Job 4:17-19
17. mortal man . . . a man—Two Hebrew words for "man" are used; the first implying his feebleness; the second his strength. Whether feeble or strong, man is not righteous before God.
more just than God . . . more pure than his maker—But this would be self-evident without an oracle.18. folly—Imperfection is to be attributed to the angels, in comparison with Him. The holiness of some of them had given way (2Pe 2:4), and at best is but the holiness of a creature. Folly is the want of moral consideration [UMBREIT].
19. houses of clay— (2Co 5:1). Houses made of sun-dried clay bricks are common in the East; they are easily washed away (Mt 7:27). Man's foundation is this dust (Ge 3:19).
before the moth—rather, "as before the moth," which devours a garment (Job 13:28; Ps 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. Job 15:14-16
14. Eliphaz repeats the revelation (Job 4:17) in substance, but using Job's own words (see on Job 14:1, on "born of a woman") to strike him with his own weapons.
15. Repeated from Job 4:18; "servants" there are "saints" here; namely, holy angels.
heavens—literally, or else answering to "angels" (see on Job 4:18, and Job 25:5).16. filthy—in Arabic "sour" (Ps 14:3; 53:3), corrupted from his original purity.
drinketh— (Pr 19:28).