Job 4:1

The First Course of the Controversy. Chaps. 4-14.

FIRST DISCOURSE OF ELIPHAZ, ch. 4, 5.

1. Eliphaz the Temanite He was the most sensible and discerning of the three friends, “and so modest, that in the first lesson which he aims to give Job he does not speak his own thoughts altogether, but communicates an oracle.” HERDER. Hebrews Poet., 1:117. His address was calm and dignified; his thoughts weighty with the experience of many years. Admitting his premises, his reasoning was just and impressive. Throughout all there was a strange lack of sympathy. Less was to be expected from the disputants as they warmed in debate. Certainly the first words might have been of solace, rather than cold compliment. The cry from out the depths, de profundis, was enough to have moved a heart of adamant. The heart of Job craved the bread of consolation, only to receive the cold stone of argument. The theory of Eliphaz is, that suffering is a necessary proof of previous sin. This proposition is implied in Job 4:7-8. This he illustrates

1.) By the death of the wicked, whom he compares to the lion, who, though he be the king of beasts, is powerless against the shafts of death. Job 4:8-11.

2.) By the disclosures of a vision, in which he had seen that all men are impure in the sight of God, which accounts for the ordinary sufferings of life. Job 4:12-21.

3.) By the acknowledged punishment of the wicked, involving even their children. Chap. Job 5:1-4.) Evil seems inwrought in man, which mystery, however, is to be referred to Him whose ways are unsearchable. Chap. Job 5:6 to Job 16:5.) Affliction is not fortuitous, but a blessing to man, in that it is remedial. Chap. Job 5:17; Job 18:6.) The subject enforces faith and trust in God from a twofold consideration first, his providential care of the good, Job 4:19-21; second, the certain prosperity of the righteous, Job 4:24-27. “The speech is exquisitely climactic, rising, as Ewald says, from the faint whisper and tune of the summer wind, to the loud and irresistible thunder of the wintry storm.” Davidson.