The Second Circle of Speeches The laudable attempts made by Job's friends to bring him to acknowledge his sins and humble himself before God have signally failed. The sublime truths they have sought to impress on him regarding God have been without effect. He has found means to turn the point of ev... [ Continue Reading ]
Eliphaz rebukes Job's contemptuous treatment of the opinions of his friends, and his irreverence towards God First, starting with Job's claim to a wisdom beyond that of his friends (ch. Job 12:3; Job 12:7 _seq_., Job 13:2), Eliphaz asks if it be in the manner of a wise man to use loud and empty wor... [ Continue Reading ]
_Should a wise man utter vain knowledge_ Or, _will a wise man answer with vain_, &c., lit., _knowledge of wind_, i. e. empty and loud, cf. ch. Job 8:2; Job 16:2. The word _wise_refers back to Job's claims to superior wisdom, ch. Job 12:3; Job 13:2. Eliphaz asks, Is this the manner of one possessed o... [ Continue Reading ]
_Should he reason_ Or, _will he reason_, or better, REASONING WITH UNPROFITABLE TALK. The verse is subordinate to the last, carrying out its idea.... [ Continue Reading ]
Job was more than unwise, he was doing away with all fear of God. _castest off fear_ Or, as margin, MAKEST VOID, doest away with, THE FEAR OF GOD. _restrainest prayer_ Rather, IMPAIREST REVERENCE or DEVOTION. The charge of Eliphaz is not merely that Job was irreligious himself, but that the tenden... [ Continue Reading ]
_for thy mouth uttereth thine iniquity_ Rather, FOR THINE INIQUITY (or, guilt) TEACHETH THY MOUTH; the meaning being that his mouth was prompted by his iniquity, used as its instrument. His inquity taught his mouth what to say. _choosest the tongue of the crafty_ i. e. choosest and makest use of, s... [ Continue Reading ]
But in truth such utterances of his mouth clearly suggested the source which inspired them, other proof of his guilt than they was not needed. Thus in Job 15:5 Job's language and sentiments are explained by his guilt, and in Job 15:6 his guilt is proved by his language; and both verses support the c... [ Continue Reading ]
_Art thou the first man_ lit. _wast thou born a man first_? The first man that came from God's hand would naturally be endowed with preeminent wisdom and other attributes. Schlottmann (p. 303) quotes an ironical proverb current in India, "Yes, yes, he is the first man, no wonder that he is so wise.... [ Continue Reading ]
But coming back to Job's assumption of superior wisdom, Eliphaz must ask on what it rests?... [ Continue Reading ]
_Hast thou heard the secret_ Rather, DIDST THOU LISTEN IN THE COUNCIL OF GOD? Cf. Jeremiah 23:22; Psalms 89:7 (assembly = council). _dost thou restrain the wisdom_ Rather, DIDST THOU DRAW WISDOM TO THYSELF? i. e. appropriate or absorb wisdom. The "wisdom" here is the highest, divine wisdom. The que... [ Continue Reading ]
Abandoning irony Eliphaz comes to the facts, which hardly bear out Job's pretensions. His words recall those of Job, ch. Job 12:3; Job 13:2.... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse should probably read, Among us is one both grayheaded and very aged, One older in days than thy father. Eliphaz with a dignified indirectness in which, however, a certain personal feeling is displayed, alludes to himself. Others take the words "grayheaded" and "very aged" as collective... [ Continue Reading ]
_small with thee_ Rather, ARE THE CONSOLATIONS OF GOD TOO SMALL FOR THEE? do they seem to thee beneath thy deserts and notice? Numbers 16:9; Isaiah 7:13. _is there any secret thing with thee_ Rather, AND A WORD THAT DEALT GENTLY WITH THEE? The consolations or comforts of God are such as proceed from... [ Continue Reading ]
_what do thine eyes wink at_ Rather, WHEREFORE DO THINE EYES WINK? i. e., flash or roll, sign of violent passion. In the first clause "heart" is the excited mind under strong feeling.... [ Continue Reading ]
Turning from Job's arrogant claims to superior wisdom Eliphaz must rebuke his violent and irreverent behaviour towards God: What is man that he should be clean?... [ Continue Reading ]
_turnest thy spirit_ "Spirit" may be breath, i. e., anger, fury, ch. Job 4:9 "blast"; cf. Proverbs 16:32; Isaiah 25:4. The words _against God_are emphatic. _lettest such words go out_ lit. _bringest forth words_out of thy mouth. The reference is less to the kind of words spoken than to the passiona... [ Continue Reading ]
What is there to justify such passion thy pretended innocence? What is man that he should be clean? cf. ch. Job 14:1. Eliphaz recurs again to his principles formerly enunciated, ch. Job 4:17 _seq_., for his former speech is in his mind throughout.... [ Continue Reading ]
_his saints_ HIS HOLY ONES, i. e. His angels, cf. on ch. Job 5:1. _the heavens_ These are here the material heavens, not the celestial inhabitants, cf. ch. Job 25:5. So Exodus 24:10, "And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it... [ Continue Reading ]
According to the Hebrew punctuation the verse runs, How much less the abominable and corrupt, Man, which drinketh in iniquity like water. The word "corrupt," only here and Psalms 14:3 (Psalms 53:3), occurs in Arab. in the sense of "turned," sour, of milk; it is used in Heb. only in a moral sense... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will shew thee_ Eliphaz assumes a high tone with Job; one is entitled to do so with a man in his unfortunate condition.... [ Continue Reading ]
Eliphaz instructs Job regarding the troubled conscience And the Disastrous Fate of the Wicked Man Having sufficiently rebuked Job's presumption and irreverence Eliphaz proceeds to take up his principles, which "did away with the fear of God," Job 15:4. They are such principles as Job gave forth ch.... [ Continue Reading ]
