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Job 35

1 Then Elihu said:
2 “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[a]and what do I gain by not sinning?’
4 “I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you.
5 Look up at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds so high above you.
6 If you sin, how does that affect him? If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him, or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself, and your righteousness only other people.
9 “People cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than he teaches[b] the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than[c] the birds in the sky?’
12 He does not answer when people cry out because of the arrogance of the wicked.
13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it.
14 How much less, then, will he listen when you say that you do not see him, that your case is before him and you must wait for him,
15 and further, that his anger never punishes and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.[d]
16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Job 35 Commentary

Chapter 35

Elihu speaks of man's conduct. (1-8) Why those who cry out under afflictions are not regarded. (9-13) Elihu reproves Job's impatience. (14-26)

Verses 1-8 Elihu reproves Job for justifying himself more than God, and called his attention to the heavens. They are far above us, and God is far above them; how much then is he out of the reach, either of our sins or of our services! We have no reason to complain if we have not what we expect, but should be thankful that we have better than we deserve.

Verses 9-13 Job complained that God did not regard the cries of the oppressed against their oppressors. This he knew not how to reconcile the justice of God and his government. Elihu solves the difficulty. Men do not notice the mercies they enjoy in and under their afflictions, nor are thankful for them, therefore they cannot expect that God should deliver them out of affliction. He gives songs in the night; when our condition is dark and melancholy, there is that in God's providence and promise, which is sufficient to support us, and to enable us even to rejoice in tribulation. When we only pore upon our afflictions, and neglect the consolations of God which are treasured up for us, it is just in God to reject our prayers. Even the things that will kill the body, cannot hurt the soul. If we cry to God for the removal of an affliction, and it is not removed, the reason is, not because the Lord's hand is shortened, or his ear heavy; but because we are not sufficiently humbled.

Verses 14-26 As in prosperity we are ready to think our mountain will never be brought low; so when in adversity, we are ready to think our valley will never be filled up. But to conclude that to-morrow must be as this day, is as absurd as to think that the weather, when either fair or foul, will be always so. When Job looked up to God, he had no reason to speak despairingly. There is a day of judgment, when all that seems amiss will be found to be right, and all that seems dark and difficult will be cleared up and set straight. And if there is Divine wrath in our troubles, it is because we quarrel with God, are fretful, and distrust Divine Providence. This was Job's case. Elihu was directed by God to humble Job, for as to some things he had both opened his mouth in vain, and had multiplied words without knowledge. Let us be admonished, in our afflictions, not so much to set forth the greatness of our suffering, as the greatness of the mercy of God.

Cross References 30

  • 1. S Job 33:32
  • 2. S Job 2:9; S Job 32:2
  • 3. S Job 9:29-31; S Job 21:15; Job 34:9
  • 4. S Genesis 15:5; S Deuteronomy 10:14
  • 5. S Job 11:7-9; Psalms 19:1-4; Job 22:12
  • 6. S Job 7:20; Proverbs 8:36
  • 7. Romans 11:35
  • 8. 1 Corinthians 4:7; Proverbs 9:12
  • 9. S Job 22:2-3; Luke 17:10
  • 10. Ezekiel 18:24
  • 11. Ezekiel 18:5-9; Zechariah 7:9-10
  • 12. Exodus 2:23
  • 13. S Job 20:19
  • 14. S Job 5:15; S Job 12:19
  • 15. S Job 4:17; Job 27:10; Isaiah 51:13
  • 16. S Job 8:21
  • 17. Psalms 42:8; Psalms 77:6; Psalms 119:62; Psalms 149:5; Acts 16:25
  • 18. S Job 21:22; Luke 12:24; Psalms 94:12
  • 19. Job 12:7
  • 20. S 1 Samuel 8:18; Proverbs 1:28
  • 21. S Job 15:25
  • 22. Psalms 66:18
  • 23. S Deuteronomy 1:45; S 1 Samuel 8:18; S Job 15:31; S Proverbs 15:8; Job 27:9; Proverbs 15:29; Isaiah 1:15; Jeremiah 11:11
  • 24. S Job 9:11
  • 25. Psalms 37:6
  • 26. Job 31:35
  • 27. S Job 9:24
  • 28. S Job 18:5; Psalms 10:11; Hosea 7:2; Amos 8:7
  • 29. Titus 1:10
  • 30. S Job 34:35,37; 1 Corinthians 4:20; Jude 1:10

Footnotes 4

  • [a]. Or "you"
  • [b]. Or "night," / 11"who teaches us by"
  • [c]. Or "us wise by"
  • [d]. Symmachus, Theodotion and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 35

Is this chapter Elihu goes on to charge Job with other unbecoming speeches, which he undertakes to refute; as that he had represented his cause more just than God's, and religion and righteousness as things unprofitable to men, only to God; to which Elihu takes upon him to make answer, Job 35:1-8; and that the cries of the oppressed were not heard by the Lord, so as to give occasion to songs of praise and thankfulness, to which he replies, Job 35:9-13; and that Job had expressed diffidence and despair of ever seeing and enjoying the favour of God, which he endeavours to remove, Job 35:14-16.

Job 35 Commentaries

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