Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 4:15

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

Eliphaz speaks (4:1-5:27)

The first of the three friends to speak is Eliphaz, who is probably the oldest of the three. He is also the least severe in the accusations brought against Job (4:1-2). He begins by noting that in the past Job comforted others in their troubles, but now that he has troubles himself, his faith has failed. If Job truly honoured God and was upright in his ways, there would be no need for this despondency (3-6). The person who is innocent, argues Eliphaz, need not fear suffering or death. Such calamities are God’s judgment on wrongdoing, and not even the strongest or most defiant person can withstand his judgment (7-11).
Eliphaz now tells of a hair-raising vision he saw one night (12-16). (It becomes clear, as we read Eliphaz’s speeches, that this vision has become for him a standard by which he judges others.) The main point that Eliphaz learnt from his vision was that no person can be righteous before God. If angels, who live in the heavenly realm, are imperfect, how much more imperfect must human beings be who live on the earth (17-19). Their brief lives comes to an inglorious end, like a tent that collapses when its cords are cut (20-21).
According to Eliphaz, it is useless for Job to expect the angels to support his protest against God’s laws (5:1). The person who rebels against God in such bitterness is a fool and will only get himself into more trouble. His house may be destroyed, his sons convicted of lawbreaking, or his fields plundered by raiders (2-5). For Eliphaz, this shows that suffering does not spring up by itself. Suffering is caused by a person’s sin, just as sparks are caused by a fire (6-7).
In summary, Eliphaz’s suggestion is that if he were in Job’s position he would stop complaining and leave the whole matter in God’s hands, for he has infinite wisdom and power (8-10). God blesses the humble and the needy, though he opposes those who think they are clever (11-16). The sufferings God uses to punish and correct people are likened to wounds. He will heal the wounds of those who submit to him (17-18). He will then bless them with protection from famine and from enemies (19-22); wild beasts will not destroy their flocks or herds (23-24); their families will multiply, and they will die contented in old age (25-26). Such is Eliphaz’s advice, based on much research, and he suggests that Job accept it (27).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

THAT VISION OF JOB’S FRIEND ELIPHAZ

“Now a thing was secretly brought to me, And mine ear received a whisper thereof. In thoughts from visions of the night, When deep sleep falleth upon 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 appearance thereof. A form was before mine eyes: There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall a mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants; And his angels he chargeth with folly. How much more them that dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Who are crushed before the moth. Betwixt morning and evening they are destroyed: They perish forever without any regarding it. Is not their tent cord plucked up within them? They die, and that without wisdom.”

“Shall mortal man be more just than God?” or, Shall a man be more pure than his maker? If ever the mountain labored and brought forth a mole hill, we have an example of it here. What kind of a revelation is this? It tells us nothing, but seems to ask a couple of questions that might be construed as critical of Job. Were not Job’s protestations of innocence examples of a man claiming to be more just or pure than God? Almighty God Himself said of the speeches of Job’s friends that they had not spoken that which was right (Job 42:7); and this writer does not dare to allege any rightness whatever in this speech of Eliphaz. His angels he chargeth with folly (Job 4:18). Franks, making the mistake of supposing this “vision” had any truth in it, wrote that it is contrary to the doctrine of the N.T. that, “Some angels are good, and some are bad; all are fallible.”Ibid. Whether or not this thought was in Eliphaz’ vision, it is no basis whatever for supposing that the New Testament doctrine regarding angels in any sense contradicts the doctrine of the Old Testament. Satan, himself one of the fallen angels, is the unseen agent in the Book of Job who brought all the suffering upon that patriarch.

“Who are crushed before the moth” “A better translation of this is, “Crushed as easily as a moth.”The New Layman’s Bible Commentary, p. 564.

This is not the end of Eliphaz’ speech; he really gets down to business in the rest of it (Job 5).

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Then a spirit passed before my face - He does not intimate whether it was the spirit of a man, or an angel who thus appeared. The belief in such apparitions was common in the early ages, and indeed has prevailed at all times. No one can demonstrate that God could not communicate his will in such a manner as this, or by a messenger deputed from his immediate presence to impart valuable truth to people.

