The Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1-21

The Pulpit Commentary · Joseph S. Exell and contributors · Public domain

EXPOSITION

Job having ended his complaint, Eliphaz the Temanite, the first-named of his three friends (Job 2:11), and perhaps the eldest of them, takes the word, and endeavours to answer him. After a brief apology for venturing to speak at all (verse 2), he plunges into the controversy. Job has assumed that he is wholly guiltless of having given any cause for God to afflict him. Eliphaz lays it down in the most positive terms (verses 7, 8) that the innocent never suffer, only the wicked are afflicted. He then passes on to the description of a vision which has appeared to him (verses 12-21), from which he has learnt the lesson that men must not presume to be "more wise than their Maker."

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Matthew Henry on Job 4:1-6Job 4:1-6 · Matthew Henry Concise CommentarySatan 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. Eliph…The Address of Eliphaz. (b. c. 1520.)Job 4:1-6 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleTHE ADDRESS OF ELIPHAZ. (B. C. 1520.) In these verses, I. Eliphaz excuses the trouble he is now about to give to Job by his discourse (Job 4:2): "If we assay a word with thee, offer a word of reproof and counsel, wilt t…The Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1Job 4:1 · The Pulpit CommentaryThen Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said (see the comment on Job 2:11).The Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1-11Job 4:1-11 · The Pulpit CommentaryEliphaz to Job: the opening of the second controversy: 1. The relation of suffering to sin. I. A COURTEOUS EXORDIUM. Eliphaz, the oldest and wisest of the friends, adopts an apologetic strain in replying to Job's imprec…The Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1-11Job 4:1-11 · The Pulpit CommentaryEliphaz and Job: forgotten truths called to mind. However misapplied to his particular case may have been the speeches of Job's friends, there can be no dispute concerning the purity and the sublimity of the great truth…The Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1-6Job 4:1-6 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe teacher tested. Throughout the words of Job's friends many truths are to be found both accurately stated and beautifully illustrated; but in many cases—almost generally—a wrong application of them is made. The frien…

commentaryMatthew Henry on Job 4:1-6Satan 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. Eliph…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Address of Eliphaz. (b. c. 1520.)THE ADDRESS OF ELIPHAZ. (B. C. 1520.) In these verses, I. Eliphaz excuses the trouble he is now about to give to Job by his discourse (Job 4:2): "If we assay a word with thee, offer a word of reproof and counsel, wilt t…Matthew Henry commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1-11Eliphaz and Job: forgotten truths called to mind. However misapplied to his particular case may have been the speeches of Job's friends, there can be no dispute concerning the purity and the sublimity of the great truth…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1-6The teacher tested. Throughout the words of Job's friends many truths are to be found both accurately stated and beautifully illustrated; but in many cases—almost generally—a wrong application of them is made. The frien…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1Eliphaz the visionary. After Job has broken the seven days' silence, each of his friends assays to comfort him, with that most irritating form of consolation—unsolicited advice. Although, perhaps, some of the critics ha…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1-11Eliphaz to Job: the opening of the second controversy: 1. The relation of suffering to sin. I. A COURTEOUS EXORDIUM. Eliphaz, the oldest and wisest of the friends, adopts an apologetic strain in replying to Job's imprec…Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:1Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said (see the comment on Job 2:11).Joseph S. Exell and contributors commentaryThe Pulpit Commentary on Job 4:2Irrepressible speech. Eliphaz says," Who can withhold himself from speaking?" He utters his own sentiment, but it is a very common one—far more common than the honest admission of it with which Eliphaz justifies his add…Joseph S. Exell and contributors