NOTES for Job 35:1-16

Lamenting his fate, Job said that what was destined for the ungodly and lawless had fallen to him, although he had walked in the paths of God's righteousness. What difference, then, had it made? What had Job gained by refraining from sin? On Job's lips this question was well founded; the book's own story justified it. But Elihu is outraged that such a question should be posed. You must not, he says, because you must not.

Elihu maintains that human righteousness brings God no benefit and human wickedness does Him no harm. Yet God hears insolent words, and His judgment is inescapable. In Elihu's view, Job had been able to say all this with impunity only because God's wrath had not yet reached him. What, then, is Job's terrible, inhuman suffering, if ‘His wrath has not visited him and he has not known it in its full severity’? One gets the impression that Elihu listened to Job's words only to find a reason to condemn him. He simply does not notice Job's actual suffering.

Elihu's opinion might be acknowledged as right were it not for the Lord's Cross. The Cross on which the Son of God shares the real suffering of every human being. The Cross on which the Son of God suffers because people reject God. The Cross on which God shows humanity that our separation from Him and our death are not matters of indifference to Him. The Cross on which God opens the path of life for Job.

Elihu's theology leads away from the New Testament. Perhaps the author of the Book of Job sets out his speeches in such detail precisely to make this quite clear to a reader familiar with the prophetic tradition.