Elihu's Second Reply to Job. Job's complaint that God afflicts him unjustly is without reason. A motive for injustice in him who is Creator of all alike cannot be found; and injustice in the Highest Ruler is inconceivable Having in ch. 33 replied to Job's charge that God's afflictions were examples... [ Continue Reading ]
_The wise_men are not the three friends, but the bystanders who hear Elihu; cf. Job 34:34.... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu invites the wise among those who listen to him to attend to what he further says, and to unite with him in seeking to discover the right in this cause between Job and God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu makes his appeal to his hearers _for_the ear trieth words. His appeal is to the common reason, or to the common reverent and just thoughts of God in men. The "ear" is the inner ear, the understanding, which is a judge of sentiments as much as, or like as, the palate is a judge of meats, ch. Jo... [ Continue Reading ]
The word _judgment_means _right_, or, _the right_, the just decision in the cause under consideration, Job's plea with God.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am righteous_ Or, _in the right_, I have right on my side. _my judgment_ As before means _my right_, what is rightly due to me God has dealt with me unjustly; comp. Job 9:15; Job 9:20; Job 13:18; Job 27:2; Job 27:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu recites Job's statement of his cause against God, expressing his abhorrence of Job's sentiments.... [ Continue Reading ]
_should I lie against my right?_ This sense is possible, the meaning being, "shall I admit guilt when I am not guilty but wrongly afflicted"? Perhaps the sense is rather: _against_(or, notwithstanding) _my right I am made to lie_: when I affirm my rectitude God's treatment of me belies my affirmatio... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu cannot restrain his abhorrence of Job's sentiments. By _scorning_is meant impiety and scepticism. On the figure comp. ch. Job 15:16.... [ Continue Reading ]
In expressing such opinions Job goes over to the camp of the professed ungodly; comp. Job 22:15; Psalms 1:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
Job had nowhere used this precise language, though the idea is not an unnatural inference from much that he had said; comp. ch. Job 9:12; Job 21:7; Job 24:1, and ch. 21 throughout. This charge that a man is nothing bettered by being religious Elihu refutes in ch. 35, directing his attention in the m... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu's argument in these verses is the truest answer that can be given: injustice on the part of God is inconsistent with the idea of God. The three friends had urged the same plea. And Job would have accepted the argument had his friends or himself been able to take it up as a general principle an... [ Continue Reading ]
This charge of injustice Elihu rebuts, _first_, on the general ground of its impiety: God cannot be thought of as acting in the way Job asserted He rewardeth every man according to his works (Job 34:10); and _second_, he then resolves the general idea into two distinct thoughts, Job 34:13, and Job 3... [ Continue Reading ]
The first thought of Elihu is that the earth, the world, is not entrusted to God by another; He himself arranged it all as it is; there is therefore no motive to injustice. This is one side of his idea; the other (Job 34:14) is that the fact of the creation and sustaining of all things and creatures... [ Continue Reading ]
_if he set his heart upon man_ lit. as marg. _upon him_. The interpretation of the A. V. is possible, the meaning being, if God should set His mind strictly on man, to mark iniquity and the like (ch. Job 7:17). More probably the meaning is: set His mind _upon Himself_; if He were the object of His o... [ Continue Reading ]
The second thought: without justice rule is impossible; and therefore injustice in the supreme Ruler is inconceivable. The thought is one that finds repeated expression in Scripture, as in the words of Abraham, "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" Genesis 18:25, and in those of St Paul,... [ Continue Reading ]
_condemn him that is most just_ Or, CONDEMN THE JUST, THE MIGHTY ONE.... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse reads, Is it fit to say to a king, Thou wicked! Or to princes, Ye ungodly! The word "wicked" means _worthless_, Heb. _belial_. No doubt many kings, whether in the past or the present, might be justly enough addressed as "wicked," and princes in abundance as "ungodly," but the speaker is... [ Continue Reading ]