The doctrine of Eliphaz is no novelty, it is his (Job 15:17), but it is the consistent moral tradition of the wise from generation to generation. The phrase "have told … and have not hid" means, have told openly, it is matter of public consent and teaching among them; cf. Isaiah 3:9, where the same... [ Continue Reading ]
And it is a tradition pure and uncorrupted by admixture of foreign elements, for it is the moral wisdom of races to whom alone the land has been given, who have dwelt always in the same seats, and never been displaced, and among whom foreign and inferior races have never penetrated.... [ Continue Reading ]
The sense is, All the days of the wicked man he is in pain, And the number of years that are laid up for the oppressor, i. e., constantly and throughout his whole life, as long as it endures, the wicked man is in pain (or, torments himself). The word "laid up" means appointed, reserved, for the o... [ Continue Reading ]
This doctrine itself. The passage gives a picture of the conscience of the wicked man filled with presentiments of evil, in opposition to such statements as that of Job, ch. Job 12:6, and to his whole claims regarding himself.... [ Continue Reading ]
_A dreadful sound A sound of terrors_; he continually thinks he hears the sound of coming destruction. _in prosperity the destroyer shall come_ A picture of the wicked man's anticipations.... [ Continue Reading ]
_return out of darkness_ "Darkness" is calamity, and the words mean that the wicked man anticipates a calamity which shall be final, and from which, when it befals him, there shall be no escape. _he is waited for of the sword_ So he feels in regard to himself; he is marked out for the sword, i. e.,... [ Continue Reading ]
He anticipates the time when he shall be a hungry wanderer, roving in search of bread and crying, Where is it? The picture of the rich oppressor tormented by visions of famine is very graphic. _ready at hand_ Or, _at his side_; the dark day of calamity stands constantly beside him ready to envelop... [ Continue Reading ]
_shall make him afraid_ Rather, MAKE HIM AFRAID. _ready to the battle_ Fully prepared and therefore irresistible.... [ Continue Reading ]
_he stretcheth out_ Rather, STRETCHED. The tenses in the following verses would all be better put in the past, as they describe either distinct or continued past actions. So STRENGTHENED, or EMBOLDENED HIMSELF, lit. behaved himself mightily (Isaiah 42:13 margin), or, proudly.... [ Continue Reading ]
Reason of these terrors of conscience and presentiments of evil his defiance of heaven and sensual life.... [ Continue Reading ]
The whole verse means, He ran upon him with stiff neck, With the thick bosses of his bucklers. The words describe the wicked man's demeanour towards God. The figure is that of a warrior making an assault. The Heb. is "he ran upon him with neck," Vulg., _erecto collo_, cf. Psalms 75:5. The "bosses... [ Continue Reading ]
_he covereth_ Rather, HE COVERED; and similarly, HE MADE collops. The words express the idea of falling into a brutish fleshliness, which causes insensibility to all that is spiritual and resistance of it, cf. Deuteronomy 32:15; Psalms 73:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
_and he dwelleth_ AND HE DWELT. _which no man inhabiteth_ WHICH SHOULD NOT BE INHABITED. _are ready to become_ WHICH WERE DESTINED TO BE HEAPS. The idea seems to be that the wicked man settled in and rebuilt places that were under the curse of God, and destined by Him for perpetual desolation. Suc... [ Continue Reading ]
_neither shall he prolong the perfection_ Perhaps, _neither shall their produce bend down to the ground_; the figure being that of heavy grain, or branches thickly laden with fruit, bending down to the earth. The word rendered _produce_or _gain_is not found again and is of somewhat uncertain meaning... [ Continue Reading ]
The disastrous end of the wicked man.... [ Continue Reading ]
Advance on Job 15:29, describing the sinner's actual destruction. The figures are common; on _darkness_, cf. Job 15:22; the _flame_is the scorching sun or glowing wind; _breath_of his mouth, i. e., God's mouth, cf. ch. Job 4:9.... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse reads, Let him not trust in vanity: he is deceived: For vanity shall be his recompence. Similarly, "they that plow iniquity reap the same," ch. Job 4:8; Job 5:13. Eliphaz returns as in other passages to his former speech. "Vanity" or evil means both wickedness (first clause) and calamit... [ Continue Reading ]
_Before his time_ lit. _before his day_, that is, the natural day of his death, cf. ch. Job 22:16; and the clause means, in the midst of his years (Psalms 55:23) his recompence, or exchange, is fulfilled and goes into accomplishment he is cut off. The words might also mean that his recompence accrue... [ Continue Reading ]
It is doubtful if the A. V. expresses a meaning which is true to nature; the vine does not shake off its unripe grapes. The words must rather express the meaning that the grapes are not brought to maturity. The word "shake off" means to "wrong" Proverbs 8:36, and probably the idea is that the vine f... [ Continue Reading ]
The same truth as that expressed in Job 15:31 now taught without figure, and reduced to a general principle. _congregation of hypocrites_ Or, _company of the ungodly_, ch. Job 8:13; Job 13:16. "Desolate" is _barren_(ch. Job 3:7), unfruitful. The households of the godless are unfruitful, under God's... [ Continue Reading ]
Finally Eliphaz condenses into an expressive figure the general doctrine both of this and his former discourse, namely, that suffering and disaster follow, as by a law of nature, doing evil and wrong. In Job 4:8, "They that sow wickedness reap the same"; in this verse, "They that conceive mischief b... [ Continue Reading ]