Job 15

SECOND SERIES.

Job 15:1-35.

SECOND

SPEECH OF

ELIPHAZ.

2. a wise man--which Job claims to be.

vain knowledge--Hebrew, "windy knowledge"; literally, "of wind"

(Job 8:2).

In

Ec 1:14,

Hebrew, "to catch wind," expresses to strive for what is vain.

east wind--stronger than the previous "wind," for in that region

the east wind is the most destructive of winds

(Isa 27:8).

Thus here,--empty violence.

belly--the inward parts, the breast

(Pr 18:8).

4. fear--reverence for God

(Job 4:6;

Ps 2:11).

prayer--meditation, in

Ps 104:34;

so devotion. If thy views were right, reasons Eliphaz, that God

disregards the afflictions of the righteous and makes the wicked to

prosper, all devotion would be at an end.

5. The sophistry of thine own speeches proves thy guilt.

6. No pious man would utter such sentiments.

7. That is, Art thou wisdom personified? Wisdom existed before the

hills; that is, the eternal Son of God

(Pr 8:25;

Ps 90:2).

Wast thou in existence before Adam? The farther back one existed, the

nearer he was to the Eternal Wisdom.

8. secret--rather, "Wast thou a listener in the secret council of

God?" The Hebrew means properly the cushions of a divan on which

counsellors in the East usually sit. God's servants are admitted to

God's secrets

(Ps 25:14;

Ge 18:17;

Joh 15:15).

restrain--Rather, didst thou take away, or borrow, thence

(namely, from the divine secret council) thy wisdom? Eliphaz in this

(Job 15:8, 9)

retorts Job's words upon himself

(Job 12:2, 3; 13:2).

9. in us--or, "with us," Hebraism for "we are aware of."

10. On our side, thinking with us are the aged. Job had admitted

that wisdom is with them

(Job 12:12).

Eliphaz seems to have been himself older than Job; perhaps the other

two were also

(Job 32:6).

Job, in

Job 30:1,

does not refer to his three friends; it therefore forms no objection.

The Arabs are proud of fulness of years.

11. consolations--namely, the revelation which Eliphaz had stated

as a consolatory reproof to Job, and which he repeats in

Job 15:14.

secret--Hast thou some secret wisdom and source of consolation,

which makes thee disregard those suggested by me?

(Job 15:8).

Rather, from a different Hebrew root, Is the word of

kindness or gentleness addressed by me treated by thee as

valueless? [UMBREIT].

12. wink--that is, why do thy eyes evince pride?

(Pr 6:13;

Ps 35:19).

13. That is, frettest against God and lettest fall rash words.

14. Eliphaz repeats the revelation

(Job 4:17)

in substance, but using Job's own words (see on

Job 14:1,

on "born of a woman") to strike him with his own weapons.

15. Repeated from

Job 4:18;

"servants" there are "saints" here; namely, holy angels.

heavens--literally, or else answering to "angels"

(see on

Job 4:18,

and

Job 25:5).

16. filthy--in Arabic "sour"

(Ps 14:3; 53:3),

corrupted from his original purity.

drinketh--

(Pr 19:28).

17. In direct contradiction of Job's position

(Job 12:6,

&c.), that the lot of the wicked was the most prosperous here, Eliphaz

appeals (1) to his own experience, (2) to the wisdom of the

ancients.

18. Rather, "and which as handed down from their fathers, they have

not concealed."

19. Eliphaz speaks like a genuine Arab when he boasts that his

ancestors had ever possessed the land unmixed with foreigners

[UMBREIT]. His words are intended to oppose Job's

(Job 9:24);

"the earth" in their case was not "given into the hand of the

wicked." He refers to the division of the earth by divine appointment

(Ge 10:5; 25:32).

Also he may insinuate that Job's sentiments had been corrupted from

original purity by his vicinity to the Sabeans and Chaldeans [ROSENMULLER].

20. travaileth--rather, "trembleth of himself," though there is no

real danger [UMBREIT].

and the number of his years, &c.--This gives the reason why the

wicked man trembles continually; namely, because he knows not the

moment when his life must end.

21. An evil conscience conceives alarm at every sudden sound, though

it be in a time of peace ("prosperity"), when there is no real danger

(Le 26:36;

Pr 28:1;

2Ki 7:6).

22. darkness--namely, danger or calamity. Glancing at Job, who

despaired of restoration: in contrast to good men when in darkness

(Mic 7:8, 9).

waited for of--that is, He is destined for the sword

[GESENIUS].

Rather (in the night of danger), "he looks anxiously towards the

sword," as if every sword was drawn against him

[UMBREIT].

23. Wandereth in anxious search for bread. Famine in Old

Testament depicts sore need

(Isa 5:13).

Contrast the pious man's lot

(Job 5:20-22).

knoweth--has the firm conviction. Contrast the same word applied to

the pious

(Job 5:24, 25).

ready at his hand--an Arabic phrase to denote a thing's

complete readiness and full presence, as if in the hand.

24. prevail--break upon him suddenly and terribly, as a king, &c.

(Pr 6:11).

25. stretcheth . . . hand--wielding the spear, as a bold rebel against

God

(Job 9:4;

Isa 27:4).

26. on his neck--rather, "with outstretched neck," namely, that of

the rebel [UMBREIT]

(Ps 75:5).

upon . . . bucklers--rather, "with--his (the rebel's, not God's)

bucklers." The rebel and his fellows are depicted as joining shields

together, to form a compact covering over their heads against the

weapons hurled on them from a fortress [UMBREIT and

GESENIUS].

27. The well-nourished body of the rebel is the sign of his prosperity.

collops--masses of fat. He pampers and fattens himself with sensual

indulgences; hence his rebellion against God

(De 32:15;

1Sa 2:29).

28. The class of wicked here described is that of robbers who plunder

"cities," and seize on the houses of the banished citizens

(Isa 13:20).

Eliphaz chooses this class because Job had chosen the same

(Job 12:6).

heaps--of ruins.

29. Rather, he shall not increase his riches; he has reached his

highest point; his prosperity shall not continue.

perfection--rather, "His acquired wealth--what he possesses--shall

not be extended," &c.

30. depart--that is, escape

(Job 15:22, 23).

branches--namely, his offspring

(Job 1:18, 19;

Ps 37:35).

dry up--The "flame" is the sultry wind in the East by which plants

most full of sap are suddenly shrivelled.

his mouth--that is, God's wrath

(Isa 11:4).

31. Rather, "let him not trust in vanity or he will be

deceived," &c.

vanity--that which is unsubstantial. Sin is its own punishment

(Pr 1:31;

Jer 2:19).

32. Literally, "it (the tree to which he is compared,

Job 15:30,

or else his life) shall not be filled up in its time"; that is,

"he shall be ended before his time."

shall not be green--image from a withered tree; the childless

extinction of the wicked.

33. Images of incompleteness. The loss of the unripe grapes is

poetically made the vine tree's own act, in order to express more

pointedly that the sinner's ruin is the fruit of his own conduct

(Isa 3:11;

Jer 6:19).

34. Rather, The binding together of the hypocrites (wicked) shall

be fruitless [UMBREIT].

tabernacles of bribery--namely, dwellings of unjust judges, often

reprobated in the Old Testament

(Isa 1:23).

The "fire of God" that consumed Job's possessions

(Job 1:16)

Eliphaz insinuates may have been on account of Job's bribery as an Arab

sheik or emir.

35. Bitter irony, illustrating the "unfruitfulness"

(Job 15:34)

of the wicked. Their conceptions and birthgivings consist solely in

mischief, &c.

(Isa 33:11).

prepareth--hatcheth.