Job 4:12

Second double strophe A HEAVENLY REVELATION, Job 4:12-21. Strophe a This revelation is given in a night vision, Job 4:12-16.

12. A thing A word, a divine communication. “The law shall not perish from the priest… nor the word from the prophet.” Jeremiah 18:18. Secretly brought Stole (literally, was stolen) upon me. The Pual form of the verb indicates that the “word” was sent. The whole description signifies “that there is nothing forced or strained in God’s communication to man; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath.”

Milton has a similar beautiful thought:

A soft and solemn breathing sound Rose like the scent of rich distilled perfumes,

And stole upon the air.

A little שׁמצ , (a whisper.) See note, Job 26:14, where the word stands in contradistinction to thunder. In patriarchal times God employed visions and dreams to communicate his will to men. Abram, (Genesis 15:1,) Jacob, (Genesis 46:2,) and Moses, (Exodus 3:2,) were thus favoured. That this oracle should be communicated through a vision, points to a very early age for the time of its delivery, for then such communications were of most frequent occurrence. Eliphaz introduces the vision to show that no one is pure or just in the sight of God, and consequently man has no reason to complain of his sufferings, since all by nature are attainted with sinful infirmity. A few bold strokes set before us the vision, which is as vivid to his soul as if he had seen it the night before. It stands unique in all literatures “amazingly sublime.” Burke. The mind of man has never portrayed aught that has at all approached its stern and awful grandeur. No one can read it alone in the still hours of the night, “when deep sleep falleth on men,” without feeling somewhat the horror which fell upon Eliphaz when brought face to face with the supernatural. “There is form and yet no form; a gentle whisper, a murmuring like the voice of the wind, but with it also the power of the wind, the energy of spirit.” Herder. It is no more than just to the genius of man to cite its best effort at ghostly description. This, Dr. Good finds in the poems of Ossian, “whose descriptions of apparitions possess more terror and sublimity than are to be met with anywhere out of the Old Testament.” The poet thus describes the spirit of Loda:

“The wan, cold moon rose in the east. Sleep descended on the youths, their blue helmets glitter to the beam; the fading fire decays. But sleep did not rest on the king. He rose in the midst of his arms and slowly ascended the hill to behold the flame of Sarno’s tower. The flame was dim and distant; the moon hid the red flame in the east. A blast came from the mountain; on its wings was the spirit of Loda. He came to his place in his terrors and shook his dusky spear. His eyes appear like flame in his dark face; his voice is like distant thunder. Fingal advanced his spear amid the night, and raised his voice on high.

“‘Son of Night, retire! call thy winds and fly. Why dost thou come to my presence with thy shadowy arms? Do I fear thy gloomy form, spirit of dismal Loda? Weak is thy shield of clouds; feeble is that meteor, thy sword. The blast rolls them together, and thou thyself art lost. Fly from my presence, son of Night! Call thy winds and fly!’

“‘Dost thou force me from my place?’ replied the hollow voice. ‘The people bend before me. I turn the battle in the field of the brave. I look on the nations and they vanish. My nostrils pour the blast of death. I come abroad on the winds; the tempests are before my face, but my dwelling is calm above the clouds; the fields of my rest are pleasant.’” Compare the description of the ghost in Hamlet, Acts 1:0, scene 5.