Job 36:1-16

E.

GODPERSON, PROMISE, PURPOSE, AND PEOPLE (Job 36:1-33)

1.

God deals with men according to their deeds; the penitent he restores, others perish. (Job 36:1-16)

TEXT 36:1-16

1 Elihu also proceeded, and said,

2 Suffer me a little, and I will show thee;
For I have yet somewhat to say on God's behalf.

3 I will fetch my knowledge from afar,

And will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

4 For truly my words are not false:

One that is perfect in knowledge is with thee.

5 Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any:

He is mighty in strength of understanding.

6 He preserveth not the life of the wicked,

But giveth to the afflicted their right.

7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous:

But with kings upon the throne
He setteth them for ever, and they are exalted.

8 And if they be bound in fetters,

And be taken in the cords of affliction;

9 Then he showeth them their work,

And their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.

10 He openeth also their ear to instruction,

And commandeth that they return from iniquity.

11 If they hearken and serve him,

They shall spend their days in prosperity,
And their years in pleasures.

12 But if they hearken not, they shall perish by the sword,

And they shall die without knowledge.

13 But they that are godless in heart lay up anger:

They cry not for help when he bindeth them.

14 They die in youth.

And their life perisheth among the unclean.

15 He delivereth the afflicted by their affliction,

And openeth their ear in oppression.

16 Yea, he would have allured thee out of distress

Into a broad place, where there is no straitness;
And that which Is set on thy table would be full of fatness.

COMMENT 36:1-16

Job 36:1Elihu begins his fourth and most impressive speech Chapter s 36-37. He will pour out his wisdom on Job concerning God's greatness and the mystery of His unfathomableness. If Job only knew God, he would bow in submissive awe. This speech anticipates Yahweh's speeches in Chapter s 38-41 in describing the marvels of His creation. The speech is divided into two fundamental issues: (1) The divine discipline of sufferingJob 36:2-25, which deals with the cause and purpose of sufferingJob 36:2-15, Mid the application of these points to Job personallyJob 36:16-25; and (2) The work and wisdom of GodJob 36:26, Job 37:24, God's work in natureJob 36:2, Job 37:13; and the magnificent transcendence of GodJob 36:14-24.

Job 36:2The verb -ktr here means wait or bear with me, Judges 20:43; Psalms 22:12; and Habakkuk 1:4. The verb can also mean surround, and is so interpreted by Blommerde who renders the phrase as Form a circle around me,. He also suggests that we should understand the preposition as from, not on God's behalf. This would reinforce Elihu's judgment that his wisdom is God's wisdom.

Job 36:3Elihu will bring his wisdom from afar and report the truth from God, rather than to my maker as in the A. V.[351] Elihu is thus God's infallible interpreter; so Job, you fail to listen at your own peril.

[351] For analysis of this preposition, see M. Dahood, Vetus Testamentum, 1967, p41, note 4.

Job 36:4Elihu is a total stranger to modesty. He repeatedly asserts his own genius. The parallelism precludes that the second line refers to GodJob 37:16, rather than Elihu. The word rendered perfect means complete as God had earlier testified of JobJob 2:3.

Job 36:5God is all powerful as has been asserted previously by both Job and Elihu. There is no object in the text for despise and thus it must be supplied. Of all emendations suggested, Dhorme's is most feasible and enlightening. God is great in might and He does not despise the pure in heart[352]Job 9:22 ff and Isaiah 57:15.

[352] Dhorme, Job, pp. 539ff; see also for Rabbinic tradition, S. Esh, Vetus Testanentum, 1957, Philippians 19Off; and M. Dahood, Psalms, Vol. II, note 2, on Psalms 75:7 for his defense of rendering the divine description as the Old One.

Job 36:6Earlier Job had asked why the wicked are allowed to liveJob 21:7. Elihu replies to his query that God does not allow them to live, thus contradicting Job's allegation. God punishes the unrighteous and rights the wrongs which have been inflicted upon the poor. Yes, but when? Why do we still have so many poor?

