Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary Verse 4. Whose spirit came from thee? ] Mr. Good renders the verse thus: From whom hast thou pillaged speeches? And whose spirit hath issued forth from thee? The retort is peculiarly severe; and refers immediately to the proverbial sayings which in several of the preceding answers have been adduced against the irritated sufferer; for which see chap. viii. 11- 19; xv. 20-35, some of which he has already complained of, as in chap. xii. 3, and following. I concur most fully therefore with Dr. Stock in regarding the remainder of this chapter as a sample, ironically exhibited by Job, of the harangues on the power and greatness of God which he supposes his friends to have taken out of the mouths of other men, to deck their speeches with borrowed lustre. Only, in descanting on the same subject, he shows how much he himself can go beyond them in eloquence and sublimity. Job intimates that, whatever spirit they had, it was not the Spirit of God, because in their answers falsehood was found.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-4 - Job derided Bildad's answer; his words were a mixture of peevishnes and self-preference. Bildad ought to have laid before Job the consolations, rather than the terrors of the Almighty. Christ knows ho to speak what is proper for the weary, Isa 50:4; and his minister should not grieve those whom God would not have made sad. We are ofte disappointed in our expectations from our friends who should comfor us; but the Comforter, the Holy Ghost, never mistakes, nor fails of his end.
Original Hebrew את854 מי4310 הגדת5046 מלין4405 ונשׁמת5397 מי4310 יצאה3318 ממך׃4480
