Job 4:12-21

Job 4:12-21

[12] Now a thing  was secretly brought  to me, and mine ear  received  a little  [13] In thoughts  from the visions  of the night,  when deep sleep  falleth  [14] Fear  came  which made all  my bones  to shake.  [15] Then a spirit  passed  before my face;  the hair  of my flesh  stood up:  [16] It stood still,  but I could not discern  the form  thereof: an image  was before mine eyes,  there was silence,  and I heard  a voice,  [17] be more just  than God?  shall a man  be more pure  than his maker?  [18] Behold, he put no trust  in his servants;  and his angels  he charged  with folly:  [19] How much less  in them that dwell  in houses  of clay,  whose foundation  is in the dust,  which are crushed  before  the moth?  [20] They are destroyed  from morning  to evening:  they perish  for ever  without any regarding  [21] Doth not their excellency  which is in them go away?  they die,  even without wisdom. 

What does Job 4:12-21 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

Eliphaz"s authority was a vision ( Job 4:12). It seems that his vision was not a revelation from God for the following reasons. He did not say that it was from the Lord. God normally identified revelations from Himself as such, to those who received them, when He used this method of revelation. Furthermore, the content of what Eliphaz received in the vision ( Job 4:17-21) does not represent God as He has revealed Himself elsewhere in Scripture. Specifically, God appears here as unconcerned with people. Evidently Eliphaz"s "spirit" ( Job 4:15) was not the Holy Spirit, and the Hebrew word translated "spirit" never unambiguously describes a disembodied spirit. Perhaps the spirit was an evil angel. What he heard from this spirit contained elements of truth: man cannot make himself pure before God, and man is mortal. Still, Eliphaz was wrong in applying these words to Job as though Job was a willful sinner (cf. Job 1:1; Job 1:8; Job 2:3). [1]