Job 34:16-30

3. God is supreme, sees every hidden thing, and is an impartial judge. (Job 34:16-30)

TEXT 34:16-30

16 If now thou hast understanding, hear this:

Hearken to the voice of my words.

17 Shall even one that hateth justice govern?

And wilt thou condemn him that is righteous and mighty?

18 Him that saith to a king, Thou art vile,

Or to nobles, Ye are wicked;

19 That respecteth not the persons of princes,

Nor regardeth the rich more than the poor;
For they are all the work of his hands.

20 In a moment they die, even at midnight;

The people are shaken and pass away,
And the mighty are taken away without hand.

21 For his eyes are upon the ways of a man,

And he seeth all his goings.

22 There is no darkness, nor thick gloom,

Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

23 For he needeth not further to consider a man,

That he should go before God in judgment.

24 He breaketh in pieces mighty men in ways past finding out,

And setteth others in their stead.

25 Therefore he taketh knowledge of their works;

And he overturneth them in the night, so that they are destroyed.

26 He striketh them as wicked men

In the open sight of others;

27 Because they turned aside from following him,

And would not have regard to any of his ways:

28 So that they caused the cry of the poor to come unto him,

And he heard the cry of the afflicted.

29 When he giveth quietness, who then can condemn?

And when he hideth his face, who then can behold him?
Alike whether it be done unto a nation, or unto a man:

30 That the godless man reign not,

That there be none to ensnare the people.

COMMENT 34:16-30

Job 34:16If God is truly all powerful, then no one can influence His decisionsGenesis 18:25; Romans 3:5 ff. If God is all knowing, then He must be infallible. When He observes unrighteousness, He punishes. But the dilemma remains, why some victims and some victors?Job 33:31; Job 33:33. The text has only if understanding and is in the singular, and thus invites Job's close attention.

Job 34:17The cogency of Elihu's argument has often been attacked. Cosmic control, i.e., divine government, does not guarantee justice. This is precisely Job's point. Elihu is saying that God can condemn kings and nobles and that this power makes Him righteous. But this is bold assertion, not balanced argument. Omnipotence is neither necessary nor sufficient power of impartiality. The word rendered govern in the first line of the A. V. means bind upHosea 6:1; Isaiah 1:6; Exodus 29:9. Only in this verse does it have a sense of governing a kingdom[342]compare Psalms 31:19 with Job 34:17.

[342] For possible variation, see E. F. Sutcliffe, Biblica, 1949, pp. 73ff. He suggests medical sense here, i.e., God can heal a hater of justice; also see M. Dahood, Psalms, Vol. II, p. xxiv.

Job 34:18Elihu's argument is crushed against the rocks of reality. A fool may be set in high placesEcclesiastes 10:5; Ecclesiastes 10:20. Present world condition hardly supports the naive but often suggested thesis of natural leadership, locally, state, nationally, or internationallyIsaiah 32:5. Elihu merely continues a theme set forth by Job in Job 12:17-21, i.e., God's humiliation of the mighty. He also begs the question at hand. The word rendered in the A. V. as vile (beliyya-'alworthlessness) is applied to such conduct as greedDeuteronomy 15:9; 1 Samuel 25:25; 1 Samuel 30:22; and sexual perversionJudges 19:22; and lying1 Kings 21:10; Proverbs 19:28.

Job 34:19Since all are derived from God's creative power, He is impartial to both the rich and poor.[343] Impartiality does not mean that we are all equal in ability or capacity to produce. The fallacy that we are all equal is resident in western thought from the French Revolution (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) to our canonical national literature, egs. Declaration of Independence, Constitution, etc. It should be empirically evident that we are not all equal in the sense of creative intelligence, abilities, etc. This central error is the basis of much human rights discussion, at least since 1948 and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of the UN. Rights entail responsibilities just like freedom does. Contemporary man has chosen security over freedomIsaiah 32:5; Deuteronomy 10:17; Proverbs 22:2; Acts 10:34-35; Romans 2:11; Ephesians 6:9; Colossians 3:25; and 1 Peter 1:17.

