Job 35-37 35:1, 2 Elihu here refers to Job s previous words in chapter 31. In other words, Elihu is asking Job if he thinks he is right. 35:3 Elihu then accuses Job of saying to God, How is it better for a man to not sin than to sin? Does he profit more by not sinning than by sinning? 35:4 Elihu is still (in his own mind) correcting Job and his three older friends. Elihu s answers were basically the same as Job s friends, but he thought he had insight that they didn t have. 35:5-7 Elihu tells Job that God is not affected positively or negatively by Job s righteousness or sin. In essence, Elihu is saying that God is far above man and far greater than man. In other words, what benefit would God receive from Job s obedience? God was so far above man, and greater than man. This wasn t news to Job or his friends. They had all already agreed on this. NOTE- Sometimes, when a younger person discovers a truth, he thinks that he is the only one who understands it, and that this new revelation has been given only to him or her. Then they proceed to instruct everyone around them, presuming that they don t know this truth. That is what Elihu was doing. In truth, Elihu had shot himself in the foot. His argument was that God was so far above man, and so far removed, that man s actions didn t affect God. If that was true, then why should Job repent, and why should they think that God was punishing Job? If God was so far away as to be indifferent to man, then why was Elihu arguing that God was concerned with Job, and punishing him? Elihu was not nearly as smart as he thought. 35:8 Elihu s conclusion on this matter was that Job s behavior only affected him and other people. 35:9 Elihu stated the obvious: that men cry out to God when they suffer difficulties.
35:10, 11 Elihu rightly recognized that when times are good, that men don t cry out to God, and don t recognize his benefits which bring joy. They don t acknowledge that God makes them wiser than the animals. Even on our worst day, we do well to consider the wonder of intelligence and understanding that God has given to mankind. We have intellectual, emotional, and spiritual abilities that are unique to us, and which the animal kingdom does not have. 35:12 Elihu declared that God will not listen to proud, evil men. He said that God viewed their talk as empty talk. Insincere, and offered only when times were tough. NOTE- Job had repeatedly said that he cried out to God, but that God had not answered him. In essence, Elihu is insinuating that Job was one of the those proud men, since God does not answer the proud. 35:13 Other words, God doesn t answer you because you speak empty, insincere words. 35:14-16 Elihu said that God was far above, almost out of reach. Now he tells Job to wait from Him, that justice would come. 36:1-4 It seems as though Elihu is sensing that his listeners are getting bored and or trouble by his words. He asked them to please keep listening, since he (believed) he had words from God. Job s friends had sought to reason with Job. Elihu claimed be speaking the very words of God. His approach was much more direct and bold. V. 4- One who is perfect. If Elihu was speaking of himself, this was arrogant. If he was speaking of God, this was appropriate. 36:5 God is mighty, but doesn t hate people. He doesn t overlook people, or dislike people and ignore them. He is mighty in his ability to understand. 36:6 This was the spiritual karma mindset that these men embraced. Sometimes the wicked do live long lives.
The oppressed do not always get justice. What is more important that the rights and wrongs of how things work out in this life, is how things will work out in eternity. 36:7 If God had withdrawn his eyes from Job, it would be because Job was wicked, which is what Elihu insinuated. Elihu claimed that the righteous were known for the following reasons: God s eyes are upon the righteous (He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous) The righteous are exalted (they are on the throne with kings) If the righteous are bound, God convicts them, sets them free, and are restored to prosperity and pleasures (if they are bound in fetters... He tells them their works and their transgressions... if they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity) 36:8-10 God does discipline the Christian. He does seek to turn a wandering or a defiant Christian back to Himself. 36:11 This is not always true, as was seen in the life of Job, whom God called perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil. Job 1:1 This statement was not categorically true then, nor is it true now. 36:12, 13 Romans 2:4-6 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to each one according to his deeds : The evil man, the hypocrite, does accumulate wrath against himself. Job, however, was not a hypocrite. 36:14 Perverted persons- Speaks of the both heterosexual and homosexual prostitutes. 36:15 Again, not always true. 36:16 This is often the result of someone repenting; in a physical, spiritual, mental, and emotional sense.
36:17-19 Elihu once again wrongly affirms Job s guilt. Elihu warns Job that God could wipe him out with one blow, and that large amounts of money or armies could not avert God s judgment. 36:20 Don t choose death. 36:21 This next portion is very different. Elihu beautifully exalts God. It has been suggested that Elihu saw a storm suddenly approaching, and used it as a visual image of the greatness of God. 36:22-26 Elihu again tries to convince Job of the greatness of God. That God was somehow out of reach, or beyond knowing very well. 36:27-33 Guzik- In this beautiful section Elihu analyzed the water cycle of evaporation, distillation, and rain and used it as an example of God s brilliance and beauty as a Designer. 37:1-5 Elihu continues to speak of the fact that God was out of reach and unknowable, or at least, not completely knowable. This is true, in that the finite will never fully comprehend the infinite. 37:6, 7 Snow and heavy rain cause a man to cease his work. Man ought to, at those times, remember the greatness of God. Spurgeon- When the Lord seals up a man s hand, he is unable to perform his labor. The Lord has an object in this, namely, that, all men may know his work. When they cannot do their own work, they are intended to observe his works of God. 37:8-12 Elihu alludes to the fact that creation submits to and obeys the voice of God. The insinuation is that Job ought to do the same. 37:13 Mason- In many ways a storm serves as an ideal metaphor for the spiritual problems in Job. For while a storm presents all the outward appearance of chaos, of nature run amok, still throughout it all we know that the Creator remains in absolute control of every detail.
37:14 Elihu was very direct. 37:15-18 Elihu spoke of the greatness of God and the smallness of man. 37:19 Elihu is rebuking Job for thinking that he (Job) had the right to speak to God. Whereas Elihu was correct about much, he was also wrong about much. He corrected Job, saying that God could not be truly known, yet Elihu presumes to speak for God. 37:20-24 Elihu returned to his theme of God s distance and transcendence. He wanted to discourage Job from insisting that God owed him (or anyone else) an audience or an explanation. Guzik- Significantly, the God whom Elihu believed to be utterly beyond and unreachable by man (we cannot find Him) has come in the storm, and will speak to Job. It seems that God had finally heard enough of the almost-right wisdom of man, and had heard enough of this talk that He was so beyond man that He was beyond reach. God was about to confront not only Job, but his three friends and especially Elihu, with both His words and His presence.