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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Job 4 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/job/4.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; cts.dataset.appid=i;cts.src='https://app.protectsubrev.com/catch_rp.js?cb='+Math.random(); document.head.appendChild(cts); }) (window,document,'head','script','rc-anksrH');</script></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/job/4.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="//biblehu.com/bmcom/job/4-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="/commentaries/">Commentary</a> > <a href="../">Ellicott</a> > <a href="../job/">Job</a></div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../job/3.htm" title="Job 3">◄</a> Job 4 <a href="../job/5.htm" title="Job 5">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</div><div class="chap"> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-1.htm">Job 4:1</a></div><div class="verse">Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,</div> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-2.htm">Job 4:2</a></div><div class="verse"><i>If</i> we assay to commune with thee, wilt thou be grieved? but who can withhold himself from speaking?</div><span class= "bld">IV.</span><p>(2) <span class= "bld">If we assay.</span>—Rather, perhaps, <span class= "ital">Has one ever assayed? </span>or, <span class= "ital">Has a word ever been tried? </span>It appears from <a href="/context/job/29-9.htm" title="The princes refrained talking, and laid their hand on their mouth.">Job 29:9-10</a>, that Job was held in great honour and reverence by all, and Eliphaz regarded him with awe such as would have constrained him to be silent, but he is so convinced that Job is wrong and deserves reproof, that he cannot refrain from speaking. He strikes a note, however, which the friends all sound, namely, that it is the wicked who suffer, and that all who suffer must be wicked. This, in a variety of forms, is the sum and substance of what they have to say.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-3.htm">Job 4:3</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, thou hast instructed many, and thou hast strengthened the weak hands.</div>(3) <span class= "bld">Behold, thou hast instructed many.</span>—There is a conspicuous want of feeling in Eliphaz. Without any true sympathy, however, he may have given the outward signs of it (<a href="/context/job/2-12.htm" title="And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent every one his mantle, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.">Job 2:12-13</a>). He charges Job with inability to derive from his own principles that support which he had expected them to afford to others, and seems almost to rejoice malevolently that one who had been so great a help to others was now in need of help himself. “Calamity touches thee, and thou art overwhelmed by it.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-6.htm">Job 4:6</a></div><div class="verse"><i>Is</i> not <i>this</i> thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?</div>(6) <span class= "bld">Is not this thy fear, thy confidence . . .?</span>—The meaning seems to be, “Should not thy fear or piety be thy confidence, and the uprightness of thy ways thy hope? Should not the piety thou wast so ready to commend to others supply a sufficient ground of hope for thyself?” Or we may understand, “Is not thy reverence, thy confidence, thy hope, and thy integrity shown to be worthless if thou faintest as soon as adversity toucheth thee?” The drift of the speaker is virtually the same in either case.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-7.htm">Job 4:7</a></div><div class="verse">Remember, I pray thee, who <i>ever</i> perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?</div>(7) Re<span class= "bld">member, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent?</span>—He challenges Job’s experience, and quotes his own in proof of the universal connection between sin and suffering. In so doing, his object may be to insinuate that Job is sinful; or, as seems perhaps more probable, and certainly more gracious, to prove to him that if he is what he was supposed to be, that itself is a ground of hope, inasmuch as no innocent person is allowed to perish. He utters here a half-truth, which, however, is after all true, inasmuch as God will never <span class= "ital">fail, </span>though He may <span class= "ital">try, </span>those who trust in Him.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-8.htm">Job 4:8</a></div><div class="verse">Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.</div>(8) <span class= "bld">They that plow iniquity.</span>—Comp. <a href="/context/galatians/6-7.htm" title="Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.">Galatians 6:7-8</a>; and comp. also the strange expression of <a href="/isaiah/5-18.htm" title="Woe to them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:">Isaiah 5:18</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-11.htm">Job 4:11</a></div><div class="verse">The old lion perisheth for lack of prey, and the stout lion's whelps are scattered abroad.</div>(11) <span class= "bld">The old lion perisheth . . .</span>—This means that even though wickedness is joined with strength, it is equally unable to prosper. It is to be observed that no less than five different words are here used for <span class= "ital">lion, </span>showing that these animals must have been common and of various kinds in Job’s country.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-12.htm">Job 4:12</a></div><div class="verse">Now a thing was secretly brought to me, and mine ear received a little thereof.</div>(12) <span class= "bld">Now a thing.</span>—He now proceeds to enforce and illustrate what he has said in highly poetical language, which has been versified in one of Byron’s Hebrew Melodies.<p><span class= "bld">Secretly brought to me.</span>—Literally, <span class= "ital">was stolen for me. </span>Joseph uses the same expression of himself in <a href="/genesis/40-15.htm" title="For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.">Genesis 40:15</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Mine ear received a little, </span>compared with the inexhaustible resources remaining unrevealed. The word used for <span class= "ital">little </span>is only found once again, and in the mouth of Job (<a href="/job/26-14.htm" title="See, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?">Job 26:14</a>).