Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary
Job 35:16

Clarke's Commentary

Verse Job 35:16. Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain — God will execute vengeance when it may best serve the ends of his justice, providence, and mercy. The delay of judgment is not proof that it shall not be executed; nor is the deferring of mercy any proof that God has forgotten to be gracious.

He multiplieth words without knowledge — However this may apply to Job, it most certainly applies very strongly and generally to the words, not only of Job's three friends, but to those also of Elihu himself. The contest is frequently a strife of words.

Bridgeway Bible Commentary

The justice of God (34:1-35:16)

When Job does not reply to Elihu’s challenge, Elihu turns to the onlookers and repeats some of Job’s rash statements about the injustice of God (34:1-6). Let them judge for themselves. Surely such words prove Job’s wickedness (7-9).
God is not unjust, says Elihu, and no one can tell him what to do. He is the governor of the universe (10-13). He is the source of all life and, if he wished, he could bring all life to an end (14-15). God governs perfectly and shows no special favour to the rich and powerful (16-20). Unlike earthly judges, God does not have certain set times to hear evidence, nor does he carry out investigations. He sees and knows everything, and punishes the guilty according to his perfect knowledge (21-28). No one can compel God to explain why he acts or why he keeps quiet. Whether the issues concern individuals or nations, people must simply accept God’s justice (29-30).
Elihu asks Job to think about this question: if a person acknowledges his wrongdoing and promises to repent, but then demands that God reward him with favour, is that really repentance (31-33)? Not only is Job unrepentant, but he adds to his former sins by his rebellious words against God. Elihu concludes that Job deserves no relief from his sufferings (34-37).
Believing that Job has said the godly are no better off than sinners, Elihu sets out to give his reply (35:1-4). He argues that since God is infinitely higher than his human creatures, people’s sin cannot harm him nor their goodness benefit him. Therefore, Job’s suffering cannot be because of any unnatural action on God’s part. It must be solely because of Job’s wickedness (5-8).
Many cry to God for help when they are in trouble, but other times they ignore him, in spite of all he does for them. Consequently, God does not answer their prayers (9-13). How much less will he answer the prayers of Job, who rudely complains that God refuses to meet him and show his approval of him. Actually, says Elihu, God has been very patient with Job. He should have punished him even more severely because of his irreverent speech, but Job has only responded with yet more empty talk (14-16).

Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible

MORE OF ELIHU'S VAIN REASONING

"By reason of a multitude of oppressions they cry out; They cry for help by reason of the arm of the Almighty. But none saith, Where is God my Maker? Who giveth songs in the night, Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, And maketh us wiser than the birds of the heavens? There they cry, but none giveth answer, Because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear an empty cry, Neither will the Almighty regard it. How much less when thou sayest thou beholdest him not, The cause is before him, and thou waitest for him! But now, because he hath not visited in his anger, Neither doth he greatly regard arrogance; Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vanity; He multiplieth words without knowledge."

"They cry for help by reason of the arm of the Almighty" "What Elihu is saying here is that when men do pray (as Job has been doing) it is merely because of their suffering, and not because of any true desire for God."Ibid.

"None saith, Where is God my Maker" "This means that they do not pray with that trust in their prayers which is pleasing to God."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 440. The plurals here should not mislead us. Elihu is accusing Job.

"Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth. and maketh us wiser than the birds of the heavens?" We appreciate Pope's rendition of this: "Teaches us BY the beasts of the field… BY the birds of the heavens."The Anchor Bible (Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company, 1982), Job, p. 227. The allegation here is that the type of prayer Job has been praying, due to pain only, "Does not raise man any higher than the animal creation."The New Bible Commentary, Revised, p. 440.

"There they cry, but none giveth answer" Here is the problem of unanswered prayer; and Elihu has the glib answer ready, the wrong one, of course.

"It is because of the pride of men" The plurals here are misleading; Elihu is accusing Job. When God finally interrupted this devil-originated speech of Elihu. he did not accuse Job of pride, thus revealing Elihu's cocksure answer here as the wild guess of an ignorant man. But Elihu even had another answer.

"Surely God will not hear an empty cry" "Elihu thought that when prayer was not answered, it was because the prayer was empty";Ibid. but he did not explain what he meant by that. The New Testament reveals two great reasons why prayers are not answered. (1) "Ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2). A far greater tragedy than unanswered prayer is the tragedy of unoffered prayer. (2) "Ye ask, and receive not; because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your pleasures" (James 4:3).

"Thou sayest thou beholdest him not" Job indeed had complained of his inability to find God; and Barnes believed that here, "Elihu says that, although God is invisible, yet this should not be regarded as a reason why Job should not confide in him."Barnes' Notes on the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, a 1987 reprint of the 1878 edition),Job, Vol. 2, p. 161.

