Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 4:5
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
5. it is come upon thee ] Rather, it cometh. It is the calamity, which Eliphaz does not care further to particularize.
art troubled ] Or, art confounded, losest self-possession, as Job had indeed described himself as one wholly perplexed, “whose way was hid,” Job 3:23.
We must beware of supposing that there is any flavour of sarcasm in the words of Eliphaz, as if he hinted that Job found it an easier thing to administer comfort to others than to take home the comfort to himself. Such a thing is wholly foreign to the mood of Eliphaz at starting, who, though he does find something to blame in Job’s state of mind, is perfectly sincere and friendly. It is equally irrelevant to the connexion.
Those whom Job had consoled are to be supposed pious men under trials. Job, as a man of deep religious experience, was able to set before them such views of providence, and of the uses of adversity in God’s hand, and open up such prospects to them, that he upheld and confirmed them. The Job 4:3-5 are incomplete, and form the foreground to Job 4:6-7, which express the real point of the statement of Eliphaz.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
But now it is come upon thee – That is, calamity; or, the same trial which others have had, and in which thou hast so successfully exhorted and comforted them. A similar sentiment to that which is here expressed, is found in Terence:
Facile omnes, cum valemus, recta consilia aegrotis damus.
And. ii. i. 9.
It toucheth thee – That is, affliction has come to yourself. It is no longer a thing about which you can coolly sit down and reason, and on which you can deliver formal exhortations.
And thou art troubled – Instead of evincing the calm submission which you have exhorted others to do, your mind is now disturbed and restless. You vent your complaints against the day of your birth, and you charge God with injustice. A sentiment resembling this, occurs in Terence, as quoted by Codurcus:
Nonne id flagitium est, te aliis consilium dare,
Foris sapere, tibi non posse te auxiliarier?
Something similar to this not unfrequently occurs. It is an easy thing to give counsel to others, and to exhort them to be submissive in trial. It is easy to utter general maxims, and to suggest passages of Scripture on the subject of affliction, and even to impart consolation to others; but when trial comes to ourselves, we often fail to realize the power of those truths to console us. Ministers of the gospel are called officially to impart such consolations, and are enabled to do it. But when the trial comes on them, and when they ought by every solemn consideration to be able to show the power of those truths in their own case, it sometimes happens that they evince the same impatience and want of submission which they had rebuked in others; and that whatever truth and power there may have been in their instructions, they themselves little felt their force. It is often necessary that he who is appointed to comfort the afflicted, should be afflicted himself. Then he can weep with those who weep; and hence, it is that ministers of the gospel are called quite as much as any other class of people to pass through deep waters. Hence, too, the Lord Jesus became so pre-eminent in suffering, that he might be touched with the feelings of our infirmity, and be qualified to sympathize with us when we are tried; Heb 2:14, Heb 2:17-18; Heb 4:15-16. It is exceedingly important that when they whose office it is to comfort others are afflicted, they should exhibit an example of patience and submission. Then is the time to try their religion; and then they have an opportunity to convince others that the doctrines which they preach are adapted to the condition of weak and suffering man.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. But now it is come upon thee] Now it is thy turn to suffer, and give an example of the efficacy of thy own principles; but instead of this, behold, thou faintest. Either, therefore, thou didst pretend to what thou hadst not; or thou art not making a proper use of the principles which thou didst recommend to others.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Now it is come, i.e. the evil which thou didst fear, Job 3:25, and which was come upon those whom thou didst so comfort.
Thou faintest; thou allowest in thyself what thou wouldst not bear in others. What in them was a vice, in thee, it seems, is become a virtue. Thou art wise for others, but not for thyself; a good physician to cure others, but not thyself; quick-sighted to see the faults of others, but blind to thine own.
It toucheth thee; it is now come to be thine own case.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. thou art troubledrather,”unhinged,” hast lost thy self-command (1Th3:3).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest,…. The affliction and evil that he feared, Job 3:25; or rather the same trials and afflictions were come upon him as had been on those whom he had instructed and reproved, and whose hands and hearts he had strengthened and comforted; and yet now thou thyself “faintest”, or “art weary” z, or art bore down and sinkest under the burden, and bearest it very impatiently a, quite contrary to the advice given to others; and therefore it was concluded he could not be a virtuous, honest, and upright man at heart, only in show and appearance. Bolducius renders the words, “God cometh unto thee”, or “thy God cometh”; very wrongly, though the sense may be the same; God cometh and visits thee by laying his afflicting hand upon thee:
it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled; suggesting that it was but a touch, a slight one, a light affliction; thereby lessening Job’s calamity and distress, or making little and light of it, and aggravating his impatience under it, that for such a trial as this he should be so excessively troubled, his passions should be so violently moved, and he be thrown into so much disorder and confusion, and be impatient beyond measure; no bounds being set to his grief, and the expressions of it; yea, even to be in the utmost consternation and amazement, as the word b signifies.
z Defatigaris, Cocceius. a aegre tulisti, Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus; “impatienter fers”, Schmidt, Michaelis, Piscator. b “consternaris”, Mercerus, Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis, Schultens.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5. Troubled Rather, confounded.
(5) But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled. (6) Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?
