Commentaries:
Barnes' Notes
Why doth thine heart carry thee away? - Why do you allow your feelings to control you in spite of the decisions of the understanding? Eliphaz means to represent him as wholly under the influence of passion, instead of looking calmly and cooly at things as they were, and listening to the results of past experience and observation.
And what do thy eyes wink at - This expression has given considerable perplexity to commentators. Rosenmuller (and after him Noyes) remarks that the expression indicates pride, haughtiness, and arrogance. In Psalms 35:19, it is an indication of joyfulness or triumph over a prostrate foe:
Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me;
Neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
In Proverbs 6:13, it is an indication of a haughty, froward, self-confident person:
A haughty person, a wicked man,
Walketh with a froward mouth;
He winketh with his eyes,
He speaketh with his feet,
He teacheth with his fingers.
The Hebrew word ( râzam ) occurs nowhere else, and it is therefore difficult to determine its true signification. The most probable meaning is, to wink with the eyes as a gesture of pride and insolence; compare the notes at Isaiah 3:16. The Vulgate renders it, attonitos habes oculos? - "Why, as though meditating great things, hast thou eyes of astonishment?" Septuagint, "Why are thine eyes elevated?" Schultens renders it, "Why do thine eyes roll fury?" - Quid fremitum volvunt oculi tui? Luther, "Why art thou so proud? There can be no reasonable doubt that the word conveys the idea of pride and haughtiness manifested in some way by the eyes.
Other Barnes' Notes entries containing Job 15:12:
Psalms 35:19
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