Job 11:4

4 For 1you say, 'My 2doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God's[a] eyes.'

Job 11:4 Meaning and Commentary

Job 11:4

For thou hast said
What follows is produced to support the charge, especially of lying, which seems to be founded on what he had said in ( Job 6:10 Job 6:30 ) ;

my doctrine [is] pure;
free from error, unadulterated, unmixed, not blended with Heathenish principles and human doctrines; but tending to purity of heart and life, as every word of God, and doctrine that comes from him, is pure, yea, very pure, like silver purified seven times; and such was Job's doctrine which he "received" from God, "took" F25 up and professed, taught and delivered to others, so far as was agreeable to the will of God, and the revelation he had then made: and it appears that Job had very clear and sublime notions of God, of his being and perfections, of his works of nature, providence, and grace; of Christ his living Redeemer, of redemption and justification by him, and of the resurrection of the dead; and had purer and better notions of divine things than his friends had, and spoke better things of God than they did, God himself being witness, ( Job 42:7 Job 42:8 ) ; some interpret this of the purity of his life and conversation: he is further charged with saying:

and I am clean in thine eyes:
speaking to God, as Jarchi observes; and indeed so he was, and every believer is, in an evangelic sense; as to the new man, which is created in righteousness and true holiness, is without sin, and cannot commit it; and as washed from all sin in the blood of Christ, and as clothed with his righteousness, in which the saints are faultless before the throne, and are unblamable and irreprovable in the sight of God: but Zophar's meaning is, that Job had asserted that he was entirely free from sin in himself, was wholly without it, and did not commit any; and had appealed to God, as knowing it to be true; and which he seems to have grounded on what he had said, ( Job 10:7 ) ; through a mistake of his sense; which was not that he was free from sin entirely, but from any gross notorious sin, or from a wicked course of living, and particularly from the sin of hypocrisy, his friends suggested he was guilty of; otherwise he confesses himself a sinner, and prays for the pardon of his sins, and disclaims perfection in himself; see ( Job 7:20 Job 7:21 ) ( Job 9:20 Job 9:30 Job 9:31 ) ; and indeed there is no creature in itself clean in the sight of God, either angels or men; every man is naturally unclean; no good man is without sin, without the being, indwelling, and commission of it; nor will any truly gracious man say he is; he knows otherwise, and acknowledges it; he that says he is must be an ignorant man, or a vain and pharisaical man; yea, must not say the truth: some have suspected the first part of the words to be Job's, "and I am clean": and the other Zophar's explaining them; that is, "in thine eyes" F26; in his own apprehension, as if he had a high and conceited opinion of himself.


FOOTNOTES:

F25 (yxql) "doctrina aut oratio mea et sententia mente accepta", Michaelis; so Cocceius; "id quid ab aliis acceptum", Drusius.
F26 Vid. Schultens in loc.

Job 11:4 In-Context

2 "Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and a man full of talk be judged right?
3 Should your babble silence men, and when you mock, shall no one shame you?
4 For you say, 'My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God's eyes.'
5 But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you,
6 and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

Cross References 2

  • 1. Job 10:7
  • 2. Deuteronomy 32:2; Proverbs 4:2; Isaiah 29:24

Footnotes 1

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.