Were you the first man ever born?This rhetorical question posed by Eliphaz to Job challenges Job's wisdom and understanding. It implies that Job's knowledge is limited compared to God's eternal wisdom. The reference to "the first man" alludes to Adam, the first human created by God, as described in
Genesis 2:7. This question underscores the theme of human limitations in understanding divine purposes, a central theme in the Book of Job. It also reflects the ancient Near Eastern belief in the wisdom of the ancients, suggesting that true wisdom comes from long experience and divine revelation, not from human presumption.
Were you brought forth before the hills?
This phrase uses poetic imagery to emphasize the antiquity and permanence of creation compared to human life. The "hills" symbolize the ancient and enduring aspects of the earth, often associated with stability and longevity. This imagery is reminiscent ofProverbs 8:25, where wisdom is personified and described as existing before the mountains and hills were formed. The question implies that Job's understanding is not as ancient or enduring as the creation itself, highlighting the vast difference between human and divine perspectives. This serves to remind readers of the eternal nature of God and His creation, contrasting with the temporal nature of human existence.
Persons / Places / Events
1.
JobA man described as blameless and upright, who feared God and shunned evil. He is the central figure in the Book of Job, known for his immense suffering and his quest for understanding God's justice.
2.
Eliphaz the TemaniteOne of Job's three friends who comes to comfort him. In this chapter, Eliphaz is speaking, challenging Job's understanding and questioning his wisdom.
3.
TemanA region in Edom, known for its wise men. Eliphaz, being a Temanite, is presumed to be wise and knowledgeable.
4.
The HillsSymbolic of ancient creation, representing the earth's foundations and the beginning of time.
5.
The DialogueThe ongoing conversation between Job and his friends, which explores themes of suffering, justice, and divine wisdom.
Teaching Points
Humility in WisdomRecognize the limitations of human wisdom compared to God's eternal knowledge. Eliphaz's rhetorical questions remind us that we are not the source of ultimate wisdom.
The Role of SufferingUnderstand that suffering can challenge our perceptions of wisdom and justice. Job's experience invites us to seek God's perspective in times of trial.
The Importance of ListeningIn dialogues about faith and suffering, listen carefully and seek to understand before responding. Eliphaz's approach can serve as a caution against assuming we fully understand another's situation.
God's Eternal PerspectiveTrust in God's eternal perspective, which surpasses our temporal understanding. This trust can provide peace amidst life's uncertainties.
Community in SufferingEngage with others in their suffering with empathy and humility, recognizing that our role is to support, not to judge or assume superiority in understanding.
Bible Study Questions and Answers
1.What is the meaning of Job 15:7?
2.How does Job 15:7 challenge our understanding of human wisdom versus God's wisdom?
3.In what ways can we humbly seek wisdom from God, not ourselves?
4.How does Job 15:7 connect with Proverbs 3:5-6 about trusting God?
5.What practical steps can we take to avoid pride in our own wisdom?
6.How can Job 15:7 encourage us to value God's eternal perspective over ours?
7.How does Job 15:7 challenge the concept of human wisdom compared to divine wisdom?
8.What does Job 15:7 imply about the limitations of human understanding?
9.How does Job 15:7 address the theme of humility before God?
10.What are the top 10 Lessons from Job 15?
11.In Job 15:7–8, how is the suggestion that humans could know divine secrets reconciled with modern scientific understanding of human origins?
12.What does 'To dust you shall return' mean?
13.What does 'born to trouble' signify in Job 5:7?
14.In Job 15:14-16, how do Eliphaz's claims about universal impurity align with Genesis 1:31, which pronounces creation 'very good'?What Does Job 15:7 Mean
Were you the first man ever born?• Eliphaz opens with this rhetorical jab (Job 15:7a) to remind Job that he is not Adam, “the man formed from the dust” (Genesis 2:7).