The hair of my flesh stood up - This is an effect which is known often to be produced by fear. Sometimes the hair is made to turn white almost in an instant, as an effect of sudden alarm; but usually the effect is to make it stand on end. Seneca uses language remarkably similar to this in describing the effect of fear, in Hercule Oetoeo:

Vagus per artus errat excussos tremor;

Erectus horret crinis. Impulsis adhuc

Star terror animis. et cor attonitum salit,

Pavidumque trepidis palpitat venis jecur.

So Virgil,

Steteruntque comae, et vox faucibus haesit.

Aeneid ii. 774.

See also Aeneid iii. 48, iv. 289. So also Aeneid xii. 868:

Arrectaeque horrore comae.

A similar description of the effect of fear is given in the Ghost’s speech to Hamlet:

“But that I am forbid

To tell the secrets of my prison-house,

I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word

Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood.

Make thy two eyes like stars, start from their spheres,

Thy knotty and combined locks to part,

And each particular hair to stand on end,

Like quills upon the fretful porcupine.”

The fact here referred to - that fear or fright; causes the hair to stand on end - is too well established, and too common to admit a doubt. The cause may be, that sudden fear has the effect to drive the blood to the heart, as the seat of vitality, and the extremities are left cold, and the skin thus contracts, and the effect is to raise the hair.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 4

So Job has made his complaint, and so Eliphaz, his friend who came to comfort him, he said,

If we attempt to talk to you, will you be grieved? [But really after what you've said] who can keep silent? [He said,] Behold, you have instructed many people, you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have held up the person who was falling, and you have strengthened feeble knees. But now when it comes to you, you faint; it touches you, and you are troubled ( Job 4:3-5 ).

Uh-oh, those are nice words to hear, aren't they? From a friend who has come to comfort you in all your misery. "Well, you know, great one you are. You were counseling and lifting up others. Your words held them up and all and you were going around doing this. But now it comes to you, look what happens, man, you faint. You go under."

Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways? Remember, I pray thee, what innocent man ever perished? ( Job 4:6-7 )

You see, already he's beginning to get the knife out. "Job, you're not innocent. What innocent man ever perished?" Well, let me tell you this. Many innocent men have perished. There's not really good logic to what Eliphaz is saying at all. In fact, the most innocent of all men was crucified. So there really isn't sound wisdom in what Eliphaz is saying. It's just the argumentations of men which often lack real wisdom.

Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same ( Job 4:8 ).

So Job, you're just getting what you reap, what you sowed. You're reaping it now. Those that sow iniquity and wickedness, they reap the same.

By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils they are consumed. The roaring of the lion, and the voice of the fierce lion, and the teeth of the young lions, are broken. The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad ( Job 4:9-11 ).

Now, he said, he gets all mystic.

Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and my ear received a little of it. In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep had fallen upon men, Fear came upon me, and trembling, it made all my bones shake. A spirit passed before my face; and the hair on my flesh stood up: And it stood still, but I could not discern the form of it: an image was before my 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 ( Job 4:12-18 ):

So the guy comes off now super spiritual. Have you ever had those people come around super spiritual, you know, when you're in trouble? And you know, visions and dreams and voices of angels, and spirits and all, and this oohh thing, you know. So here is old Eliphaz, "When other men were asleep, a deep sleep in the night, the spirit passed by. I could tell it was there. I couldn't tell the form. Began to speak, you know. He charged his angels with folly."

How much less in those that dwell in houses of clay ( Job 4:19 ),

Interesting and picturesque phrase of our body, a house of clay. But in the New Testament it said, "We have a treasure in this earthen vessel" ( 2 Corinthians 4:7 ). Same thing. In this house of clay there's a fabulous treasure, for God is dwelling in this house of clay. "Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?" ( 1 Corinthians 3:16 ) And we have this glorious treasure, he said, in these earthen vessels. That the glory... God has put a lot of treasure in this dumb clay pot in order that the glory will always go to God, not to the clay pot. I'm just the vessel, but I have the capacity to contain the wealthiest treasure in the world, even God will dwell within my life. But it is ridiculous; it is ludicrous to put something of such great value in such a common container. Just a clay pot. But God has done it, that the glory will not be in the vessel but in the contents. Now, it is always pathetic and sad and tragic when the clay pot tries to get the glory and tries to draw attention and glory to itself, rather than to the One who dwells within doing the work. So I love this, it's very picturesque. Men who dwell in houses of clay, talking about our body.