It is remarkable that Eliphaz maketh use of the same word as Satan did; Put forth thine hand, said Satan to GOD, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face; chap. 1:11. So again, chap 2:5. And here Eliphaz talks of Job being touched, and now he shows what he is. The whole of Eliphaz’s charge is directed, not to comfort the mourner, not to assuage his afflictions, not to console his mind under the pleasing hope, that though outward tribulations were great and heavy upon him, yet the LORD was his friend: But the whole tendency of this man’s speech, in those verses, is directed to prove that Job’s iniquity was found out, and that his hypocrisy was discovered. Reader! observe these things, and then look at Jobadiah The greatest affliction a child of GOD can feel from the taunts of his enemies, is certainly that which would tempt him to suspect the LORD had forsaken him. David gives an instance of this, when, in the case of his flight from Absalom, Shimei came forth to curse him: the curses of Shimei he could bear, for he saw the LORD’S hand in this trial. But when the taunt was from many, that there was no help for him in his GOD, then the cup of his sorrow run over. As if he had said, LORD! if it were so, I should be ruined indeed: But no; in the midst of all, thou, O LORD, art a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter-up of my head: see 2Sa 16:5-8 . See also Psa 3:1-8 . both the title and the whole of the Psalm. But when the Reader hath paid all due attention to this interesting subject, as it relates to Job, and David, and the faithful in all ages, I beg of him not to overlook Him who, in his ascent to the same hill as David trod; the Mount of Olives, was assaulted by the powers of darkness, and tempted by the enemy to the same distrust. Oh! precious JESUS! how faded, and shrunk away into nothing, do appear the trials and afflictions of the best of thy servants, in their hours of sorrow, when thy unequalled agonies in temptation are brought forward to view? Luk 22:39-44 . Reader! I beseech you, turn to this interesting passage.
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“… it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled” Job 4:5
This is the same in all human experience. It is easy to carry the burdens of others. It may be quite delightful to speak to men who are suffering as to the way in which they should bear themselves in the hour of trial. He can best sympathise who has most suffered. It is one thing to see sorrow at a distance, and another to admit it into the innermost room in our own house and live within it night and day. These are the times, however, when we can show our true spiritual quality. So long as the affliction was at a distance we merely talked about it, but when it came near us we felt it, and under the agony of our feeling we showed what our souls were really trusting to. Well-borne trial is the finest argument that can be set up on behalf of the grace of God. The promises of Scripture are not so many jewels to be worn as a necklace; they are to be appropriated, and to become part of our very selves, giving us strength, patience, dignity, so that even the smell of fire shall not pass upon us when we go through the furnace of trial. He can preach best who has had largest experience, it may be even of ill-health, loss, disappointment, and bereavement. He also can read the Bible best who has passed through similar experience. Every trial that comes to Us furnishes an opportunity through which the soul can show the fulness of the grace of heaven. If Christian men fall down in trial, what are un-Christian men to think of them and of their faith? If the very sons and princes of God quail in the day of adversity as do other men, what, then, has their religion done for them? By their depression, their fear, their want of light and hope, they not only show their own nature, they actually bring discredit upon the very religion which they profess. How did such men come to take up with such a religion? What possible motive could they have for identifying themselves with a faith which, beyond all other faiths, is marked by heroic characteristics? Cowards must not be numbered with those who follow the banner of the brave. Some men have been greater in affliction than they have ever been in prosperity. Their friends did not know them as to their real quality until they were called upon to carry heavy burdens, and to be tried by perils in the city, and perils in the wilderness, and perils on the sea, and perils amongst false brethren, it was amidst such testing perils that the true quality of the spirit was disclosed, and that many a man who was thought timid and frail discovered himself to be a very giant in the family of God. There is another aspect of the case which enables us to address men who are sensitive themselves whilst encouraging other men to be noble and brave under assault. The men referred to exhort others not to take heed of neglect or insult or dishonour; they say those who suffer from such attacks ought to be above them, ought not to resent them, ought to treat them with moderation and perhaps with occasional contempt: but how is it when the very same attacks are made upon themselves? Then how energetic they are in repelling them, how sensitive to every unkind word, how strong in their self-love, how violent in their self-conceit! Example is better than precept. To exhort another man to be magnanimous is not half so good as to be magnanimous under trial of any kind.
Job 4:5 But now it is come upon thee, and thou faintest; it toucheth thee, and thou art troubled.
Ver. 5. But now it is come upon thee ] This is a galling. But hitherto Eliphaz had commended Job; now he dasheth all, and draweth a black line over that he had spoken once. To commend a man with a but is a wound instead of a commendation; it sounds like that which is said of Naaman, 2Ki 5:1 , he was an honourable and a valiant man, but a leper; it sprinkleth black upon white, and so smutteth a man’s good name, which is slander in a high degree.
It is come upon thee
And thou faintest
It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled
And thou art troubled it is come: Job 3:25, Job 3:26
thou faintest: Pro 24:10, 2Co 4:1, 2Co 4:16, Heb 12:3, Heb 12:5
it toucheth: Job 1:11, Job 2:5, Job 19:21
Reciprocal: Gen 38:26 – And he knew Gen 45:3 – for they Job 6:2 – thoroughly Job 15:4 – castest off Job 35:15 – in great Pro 3:11 – neither
Job 4:5. But now it is come upon thee That is, the evil which thou didst fear, (Job 3:25,) or, that which had come upon those whom thou didst so comfort. And thou faintest There is no more spirit left in thee: and thou canst not practise thy own advice. It toucheth thee, and thou art troubled It is now come to be thine own case, and thou art struck with consternation.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments