a man in general (singly or collectively) · interrogative particle + noun, common masculine singular absolute
just
יִצְדָּ֑קyitz.Dak
H6663
to be (causatively · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
God
מֵאֱל֣וֹהַme.'e.Lo.ha
H433
a deity or the Deity · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
man
גָּֽבֶרGa.ver
H1397
properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
pure
יִטְהַרyit.har-
H2891
to be pure (physical sound · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
maker
מֵ֝עֹשֵׂ֗הוּme.'o.Se.hu
H6213
to do or make · preposition + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine 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
Job 9:2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
Job 25:4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
Ecclesiastes 7:20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.
Psalms 143:2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Job 15:14 What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?
Job 35:2 Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?
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…
mortal man . . . a man--Two Hebrew words for "man" are used; the first implying his feebleness; the second his strength. Whether feeble or strong, man is not righteous before God.
more just than God . . . more pure than his maker--But this would be self-evident without an oracle.
John Gill on Job 4:17
Shall mortal man be more just than God?.... Poor, weak, frail, dying man, and so sinful, as his mortality shows, which is the effect of sin; how should such a man be more righteous than God? who is so originally and essentially of himself, completely, perfectly, yea, infinitely righteous in his nature, and in his works, both of providence and grace; in chastising his people, punishing the wicked, and bestowing favours upon his friends, even in their election, redemption, justification, pardon, and eternal happiness: yea, not only profane wicked sinners can make no pretensions to anything of this kind, but even the best of men, none being without sin, no, not man in his best estate; for the r…
17 Is a mortal just before Eloah,
Or a man pure before his Maker?
18 Behold, He trusteth not His servants!
And His angels He chargeth with imperfection.
19 How much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
They are crushed as though they were moths.
20 From morning until evening, - so are they broken in pieces:
Unobserved they perish for ever.
21 Is it not so: the cord of their tent in them is torn away,
So they die, and not in wisdom?
The question arises whether מן is comparative: prae Deo, on which Mercier with penetration remarks: justior sit oportet qui immerito affligitur quam qui immerito affligit; or causal: a Deo, h.e., ita ut a Deo justificetur. All modern expositors rightly decide o…
The Church Fathers
And do not think, Eliphaz says, that I am speaking these words to you reproachfully. No person, in fact, is totally blameless, and if he can hide his sins from people, he does not hide them from God's all-seeing eye that knows everything accurately. This indicates what is contrary to the Lord.
"What! will man ever be pure before God? He means or has heard this thought, or was frightened to see that no one is pure before God, or has had that kind of vision, because no one is pure enough to see God as he is. Here the word pure signifies a perfect purity higher than it was understood of a relative purity, and in this sense it could say that the man would not perish.
Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? Human righteousness compared with the righteousness of God is unrighteousness, for even a candle is seen to shine bright in the dark, but being set in the ray of the sun its light is darkened. What then did Eliphaz learn when he was transported in contemplation, saving that man cannot be justified in comparison with God? For we believe that what we do outwardly is righteous, but when we never at all acquaint ourselves with the things of the interior, we are as it were blind whilst set in the ray of the sun. But when we, little as we can, discern the one, it is not a little that we judge the others, in that a man judges the darkness more exactly, in proportion as the brightness of light is more truly manifested to him. For he, that seeth light, knoweth what to account of the darkness, as he, that is ignorant of the whiteness of light, lets pass even dark objects for light ones. And it is rightly added, Shall a man be more pure than his Maker? For whoso murmurs at the stroke, what does he, but charge the justice of the striker? Thus a man accounts himself more pure than his Maker, if he stirs complaint against the scourge, and without doubt he makes Him give place to himself, Whose judgment he blames in the case of his own affliction. Thus, that man may never dare charge his Judge with offence, let him humbly bethink himself that He is the Author of Nature; for He, That with marvellous skill made man out of nothing, does not pitilessly afflict him that He has made; which Eliphaz then learnt when he 'heard the voice as it were of a light breath.' For by the contemplation of the greatness of God we learn, how humbly we should abase ourselves with fear under His visitation. And he, that hath a taste of things above, bears with resignation all events below, in that he perfectly sees within, whereat he should reckon that which he does without. For he miscounts himself righteous, who knows not the rule of the Supreme Righteousness. And it often happens that a piece of wood is counted straight, if it be not applied to the rule; but so soon as it is put thereto, we discover the degree of distortion wherewith it swells out, in that, truly, the straight line cuts off and condemns that, which the cheated eye approved as good. Thus Eliphaz, in that he beheld things above, delivered a strict…
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…
Boldness · Of THE RIGHTEOUS — Of THE RIGHTEOUS
Depravity Of Man · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dream · .Of Eliphaz, of a spirit speaking to him — .Of Eliphaz, of a spirit speaking to him
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).
As the characters in the book repeatedly acknowledge, no one is truly innocent or pure (see 9:2; 15:14; 25:4; 35:7) because all are depraved (Pss 14:3; 53:3; Rom 3:10-11). Eliphaz used these terms to mean that human beings are sinful creatures and God is the sinless Creator. Job and God used them to mean that Job had faithfully carried out the duties inherent in his relationship with God. Job and Eliphaz never agreed on the meaning of these terms. Later, God said that Eliphaz had spoken inaccurately (Job 42:7).
Rashi on Job 4:17
Can a mortal be more righteous than God? This is a wonder.
or can a man be purer than his Maker? Or can a man be more pure than his Maker?