whose foundation is the dust, which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it. Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom ( Job 4:19-21 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Eliphaz’s vision 4:12-21

Eliphaz’s authority was a vision (Job 4:12). It seems that his vision was not a revelation from God for the following reasons. He did not say that it was from the Lord. God normally identified revelations from Himself as such, to those who received them, when He used this method of revelation. Furthermore, the content of what Eliphaz received in the vision (Job 4:17-21) does not represent God as He has revealed Himself elsewhere in Scripture. Specifically, God appears here as unconcerned with people. Evidently Eliphaz’s "spirit" (Job 4:15) was not the Holy Spirit, and the Hebrew word translated "spirit" never unambiguously describes a disembodied spirit. Perhaps the spirit was an evil angel. What he heard from this spirit contained elements of truth: man cannot make himself pure before God, and man is mortal. Still, Eliphaz was wrong in applying these words to Job as though Job was a willful sinner (cf. Job 1:1; Job 1:8; Job 2:3). [Note: See James L. Crenshaw, "The Acquisition of Knowledge in Israelite Wisdom Literature," Word & World 7:3 (Summer 1986):251.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Then a spirit passed before my face,.... Which some interpret of a wind q, a blustering wind, that blew strong in his face; and so the Targum renders it, a stormy wind, such an one as Elijah perceived when the Lord spoke to him, though he was not in that, 1 Kings 19:11; or such a whirlwind, out of which the Lord spake to Job, Job 38:1; or rather, as Jarchi, an angel, an immaterial spirit, one of Jehovah's ministering spirits, clothed in an human form, and which passed and repassed before Eliphaz, that he might take notice of it:

the hair of my flesh stood up; erect, through surprise and dread; which is sometimes the case, when anything astonishing and terrible is beheld; the blood at such times making its way to the heart, for the preservation of that, leaves the external members of the body cold, and the skin of the flesh, in which the hair is, being contracted by the impetuous influx of the nervous fluid, causes the hair to stand upright, particularly the hair of the head, like the prickles or hedgehogs r; which has been usual at the sight of an apparition s.

q רוח "ventus", Vatablus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Broughton. r "Obstupui, steteruntque comae----". Virgil. Aeneid. l. 2. ver. 774. & l. 3. ver. 48. "arrectaeque horrore comae". Aeneid. 4. ver. 286. & l. 12. ver. 888. s Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 665.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      12 Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.   13 In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,   14 Fear came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones to shake.   15 Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:   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,   17 Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?   18 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:   19 How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, which are crushed before the moth?   20 They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.   21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.

      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, Job 33:15; Job 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 Corinthians 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 Peter 1:19. Observe,

      I. The manner in which this message was sent to Eliphaz, and the circumstances of the conveyance of it to him. 1. It was brought to him secretly, or by stealth. Some of the sweetest communion gracious souls have with God is in secret, where no eye sees but that of him who is all eye. God has ways of bringing conviction, counsel, and comfort, to his people, unobserved by the world, by private whispers, as powerfully and effectually as by the public ministry. His secret is with them,Psalms 25:14. As the evil spirit often steals good words out of the heart (Matthew 13:19), so the good Spirit sometimes steals good words into the heart, or ever we are aware. 2. He received a little thereof,Job 4:12; Job 4:12. And it is but a little of divine knowledge that the best receive in this world. We know little in comparison with what is to be known, and with what we shall know when we come to heaven. How little a portion is heard of God!Job 26:14; Job 26:14. We know but in part,1 Corinthians 13:12. See his humility and modesty. He pretends not to have understood it fully, but something of it he perceived. 3. It was brought to him in the visions of the night (Psalms 4:13; Psalms 4:13), when he had retired from the world and the hurry of it, and all about him was composed and quiet. Note, The more we are withdrawn from the world and the things of it the fitter we are for communion with God. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still (Psalms 4:4), then is a proper time for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. When others were asleep Eliphaz was ready to receive this visit from Heaven, and probably, like David, was meditating upon God in the night-watches; in the midst of those good thoughts this thing was brought to him. We should hear more from God if we thought more of him; yet some are surprised with convictions in the night, Job 33:14; Job 33:15. 4. It was prefaced with terrors: Fear came upon him, and trembling,Job 4:14; Job 4:14. It should seem, before he either heard or saw any thing, he was seized with this trembling, which shook his bones, and perhaps the bed under him. A holy awe and reverence of God and his majesty being struck upon his spirit, he was thereby prepared for a divine visit. Whom God intends to honour he first humbles and lays low, and will have us all to serve him with holy fear, and to rejoice with trembling.

