Chapter 4:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Esther Psalms
Job 4
Concise Complete
Eliphaz reproves Job. (1-6) And maintains that God's
judgments are for the wicked. (7-11) The vision of Eliphaz. (12-21)
Verses 1-6 Satan
undertook to prove Job a hypocrite by afflicting him; and his friends concluded
him to be one because he was so afflicted, and showed impatience. This we must
keep in mind if we would understand what passed. Eliphaz speaks of Job, and his
afflicted condition, with tenderness; but charges him with weakness and
faint-heartedness. Men make few allowances for those who have taught others.
Even pious friends will count that only a touch which we feel as a wound. Learn
from hence to draw off the mind of a sufferer from brooding over the affliction,
to look at the God of mercies in the affliction. And how can this be done so
well as by looking to Christ Jesus, in whose unequalled sorrows every child of
God soonest learns to forget his own?
Verses 7-11 Eliphaz
argues, 1. That good men were never thus ruined. But there is one event both to
the righteous and to the wicked,
ecclesiastes 9:2,
both in life and death; the great and certain difference is after death. Our
worst mistakes are occasioned by drawing wrong views from undeniable truths. 2.
That wicked men were often thus ruined: for the proof of this, Eliphaz vouches
his own observation. We may see the same every day.
Verses 12-21 Eliphaz
relates a vision. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still,
psalms 4:4, then is a time
for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. This vision put him into very great
fear. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive
communications from Heaven, conscious that he can expect no good tidings thence.
Sinful man! shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who being his
Maker, is his Lord and Owner? How dreadful, then, the pride and presumption of
man! How great the patience of God! Look upon man in his life. The very
foundation of that cottage of clay in which man dwells, is in the dust, and it
will sink with its own weight. We stand but upon the dust. Some have a higher
heap of dust to stand upon than others but still it is the earth that stays us
up, and will shortly swallow us up. Man is soon crushed; or if some lingering
distemper, which consumes like a moth, be sent to destroy him, he cannot resist
it. Shall such a creature pretend to blame the appointments of God? Look upon
man in his death. Life is short, and in a little time men are cut off. Beauty,
strength, learning, not only cannot secure them from death, but these things die
with them; nor shall their pomp, their wealth, or power, continue after them.
Shall a weak, sinful, dying creature, pretend to be more just than God, and more
pure than his Maker? No: instead of quarrelling with his afflictions, let him
wonder that he is out of hell. Can a man be cleansed without his Maker? Will God
justify sinful mortals, and clear them from guilt? or will he do so without
their having an interest in the righteousness and gracious help of their
promised Redeemer, when angels, once ministering spirits before his throne,
receive the just recompence of their sins? Notwithstanding the seeming impunity
of men for a short time, though living without God in the world, their doom is
as certain as that of the fallen angels, and is continually overtaking them. Yet
careless sinners note it so little, that they expect not the change, nor are
wise to consider their latter end.
Chapter 4:
| Darby
| Geneva
| Gill
| Jamieson Faussett Brown
| Matthew Henry
| Matthew Henry Concise
| Wesley
| Index
| Bible Gateway |
Introduction 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Esther Psalms
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Solomon
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Obadiah
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation
