JOB 35
OPENS WITH...ELIHU ACCUSES JOB OF SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS
Verses 1-3 tells us Elihu says to Job: "Are you more righteous than God?"
“Moreover Elihu answered and said:
"Do you think this is right?
Do you say,
'My righteousness is more than God's'?
For you say,
'What advantage will it be to You?
What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?'"
Elihu had just badgered Job severely at the end of his previous discourse. He accused him of adding rebellion to his sin, of ignoring the wise counsel of his friends (he claps his hands among us), and of speaking wrongly against God (multiplies his words against God). So to emphasize the point, he jabbed a finger at Job and said, "Do you think this is right?"
For you say … What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned? Elihu accused Job of a COLD calculation; of saying that he DENIED God's moral order and said that there was NO point to sinning or not sinning.
Once again Elihu twists and seeks to put words in Job’s mouth.
Verses 4-8 tells us Elihu says to Job: "God is farther above you than you can imagine."
"I will answer you,
And your companions with you.
Look to the heavens and see;
And behold the clouds;
They are higher than you.
If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him?
Or, if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him?
If you are righteous, what do you give Him?
Or what does He receive from your hand?
Your wickedness affects a man such as you,
And your righteousness a son of man."
I will answer you, and your companions with you…
Elihu's arguments and ideas were substantially the same as those of Job's friends. Yet he thought of himself as different, and though that he could correct both Job and Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.
Elihu wanted Job (and his friends) to understand an idea that they had already discussed and agreed upon, the idea that God is greater than man and beyond man.
If you are righteous, what do you give Him?
The idea was that God was so far beyond man that there was nothing man could do to God's benefit. Elihu felt that Job had lost his fear and godly appreciation of God.
AND WE SEE, Elihu had, in one sense, trapped himself in his own argument. If God is so beyond man, then what use is it for Job to repent at all?
God is indeed God, but Elihu MISSED how close God comes to man. The whole of Biblical revelation, centred and consummated in Christ, shows that human sin inflicts wounds upon God, and causes sorrow to the Holy One: and that man, living in righteousness, does give glory to God, and causes joy to His heart."
Verses 9-12 Elihu believes God does not answer the proud, even if they are oppressed.
"Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out;
They cry out for help because of the arm of the mighty.
But no one says,
'Where is God my Maker,
Who gives songs in the night,
Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth,
And makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?'
There they cry out, but He does not answer,
Because of the pride of evil men.”
Because of the multitude of oppressions they cry out…
Elihu understood that men cried out to God when they were oppressed or felt afflicted by the arm of the mighty.
But no one says, "Where is God my Maker"…
Elihu noted that men seek God in their time of need, but their seeking often is NOT sincere. They do NOT recognize God as their Maker, they do NOT recognize His comforts (who gives songs in the night), and the wisdom He gave (makes us wiser than the birds of heaven).
SPURGEON says it well, "Elihu's reason is right in the majority of cases. The great cause of a Christian's distress, the reason of the depths of sorrow into which many believers are plunged, is simply this - that while they are looking about, on the right hand and on the left, to see how they may escape their troubles, they forget to look to the hills whence all real help cometh; they do not say, 'Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?'"
They cry out, but He does not answer, because of the pride of evil men…
When men cry out to God in such insincerity, Elihu said that God does not answer them, and He does not answer because of the pride of evil men.
Elihu said this with full knowledge that Job had complained that God would not answer him. Therefore, Elihu freely associated Job with the insincere, proud, and evil men.
Verses 13-16 tells us Elihu to Job: "God does not want to hear your empty talk."
“Surely God will not listen to empty talk,
Nor will the Almighty regard it.
Although you say you do not see Him,
Yet justice is before Him, and you must wait for Him.
And now, because He has not punished in His anger,
Nor taken much notice of folly,
Therefore Job opens his mouth in vain;
He multiplies words without knowledge."
Elihu resumed his HARSH approach towards Job. His idea was that God did NOT hear Job because he was a false, empty seeker.
Although you say you do not see Him, yet justice is before Him…
Elihu wanted Job to see that God was indeed right in front of him, present in the fact of justice. If Job would only be patient (you must wait for Him), he would see the God whom he claimed was hidden from him.
Because He has not punished in His anger … therefore Job opens his mouth in vain…
Again, Elihu was very harsh with Job. "Job, if God were to punish you as you deserve, you would not be able to even open your mouth in the vain way that you do. You also speak ignorantly" (he multiplies words without knowledge).
Elihu saw that God had not yet answered Job yet, at least not in any way that Job had hoped. Therefore he said "Job opens his mouth in vain."
The idea was, "Job, if you were really a godly man, then God would have answered you by now. The fact that He hasn't shows your ungodliness."