      II. The messenger by whom it was sent--a spirit, one of the good angels, who are employed not only as the ministers of God's providence, but sometimes as the ministers of his word. Concerning this apparition which Eliphaz saw we are here told (Job 4:15; Job 4:16), 1. That it was real, and not a dream, not a fancy. An image was before his eyes; he plainly saw it; at first it passed and repassed before his face, moved up and down, but at length it stood still to speak to him. If some have been so knavish as to impose false visions on others, and some so foolish as to be themselves imposed upon, it does not therefore follow but that there may have been apparitions of spirits, both good and bad. 2. That it was indistinct, and somewhat confused. He could not discern the form thereof, so as to frame any exact idea of it in his own mind, much less to give a description of it. His conscience was to be awakened and informed, not his curiosity gratified. We know little of spirits; we are not capable of knowing much of them, nor is it fit that we should: all in good time; we must shortly remove to the world of spirits, and shall then be better acquainted with them. 3. That it puts him into a great consternation, so that his hair stood on end. Ever since man sinned it has been terrible to him to receive an express from heaven, as conscious to himself that he can expect no good tidings thence; apparitions therefore, even of good spirits, have always made deep impressions of fear, even upon good men. How well it is for us that God sends us his messages, not by spirits, but by men like ourselves, whose terror shall not make us afraid! See Daniel 7:28; Daniel 10:8; Daniel 10:9.

      III. The message itself. Before it was delivered there was silence, profound silence, Job 4:16; Job 4:16. When we are to speak either from God or to him it becomes us to address ourselves to it with a solemn pause, and so to set bounds about the mount on which God is to come down, and not be hasty to utter any thing. It was in a still small voice that the message was delivered, and this was it (Job 4:17; Job 4:17): "Shall mortal man be more just than God, the immortal God? Shall a man be thought to be, or pretend to be, more pure than his Maker? Away with such a thought!" 1. Some think that Eliphaz aims hereby to prove that Job's great afflictions were a certain evidence of his being a wicked man. A mortal man would be thought unjust and very impure if he should thus correct and punish a servant or subject, unless he had been guilty of some very great crime: "If therefore there were not some great crimes for which God thus punishes thee, man would be more just than God, which is not to be imagined." 2. I rather think it is only a reproof of Job's murmuring and discontent: "Shall a man pretend to be more just and pure than God? more truly to understand, and more strictly to observe, the rules and laws of equity than God? Shall Enosh, mortal and miserable man, be so insolent; nay, shall Geber, the strongest and most eminent man, man at his best estate, pretend to compare with God, or stand in competition with him?" Note, It is most impious and absurd to think either others or ourselves more just and pure than God. Those that quarrel and find fault with the directions of the divine law, the dispensations of the divine grace, or the disposals of the divine providence, make themselves more just and pure than God; and those who thus reprove God, let them answer it. What! sinful man! (for he would not have been mortal if he had not been sinful) short-sighted man! Shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who, being his Maker, is his Lord and owner? Shall the clay contend with the potter? What justice and purity there is in man, God is the author of it, and therefore is himself more just and pure. See Psalms 94:9; Psalms 94:10.

      IV. The comment which Eliphaz makes upon this, for so it seems to be; yet some take all the Job 4:18-21 to be spoken in vision. It comes all to one.

      1. He shows how little the angels themselves are in comparison with God, Job 4:18; Job 4:18. Angels are God's servants, waiting servants, working servants; they are his ministers (Psalms 104:4); bright and blessed beings they are, but God neither needs them nor is benefited by them and is himself infinitely above them, and therefore, (1.) He puts no trust in them, did not repose a confidence in them, as we do in those we cannot live without. There is no service in which he employs them but, if he pleased, he could have it done as well without them. He never made them his confidants, or of his cabinet-council, Matthew 24:36. He does not leave his business wholly to them, but his own eyes run to and fro through the earth,2 Chronicles 16:9. See this phrase, Job 39:11; Job 39:11. Some give this sense of it: "So mutable is even the angelical nature that God would not trust angels with their own integrity; if he had, they would all have done as some did, left their first estate; but he saw it necessary to give them supernatural grace to confirm them." (2.) He charges them with folly, vanity, weakness, infirmity, and imperfection, in comparison with himself. If the world were left to the government of the angels, and they were trusted with the sole management of affairs, they would take false steps, and everything would not be done for the best, as now it is. Angels are intelligences, but finite ones. Though not chargeable with iniquity, yet with imprudence. This last clause is variously rendered by the critics. I think it would bear this reading, repeating the negation, which is very common: He will put no trust in his saints; nor will he glory in his angels (in angelis suis non ponet gloriationem) or make his boast of them, as if their praises, or services, added any thing to him: it is his glory that he is infinitely happy without them.

