Homilist Job 4:1-21 Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said,… See such an one estimating man's character. I. HE REGARDED THE FACT THAT A MAN SUFFERED AS PROOF OF HIS WICKEDNESS. It is true that the principle of retribution is at work amongst men in this world. It is also true that this principle is manifest in most signal judgments. But retribution here, though often manifest, is not invariable and adequate; the wicked are not always made wretched, nor are the good always made happy in this life. To judge a man's character by his external circumstances is a most flagrant mistake. 1. Suffering is not necessarily connected (directly) with sin. 2. Suffering seems almost necessary to the human creature in this world. 3. Suffering, as a fact, has a sanitary influence upon the character of the good. II. HE REGARDED THE MURMURING OF A MAN UNDER SUFFERING AS A PROOF OF HIS WICKEDNESS. Job had uttered terrible complaints. Eliphaz was right here: a murmuring spirit is essentially an evil. In this complaining spirit Eliphaz discovers two things. Hypocrisy. Ignorance of God. He then unfolds a vision he had, which suggests three things. 1. That man has a capacity to hold intercourse with a spirit world. 2. That man's character places him in a humiliating position in the spirit world. 3. That man's earthly state is only a temporary separation from a conscious existence in the spirit world. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said, |
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