how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth.
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.
Commenting on Job 4:12-21
They are destroyed from morning to evening,.... That is, those that dwell in houses of clay, before described; the meaning is, that they are always exposed to death, and liable to it every day they live; not only such who are persecuted for the sake of religion, but all men in common, for of such are both the text and context; who have always the...
houses of clay-- (Co2 5:1). Houses made of sun-dried clay bricks are common in the East; they are easily washed away (Mat 7:27). Man's foundation is this dust (Gen 3:19). before the moth--rather, "as before the moth," which devours a garment (Job 13:28; Psa 39:11; Isa 50:9). Man, who cannot, in a physical point of view, stand before the very moth, surely cannot, in a moral, stand before God.