Dreams & Visions

 Job 4:12-21

 

“Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it.  Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
 dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake.  A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up.  It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance.  A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice:  ‘Can mortal man be in the right before God?  Can a man be pure before his Maker?   Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error; how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.   Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it.  Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

In the time of Job, often they put a lot of trust in dreams and visions, and I am not implying Eliphaz did not have this dream or that the message was or was not from God or an angelic visitation.  It seems that he assumed his experience had provided him with great insight into one of the life’s mysteries.

In verse 17, Eliphaz is not asking can a person be more righteous than God, but can anyone be pure and in right standing with a Holy God?  As we go on to verses 18-21, Eliphaz is pointing out that we have all sinned and we will experience troubles and tragedy and death in this life on planet earth.  Only Godly wisdom will give a person the correct understanding of how to live properly before God.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice