Job
Chapter 35
Elihu’s Third Speech
Elihu continued and said:
Do you assume you’re right and innocent before God,
when you ask: “What does it matter to you, am I causing you harm with my sins?”
I will answer you and your friends as well.
Look up to the sky and see, gaze at the clouds above.
If you sin, what is that for God? Do your many offenses hurt him?
If you are just, what do you give him? Or what does he receive from your hand?
It’s a man like yourself that your sin touches, a son of man that your justice affects.
People cry out when they are heavily oppressed; they plead for relief under the tyrant’s rule.
But no one asks: “Where is God, my Maker, whose songs of celebration are heard in the night,
who teaches us through the animals of the earth, who makes us wise through the birds of the air?”
This is why he does not answer when they cry out: because of man’s arrogance.
In vain! God does not listen, the Almighty takes no heed of it.
How much less then will he listen when you say you do not see him and wait, for your case is before him!
And you say that though he is angry he does not know how to punish for he has taken no notice of wickedness.
So Job opens his mouth in empty talk, without knowledge he multiplies words.
Commentaries
Elihu’s Speeches.
Job ends his defense by asking for a response from God. What will happen now? When least expected, an intruder named Elihu appears. He is an angry young man who has apparently been listening to the debate and can no longer contain himself. Irritated by what he has just heard, he interjects himself into the matter (32:19). He does so with four speeches that, although they say nothing new, reveal his conviction, his passion, and his abundant verbiage.
Elihu’s Third Speech.
Elihu continues to explore the theme of God’s greatness and transcendence. The oppressed cry out for their freedom, and it seems like God does not hear. But God does hear; perhaps he does not respond because they are still closed in on themselves and have not waited long enough (14). This is the typical, simple, and shallow response to protect “our” ideas of God.