Job 35:1-16 - Homiletics

Elihu to Job: the trial of Job continued.

I. JOB 'S OFFENCE RESTATED . Returning to the charge, Elihu accuses Job of having given utterance to two dangerous assertions.

1 . That his ( Job ' s ) righteousness was greater than God ' s. "Thinkest thou this to be right?"—dost thou hold this for a sound judgment?—"that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?" (verse 2). That Job never used this expression may be true; but that Elihu does not unfairly represent the patriarch's meaning may be inferred from the circumstance that even at an earlier stage in the controversy Eliphaz distinctly understood this to be the import of his language ( Job 4:17 ). Besides, it is a legitimate deduction from those passages in which Job, maintaining his own integrity, complains that God does not accord to him even-handed justice, but treats him, though innocent, as a criminal; so that practically it is involved in the milder rendering, "I am righteous before God" ( LXX ; Umbreit, and others), Job meaning thereby to affirm that he failed to discern in God a corresponding righteousness to that which he beheld in himself, or, in other words, that his righteousness was more (visible and real) than God's. Whether designed or not, the inevitable result of regarding with too much admiration one's own righteousness (natural or gracious, legal or evangelical) is to obscure one's perceptions of the righteousness of God, as, on the other hand, the more exalted views a saint entertains of the righteousness of God, the less will he feel disposed to magnify his own.

2 . That his ( Job ' s ) piety was of no advantage to himself. "For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?" literally, "(from it) more than from my sin" (verse 3). This, which Job himself had put into the mouth of the ungodly ( Job 21:15 ), adding, "The counsel of the wicked be far from me," had already been assigned to Job by Elihu ( Job 34:9 ; vide homiletics), and might well seem to be implied in such utterances as Job 9:22-31 , in which God is represented as involving "the perfect and the wicked ' in one indiscriminate destruction, and in a time of sudden and overwhelming calamity "laughing at the trial of the innocent" ( Job 21:7-13 ; Job 24:18-24 ), and in which the prosperous lives and happy deaths of the ungodly are set over against the evil fortunes commonly allotted to the good. Such questions as these of Job about the profit of religion, though common in the mouths of saints ( e.g. Asaph, Psalms 73:13 ; St. Peter, Matthew 19:27 ), proceed from mistaken views as to the essential character of piety, which is nothing if not disinterested. Yet, in the truest and most comprehensive sense, "godliness is profitable unto all things" ( 1 Timothy 4:8 ; cf. Matthew 19:28 ).

II. JOB 'S FOLLY EXPOSED . Reversing the order of Elihu's words, we discover:

1. A sound premiss. That a man may be hurt by the irreligion, and benefited by the godliness, of his neighbour. Nothing more demonstrable, or indeed less demanding demonstration, than that moral character is contagious, and evil character even more so than good. Every wicked man does an injury, directly as well as indirectly, unconsciously even when not consciously, to the world in which he lives, the neighbourhood in which he dwells, the Society in which he moves, the individuals with whom he comes in contact. The ungodly man may be compared to a walking pestilence. On the other hand, "the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life" ( Proverbs 11:30 ). However humble the position he occupies or the talents he possesses, the good man, whose breast is the seat of fervent piety, is a distinct gain to the world and the age ( Matthew 5:13 , Matthew 5:14 ).

2 . A fallacious deduction. Correct. enough in thinking that a man might make his fellow a debtor by his goodness, or incur towards his fellow obligations in consequence of damage done by his wickedness, Job was utterly at fault in inferring that the same relations could exist between man and God. "If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?" (verses 6, 7). That is, human piety cannot add to the blessedness of God in such a way as to make God the debtor of his creature, and lay him under obligation to make the good man happy; neither can man's impiety so diminish the Divine felicity as to require God to protect himself against the machinations of the wicked by always entailing on them misery as the recompense of their wickedness (vide homiletics on Job 22:2-4 ). If God makes a good man happy, he does so of grace and favour; if he allows him to pass his life in misery, he does not thereby commit an act of injustice.

3 . A complete refutation. Elihu disposes of Job's bad logic by reminding him first of the lofty elevation of the heavens (verse 5), and a fortiori of the infinite exaltation of him who dwells above the heavens beyond the highest and purest creature on the earth. Since God thus transcends even the best of men, it is clearly impossible to suppose that he can be tried by purely human standards.

