Job 4

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 ).

13. In thoughts from the visions of the night--[So WINER]. While revolving night visions previously made to him ( Daniel 2:29 ). Rather, "In my manifold (Hebrew, divided) thoughts, before the visions of the night commenced"; therefore not a delusive dream ( Psalms 4:4 ) [UMBREIT].
deep sleep--( Genesis 2:21 , 15:12 ).

16. 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 voice, as opposed to the previous storm, denotes a gentle, still murmur.

17. mortal man . . . a man--Two Hebrew words for "man" are used; the first implying his feebleness; the second his strength. Whether feeble or strong, man is not righteous before God.
more just than God . . . more pure than his maker--But this would be self-evident without an oracle.

18. folly--or, "nor in his angels, in whom he put light." Imperfection is to be attributed to the angels, in comparison with Him. The holiness of some of them had given way ( 2 Peter 2:4 ), and at best is but the holiness of a creature. Folly is the want of moral consideration [UMBREIT].

19. houses of clay--( 2 Corinthians 5:1 ). Houses made of sun-dried clay bricks are common in the East; they are easily washed away ( Matthew 7:27 ). Man's foundation is this dust ( Genesis 3:19 ).
before the moth--rather, "as before the moth," which devours a garment ( Job 13:28 , Psalms 39:11 , Isaiah 50:9 ). Man, who cannot, in a physical point of view, stand before the very moth, surely cannot, in a moral, stand before God.

20. from morning to evening--unceasingly; or, better, between the morning and evening of one short day (so Exodus 18:14 , Isaiah 38:12 ).
They are destroyed--better, "they would be destroyed," if God withdrew His loving protection. Therefore man must not think to be holy before God, but to draw holiness and all things else from God ( Job 4:17 ).

21. their excellency--( Psalms 39:11 , 146:4 , 1 Corinthians 13:8 ). But UMBREIT, by an Oriental image from a bow, useless because unstrung: "Their nerve, or string would be torn away." MICHAELIS, better in accordance with Job 4:19 , makes the allusion be to the cords of a tabernacle taken down ( Isaiah 33:20 ).
they die, even without wisdom--rather, "They would perish, yet not according to wisdom," but according to arbitrary choice, if God were not infinitely wise and holy. The design of the spirit is to show that the continued existence of weak man proves the inconceivable wisdom and holiness of God, which alone save man from ruin [UMBREIT]. BENGEL shows from Scripture that God's holiness (Hebrew, kadosh) comprehends all His excellencies and attributes. DE WETTE loses the scope, in explaining it, of the shortness of man's life, contrasted with the angels "before they have attained to wisdom."