Job 4:15

15 And when the spirit went in my presence, the hairs of my flesh had hideousness. (And when a breeze passed by me, all the hairs of my flesh stood up.)

Job 4:15 Meaning and Commentary

Job 4:15

Then a spirit passed before my face
Which some interpret of a wind F17, 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 F18; which has been usual at the sight of an apparition F19.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (xwr) "ventus", Vatablus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Broughton.
F18 "Obstupui, steteruntque comae----". Virgil. Aeneid. l. 2. ver. 774. & l. 3. ver. 48. "arrectaeque horrore comae". Aeneid. 4. ver. 286. & l. 12. ver. 888.
F19 Vid. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. p. 665.

Job 4:15 In-Context

13 In the hideousness of [the] night's sight, when heavy sleep is wont to occupy men,
14 dread and trembling held me; and all my bones were afeared. (fear and trembling held me; and all my bones were made afraid.)
15 And when the spirit went in my presence, the hairs of my flesh had hideousness. (And when a breeze passed by me, all the hairs of my flesh stood up.)
16 One stood, whose cheer, or likeness, I knew not, an image before mine eyes; and I heard a voice as of [a] soft wind. (And something stood, whose face, or likeness, I knew not, or could not see, yea, there was a figure before my eyes; and I heard a voice like a soft wind.)
17 Whether a man shall be made just in comparison of God? either a man shall be cleaner than his Maker? (And it said, Can anyone be seen as righteous in comparison to God? or is anyone purer than his Maker?)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.