III. JOB 'S MISTAKES INDICATED .

1 . Dwelling too exclusively upon the greatness of his misery. "By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry;" or they, i.e. the oppressed, raise a cry: "they cry out by reason of the arm," i.e. violence, "of the mighty" (verse 9). So Job had complained ( Job 24:12 ), animadverting severely on the seeming indifference of God to what he could not but be cognizant or; viz. man's inhumanity to man; and to this Elihu now alludes with the view of suggesting to the mind of Job the direction in which to look for an explanation of this remarkable phenomenon—God's silence in the presence of human sorrow. The cry which rises from the oppressed is in no sense a believing appeal to the Creator for assistance. It is simply a groan of anguish. Instead of turning with hope and expectation to their Maker, they fix their thoughts upon their misery and raise a shout. It is impossible not to think that, in holding up such a mirror before the mind of Job, Elihu designed the patriarch to catch a reflection of himself. Had not he too been crying out under the severity of the stroke which had fallen on him, rather than anticipating the hour of deliverance when God would fill his mouth with rejoicing? The mistake of magnifying one's troubles, and dwelling too exclusively upon them, is one which even Christians, no less than Job, are not careful to avoid. Besides springing from unbelief, it has a tendency to hinder their beneficent design, and commonly obscures the soul's discernment of the source as well as of the first approaches of relief.

2 . Neglecting to repair to God for succour. "None saith, Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night?" Instead of giving way to wailing, the victim of oppression (and such Job deemed himself to be) ought to turn in believing confidence and with hopeful expectation, not to his fellows, like Asa the King of Israel ( 2 Chronicles 16:12 ), or to false gods, like Ahaziah the son of Ahab ( 2 Kings 1:2 ), or to any form of creature-help whatsoever ( Psalms 146:2 ), but like David to the living God ( Psalms 121:2 ), remembering

3 . Forgetting the superior dignity of his nature. Simply to howl over one's miseries . Elihu intends to say, is to reduce one's self to the level of the brute creation, which express their natural sense of pain by means of such bellowings ( Job 6:5 ). But man belongs to an order of creation loftier than the wild ass or the ox: and, being possessed of nobler faculties and larger intelligence than these, should not be content with such modes of giving utterance to emotion as are shared in by them, but should address himself to God in the filial confidence of prayer. And to this the example of the beasts, viewed in another light, may be said to urge him. Another rendering supplies the thought that God "teacheth us by the beasts of the earth"—by the young lions, e.g; who roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God ( Psalms 145:21 ); "and maketh us wise by the fowls of heaven"—for instance, by the ravens who cry to God for food ( Psalms 147:9 ).

4 . Offering prayers that spring from vanity and pride . "There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it" (verses 12, 13). Again under the general ease Elihu deals with the ease of Job. Job had repeatedly complained that his prayer had not been answered ( Job 19:7 ; Job 30:20 ). Elihu indirectly meets his objection by explaining why the prayers of sufferers in general remain unheard. They are not prayers in the proper sense of the expression, being dictated by wounded pride rather than by conscious need, and consisting of emptiness and wind, mere "sound and fury signifying nothing," rather than the aspirations and desires of a believing heart. It is impossible to resist the impression that Job's outcries and entreaties were sometimes inspired by lacerated pride and insulted vanity rather than by lowly humility and fervent piety. Hence they were suffered to ring through the vault of heaven unheeded. So are all similar prayers by whomsoever presented ( Psalms 66:18 ; Isaiah 1:15 ; Proverbs 28:9 ; John 9:31 ; James 4:3 ). A prayer, to be acceptable, must be sincere, lowly, reverent, and devout.

5 . Supposing God did not understand his case . This an extremely natural inference from the oft-reiterated demand that God would permit Job to lay his cause before him. But Elihu assures him that this was quite unnecessary; that, although he did not, and apparently could not, see God, i.e. come to God's presence ( Job 23:3-9 ), the whole case he wished to submit to God was already before him, and all he (Job) needed to do was simply to wait for God's gracious intervention (verse 14)—words suggestive of

6 . Misimproving the Divine clemency. Understanding Elihu to say, "And now, because he , i.e. God, "does not visit" ( i.e. hostilely, in the sense of punishing) "his," i.e. Job's, "anger, and does not know" (in the sense of regarding or taking notice of) "his wickedness or pride greatly; therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain, he multiplieth words without knowledge" (verses 15, 16), the meaning is that Job's sufferings have not been severe enough, and that the Divine clemency in dealing sparingly with Job has only been recompensed by the continuatior. and manifestation in Job of a rebellious and refractory spirit.

Learn:

1 . That God's servants ought to cry aloud and spare not in exposing the wickedness of men, whether saints or sinners.

2 . That it is of great advantage when a faithful reprover can particularly specify the sin which be condemns.

3 . That men's words commonly afford a good index to the state of their hearts.

4 . That by the quality of their speech shall men eventually be either acquitted or condemned.

5 . That preachers of the gospel should ever, like Elihu, be able to defend as well as recommend the faith which they proclaim.

6 . That God is not too high to bless man, though he is certainly too exalted to be injured by man.

7 . That while man can enrich God with nothing, God both can and does enrich man with all things.

8 . That "man's inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn."

9 . That God is perpetually cognizant of all the wickedness and misery, crime and wretchedness, that exists on earth.

10. That the only power competent to banish sin and sorrow from the heart of from the world is the power of God.

11. That men have usually themselves to blame when their prayers are not heard.

12. That God is infinitely worthy of the unwavering confidence of men.