Job 4:12

THAT VISION OF JOB'S FRIEND ELIPHAZ

"Now a thing was secretly brought to me,

And mine ear received a whisper thereof.

In thoughts from visions of the night,

When deep sleep falleth upon men,

Fear came upon me, and trembling,

Which made all my bones to shake.

Then a spirit passed before my face;

The hair of my flesh stood up.

It stood still, but I could not discern the appearance thereof.

A form was before mine eyes:

There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying,

Shall a mortal man be more just than God?

Shall a man be more pure than his Maker?

Behold, he putteth no trust in his servants;

And his angels he chargeth with folly.

How much more them that dwell in houses of clay,

Whose foundation is in the dust,

Who are crushed before the moth.

Betwixt morning and evening they are destroyed:

They perish forever without any regarding it.

Is not their tent cord plucked up within them?

They die, and that without wisdom."

"Shall mortal man be more just than God?" (Job 4:17), or, Shall a man be more pure than his maker? If ever the mountain labored and brought forth a mole hill, we have an example of it here. What kind of a revelation is this? It tells us nothing, but seems to ask a couple of questions that might be construed as critical of Job. Were not Job's protestations of innocence examples of a man claiming to be more just or pure than God? Almighty God Himself said of the speeches of Job's friends that they had not spoken that which was right (Job 42:7); and this writer does not dare to allege any rightness whatever in this speech of Eliphaz. His angels he chargeth with folly (Job 4:18). Franks, making the mistake of supposing this "vision" had any truth in it, wrote that it is contrary to the doctrine of the N.T. that, "Some angels are good, and some are bad; all are fallible."[5] Whether or not this thought was in Eliphaz' vision, it is no basis whatever for supposing that the New Testament doctrine regarding angels in any sense contradicts the doctrine of the Old Testament. Satan, himself one of the fallen angels, is the unseen agent in the Book of Job who brought all the suffering upon that patriarch.

"Who are crushed before the moth" (Job 4:19). "A better translation of this is, "Crushed as easily as a moth."[6]

This is not the end of Eliphaz' speech; he really gets down to business in the rest of it (Job 5).