"Job 35:15 conveys no intelligible idea."Ibid.

"Job opens his mouth in vanity… multiplies words without knowledge" As our version has it, Elihu here is charging Job with all of his irresponsible talk as being able so to speak because God has overlooked his arrogance (Job 35:15). However, it was not Job, but Elihu who was, "Darkening counsel by words without knowledge," (Job 38:2), according to the verdict of Almighty God Himself.

Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

Therefore - In view of all that Elihu had now said, be came to the conclusion that the views of Job were erroneous, and that he had no just cause of complaint. He had suffered no more than he had deserved; he might have obtained a release or mitigation if he had applied to God; and the government of God was just, and was every way worthy of confidence. The remarks of Job, therefore, complaining of the severity of his sufferings and of the government of God, were not based on knowledge, and had in fact no solid foundation.

Smith's Bible Commentary

Chapter 35

Elihu continues to speak, he said, Do you think this to be right, that you said, My righteousness is more than God's? ( Job 35:1-2 )

Now Job didn't actually say that, but he is taking Job's words and showing that this would be the conclusion of what Job had said. "Do you think it is right that you said, 'My righteousness is more than God's'?"

For you said ( Job 35:3 ),

Here is what Job actually said,

What advantage will it be unto me? and, What profit shall I have, if I am cleansed from my sin? I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee. Look to the heavens, and see; behold the clouds which are higher than you. If you sin, what do you against him? or if any transgressions be multiplied, what do you do unto him? If thou be righteous, what do you give to him? or what receiveth he of your hand? Thy wickedness may hurt man as you are; and thy righteousness may profit the sons of men ( Job 35:3-8 ).

In other words, Elihu is saying to Job, "What can you add to God or what can you take away from God? If you live a righteous life, what's it going to do, what's it add to God? If you live a sinful life, what does it take away from God?" God is above man. So far above man. What advantage can God have in me living a good life? What does it disadvantage God for me to live a wicked life? You see, I can't really touch God. Now, it touches others if I live a sinful life, others around me may be hurt by it. They may be disadvantaged by my lying or cheating or stealing. Or if I do good, others may be benefited by my good. If I feed the poor or help them out, then they can be benefited. Man can benefit by my righteousness or sinfulness, but what does it do for God? What does it add to God that I live a righteous, holy life? Interesting questions. What can a man add unto God?

He said,

By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make the oppressed to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty. But none says, Where is God my maker, who gives songs in the night; Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the fowls of the heaven? There they cry, but none gives answer, because of the pride of evil men. Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it. Although you say that you shall not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him. But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knows it not in great extremity: Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplies words without knowledge ( Job 35:9-16 ). "

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

4. Elihu’s third speech ch. 35

We could chart the differences in Elihu’s first three speeches this way.

Job felt that God should have rewarded him for his innocence, rather than subjecting him to suffering. Elihu replied that man’s sin or innocence does not affect God, and God was silent to Job because Job was proud. As before, Elihu first quoted Job (Job 35:1-3) and then refuted his statement (Job 35:4-16).

Dr. Constable's Expository Notes

Elihu’s defense of God’s freedom 35:4-16

Elihu made two responses to what he inferred was Job’s attitude. First, he claimed that God is under no obligation to react to people’s actions be they good or bad. He is free to respond or not respond as He chooses. God is above the human sphere of life and only reacts to people when He chooses to do so. This is a thought Eliphaz had expressed earlier (Job 22:2-3; Job 22:12). However, Elihu went further by pointing out that people’s actions do affect other people (Job 35:4-8). Therefore, there is an advantage to being holy.

"There is no place in Elihu’s theology for doing God’s will out of love for him. Man affects only his fellow man by being good or bad (Job 35:9). And though God may punish or reward man as Judge, there is no place for him in the role of a Father who can be hurt or pleased by man." [Note: Smick, "Job," p. 1016.]

Second, Elihu spoke to the fact that God does not always provide relief when the oppressed pray to Him (Job 35:9-16; cf. Job 24:12; Job 36:13). He said often these prayers for help spring from a selfish, proud motive rather than from a sincere desire to learn the reason for one’s sufferings. In this respect humans are like animals; we do not ask for this knowledge. Since God may not answer selfish prayers, it is understandable that He was silent in response to Job’s arrogant, impatient petitions. Elihu counseled Job to wait for God to answer rather than becoming frantic.

"Job would get his just deserts in due time." [Note: Habel, p. 189.]

