first · interrogative particle + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
man
אָ֭דָם'A.dom
H120
ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
born
תִּוָּלֵ֑דti.va.Led
H3205
to bear young · verb, niphal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
made
חוֹלָֽלְתָּcho.Lal.ta
H2342
properly · verb, pual perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
before
וְלִפְנֵ֖יve.lif.Nei
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
hills
גְבָע֣וֹתge.va.'ot
H1389
a hillock · noun, common feminine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 90:2 Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art G…
Job 12:12 With the ancient is wisdom; and in length of days understanding.
Job 38:4-41 Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.
Proverbs 8:22-25 The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
Genesis 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
Job 15:10 With us are both the grayheaded and very aged men, much elder than thy father.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 15:1-16
Eliphaz here falls very foul upon Job, because he contradicted what he and his colleagues had said, and did not acquiesce in it and applaud it, as they expected. Proud people are apt thus to take it very much amiss if they may not have leave to dictate and give law to all about them, and to censure those as ignorant and obstinate, and all that is naught, who cannot in every thing say as they say. Several great crimes Eliphaz here charges Job with, only because he would not own himself a hypocrite.
I. He charges him with folly and absurdity (Job 15:2, Job 15:3), that, whereas he had been reputed a wise man, he had now quite forfeited his reputation; any one would say that his wisdom had depar…
That is, Art thou wisdom personified? Wisdom existed before the hills; that is, the eternal Son of God (Pro 8:25; Psa 90:2). Wast thou in existence before Adam? The farther back one existed, the nearer he was to the Eternal Wisdom.
John Gill on Job 15:7
Art thou the first man that was born?.... The first Adam, who was created in wisdom and knowledge, and had a large share of understanding in things natural, civil, and moral; knew much of God and his perfections, of the works of nature, and of the wisdom and power of God displayed in them; one instance of which is his giving names to the creatures; dost thou think thou art that selfsame individual person, the father of all mankind, who had such a stock and fund of knowledge, until, by seeking after more, and that unlawful, he lost much of what he had? dost thou imagine that thou hast lived ever since, and seen or known everything that was done in all ages from the beginning, and hast gathere…
7 Wast thou as the first one born as a man,
And hast thou been brought forth before the hills?
8 Hast thou attended to the counsel of Eloah,
And hast thou kept wisdom to thyself?
9 What dost thou know that we have not known?
Doest thou understand what we have not been acquainted with?
10 Both grey-haired and aged are among us,
Older in days than thy father.
The question in Job 15:7 assumes that the first created man, because coming direct from the hand of God, had the most direct and profoundest insight into the mysteries of the world which came into existence at the same time as himself. Schlottman calls to mind an ironical proverbial expression of the Hindus: "Yea, indeed, he is the first…
The Church Fathers
"What! would you be the first one called to life? Because you are so beautiful. "Have you been trained before the hills? By the hills, we must also hear the mountains: that is to say, before all the Virtues and Powers.
Eliphaz is just about to say, did you by any chance exist before the entire world, so that you learned about the most ancient times? Or did you learn anything from the mouth of God? You are not superior to us in knowledge at all. Since you had said that "wisdom is found in a long time," are you not caught in a trap now? In fact, you are not aged at all, nor were you born before the universe. But Job said that so that his friends might show their pride.
Ver. 7, 8. Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret of God? and shall His wisdom be inferior to thee? Whence Eliphaz sets himself to reprove blessed Job as it were on principles of reason, saying, Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills? Hast thou heard the secret of God? and shall His wisdom be inferior to thee? As if He said in plainer words, 'Thou, who speakest of the Eternal One, consider that thou art a creature of time. Thou that arguest concerning His wisdom, remember that Thou knowest not His counsel.' But that Heretics for this take up the words of the defence of the Lord, that they may appear to be learned, and whilst they seem to defend the glory of God, are making known their knowledge to men, the very words of Eliphaz subjoined bear witness, who began indeed to speak of the wisdom of God, but immediately fell into self-elation.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Pride · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
When the Lord himself later issued a similar challenge, Job found it convicting (38:1-11).
Rashi on Job 15:7
Were you born before Adam Heb. הראישון. Were you born before Adam? This “hey” serves as the interrogative expression. Therefore, it is vowelized with a “hattaf pattah” and its meaning is: Were you born the first one, before Adam who was formed from the earth, so that you knew to fulfill all the wisdom of the commandments of the Creator?