[343] P. Jouon, Biblica, 1937, p. 207 regards the "poor" as a social distinction.

Job 34:20Proof of God's impartiality is His swift removal, i.e., at midnight, of the mighty. Unexpectedly God visits allLuke 12:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:2.[344] The people all violently agitated or taken away by no human hand. This emphasizes the effortlessness of God's removal of the unjust from the world.

[344] E. F. Sutcliffe, Biblica, 1949, pp. 75ff.

Job 34:21God's decisions are made with full awareness of all details. This verse is almost a verbatim citation of Job 24:23 b; Job 31:4; Eccl. 23:19. When disaster falls, it is evidence of wickedness. Job's thesis is that God knows everything; therefore, He knows that he is innocentJob 10:7. The Prologue is proof that Job is correct concerning this point. But he is mistaken in inferring that God is indifferent to moral issues.

Job 34:22No human thought or act is concealed from GodJob 31:3; Psalms 139:11 ff; Jeremiah 23:24; Amos 9:2-3; Matthew 6:4.

Job 34:23Job has lamented that he could not bring God to a law courtJob 9:32even though God would be both adversary and judgeJob 10:2. Here, Elihu declares that God does not need to go through a legal process to establish guilt. God can summon man any time He chooses. Job has asked God for a time of hearingJob 9:32; Job 14:13; Job 24:1. The text has -odyet and the late G. E. Wright proposed a set time which would require mo-'ed.

Job 34:24God does not need to investigate (A. V. considerheqersearch, inquiry, and inquisition) the human situation in order to know what is going on. God's will and power are fused by His loving mercy in all His pronouncements. Elihu says there is no need for the inquiry which Job has requested.

Job 34:25God knows (yakhir) their works and overthrows them in the night. Punishment comes with swift certainty to the tyrannical oppressors.

Job 34:26In spite of the difficulties in this verse, its meaning is that God judges the wicked in public. The A. V. rendering in the open sight means under or among as Greenfield has shown.[345]

[345] See his arguments, J. C. Greenfield, Zeitschriftf fur alttestamentlische Wissenschaft, 1961 p. 227.

Job 34:27Whoever turns from God is punished regardless of who he is. This verse contains only three Hebrew wordsJob 24:13. The parallel line is preserved almost intact in The Qumran Targum and supports the reading of the Hebrew text.

Job 34:28The difficulties in Job 34:28-33 perhaps caused the LXX translators to remove them from the text. The verb is infinitive and could be translated as either singular or plural. The infinitive to bring implies that the cries of the oppressed brought the oppressor to God's attention. If He is all-knowing, their cries could bring Him no knowledge which He did not already possess. The grammar does not necessarily imply that their cries caused God's response, but could also be understood as consequential.

Job 34:29This verse is very cryptic. But probably the meaning is that no man has a right to condemn God, even if He is silent in the presence of injustice. Job's fundamental question is not Why does not God punish the wicked? but rather Why do the innocent suffer? The last line reads upon a nation or upon a man together. The word together is our problem in this text. Perhaps the verse means that God is watching over all His creation with unceasing vigilance, though He does often in fact hide His face from our view. His presence returns only after The Shattering of Silence. God's visibility returns when He speaks. He has spoken with finality in Job's redeemer, our LordJohn 1:1-18 and Hebrews 1:1-4. His silence becomes our ultimate vindication, when His silence is broken by resurrection. Blommerde renders the final line as upon nation and man he gazes.

Job 34:30The text reads literally from the ruling of an impious man. The A. V. rendering godless is abstract, and the text suggests an existential situation or concrete expression of unrighteousness. The last line reads from snares of the people, and means God intervenes to remove any and every unrighteous ruler. But the verse does not relate either the method of removal, or the length of time involved in the process of removal. Israel's history is full of such examples.