---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Job 4"
description: "CHAPTER 4   :-. FIRST SPEECH
OF ELIPHAZ. 1. Eliphaz—the mildest of
Job"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/job/4"
---

CHAPTER 4

. 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](../../../kjv/isaiah/35/3);
[2 Samuel 4:1](../../../kjv/2-samuel/4/1).

**5. thou art troubled**—rather,
"unhinged," hast lost thy self-command ().

**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](../../../kjv/luke/13/2) [Luke 13:3](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/ecclesiastes/9/2));
but yet we must take it on trust, that God deals righteously even now
([Psalms 37:25](../../../kjv/psalms/37/25); [Isaiah 33:16](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/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 ([James 5:11](../../../kjv/james/5/11)). Trials are chastisements for their good (to the righteous)
([Psalms 119:67](../../../kjv/psalms/119/67); [Psalms 119:71](../../../kjv/psalms/119/71);
[Psalms 119:75](../../../kjv/psalms/119/75)). See Preface on the
DESIGN of this book (see
[Psalms 119:75](../../../kjv/psalms/119/75)).

**8. they that plough iniquity . . .
reap the same**— ([Proverbs 22:8](../../../kjv/proverbs/22/8);
[Hosea 8:7](../../../kjv/hosea/8/7); [Hosea 10:13](../../../kjv/hosea/10/13);
[Galatians 6:7](../../../kjv/galatians/6/7); [Galatians 6:8](../../../kjv/galatians/6/8)).

**9. breath of his nostrils**—God's
anger; a figure from the fiery winds of the East ([Job 1:16](../../../kjv/job/1/16);
[Isaiah 5:25](../../../kjv/isaiah/5/25); [Psalms 18:8](../../../kjv/psalms/18/8);
[Psalms 18:15](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/psalms/58/6);
[2 Timothy 4:17](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/job/26/14);
[2 Corinthians 12:4](../../../kjv/2-corinthians/12/4)).

**13. In thoughts from the visions of
the night**—[So WINER].
While revolving night visions previously made to him (). Rather, "In my manifold (*Hebrew,* divided)
thoughts, *before* the visions of the night commenced";
therefore not a delusive dream () [UMBREIT].
**deep sleep**— ([Genesis 2:21](../../../kjv/genesis/2/21);
[Genesis 15:12](../../../kjv/genesis/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](../../../kjv/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**—Imperfection is to
be attributed to the angels, in comparison with Him. The holiness of
some of them had given way (), and at best is but the holiness of a creature. Folly is the
want of *moral* consideration [UMBREIT].

**19. houses of clay**— (). Houses made of sun-dried clay bricks are common in the
East; they are easily washed away (). Man's foundation is this dust ().
**before the moth**—rather,
"as before the moth," which devours a garment ([Job 13:28](../../../kjv/job/13/28);
[Psalms 39:11](../../../kjv/psalms/39/11); [Isaiah 50:9](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/exodus/18/14);
[Isaiah 38:12](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/job/4/17)).

**21. their excellency**— ([Psalms 39:11](../../../kjv/psalms/39/11);
[Psalms 146:4](../../../kjv/psalms/146/4); [1 Corinthians 13:8](../../../kjv/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](../../../kjv/job/4/19),
makes the allusion be to the *cords* of a tabernacle taken down
([Isaiah 33:20](../../../kjv/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."

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