"It is always possible to think of a reason for unanswered prayer. The trite explanation, which we hear all too often, is that ’You didn’t have enough faith’, or ’You prayed from the wrong motive’, or ’You must have some hidden, unconfessed sin’. This diagnosis is always applicable. Everyone who prays is aware of the weakness of his faith; everyone with a scrap of self-knowledge knows that his motives are always mixed; everyone who searches his conscience can find no end of fresh sins to be dealt with. If no prayers could be offered and none answered, until all these conditions were satisfied, none would ever be offered and none answered. The Elihus of this world do not care about the cruelty of their perfectionist advice and its unreality. Their theory is saved; that is what matters." [Note: Andersen, p. 257.]

Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain,.... In uttering such unbecoming expressions, observed, and refuted, in his loud complaints of God, and of his dealings with him, and in defence of himself;

he multiplieth words without knowledge; both against God and in answer to others; being in a great measure ignorant of the nature and number of his sins, and of his afflictions; and of the end of God in them, and of the right he had to lay them upon him; us well as of his duty patiently to bear them, and trust in God, and wait his own time for deliverance out of them; and or the truth of this he was afterwards convinced, and acknowledged it, Job 42:3.

Henry's Complete Commentary on the Bible

      14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.   15 But now, because it is not so, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:   16 Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.

      Here is, I. Another improper word for which Elihu reproves Job (Job 35:14; Job 35:14): Thou sayest thou shalt not see him; that is, 1. "Thou complainest that thou dost not understand the meaning of his severe dealings with thee, nor discern the drift and design of them," Job 23:8; Job 23:9. And, 2. "Thou despairest of seeing his gracious returns to thee, of seeing better days again, and art ready to give up all for gone;" as Hezekiah (Isaiah 38:11), I shall not see the Lord. As, when we are in prosperity, we are ready to think our mountain will never be brought low, so when we are in adversity we are ready to think our valley will never be filled, but, in both, to conclude that to morrow must be as this day, which is as absurd as to think, when the weather is either fair or foul, that is will be always so, that the flowing tide will always flow, or the ebbing tide will always ebb.

      II. The answer which Elihu gives to this despairing word that Job had said, which is this, 1. That, when he looked up to God, he had no just reason to speak thus despairingly: Judgment is before him, that is, "He knows what he has to do, and will do all in infinite wisdom and justice; he has the entire plan and model of providence before him, and knows what he will do, which we do not, and therefore we understand not what he does. There is a day of judgment before him, when all the seeming disorders of providence will be set to rights and the dark chapters of it will be expounded. Then thou shalt see the full meaning of these dark events, and the final period of these dismal events; then thou shalt see his face with joy; therefore trust in him, depend upon him, wait for him, and believe that the issue will be good at last." When we consider that God is infinitely wise, and righteous, and faithful, and that he is a God of judgment (Isaiah 30:18), we shall see no reason to despair of relief from him, but all the reason in the world to hope in him, that it will come in due time, in the best time. 2. That if he had not yet seen an end of his troubles, the reason was because he did not thus trust in God and wait for him (Job 35:15; Job 35:15): "Because it is not so, because thou dost not thus trust in him, therefore the affliction which came at first from love has now displeasure mixed with it. Now God has visited thee in his anger, taking it very ill that thou canst not find in thy heart to trust him, but harbourest such hard misgiving thoughts of him." If there be any mixtures of divine wrath in our afflictions, we may thank ourselves; it is because we do not behave aright under them; we quarrel with God, and are fretful and impatient, and distrustful of the divine Providence. This was Job's case. The foolishness of man perverts his way, and then his heart frets against the Lord,Proverbs 19:3. Yet Elihu thinks that Job, being in great extremity, did not know and consider this as he should, that it was his own fault that he was not yet delivered. He concludes therefore that Job opens his mouth in vain (Job 35:16; Job 35:16) in complaining of his grievances and crying for redress, or in justifying himself and clearing up his own innocency; it is all in vain, because he does not trust in God and wait for him, and has not a due regard to him in his afflictions. He had said a great deal, had multiplied words, but all without knowledge, all to no purpose, because he did not encourage himself in God and humble himself before him. It is in vain for us either to appeal to God or to acquit ourselves if we do not study to answer the end for which affliction is sent, and in vain to pray for relief if we do not trust in God; for let not that man who distrusts God think that he shall receive any thing from him,James 1:7. Or this may refer to all that Job had said. Having shown the absurdity of some passages in his discourse, he concludes that there were many other passages which were in like manner the fruits of his ignorance and mistake. He did not, as his other friends, condemn him for a hypocrite, but charged him only with Moses's sin, speaking unadvisedly with his lips when his spirit was provoked. When at any time we do so (and who is there that offends not in word?) it is a mercy to be told of it, and we must take it patiently and kindly as Job did, not repeating, but recanting, what we have said amiss.