Elihu Extols God’s Greatness
1 Elihu shows God is just in his ways. 16 How Job’s sins hinder God’s blessings. 24 God’s works are to be magnified.
Chapters 36 and 37 form a single discourse. They constitute a final appeal to Job to be resigned and patient before God. 2.
Job 36:1 Elihu continued:
Job 36:2 “Bear with me a little longer and I will show you that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.
His alleged reason for continuing his speech is that there is more that he feels constrained to say in vindication of God. Elihu feels that he is God’s defender in the case of God versus Job.
Job 36:3 I get my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
Elihu does not mean to repeat outworn arguments. He wants to bring his knowledge from the realm of things that have escaped their attention. Out of the wide realm of history and nature, Elihu plans to draw arguments to vindicate God’s righteousness (see ch. 8:8).
Job 36:4 Be assured that my words are not false; one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
These words sound arrogant, but perhaps Elihu does not mean them in that way. Job had charged his friends with using unsound arguments in their defence of God (see ch. 13:7, 8). Elihu here promises that his words will be true. He will base his statements on what he regards as perfect knowledge rather than on prejudice. Job 36:5 “God is mighty, but despises no one; he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
This verse introduces the theme of Elihu’s speech, the might and the understanding of God.
Job 36:6 He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights.
Elihu maintains substantially the same philosophy as Job’s three friends. He believes that God’s dealings with man in this life are determined by man’s character. Job had observed that wicked men seem to be protected against misfortune (ch. 21:7).
Job 36:7 He does not take his eyes off the righteous; he enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever.
Elihu takes the position that, although the righteous are afflicted, they are not forsaken. God keeps His eye upon them, whether they be on thrones or in dungeons (v. 8). Job had intimated that God had forsaken him (ch. 29:2). This, Elihu denies (see Ps. 34:15). He believes firmly in the exaltation of the righteous. Job 36:8 But if people are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction,
Bound in chains. See Gen. 39:20; Jer. 40:1; Dan. 3:21; Matt. 14:3; Acts 12:1–6; 16:24; 24:27.
Job 36:9 he tells them what they have done— that they have sinned arrogantly.
Elihu asserts that affliction overtakes the righteous for the purpose of revealing to them the weaknesses in their character, and the nature of their transgressions. Job 36:10 He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil.
Elihu claims that God makes men willing to learn and listen by permitting afflictions to overtake them. Thus, he says, it has been with Job.
Commands. God’s afflictions are commands to go and sin no more. Elihu is here developing his theory of suffering as disciplinary rather than penal. Instead of looking upon Job, as his other friends had—as a sinner upon whom God was taking vengeance— he regards him as a person who is being chastened in love for his faults.
Job 36:11 If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.
Elihu holds out the promise that prosperity and pleasure will follow in this life if those who are chastened respond in the right way (see Job 33:23–28; Jer. 7:23; 26:13). The return of Job’s prosperity, he asserts, will be dependent on his repentance of his sins and his obedience to God. Job is under discipline. But the righteous are to expect tribulation and persecution (see John 16:33; Acts 14:22; 2 Tim. 3:12; Heb. 12:1–11; 1 Peter 4:12, 13).
Job 36:12 But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge.
This verse presents the alternative to v. 11. Disobey and die, is the idea. There are elements of truth in Elihu’s viewpoint.
Job 36:13 “The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
Job 36:14 They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines.
Elihu sees an early end for the wicked. Old age was highly respected among the ancients, and to die in youth was considered a great tragedy. The idea seems to be that the godless would share the fate of the most abandoned and vile of the race. Their profession of religion would be no protection to them against their punishment.
Job 36:15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.
The thought seems to be that God uses affliction as a means of deliverance for the righteous (see Ps. 119:67, 71).
Job 36:16 “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
Elihu is saying to Job that he too would have been delivered and restored to his prosperity if he had accepted his afflictions in a proper spirit and learned the lessons they were intended to teach him.
Job 36:17 But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
According to Elihu, Job has not responded as he should to God’s discipline; therefore the judgments of God, reserved for the wicked, have come upon him. Job 36:18 Be careful that no one entices you by riches; do not let a large bribe turn you aside.
Elihu seems to be saying, “Job, because you are angry, beware lest you suffer God’s judgment for your anger. In such case, there would be no way of deliverance for you.”
Job 36:19 Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts sustain you so you would not be in distress?
The Hebrew word shua‘ is taken by some to refer to riches, as here; by others, to a cry for help. Both ideas are possible.
Job 36:20 Do not long for the night, to drag people away from their homes.
An allusion to Job’s repeated desire to be cut off at once and laid in the grave (see chs. 6:9; 7:15; 14:13). Elihu holds that this desire is wrong.
Job 36:21 Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction.
Elihu accuses Job of choosing to give vent to complaint rather than bearing his trials with resignation.
Job 36:22 “God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?
This has been called the keynote of Elihu’s whole discourse. He is endeavoring to build up the idea of God as a great teacher (see chs. 33:14, 16; 35:11; 36:10). His providences are supposed to be considered as lessons that, if taken to heart, will result in prosperity, but if rejected will result in adversity.
Job 36:23 Who has prescribed his ways for him, or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?
While God is the all-perfect teacher, there are some who would seek to instruct Him, to dictate the course He ought to pursue, and to improve and amend His universe. Elihu infers that something of this spirit has appeared in Job’s remonstrances (see chs. 9:22–24; 10:3; 12:20–25; 16:11–17). Job came perilously near to accusing God of injustice. He had given excuse for Elihu to make such accusations.
Job 36:24 Remember to extol his work, which people have praised in song.
Rather than accuse God, Job should praise Him, even as others who sing His praises.
Job 36:25 All humanity has seen it; mortals gaze on it from afar.
Job 36:26 How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.
The greatness of God and the frailty of man are contrasted in this verse.
Job 36:27 “He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams;
Elihu appeals to nature in vindication of the greatness of God. He describes the phenomena of evaporation and distillation that make rain possible.
Job 36:28 the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind.
Job 36:29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion?
Elihu is evidently introducing a description of a thunderstorm.
Job 36:30 See how he scatters his lightning about him, bathing the depths of the sea.
Job 36:31 This is the way he governs the nations and provides food in abundance.
He gives food in abundance, making vegetation possible by the showers of rain that the clouds supply.
Job 36:32 He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark.
The figure of speech seems to be that God takes the lightning in His hands and directs it as He pleases.
Job 36:33 His thunder announces the coming storm; even the cattle make known its approach.