| Scripture |
Expanded Comments |
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| 1 Furthermore Elihu responded, and said:– |
Elihu – The youngest of four friends of Job who called upon him in his adversity to comfort him. R5878:2
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| 2 Hear, ye wise men, my words, and, ye who know, give ear unto me; |
My words – As wise, or wiser, than any spoken by Job's comforters, but they were merely human wisdom. R5402:6, R5878:2
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| 3 For, the ear, trieth words, as, the palate, tasteth in eating. |
Ear trieth words – The ear is the mouth of the mind by which it receives the word. R2949:2*
Mouth tasteth meat – Meat that goes no further than the mouth cannot nourish. R2949:2*
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| 4 What is right, let us choose for ourselves, Let us know, among ourselves, what is good; |
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| 5 For Job hath said–I am righteous, But, GOD, hath turned away my right; |
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| 6 Concerning mine own right, shall I tell a falsehood? Incurable is my disease–not for any transgression. |
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| 7 What man is like Job? He drinketh in scoffing like water; |
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| 8 And is on the way to keep company, with the workers of iniquity, and to walk with lawless men. |
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| 9 For he hath said, It profiteth not a man, when, his good pleasure, is with God. |
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| 10 Wherefore, ye men of mind, hearken unto me,–Far be it, that, GOD, should be lawless, or, the Almighty, be perverse! |
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| 11 For, what any son of earth doeth, he repayeth him, and, according to every man's course, he causeth him to find. |
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| 12 Nay, verily, GOD, will not condemn unjustly,–nor, the Almighty, pervert justice. |
Not do wickedly – God is responsible for evil (calamity, trouble) in the sense of permission and arrangements as the penalty for violating his laws; but not in the sense of being the author of it. R871:6
Pervert judgment – The punishment must have some relation to the enormity of the offense--a principle out of harmony with the eternal torment theory. R523:4*
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| 13 Who set him in charge of the earth? Or who appointed [him] the whole world? |
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| 14 If he should set against him his heart, His spirit and his inspiration, unto himself he should withdraw. |
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| 15 All flesh together, would cease to breathe, and, the earth-born, unto dust, would return. |
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| 16 If then [thou hast] understanding, hear this, Give thou ear to the teaching of my words:– |
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| 17 Shall, the very hater of right, control? Or, the just–the mighty one, wilt thou condemn? |
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| 18 Doth one say to a king, Abandoned one! Or, Lawless one! unto nobles? |
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| 19 For he hath shewn no respect of persons unto princes, neither hath he recognised the rich rather than the poor? For, the work of his hands, are they all. |
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| 20 In a moment, they die, even in the middle of the night,–A people are convulsed when they pass away, A mighty one is removed, without hand; |
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| 21 For, his eyes, are on the ways of a man, and, all his footsteps, he beholdeth,– |
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| 22 No darkness, and no death-shade, where the workers of iniquity may hide. |
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| 23 For, unto no man, doth he appoint a repetition,–in going unto GOD in judgment; |
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| 24 He shattereth mighty ones unsearchably, and setteth up others in their stead: |
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| 25 Therefore, he observeth their works,–and overturneth [them] in a night, and they are crushed; |
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| 26 In the place of lawless men, hath he chastised them, in presence of beholders. |
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| 27 Forasmuch, as they turned from following him, and, none of his ways, did they teach; |
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| 28 Causing to reach him the outcry of the poor, Yea, the outcry of the oppressed, he heareth. |
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| 29 When, he, giveth quiet, who then shall condemn? And, when he hideth [his] face, who then shall sing of him? whether unto a nation or unto mankind altogether, |
When he – Jehovah; the "God of all comfort." (2 Cor. 1:3) R2058:2*, R5403:1
Although these words (of Elihu) are not inspired, they are very wise. R5403:1
Giveth quietness – The children of God take these words in a very different sense from that suggested to Job by Elihu. We have quietness and rest of heart even in severe trouble. R5879:1
The Lord's people have a peace and rest of mind through the knowledge of God's plan and his justice, mercy and love. R5403:2
Precious balm of Gilead for wounded spirits on the battlefield of life; the gentle whisper of hope and love and courage when heart and flesh are almost failing. R5803:1
Knowing that when our hearts are loyal and true, our God does not mark against us the unavoidable blemishes of our earthen vessel. R5802:5
There is a cry which never fails to bring this quietness. It is the prayer for sweet, trustful, loving acquiescence to the will of God. R2058:3*
When God purposes to give peace, the whole universe will be in obedience to his laws and none can make trouble. R5403:1
Can make trouble – Job's calamity was not accidental. R5878:3, R5403:1
God permitted trial to come to test his servant, just as he permits trouble to come upon his Church. R5878:6
While the world is troubled, God's children have a peace that the world knows not of and can neither give nor take away. R5403:3
Trouble is not necessarily a sign of the disfavor of God. "Many are the afflictions of the righteous." (Psa. 34:19) R5879:4
God did not always give our Lord Jesus quietness, but allowed trouble, like a great flood, to sweep over his soul. Some of the Lord's followers may have similar experiences. R5403:4
He will not suffer us to be tempted above what we are able to bear (1 Cor. 10:13). R5878:6
To the world it might appear that the trials, testings, scoffs, to which faithfulness to the Lord exposes, would rob life of all its pleasures. But not so. R4103:1
The spirit which once tossed restlessly in chafing winds of lesser trials sinks in sweet submission under heavier griefs. R2058:6*
Against a man – Satan could not have sent all those calamities unless God had permitted it. Similarly we are under special divine care. R5403:1
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| 30 That impious men may not reign, nor be ensnarers of the people. |
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| 31 For, unto GOD, hath one [ever] said–I have borne punishment, I will not be perverse; |
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| 32 What I see not, do, thou, shew me, If, perverseness, I have wrought, I will do it no more? |
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| 33 According to thy mind, must he requite it, that thou hast refused? For, thou, must choose, and not, I, What then thou knowest, speak! |
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| 34 The men of mind, will say to me, yea any wise man hearkening unto me:– |
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| 35 Job, without knowledge, doth speak, and, his words, are not with discretion. |
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| 36 Would that Job might be tested to the uttermost, for replying with the men of iniquity: |
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| 37 For he addeth–unto his sin–rebellion, In our midst, he clappeth his hands, and multiplieth his sayings against GOD. |
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