weight. We stand but upon the dust. Some have a higher heap of dust to stand upon than others but still it is the earth that stays us up, and will shortly swallow us up. Man is soon crushed; or if some lingering distemper,...

IT STOOD STILL - It took a fixed position and looked on me. It at first glided by, or toward him, then stood in an immovable position, as if to attract his attention, and to prepare him for the solemn announcement which it was about to make. This was the point in which most horror would be felt. We should be less alarmed at anything which a strange messenger should say, than to have him stand and fix his eyes steadily and silently upon us. Hence, Horatius, in “Hamlet,” tortured by the imperturbable silence of the Ghost, earnestly entreated it to give him relief by speaking. _Hor_. - What art thou that usurp’st this time of night, Together with that fair and warlike form In which the majesty of buried Denmark Di

EXPOSITION Job having ended his complaint, Eliphaz the Temanite, the first-named of his three friends (Job 2:11), and perhaps the eldest of them, takes the word, and endeavours to answer him. After a brief apology for venturing to speak at all (verse 2), he plunges into the controversy. Job has assumed that he is wholly guiltless of having given any cause for God to afflict him. Eliphaz lays it down in the most positive terms (verses 7, 8) that the innocent never suffer, only the wicked are afflicted. He then passes on to the description of a vision which has appeared to him (verses 12-21), from which he has learnt the lesson that men must not presume to be "more wise than their Maker." JOB 4:1 THEN ELIPHAZ THE TEMANITE ANSWERED AND SAID (see the comment on...

IT STOOD STILL,.... That is, the spirit, or the angel in a visible form; it was before going to and fro, but now it stood still right against Eliphaz, as if it had something to say to him, and so preparing him to attend to it; which he might do the better, it standing before him while speaking to him, that he might have the opportunity of taking more notice of it: BUT, notwithstanding this advantageous position of it, I COULD NOT DISCERN THE FORM THEREOF; what it was, whether human or any other: AN IMAGE [WAS] BEFORE MINE EYES; he saw something, some appearance and likeness, but could not tell what it was; perhaps the fear and surprise he was in hindered him from taking in any distinct idea of it, or that particular notice of it, so as to be able to form in his own mind any suitable notion of it, or to describe it to others: [THERE WAS] SILENCE both in the spirit or image, which, sta...

CHAPTER S 4-5 THE FIRST ADDRESS OF ELIPHAZ _ 1. He rebukes Job (Job 4:1)_ 2. The righteous are not cast off (Job 4:6) 3. An awe-inspiring vision (Job 4:12) 4. Experience and exhortation (Job 5:1) 5. Happy is the man whom God correcteth (Job 5:17) With this chapter the long and tedious controversy between Job and his three visitors begins. His pitiful lamentation brings forth the addresses of his friends. Eliphaz and Bildad speak thrice, each answered by Job, and Zophar twice with corresponding rebuttals by Job. Job delivers his last word, the length

Eliphaz confirms the truth of his doctrine by telling of a vision which he had had. A revelation came upon him like a thief in the night (lit. a word stole upon me). His thoughts were raised to a higher power by the ecstasy of the vision. Job 4:14 f. describes the presence of the supernatural. Job 4:16 tells how the spirit, being of a finer matter, could hardly be perceived by the human eye and ear. Stillness and a voice I heard means I heard a still voice (hendiadys). The tenses used in the Hebrew are all present. A spirit passes by me. it stands, and I cannot discern its appearance; a form is before mine eyes, I hear a still voice. Eliphaz, in recalling the experiences of that awful night, feels as if he were passing through them again, and falls into the present in describing them....

Third, surely instead of despairing and murmuring under his afflictions Job should follow a very different way. I, says Eliphaz, putting himself in Job's place, would seek unto God, all whose doings are directed to the saving of the meek and disappointing the devices of the evil. When He smites, He smites only that He may the more profoundly heal. Happy should the man count himself whom God corrects. for his correction is meant to awaken him out of his dream of evil and lead him into a broader, clearer life, rich in blessings, and to be crowned with a ripe and peaceful end. This beautiful speech consists of three parts, of which the first contains a single division, ch. Job 4:1-11; the second, two divisions, ch. Job 4:12-21, and ch. Jo

DISCOURSE: 454 ELIPHAZ REPROVES JOB Job 4:12. _Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men, fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake. Then a spirit passed before my face: the hair of my flesh stood up: it stood still, but I could not discern the form thereof: an image was before mine eyes, there was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly: how much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?_ THE controversy on the part of Job’s friends is here begun: and Eliphaz leads the way. He begins with acknowledging Job’s former usefu

IT STOOD STILL, BUT I COULD NOT DISCERN THE FORM THEREOF, &C.— _It stood still indeed, but I knew not its form: the appearance vanished from before mine eyes, but I heard a voice._ Houbigant. Dr. Grey renders it, _he stood, but I knew not his form, nor the image before mine eyes: there was a profound calm, and I heard a voice._ It is supposed by this and many other commentators, that the word רוח _ruach,_ rendered _spirit,_ in this and the 15th verse, should be rendered _a wind: then a wind passed swiftly before my face;_ which wind they suppose, as in the case of Elijah, to have been the prelude to the divine presence. See 1 Kings 19:11 and Genesis 1:2. But see my own opinion in the Reflections....