Albert Barnes Commentary Job 4:12

"Now a thing was secretly brought to me, And mine ear received a whisper thereof." — Job 4:12 (ASV)

Now a thing - To confirm his views, Eliphaz appeals to a vision of a most remarkable character which he says he had on a previous occasion on the very point being discussed. The object of the vision was to show that mortal man could not be more just than God, and that the purity of the Most High was such that He placed comparatively no confidence even in the angels. This is evidently introduced here to reprove what he considered Job's unfounded self-confidence. He supposed that Job had been placing an undue reliance on his own integrity, that he did not have a just view of the infinite holiness of God, and had not been aware of the true state of his own heart. The highest earthly excellence, Eliphaz means, fades away before God and provides no basis for self-reliance.

It is so imperfect, so feeble, so far from what it should be, that it is no wonder that a God so holy and exalted should disregard it. He also intended, by describing this vision, to reprove Job for seeming wiser than his Maker by challenging His dealings and expressing complaints. The word “thing” here means a word (Hebrew), a communication, a revelation.

Was secretly brought to me - Margin: “by stealth.” The Hebrew word גנב (gânab) means “to steal,” to take away by stealth, or secretly. Here it means that the oracle was brought to him, as it were, by stealth. It did not come openly and plainly, but in secrecy and silence—as a thief approaches a dwelling. An expression similar to this occurs in Lucian, in Amor. p. 884, as quoted by Schultens: κλεπτομένη λαλιὰ καὶ ψιθυρισμός (kleptomenē lalia kai psithurismos).

And my ear received a little of it - Dr. Good translates this: “And my ear received a whisper along with it.” Noyes: “And my ear caught a whisper of it.” The Vulgate: “And my ear received secretly the pulsations of its whisper”—venas susurri ejus. The word translated “a little,” שׁמץ (shemets)—occurs only here and in Job 26:14, where it is also translated “little.” It means, according to Gesenius, a transient sound rapidly uttered and swiftly passing away. Symmachus: ψιθυρισμός (psithurismos)—a whisper. According to Castell, it means a sound confused and feeble, such as one hears when a man is speaking hurriedly, and when one cannot catch all that is said. This is probably the meaning here.

Eliphaz means to say that he did not grasp all that might have been said in the vision. It occurred in such circumstances, and what was said was delivered in such a manner, that he did not hear it all distinctly.

But he heard an important sentiment, which he proceeds to apply to Job's case.—It has been questioned whether Eliphaz really had such a vision, or whether he only supposed such a case, and whether the whole representation is not poetic. The fair interpretation is that he had such a vision. In such a supposition, there is nothing inconsistent with the way God's will was revealed in ancient times; and the sentiments expressed are not inconsistent with what a celestial visitor might have said on such an occasion. All that was spoken was in accordance with the truth everywhere revealed in the Scriptures, though Eliphaz perverted it to prove that Job was insincere and hypocritical. The general sentiment in the oracle was that man was not pure and holy compared with his Maker; that no one was free from guilt in His sight; that there was no virtue in man in which God could place entire confidence; and that, therefore, all were subjected to trials and to death.

But this general sentiment he proceeds to apply to Job, and regards it as teaching that, since Job was overwhelmed with such special afflictions, there must have been some secret sin of which he was guilty, which was the cause of his calamities.