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NOTES for Job 34:1-37

Printable version
1 Furthermore Elihu answered and said,
2 Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.
3 For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.
4 Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.
6 Should I lie against my right? my wound is incurable without transgression.
7 What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?
8 Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men.
9 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.
10 Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
11 For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.
12 Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.
13 Who hath given him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world?
14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
16 If now thou hast understanding, hear this: hearken to the voice of my words.
17 Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?
18 Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to princes, Ye are ungodly?
19 How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.
20 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.
24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their stead.
25 Therefore he knoweth their works, and he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
26 He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others;
27 Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways:
28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
29 When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
30 That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
31 Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
32 That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.
33 Should it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest.
34 Let men of understanding tell me, and let a wise man hearken unto me.
35 Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.
36 My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men.
37 For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God.
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Like Job's friends, Elihu is outraged that Job has questioned the justice of God's judgments. To Elihu, Job's words about life's injustice, and about suffering and death being the lot of both the righteous and the lawless, sound blasphemous. Elihu himself, then, finds life in this world justly ordered. Life is ordered as it should be and God is just, Elihu maintains. The lawless and the wicked will not escape God's wrath; the very order of the world is such that the lawless perish and die suddenly.

The speculative nature of this argument is obvious. Job's lament that people suffer and perish regardless of guilt is based on his actual perception of what is happening around him. Human perception itself, our understanding of what is good and what is bad, may be distorted—but within the limits of his own vision, Job is honest. Elihu, meanwhile, tries in a roundabout way to say the same thing as Job's friends: in this life the righteous do not suffer, and if someone does suffer, that person is not righteous. The Gospel, which contains what is most important in biblical revelation, says precisely the opposite.

The question, it seems, is not whether God is just; here, as far as we can judge, Elihu is right, and the path of lawlessness does not lead a person to life. The world in which humanity lives is distorted by sin and does not correspond to the Creator's design. Elihu is therefore only partly right: in this life God's righteous judgment upon the lawless is distorted, and the world is more hostile to the righteous. John the Evangelist will later write in his First Epistle: ‘Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father's love is not in him. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not from the Father but from this world’ (1 John 2:15–16). The characters in the Book of Job are certain that everything in the world comes from God, and so suffering without guilt seems utterly impossible to them. But whereas Elihu and Job's friends try to dispute the obvious, the author of the book gives Job himself a position that is deeper and more honest before God.

Yet the author is not only a prophet but also a literary genius, and so the Elihu of his book is a portrait drawn from life. Century after century, religious circles produce such figures, people who are satisfied with their own lives. For that reason alone they are ready to justify the existing order of things and invent justifications for God, who supposedly accepts it.

Other notes

 
For Job 34:1-37
1 Furthermore Elihu answered and said,
2 Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.
3 For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.
4 Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.
6 Should I lie against my right? my wound is incurable without transgression.
7 What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?
8 Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men.
9 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.
10 Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
11 For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.
12 Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.
13 Who hath given him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world?
14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
16 If now thou hast understanding, hear this: hearken to the voice of my words.
17 Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?
18 Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to princes, Ye are ungodly?
19 How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.
20 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.
24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their stead.
25 Therefore he knoweth their works, and he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
26 He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others;
27 Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways:
28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
29 When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
30 That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
31 Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
32 That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.
33 Should it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest.
34 Let men of understanding tell me, and let a wise man hearken unto me.
35 Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.
36 My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men.
37 For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God.
Hide
Continuing his speech to Job, Elihu repeats the idea expressed by Job's friends that God is righteous and His judgment is beyond dispute. Job does not dispute this: he only wants to meet God face...  Read more

Continuing his speech to Job, Elihu repeats the idea expressed by Job's friends that God is righteous and His judgment is beyond dispute. Job does not dispute this: he only wants to meet God face to face. Job is seeking a trial, not punishment without a hearing, which is how he sees what is happening to him. Here Elihu finds a new argument for Job. He says to Job: what kind of trial are you demanding and waiting for? God does not need to stand face to face with you to judge you. Even from afar, He already knows everyone and can assess their life and deeds. If someone suffers and perishes, that person must be a sinner. The verdict is clear from the course of events itself.

And the defendant should not grumble, but accept what is happening to him precisely as a sentence, without demanding a trial or any further proceedings: judgment has already been passed, and the calamities and misfortunes that befall a person are themselves the sentence. To demand anything more, to expect a face-to-face meeting with God, and especially to insist on it, is the height of wickedness. It might seem strange to hear such things from Elihu, a charismatic: surely he should know that God is not far from us. But that is precisely the point: charismatic experience, unlike prophetic experience proper, does not always bring a person face to face with God. To stand face to face with God means to sense not only the power of His breath, but also the distinctness of His will, His specific intention directed towards that person. This is by no means always the case in charismatic experience.

Often such experience involves precisely the sense of God's presence as the power of His breath enveloping a person, while the charismatic in a state of ecstasy may fail to notice God's will itself. Of course, this does not always happen, but it happens quite often. Yet, failing to discern His will behind God's power, a person swept up in the ecstasy of God's breath has no doubt that God is always and unquestionably right. Such a person feels God's power quite distinctly, and the ecstatic experience associated with it assures him that he needs nothing more. Why have a trial when God's presence alone is enough?

And if God does not reveal Himself to someone, or reveals Himself in such a way that this revelation becomes a punishment, then that person has only himself to blame: after all, to the charismatic, God reveals Himself as a power that is good and gives strength. Therefore he is righteous, while someone for whom things are different, someone who receives no joy from God, is apparently sinful. Hence the simple logic of representatives of all charismatic movements in every time and nation: rejoice in life with God, and if you cannot, or life brings you no joy, look for your sin and repent. Find it and repent, and God will give you joy again. Anyone who does not wish to live like this is a wicked person who does not know God or is consciously defying Him.