• Because Job arrived centuries after creation, he cannot claim firsthand knowledge of God’s counsels as Eliphaz implies inJob 15:8–9; compare God’s later question, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4).
• Scripture consistently connects wisdom with age and experience rather than novelty (Job 12:12;Proverbs 16:31). Job’s friends argue that since Job is neither the first man nor the oldest, his assertions must be less reliable than traditional understanding.
• The point: human perspective is limited; only the Creator has absolute insight (Isaiah 40:13–14;Romans 11:34).
Were you brought forth before the hills?• Eliphaz presses further (Job 15:7b), contrasting Job’s birth with the primordial “hills,” a poetic shorthand for creation’s earliest features (Psalm 90:2).
• By invoking terrain older than humanity, he underscores God’s eternal nature versus man’s temporal nature; seeProverbs 8:25, where wisdom says, “Before the hills, I was brought forth.”
• The logic: if Job did not exist before the mountains, he cannot lecture God on justice or suffering; his understanding is bound by time and space (Ecclesiastes 3:11).
• Eliphaz hopes to humble Job, steering him toward submission rather than debate (Job 5:8;James 4:10).
summaryJob 15:7 uses two vivid questions to humble Job: he was neither the original man nor older than the hills. Eliphaz argues that, because Job lacks primeval existence, he should defer to God’s timeless wisdom and the accumulated counsel of the faithful. The verse reminds us that our insight is finite, while God’s perspective is eternal and wholly trustworthy.
(7)
Art thou the first man that was born?--This is a retort upon
Job 12:2;
Job 12:7;
Job 12:9, where Job had claimed equal knowledge for the inanimate creation.
Verse 7. -
Art thou the first man that was born? That is, "Dost thou claim to have the wisdom of that first human intelligence, which, proceeding direct from God (
Genesis 1:27), was without fault or flaw - a perfect intelligence, which judged all things aright?" It is not clear that Eliphaz had ever heard of Adam; but he evidently believed in a "first man," from whom all others were descended, and he attributed to this first man a mind and intellect surpassing those of all other men. His question is, of course, rather a scoff than an inquiry. He knows that Job makes no such foolish pretence; but he throws it in his teeth that, from what he has said, men might suppose he took some such view of himself.
Or wast thou made before the hills? This is a taunt of the same kind as the previous one, but intensified. Wisdom is the result of experience. Art thou older than all the rest of us - older than the earth itself, than "the everlasting hills"? There were Greeks who claimed to be ethnically
προσέληνοι, "older than the moon," but no inhabitant of earth was ever so foolish as to imagine himself individually more ancient than the earth on which he lived.
Parallel Commentaries ...
Hebrew
Were you the firstהֲרִאישׁ֣וֹן(hă·ri·yō·šō·wn)Article | Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 7223:First, in place, time, rankmanאָ֭דָם(’ā·ḏām)Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 120:Ruddy, a human beingever born?תִּוָּלֵ֑ד(tiw·wā·lêḏ)Verb - Nifal - Imperfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 3205:To bear young, to beget, medically, to act as midwife, to show lineageWere you brought forthחוֹלָֽלְתָּ׃(ḥō·w·lā·lə·tā)Verb - Pual - Perfect - second person masculine singular
Strong's 2342:To twist, whirl, to dance, to writhe in pain, fear, to wait, to pervertbeforeוְלִפְנֵ֖י(wə·lip̄·nê)Conjunctive waw, Preposition-l | Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440:The facethe hills?גְבָע֣וֹת(ḡə·ḇā·‘ō·wṯ)Noun - feminine plural
Strong's 1389:A hillock
Links
Job 15:7 NIVJob 15:7 NLTJob 15:7 ESVJob 15:7 NASBJob 15:7 KJV
Job 15:7 BibleApps.comJob 15:7 Biblia ParalelaJob 15:7 Chinese BibleJob 15:7 French BibleJob 15:7 Catholic Bible
OT Poetry: Job 15:7 Are you the first man who was (Jb) 