Partiality or injustice is not to be thought of in God, for all men, rich and poor, are alike the work of His hands. In these words the disputant makes the transition from his principle to the illustration of it in God's actual rule of men, and this illustration he pursues at length.... [ Continue Reading ]
Display of God's just rule over people and princes. According to the punctuation the verse is thus divided, In a moment they die and at midnight; The people are shaken and pass away, And the mighty are taken away without hand. The phrase _at midnight_means suddenly and without anticipation, comp... [ Continue Reading ]
God's strict justice may be seen in His government of the peoples and their princes alike. His justice is unerring, for it is guided by omniscient insight. Punishing oppression, it avenges the cause of the poor and afflicted.... [ Continue Reading ]
This just rule of God operates unfailingly, being guided by infallible insight.... [ Continue Reading ]
The verse reads probably, For he needeth not to consider a man further, That he should come before God in judgment. The meaning is that no inquisition on God's part is needed of a man, beyond his evil deed, with the view of bringing him before God in judgment. God beholds all, and His insight and... [ Continue Reading ]
_he shall break … without number_ Rather, HE BREAKETH … WITHOUT INQUISITION. The verse amplifies the conception of the preceding verse.... [ Continue Reading ]
Armed with such omniscient insight (_therefore, Job 34:25_) He knoweth men's works, and His judgment overtakes them without fail.... [ Continue Reading ]
_so that they cause the cry_ Rather, THUS HE CAUSETH THE CRY OF THE POOR TO COME BEFORE HIM; lit. _to cause_(or, causing) _to come_. The words sum up the general purpose (or, effect) of God's destructive judgments on the oppressors; He thus brings before Him and hears the cry of the afflicted.... [ Continue Reading ]
Here _he_, God, is emphatic. Elihu while upholding the rectitude Of God conjoins with it His sovereignty. To _give quietness_or rest seems to mean to give peace and security from oppression, when the oppressed cry unto Him (Judges 5:31; Isaiah 14:7). The antithesis to this is _He hides His face_, wo... [ Continue Reading ]
The connexion of the following verses is rather uncertain. The sense of Job 34:30 might suggest the connexion of Job 34:29 with the preceding. In this case Job 34:31 would make a new start, and the connexion would be maintained to the end of the chapter. It is probable, however, that Job 34:34 shoul... [ Continue Reading ]
His operations are directed by the great purpose of the good of men, that the nations be righteously and mercifully ruled.... [ Continue Reading ]
A supposition is put: Has any one said unto God? where _God_is emphatic, the emphasis implying the unseemliness and presumption of the act. The case is put generally, but the case is that of Job, as Job 34:33 reveals. The meaning of the passage is that the complainer under affliction protests his in... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu gradually approaches the conduct of Job. He supposes the case of one animadverting on the Divine procedure and complaining of unjust affliction. This is presumption and implies that one usurps the government of the Most High.... [ Continue Reading ]
Elihu's answer to this complaint is that it is a claim to regulate the government of God, to give laws to Him how He shall act, and to decide how He shall recompense. Such a position the complainer takes but for himself Elihu repudiates it: _Thou must choose, not I_. In the concluding words, _speak... [ Continue Reading ]
The verdict regarding Job's demeanour which all men of understanding and those who listen to Elihu will give, 34. Men of understanding will say unto me, And the wise man who heareth me: 35. Job speaketh without knowledge, And his words are without wisdom. 36. Would that Job were tried unto the... [ Continue Reading ]
It is not certain whether Job 34:36 be a continuation of the judgment of Elihu's hearers or be his own words. The sentiment is excessively harsh, and probably Elihu, though of course concurring in it, puts it forth indirectly as the judgment of others. The wish is expressed that Job might be _tried... [ Continue Reading ]
Job's _sin_is that of his former life, for which he has been cast into afflictions; his _rebellion_is his unsubmissive, defiant demeanour against God in his speeches. This "rebellion" is further described as _clapping of the hands_, a gesture of open mockery and contempt. The next clause, "multiplie... [ Continue Reading ]