Job 4

Job 4:1-21 . FIRST SPEECH OF ELIPHAZ.

1. Eliphaz--the mildest of Job's three accusers. The greatness of Job's calamities, his complaints against God, and the opinion that calamities are proofs of guilt, led the three to doubt Job's integrity.

2. If we assay to commune--Rather, two questions, "May we attempt a word with thee? Wilt thou be grieved at it?" Even pious friends often count that only a touch which we feel as a wound.

3. weak hands-- Isaiah 35:3 , 2 Samuel 4:1 .

5. thou art troubled--rather, "unhinged," hast lost thy self-command ( 1 Thessalonians 3:3 ).

6. Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, &c.--Does thy fear, thy confidence, come to nothing? Does it come only to this, that thou faintest now? Rather, by transposition, "Is not thy fear (of God) thy hope? and the uprightness of thy ways thy confidence? If so, bethink thee, who ever perished being innocent?" [UMBREIT]. But Luke 13:2 Luke 13:3 shows that, though there is a retributive divine government even in this life, yet we cannot judge by the mere outward appearance. "One event is outwardly to the righteous and to the wicked" ( Ecclesiastes 9:2 ); but yet we must take it on trust, that God deals righteously even now ( Psalms 37:25 , Isaiah 33:16 ). Judge not by a part, but by the whole of a godly man's life, and by his end, even here ( James 5:11 ). The one and the same outward event is altogether a different thing in its inward bearings on the godly and on the ungodly even here. Even prosperity, much more calamity, is a punishment to the wicked ( Proverbs 1:32 ). Trials are chastisements for their good (to the righteous) ( Psalms 119:67 Psalms 119:71 Psalms 119:75 ). See Preface on the DESIGN of this book

8. they that plough iniquity . . . reap the same--( Proverbs 22:8 , Hosea 8:7 , 10:13 , Galatians 6:7 Galatians 6:8 ).

9. breath of his nostrils--God's anger; a figure from the fiery winds of the East ( Job 1:16 , Isaiah 5:25 , Psalms 18:8 Psalms 18:15 ).

10, 11. lion--that is, wicked men, upon whom Eliphaz wished to show that calamities come in spite of their various resources, just as destruction comes on the lion in spite of his strength ( Psalms 58:6 , 2 Timothy 4:17 ). Five different Hebrew terms here occur for "lion." The raging of the lion (the tearer), and the roaring of the bellowing lion and the teeth of the young lions, not whelps, but grown up enough to hunt for prey. The strong lion, the whelps of the lioness (not the stout lion, as in English Version) [BARNES and UMBREIT]. The various phases of wickedness are expressed by this variety of terms: obliquely, Job, his wife, and children, may be hinted at by the lion, lioness, and whelps. The one verb, "are broken," does not suit both subjects; therefore, supply "the roaring of the bellowing lion is silenced." The strong lion dies of want at last, and the whelps, torn from the mother, are scattered, and the race becomes extinct.

12. a thing--Hebrew, a "word." Eliphaz confirms his view by a divine declaration which was secretly and unexpectedly imparted to him.
a little--literally, "a whisper"; implying the still silence around, and that more was conveyed than articulate words could utter ( Job 26:14 , 2 Corinthians 12:4 ).