wind · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular absolute
passed
יַחֲלֹ֑ףya.cha.Lof
H2498
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
face
פָּנַ֣יpa.Nai
H6440
the face (as the part that turns) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix
hair
שַֽׂעֲרַ֥תsa.'a.Rat
H8185
hairiness · noun, common feminine singular construct
flesh
בְּשָׂרִֽיbe.sa.Ri
H1320
flesh (from its freshness) · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix
up
תְּ֝סַמֵּ֗רte.sa.Mer
H5568
to be erect · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person feminine singular
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
Hebrews 1:7 And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
Psalms 104:4 Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire:
Daniel 5:6 Then the king’s countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one…
Luke 24:37-39 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
Isaiah 13:8 And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed…
Isaiah 21:3-4 Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travaileth: I was bowed down at the hea…
Matthew 14:26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
Hebrews 1:14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 4:12–end
Eliphaz, having undertaken to convince Job of the sin and folly of his discontent and impatience, here vouches a vision he had been favoured with, which he relates to Job for his conviction. What comes immediately from God all men will pay a particular deference to, and Job, no doubt, as much as any. Some think Eliphaz had this vision now lately, since he came to Job, putting words into his mouth wherewith to reason with him; and it would have been well if he had kept to the purport of this vision, which would serve for a ground on which to reprove Job for his murmuring, but not to condemn him as a hypocrite. Others think he had it formerly; for God did, in this way, often communicate his mi…
In thoughts from the visions of the night--[So WINER]. While revolving night visions previously made to him (Dan 2:29). Rather, "In my manifold (Hebrew, divided) thoughts, before the visions of the night commenced"; therefore not a delusive dream (Psa 4:4) [UMBREIT].
deep sleep-- (Gen 2:21; Gen 15:12).
John Gill on Job 4:15
Then a spirit passed before my face,.... Which some interpret of a wind (q), a blustering wind, that blew strong in his face; and so the Targum renders it, a stormy wind, such an one as Elijah perceived when the Lord spoke to him, though he was not in that, 1 Kings 19:11; or such a whirlwind, out of which the Lord spake to Job, Job 38:1; or rather, as Jarchi, an angel, an immaterial spirit, one of Jehovah's ministering spirits, clothed in an human form, and which passed and repassed before Eliphaz, that he might take notice of it:
the hair of my flesh stood up; erect, through surprise and dread; which is sometimes the case, when anything astonishing and terrible is beheld; the blood at such…
12 And a word reached me stealthily,
And my ear heard a whisper thereof.
13 In the play of thought, in visions of the night,
When deep sleep falleth on men,
14 Fear came upon me, and trembling;
And it caused the multitude of my bones to quake with fear.
15 And a breathing passed over my face;
16 It stood there, and I discerned not its appearance:
An image was before my eyes;
A gentle murmur, and I heard a voice.
The fut. יגגּב, like Jdg 2:1; Psa 80:9, is ruled by the following fut. consec.: ad me furtim delatum est (not deferebatur). Eliphaz does not say אלי ויגנּב (although he means a single occurrence), because he desires, with pathos, to put himself prominent. That the word came to him so…
The Church Fathers
"And a spirit came to stand before me. He wants us to hear that a breath has touched him, and we see, by what he adds, that he was not a vain ghost. Let us remember that the Holy Spirit descended in this way upon the Apostles.
ON HOW HERETICS MISUSE THIS VERSE. And when a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. There stood one, but I knew not the face of him. That they may shew that they have been made acquainted with incomprehensible mysteries, they relate, not that 'a spirit' stood still, but that it 'passed by before their face.' And they pretend that they beheld a countenance they knew not, that they may prove themselves to be known to Him, Whom the human mind is not equal to know. And here it is further added; An image was before mine eyes, and I heard the voice as it were of a light breath of air. Heretics often picture God to themselves by a sensible form, seeing that they are unable to behold Him spiritually. And they tell that they hear His 'voice as of a light breath of air,' in that for the obtaining the knowledge of His secret things, they delight to have as if a particular freedom of intercourse with Him. For they never teach the things, which God reveals openly, but such as are breathed into their ears in a secret manner.
And as a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. But when the mind is suspended in contemplation, when, exceeding the narrow limits of the flesh, with all the power of her ken, she strains to find something of the freedom of interior security, she cannot for long rest standing above herself, because though the spirit carries her on high, yet the flesh sinks her down below by the yet remaining weight of her corruption. And hence it is added, And as a spirit passed before my face, the hair of my flesh stood up. 'A spirit passes before our face,' when we are brought to the knowledge of invisible things, and yet see these same not stedfastly, but with a hasty glance. For not even in the sweetness of inward contemplation does the mind remain fixed for long, in that being made to recoil by the very immensity of the light it is called back to itself. And when it tastes that inward sweetness, it is on fire with love, it longs to mount above itself, yet it falls back in broken state to the darkness of its frailty. And advancing in high perfection, it sees that it cannot yet see that which it ardently loves, which yet it would not love ardently did it not in some sort see the same. Thus the spirit is not stationary, but 'passes by;' because our contemplation both discloses to us, that pant thereafter, the heavenly light, and forthwith conceals the same from us failing from weakness. And because in this life, whatever degree of virtue a man may have advanced to, he still feels the sting of corruption, For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things; therefore it is rightly added, The hair of my flesh stood up. For 'the hairs of the flesh' are all the superfluities of human corruption. 'The hairs of the flesh' are the imaginations of the former life, which we so cut away from the mind, that we let no grief for the loss of them disturb our peace. And it is well said by Moses, Let the Levites shave all the hairs of their flesh. For a 'Levite' is rendered 'taken.' And thus it behoves the 'Levites' to shave all 'the hairs of the flesh,' in that he who is 'taken' into the divine ministrations, ought to shew himself clear of all imaginations of the flesh before the eyes of God, that the mind never put forth unlawful thoughts, and so deform the fair appearance of the soul as it…
Dictionary and topics
Eliphaz — God his strength. (1.) One of Job’s “three friends” who visited him in his affliction (4:1). He was a “Temanite”, i.e., a native of Teman, in Idumea. He first enters into debate with Job. His…
Spirit — (Heb. ruah; Gr. pneuma), properly wind or breath. In 2 Thess. 2:8 it means “breath,” and in Eccl. 8:8 the vital principle in man. It also denotes the rational, immortal soul by which man is…
Dream · .Of Eliphaz, of a spirit speaking to him — .Of Eliphaz, of a spirit speaking to him
Visions · Mentioned in scripture: To Eliphaz — Mentioned in scripture: To Eliphaz
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).
