Chapter 35

1 Comparison is not to be made with God, because our good or evil cannot extend unto him. 9 Many cry in their afflictions, but are not heard for want of faith.

1. Elihu spake. See on ch. 32:2.

2. More than God’s. Job had made no such claims. He had questioned God’s justice (chs. 9:22–24; 10:3; 12:6), but Elihu’s accusation, as here rendered, contains an influence that goes beyond anything Job had intended in his speeches.

3. What advantage? Elihu is challenging Job’s right to take the position that a righteous man may suffer the same as a sinner. Such a viewpoint is as offensive to him as to the three friends. However, he draws unwarranted inferences from Job’s statements. Job did not maintain that the righteous have no ultimate advantage over the sinner. What he did insist was that the dealings of Providence in this world were not always in accordance with the character of men.

4. I will answer. Elihu’s answer expands the argument of Eliphaz in ch. 22:2, 3.

Companions. Heb. reФim, translated “friends” in chs. 2:11; 19:21; 42:7. The three friends of Job are pointed out.

5. Look unto the heavens. The object of Elihu’s statement is to show that God is so great that He cannot be affected by human conduct. The greatness of God is illustrated by the loftiness and grandeur of the heavens and the clouds.

6. Unto him. The argument is that the God who created the heavens is not influenced or in any way coerced by man’s sin. His power is not diminished. He is not injured, nor is His dignity impaired.

7. What gives thou him? Conversely, Elihu maintains, man’s righteousness cannot benefit God, nor does it place God under obligation to man.

8. May hurt a man. According to Elihu’s reasoning the results of iniquity or righteousness are felt, not by God, but by man. God is so apart from the effects of either sin or righteousness that there is no reason for Him to swerve from strict justice. It would then follow that where there ought to be reward there will be, and where there ought to be punishment, there will be. Consequently, there is an advantage in being righteous. God is too exalted to modify the workings of cause and effect which, in Elihu’s estimation, demand reward for the righteous and punishment for the evildoer. In other words, a man’s wickedness or righteousness affects him alone, not God. Elihu’s philosophy in this regard fails to consider the close tie between God and His creatures. Elihu sees God’s transcendence, but he fails to see His nearness to His creatures. The gospel teaches a loving God who is affected by what His creatures do, and who deals with them on a personal basis (see Heb. 4:15).

9. Multitude of oppression. Elihu is confronted with the stubborn fact of oppression. He could not deny that multitudes were crying out because of the treatment they were receiving from those stronger than they. How could he fit this fact into his philosophy? Why were these oppressed people not delivered?

10. None saith. Elihu’s contention is that the oppressed continue to suffer because they complain of their ills, but fail to call upon God with the proper spirit. If they would thus approach God, He would give them a “song in the night,” or happiness in the hour of darkness and distress (see Ps. 30:5; 77:6; 90:14; 143:8). The weakness of this contention is that it presupposes that those who continue to suffer do not call upon God aright.

11. More than the beasts. Beasts and fowls cry instinctively under pain and affliction, but they know not how to appeal to their Creator. God has taught man to do more than complain—he is to carry his grief to God in a spirit of faith, piety, humility, and resignation. According to Elihu, if God does not answer such an appeal, the proper spirit must be lacking.

12. They cry. Elihu obviously has his eye on Job. God does answer a sincere cry. This is true, but does it follow that all sincere cries are immediately answered, or in the way we desire? This is an oversimplification of the problem of suffering. It shows how an apparently logical position can be extremely misleading.

Answer. Elihu sets forth that God does not answer evil men because they ask proudly, not humbly. They claim relief from suffering as a right. They approach God from selfish motives.

14. Although. This clause should probably be translated, “How much less when thou sayest thou canst not see him.” That is, if God will not hear an empty cry, how much less will He hear the cry of one who complains that he cannot see God. Elihu apparently refers to statements of discouragement made by Job, such as in chs. 9:11; 13:24; 23:3, 8, 9; 30:20; 33:10.

15. Now, because. The first part of this verse may be translated literally, “And now, because he visited not his [Job’s] anger.” The thought may be that God has not visited fresh affliction because of Job’s arrogant words. Job was thus emboldened to continue his complaints.

16. In vain. Elihu concludes that Job has no just cause for complaint. He implies that Job has not suffered as much as he deserves—that in fact he does not know what he is talking about. Surely no comfort could possibly come to Job from a speech like this!