      2. Thence he infers how much less man is, how much less to be trusted in or gloried in. If there is such a distance between God and angels, what is there between God and man! See how man is represented here in his meanness.

      (1.) Look upon man in his life, and he is very mean, Job 4:19; Job 4:19. Take man in his best estate, and he is a very despicable creature in comparison with the holy angels, though honourable if compared with the brutes. It is true, angels are spirits, and the souls of men are spirits; but, [1.] Angels are pure spirits; the souls of men dwell in houses of clay: such the bodies of men are. Angels are free; human souls are housed, and the body is a cloud, a clog, to it; it is its cage; it is its prison. It is a house of clay, mean and mouldering; an earthen vessel, soon broken, as it was first formed, according to the good pleasure of the potter. It is a cottage, not a house of cedar or a house of ivory, but of clay, which would soon be in ruins if not kept in constant repair. [2.] Angels are fixed, but the very foundation of that house of clay in which man dwells is in the dust. A house of clay, if built upon a rock, might stand long; but, if founded in the dust, the uncertainty of the foundation will hasten its fall, and it will sink with its own weight. As man was made out of the earth, so he is maintained and supported by that which cometh out of the earth. Take away that, and his body returns to its earth. 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. [3.] Angels are immortal, but man is soon crushed; the earthly house of his tabernacle is dissolved; he dies and wastes away, is crushed like a moth between one's fingers, as easily, as quickly; one may almost as soon kill a man as kill a moth. A little thing will destroy his life. He is crushed before the face of the moth, so the word is. If some lingering distemper, which consumes like a moth, be commissioned to destroy him, he can no more resist it than he can resist an acute distemper, which comes roaring upon him like a lion. See Hosea 5:12-14. Is such a creature as this to be trusted in, or can any service be expected from him by that God who puts no trust in angels themselves?

      (2.) Look upon him in his death, and he appears yet more despicable, and unfit to be trusted. Men are mortal and dying, Job 4:20; Job 4:21. [1.] In death they are destroyed, and perish for ever, as to this world; it is the final period of their lives, and all the employments and enjoyments here; their place will know them no more. [2.] They are dying daily, and continually wasting: Destroyed from morning to evening. Death is still working in us, like a mole digging our grave at each remove, and we so continually lie exposed that we are killed all the day long. [3.] Their life is short, and in a little time they are cut off. It lasts perhaps but from morning to evening. It is but a day (so some understand it); their birth and death are but the sun-rise and sun-set of the same day. [4.] In death all their excellency passes away; beauty, strength, learning, not only cannot secure them from death, but must die with them, nor shall their pomp, their wealth, or power, descend after them. [5.] Their wisdom cannot save them from death: They die without wisdom, die for want of wisdom, by their own foolish management of themselves, digging their graves with their own teeth. [6.] It is so common a thing that nobody heeds it, nor takes any notice of it: They perish without any regarding it, or laying it to heart. The deaths of others are much the subject of common talk, but little the subject of serious thought. Some think the eternal damnation of sinners is here spoken of, as well as their temporal death: They are destroyed, or broken to pieces, by death, from morning to evening; and, if they repent not, they perish for ever (so some read it), Job 4:20; Job 4:20. They perish for ever because they regard not God and their duty; they consider not their latter end,Lamentations 1:9. They have no excellency but that which death takes away, and they die, they die the second death, for want of wisdom to lay hold on eternal life. Shall such a mean, weak, foolish, sinful, dying creature as this pretend to be more just than God and more pure than his Maker? No, instead of quarrelling with his afflictions, let him wonder that he is out of hell.