Job 36:7God does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous in watchful concern and compassion. The Masoretic punctuation creates a problem in the middle of this verse. The righteous are left alone, while Elihu refers to a class of rulers, i.e., kings as a separate class. In the Hebrew text it is the righteous who are both protected and exalted to the seats of powerful rulers. This thought is followed in verse eightPsalms 113:6 ff.

Job 36:8If they refers to the righteous from verse seven. When the righteous are allowed by God to suffer, it is for the express purpose of purification or refinement. Even Elihu would not adjudge all kings as righteous; he surely means those who are basically good, though not sinless. Here Elihu makes his sole creative contribution to the issue under scrutiny. Affliction is for disciplinary purposes onlyJob 5:17.

Job 36:9The purpose of affliction is to humble the sinner in order to destroy the power of pride, the center of sin. Exaltation breeds pride, but humiliation breeds repentance.

Job 36:10God opens their ear (-oznam); here it stands for their entire mind set. The word musar means discipline and is often connected with affliction.[353] When the evil man hears God, he returns, or repents of his rebellion.

[353] See especially J. A. Sanders, Suffering as Divine Discipline in the Old Testament and Post-Biblical Judaism (Colgate Rochester Divinity School bulletin, 1955); also E. F. Sutcliffe, Providence and Suffering in the Old Testament and New Testament; also W. D. Chamberlain, The Meaning of Repentance (Joplin, Mo.: College Press reprint, 1972).

Job 36:11Once more the thesis is presented that repentance will gain the restoration of prosperityIsaiah 1:19-20. If they hear (Heb. has hear), they will obey. Often in both Old Testament and New Testament the vocabulary for obedience is based in the verbal roots for hearing. Their lives will be completed in prosperity, if they will but repent. The Hebrew text describes the way that the righteous will complete their lives as in pleasures (Heb. bonne -imino)[354]Psalms 16:6; Psalms 16:11. Unmistakably this word admits of material pleasure and not some form of mystical bliss like the medieval supreme encounter with God.

[354] E. A. Speiser, Genesis, Vol. I, Anchor Bible, suggests that this word contains unmistakable connotations of sexual pleasuresee his comments on Job 2:8 and Job 18:12.

Job 36:12If they will not learn from God's discipline, they must perish. Doom is the reward of the ungodly. There is strong evidence that Pope is correct regarding the translation for -brshould be cross over not fall or perish as in A. V. The image suggests crossing over into death. The meaning is the same, whether we accept the traditional rendering, as does The Qumran Targum on Job, or the more recent lexical data.

Job 36:13The impious of heart nourish anger. The Hebrew has put anger for the A. V. lay up anger. Perhaps this means to nourish anger, rather than contemplating about the justice of the punishmentRomans 2:5; Amos 1:11; and Jeremiah 3:5. Dhorme takes this to mean that they keep their anger, reading yismeru. This represents the spirit of the verse.

Job 36:14They die an early and shameful death (lit. qedesimamong the male prostitutes or holy males)Deuteronomy 23:17; 1 Kings 14:24; 1 Kings 15:12; 1 Kings 22:47; 2 Kings 23:7. The Qumran Targum confirms that qedesim here refers to male prostitutes, whose lives both end early and in shame.

Job 36:15Here is the essence of Elihu's first speechJob 33:16-30. If one accepts affliction as discipline for righteousness, then one may be saved. Discipline can deliver the impious; thus therapy ends in thanksgiving.

Job 36:16Elihu charges that Job's earlier prosperity generated his corruption and injustice, which brought God's judging misfortunes upon him. Yet, in marked contrast, God's speechesChapter s 38ffinform him that he can have fellowship in suffering, not after he is restored. Technically, this and the following verses are problematic, but the essential meaning is rather clear. Job's great wealth has drawn him away from God. Perhaps it is true that it is difficult for a rich man to enter the kingdom, but it is not impossible.[355] Job returns and God blesses him in a beautiful and marvelous wayJob 42:1 ff.

[355] For the many technical matters, see Pope, Job, p. 270, and Dhorme, Job, pp. 544-555.