Job 4:17-19

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:12-21

The condemnation of man in presence of the Divine holiness. With a figure of great boldness and grandeur Eliphaz urges his words upon Job. He is trying to illustrate the great principle of the righteous retributions of the Divine government. In the visions of the night there appeared a spirit to pass before his face, and in the dead silence he heard a voice saying, "Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more pure than his Maker?" It cannot be. And the vision of Eliphaz finds... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:17

Shall mortal man be more just than God? Is it to be supposed that the ways of God can be rightly criticized and condemned by man? Surely not; for then man must be more penetrated with the spirit of justice than the Almighty. If our thoughts are not as God's thoughts, it must be, our thoughts that are wrong. Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Equally impossible. God alone is absolutely pure. The best man must be conscious to himself, as Isaiah was ( Isaiah 6:5 ), of uncleanness. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:17-21

A message from the unseen. The apparition spoke and this is what "It" said. No one can gainsay the truth of the words uttered. The only question is how they applied to Job. Eliphaz assumed that Job's position was thereby condemned Leaving this out of account, however, we may see how lofty, true, and important the words that came in the Temanite's vision were. I. THE OBVIOUS FACTS . One would have thought that no ghost was wanted to make such self-evident facts as are here narrated... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:18

Behold, he put no trust in his servants ; rather, he putteth no trust ' or he putteth not trust. The" servants" intended are those that minister to him directly in heaven, the members of the angelic host, as appears from the parallelism of the other clause of the verse. Even in them God does not trust implicitly, since he knows that they are frail and fallible, liable to err, etc; only kept from sin by his own sustaining and assisting grace (setup. Job 15:15 , where Eliphaz expresses... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:19

How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay! rather, hew muck more cloth he not put trust in them that inhabit houses of clay ! i.e. "earthly bodies," bodies made out of the dust of the ground ( Genesis 2:7 ; setup, Job 33:6 ). Whose foundation is in the dust ; i.e. " whose origin was the dust of the ground," which were formed from it and must return to it, according to the words of Genesis 3:19 , "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou must return." Which are crushed before... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 4:17

Shall mortal man - Or, shall feeble man. The idea of “mortal” is not necessarily implied in the word used here, אנושׁ 'ĕnôsh. It means man; and is usually applied to the lower classes or ranks of people; see the notes at Isaiah 8:1. The common opinion in regard to this word is, that it is derived from אנשׁ 'ânash, to be sick, or ill at ease; and then desperate, or incurable - as of a disease or wound; Jeremiah 15:18; Micah 1:9; Job 34:6. Gesenius (Lex) calls this derivation in question; but... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 4:18

Behold, he put no trust in his servants - These are evidently the words of the oracle that appeared to Eliphaz; see Schultens, in loc. The word servants here refers to angels; and the idea is, that God was so pure that he did not confide even in the exalted holiness of angels - meaning that their holiness was infinitely inferior to his. The design is to state that God had the highest possible holiness, such as to render the holiness of all others, no matter how exalted, as nothing - as all... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 4:19

How much less - (אף 'aph). This particle has the general sense of addition, accession, especially of something more important;” yea more, besides, even.” Gesenius. The meaning here is, “how much more true is this of man!” He puts no confidence in his angels; he charges them with frailty; how much more strikingly true must this be of man! It is not merely, as our common translation would seem to imply, that he put much less confidence in man than in angels; it is, that all he had said must be... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 4:17

Job 4:17. Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall man, fallen man, as the word אנושׁ , enosh, here used, signifies, subject as he is to diseases, troubles, and all those calamities which are the necessary consequences of sin and disobedience, pretend more strictly to observe the laws of justice, and therefore to be more just, than the righteous God? The sense is, Thou, O Job, dost presumptuously accuse God of dealing harshly and unrighteously with thee in sending thee into the... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 4:18

Job 4:18 . Behold, &c. For it deserves thy serious consideration. These and the following words seem to be the words of Eliphaz, explaining the former vision, and applying it to Job’s case, and enforcing it by further arguments. He put no trust in his servants That is, in his angels, as appears both by the next words of this verse, in which, by way of explication and restriction, they are termed his angels; and by the verse following, where men are opposed to them. They are called his... read more

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:12-21

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:17

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:17-21

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:18

The Pulpit Commentary - Job 4:19

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 4:17

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 4:18

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Job 4:19

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 4:17

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Job 4:18

Verse of the Day

Daily Devotional

Group of Brands