Job 34:5-6 | KingComments | STEP | Elihu expresses no suspicions, but refers to what Job said ( ). Job has said that God has wronged him, who knows of himself that he has done nothing wrong, by taking away his right. Job said this literally ( ), but it is also the whole tenor of his defense. Here the question may arise, what right did Job have? Can he, and can we, assert a right before God, something of which we can say to God that He should not touch? After all, we have no other right before God than the judgment of hell, have we? As creatures, we have no right before the Creator ( ), and as sinners we should be silent altogether ( ). Job believes that he is fully within his rights, but that because of what has happened to him, he is seen as a liar ( ). That is what his friends have always said to him in veiled terms. They have always said that Job, because he suffers so much, must have sinned heavily. Job denies that he has sinned, but his friends do not believe him, so he is a liar to them. He ended up in that position because of what God has brought upon him. The wound was delivered to him by the Almighty, Job said ( ). By this he means the disasters that God has brought upon him. They are disasters that have given him an incurable wound. And that is what God has done, Job judges, “without transgression”. Job thus pronounces that God has wronged him. What matters to Elihu is to make clear to Job that he has gone too far here. In Elihu exclaims in amazement at Job that there is no one like him, a man who derides God’s dealings with him and does so with the ease with which someone drinks water. In , Elihu says that Job has gone too far in his utterances about God. He says of Job that he “goes in company with the workers of iniquity” and that he “walks with wicked men”. He does not say that Job commits iniquity or is wicked man, but that he is in their company. It does not mean that he himself is wicked. Elihu says so because Job has spoken out about God in the same way as those do who commit iniquity and as wicked people do ( ). This is how he unites himself with them in spirit. For Job has said that it is of no use at all if you are “pleased with God” ( ). These are words that Job did not say literally, but that resonate in what he said about God ( ). He has always shown in his life that he feared God. And now look, what is God’s answer to that? He took everything away from him and instead gave him deep, hopeless misery. No, according to Job’s statements, piety and fear of God have no profit (cf. ). It doesn’t matter if you serve God, worship Him and walk with Him, because God doesn’t take that into account. Just look at his misery.

‏ Job 34:5-6

Job Has Accused God

Elihu expresses no suspicions, but refers to what Job said (Job 34:5). Job has said that God has wronged him, who knows of himself that he has done nothing wrong, by taking away his right. Job said this literally (Job 12:4 ; Job 13:18 ; Job 27:2 ; 6), but it is also the whole tenor of his defense.

Here the question may arise, what right did Job have? Can he, and can we, assert a right before God, something of which we can say to God that He should not touch? After all, we have no other right before God than the judgment of hell, have we? As creatures, we have no right before the Creator (Rom 9:20), and as sinners we should be silent altogether (Rom 3:19).

Job believes that he is fully within his rights, but that because of what has happened to him, he is seen as a liar (Job 34:6). That is what his friends have always said to him in veiled terms. They have always said that Job, because he suffers so much, must have sinned heavily. Job denies that he has sinned, but his friends do not believe him, so he is a liar to them.

He ended up in that position because of what God has brought upon him. The wound was delivered to him by the Almighty, Job said (Job 6:4 ; Job 16:13). By this he means the disasters that God has brought upon him. They are disasters that have given him an incurable wound. And that is what God has done, Job judges, “without transgression”. Job thus pronounces that God has wronged him. What matters to Elihu is to make clear to Job that he has gone too far here.

In Job 34:7 Elihu exclaims in amazement at Job that there is no one like him, a man who derides God’s dealings with him and does so with the ease with which someone drinks water. In Job 34:8, Elihu says that Job has gone too far in his utterances about God. He says of Job that he “goes in company with the workers of iniquity” and that he “walks with wicked men”. He does not say that Job commits iniquity or is wicked man, but that he is in their company.

It does not mean that he himself is wicked. Elihu says so because Job has spoken out about God in the same way as those do who commit iniquity and as wicked people do (Job 21:14-15). This is how he unites himself with them in spirit. For Job has said that it is of no use at all if you are “pleased with God” (Job 34:9).

These are words that Job did not say literally, but that resonate in what he said about God (Job 9:22). He has always shown in his life that he feared God. And now look, what is God’s answer to that? He took everything away from him and instead gave him deep, hopeless misery. No, according to Job’s statements, piety and fear of God have no profit (cf. Mal 3:14). It doesn’t matter if you serve God, worship Him and walk with Him, because God doesn’t take that into account. Just look at his misery.