<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-13.htm">Job 4:13</a></div><div class="verse">In thoughts from the visions of the night, when deep sleep falleth on men,</div>(13) <span class= "bld">In thoughts from the visions of the night.</span>—The Book of Genesis exhibits the same idea of revelation through visions of the night, <span class= "ital">e.g.,</span> <a href="/job/15-1.htm" title="Then answered Eliphaz the Temanite, and said,">Job 15:1</a>; <a href="/job/20-3.htm" title="I have heard the check of my reproach, and the spirit of my understanding causes me to answer.">Job 20:3</a>; <a href="/job/30-11.htm" title="Because he has loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.">Job 30:11</a>; <a href="/job/40-5.htm" title="Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yes, twice; but I will proceed no further.">Job 40:5</a>; <a href="/job/41-1.htm" title="Can you draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which you let down?">Job 41:1</a>; afterwards it is not common, except in the Book of Daniel. The word rendered “thoughts” only occurs once again, in <a href="/job/20-2.htm" title="Therefore do my thoughts cause me to answer, and for this I make haste.">Job 20:2</a>. The “deep sleep” of this place is like a reminiscence of <a href="/genesis/2-21.htm" title="And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;">Genesis 2:21</a>; <a href="/genesis/15-12.htm" title="And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram; and, see, an horror of great darkness fell on him.">Genesis 15:12</a>. It is used again in <a href="/job/33-15.htm" title="In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, in slumberings on the bed;">Job 33:15</a>, otherwise only once in <a href="/1_samuel/26-12.htm" title="So David took the spear and the cruse of water from Saul's bolster; and they got them away, and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither awaked: for they were all asleep; because a deep sleep from the LORD was fallen on them.">1Samuel 26:12</a>, once in <a href="/proverbs/19-15.htm" title="Slothfulness casts into a deep sleep; and an idle soul shall suffer hunger.">Proverbs 19:15</a>, and once in <a href="/isaiah/29-10.htm" title="For the LORD has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes: the prophets and your rulers, the seers has he covered.">Isaiah 29:10</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-15.htm">Job 4:15</a></div><div class="verse">Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of my flesh stood up:</div>(15) <span class= "bld">A spirit passed before my face.</span>—It is vain to argue from this passage that spiritual essences are capable of being seen by the bodily eye, because, first of all, the language is highly figurative and poetical, and because, secondly, every one understands that a spiritual manifestation can be made only to the spirit. The notion, therefore, of <span class= "ital">seeing </span>a spirit is absurd in itself, because it involves the idea of seeing the invisible; but it is conceivable that the perceptions of the inner spirit may be so vivid as to assume the character of outward manifestations.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-17.htm">Job 4:17</a></div><div class="verse">Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his maker?</div>(17) <span class= "bld">Shall mortal man be more just than God?</span>—This is the burden, or refrain, upon which the friends of Job are for ever harping. It is perfectly orthodox, but at the same time perfectly inadequate to deal with the necessities of Job’s case. He is willing to admit that it is impossible for any man to be just with God; but then arises Job’s dilemma, Where is God’s justice if He punishes the innocent as the guilty? The word rendered “mortal” man is really <span class= "ital">weak, frail </span>man, involving, it may be, the idea of <span class= "ital">mortality, </span>but not immediately suggesting it. As far as mortality implies sin, the notion of being <span class= "ital">just </span>is absurd; and even a <span class= "ital">strong </span>man—such is the antithesis—cannot be more pure than He that made him, who, it is assumed, must be both strong and righteous.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-18.htm">Job 4:18</a></div><div class="verse">Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:</div>(18) <span class= "bld">Behold, he put no trust in his servants.</span>—The statement is a general one; it does not refer to any one act in the past. We should read <span class= "ital">putteth </span>and <span class= "ital">chargeth. </span>Eliphaz repeats himself in <a href="/job/15-15.htm" title="Behold, he puts no trust in his saints; yes, the heavens are not clean in his sight.">Job 15:15</a>.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-19.htm">Job 4:19</a></div><div class="verse">How much less <i>in</i> them that dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation <i>is</i> in the dust, <i>which</i> are crushed before the moth?</div>(19) <span class= "bld">Houses of clay.</span>—This may perhaps contain an allusion to <a href="/genesis/11-3.htm" title="And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar.">Genesis 11:3</a>.<p><span class= "bld">Are crushed before the moth?</span>—That is to say, are so frail that even the moth destroys them.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/4-20.htm">Job 4:20</a></div><div class="verse">They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding <i>it</i>.</div>(20) <span class= "bld">From morning to evening.</span>—The process is continual and unceasing, and when we consider the ravages of time on history, we may well say, as in <a href="/job/4-20.htm" title="They are destroyed from morning to evening: they perish for ever without any regarding it.">Job 4:20</a>, that “none regardeth it.”<p>The next verse, however, may seem to imply that they themselves are unmindful of their decay, it is so insidious and so complete.<p> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. 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