Job 15 7

Job 15:7 kjv

Art thou the first man that was born? or wast thou made before the hills?

Job 15:7 nkjv

"Are you the first man who was born? Or were you made before the hills?

Job 15:7 niv

"Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills?

Job 15:7 esv

"Are you the first man who was born? Or were you brought forth before the hills?

Job 15:7 nlt

"Were you the first person ever born?
Were you born before the hills were made?

Job 15 verses

Job 15 7 Meaning

Eliphaz the Temanite, one of Job's three friends, sarcastically questions Job’s perceived self-importance and claims of superior knowledge. He challenges Job’s wisdom by asking if he predates all humanity, suggesting he thinks he is the original source of all wisdom, or if he was present at creation, thereby privy to secrets known only to God. This rhetorical challenge aims to diminish Job's arguments by highlighting his human limitations and mortality, contrasting them with God’s eternal existence and unique knowledge.

Job 15 7 Context

Job chapter 15 records Eliphaz's second speech to Job. Having grown impatient and offended by Job's continued assertions of innocence and complaints against God, Eliphaz now escalates his accusations. He argues that Job's words are a direct challenge to divine authority and an affront to traditional wisdom, which teaches that the righteous prosper and the wicked suffer. Job 15:7, specifically, serves as a scathing rhetorical question, mocking Job’s perceived presumption. Eliphaz and his friends adhere to a conventional theology of retribution, believing Job's suffering must be due to hidden sin, and they see Job's self-defense as pride or foolishness, daring to question God's ways or elevate his own understanding above divine decree or the collective wisdom of elders.

Job 15 7 Word analysis

• Art thou: This marks the beginning of a sarcastic, rhetorical question. It's a challenging, accusatory tone, implying an expected "no" answer, intended to highlight Job's human insignificance.
• the first man: (Hebrew: הָאָדָם רִאשׁוֹן, hā'āḏām ri’šôn) - Literally "the man first." This refers directly to Adam, the original man created by God (Gen 2:7; 1 Cor 15:45). The question implies: "Do you imagine yourself to be prior to all humanity, therefore possessing original, unmatched wisdom?"
• that was born: (Hebrew: תִּוָּלֵד, tīwwālēḏ) - Passive verb, "to be born." This emphasizes the ordinary human condition of being born, entering existence, and thus being subject to human limitations. It contrasts with God, who is uncreated and eternal.
• or wast thou made: (Hebrew: יֻצָּרְתָּ, yuṣṣārəttā) - Passive verb, "to be formed" or "fashioned." This term often refers to God’s creative act of forming human beings (e.g., Ps 139:13) or other entities. The use of "made" suggests a divine formation process.
• before the hills: (Hebrew: קֹדֶם גְּבָעוֹת, qōḏem gəḇā‘ōṯ) - "Before the hills." "Hills" here represent the ancient, foundational, and permanent elements of creation. To be made "before the hills" implies pre-existence to the physical creation, signifying a cosmic or primordial existence that only God and His Wisdom (personified in Prov 8:25) possessed. It sarcastically questions if Job was privy to creation's deepest secrets.

Words-group by words-group analysis:

• "Art thou the first man that was born?": This rhetorical query belittles Job by suggesting he acts as if he possesses an origin unique among humans, specifically a claim to being a fount of all knowledge, possibly superior to even Adam, from whom all knowledge has since diverged or diminished. It's an attack on Job's perceived intellectual pride, contrasting his finite existence with his seemingly boundless claims.
• "or wast thou made before the hills?": This second rhetorical question extends the sarcasm into the divine realm. It implies Job believes he existed alongside God during creation, participating in the divine counsel or having observed the very forming of the world. This is a subtle yet potent accusation of blasphemous self-exaltation, asserting that Job’s purported wisdom can only derive from such an impossible, god-like experience, thus implying Job has crossed the boundary between human and divine.

Job 15 7 Bonus section

Eliphaz's approach here embodies the limited nature of human, traditional wisdom when confronting exceptional suffering or the incomprehensibility of God's ways. While the questions are biblically sound in their assertion of God's unique pre-existence and ultimate wisdom (God alone was "before the hills" and created the "first man"), Eliphaz misapplies them by assuming Job claims such divine wisdom for himself. The irony lies in the fact that it is Eliphaz and his friends who are applying human, conventional wisdom rigidly and attempting to "limit wisdom" to their own understanding, something Eliphaz actually accuses Job of in the following verse (Job 15:8). This foreshadows God's ultimate rebuke of the friends, whose arguments, though seemingly pious, misrepresent His character and Job's righteousness.

Job 15 7 Commentary

Job 15:7 is Eliphaz's sharp rhetorical strike against Job. It is not an inquiry into Job's history, but a taunt suggesting Job's arrogance and delusion about his own wisdom. Eliphaz attempts to corner Job by implying he claims access to primordial wisdom (predating humanity like Adam, or pre-existing creation like God Himself). This reflects Eliphaz's faulty premise that human suffering is solely due to sin. He perceives Job’s persistence in his innocence as intellectual pride. In essence, Eliphaz is saying: "Are you wiser than all of humanity, including the sages who lived before you, or were you present when God founded the world to gain special insight? Surely not! Therefore, your claims must be fallacious." This verse vividly contrasts the human limited sphere of understanding with the limitless and unsearchable wisdom of God, a central theme woven throughout the book of Job, ultimately leading to Job's profound revelation of God's majesty.