Hide
 
For Job 34:1-37
1 Furthermore Elihu answered and said,
2 Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.
3 For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.
4 Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.
6 Should I lie against my right? my wound is incurable without transgression.
7 What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?
8 Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men.
9 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.
10 Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
11 For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.
12 Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.
13 Who hath given him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world?
14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
16 If now thou hast understanding, hear this: hearken to the voice of my words.
17 Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?
18 Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to princes, Ye are ungodly?
19 How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.
20 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.
24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their stead.
25 Therefore he knoweth their works, and he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
26 He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others;
27 Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways:
28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
29 When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
30 That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
31 Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
32 That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.
33 Should it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest.
34 Let men of understanding tell me, and let a wise man hearken unto me.
35 Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.
36 My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men.
37 For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God.
Hide
Continuing his speech, Elihu, like Job's friends, denounces the sufferer for wickedness...  Read more

Continuing his speech, Elihu, like Job's friends, denounces the sufferer for wickedness (vv. 2-9). He condemns Job because, in Elihu's opinion, by speaking against God Job makes himself an apostate (vv. 34-37). Job has not yet had to hear accusations like these. Why, then, does Elihu assess Job's behavior so harshly? Like all the others taking part in the conversation, he proceeds from the fact that God possesses full and absolute power over the world He has created (vv. 13-15). From this unconditionally true premise Elihu draws the conclusion that God cannot be wrong or judge perversely (vv. 10-12), and again one cannot disagree with this. Moreover, Job himself and his friends would certainly agree with Elihu on this. But in God's omnipotence Elihu sees something close to arbitrariness. It is not accidental that he compares God's power over the human person with the power of earthly rulers, whom it is impossible to stop even when their actions appear unjust or actually are unjust (vv. 17-18). Elihu's God makes no distinction between great and small, between rich and poor, not because a person's spiritual condition is more important to Him than his social position, but because people are indifferent to Him, and He shuffles earthly rulers like a deck of cards, easily replacing some with others, so that there can be no question of judgment over anyone (vv. 19-25).

Of course, Elihu himself asserts that God acts this way with lawless people (vv. 26-30), but in this case that assertion remains unproved. If God does not examine a person's actions like a thoughtful judge, if to Him everyone is all alike, how can one be sure that His determinations correspond at all to any human ideas of righteousness and sinfulness? It is not surprising that a person cannot count on a just assessment of his actions from such a God. All that remains for him is to acknowledge his wrongness from the very beginning and beg his merciless Judge for leniency (vv. 31-33). As one can see, Elihu truly experienced the greatness and power of God deeply. But this experience evidently completely obscured God's justice from him. The God of the prophets and sages is not only the God of power, but also the God of righteousness; He is the source of goodness and justice. Elihu's God is only the God of power. He is not the source of goodness and justice; He is above them and, in essence, indifferent to them. The God of the prophets is the source of the moral norm, and in this sense He is above morality. Elihu's God is altogether outside morality. This is precisely the God Job was most afraid to encounter; this is precisely the God to whom Elihu bears witness before him.

Hide
 
For Job 34:1-37
1 Furthermore Elihu answered and said,
2 Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge.
3 For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat.
4 Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job hath said, I am righteous: and God hath taken away my judgment.
6 Should I lie against my right? my wound is incurable without transgression.
7 What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?
8 Which goeth in company with the workers of iniquity, and walketh with wicked men.
9 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.
10 Therefore hearken unto me, ye men of understanding: far be it from God, that he should do wickedness; and from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity.
11 For the work of a man shall he render unto him, and cause every man to find according to his ways.
12 Yea, surely God will not do wickedly, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment.
13 Who hath given him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world?
14 If he set his heart upon man, if he gather unto himself his spirit and his breath;
15 All flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again unto dust.
16 If now thou hast understanding, hear this: hearken to the voice of my words.
17 Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?
18 Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to princes, Ye are ungodly?
19 How much less to him that accepteth not the persons of princes, nor regardeth the rich more than the poor? for they all are the work of his hands.
20 In a moment shall they die, and the people shall be troubled at midnight, and pass away: and the mighty shall be taken away without hand.
21 For his eyes are upon the ways of man, and he seeth all his goings.
22 There is no darkness, nor shadow of death, where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
23 For he will not lay upon man more than right; that he should enter into judgment with God.
24 He shall break in pieces mighty men without number, and set others in their stead.
25 Therefore he knoweth their works, and he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.
26 He striketh them as wicked men in the open sight of others;
27 Because they turned back from him, and would not consider any of his ways:
28 So that they cause the cry of the poor to come unto him, and he heareth the cry of the afflicted.
29 When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only:
30 That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared.
31 Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
32 That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.
33 Should it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest.
34 Let men of understanding tell me, and let a wise man hearken unto me.
35 Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.
36 My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men.
37 For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God.
Hide
Elihu continues, and many of his judgments are impossible to dispute, although not all of them are beyond question...  Read more

Elihu continues, and many of his judgments are impossible to dispute, although not all of them are beyond question. (Why, for instance, should it be impossible, when necessary, to accuse a king and princes of wickedness and lawlessness? Elihu himself even allows that the Lord may call them strictly to account for their wickedness. But if Elihu considers it permissible to speak on God's behalf, why may other people not speak in their own name?) Yet it is difficult to escape the impression that in some respects Elihu twists the meaning of Job's speeches.

Job's words must not be considered apart from the situation and the state of mind in which they were spoken. Elihu repeats what seem to be the very same words that Job uttered only recently, but it is unlikely that both men spoke the same words with the same feelings. The same words too often conceal different meanings.

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