Job 35:4-8

2. Man's actions, good or bad, do not help nor hurt God; they do affect men. (Job 35:4-8)

TEXT 35:4-8

4 I will answer thee,

And thy companions with thee.

5 Look unto the heavens, and see;

And behold the skies, which are higher than thou.

6 If thou hast sinned, what effectest thou against him?

And if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?

7 If thou be righteous, what givest thou him?

Or what receiveth he of thy hand?

8 Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art;

And thy righteousness may profit a son of man.

COMMENT 35:4-8

Job 35:4Elihu here addresses all who have sympathy for Job's positionJob 34:2-4, Job 10:15. The personal pronoun I is emphatic, which agrees completely with Elihu's consistent arrogance.

Job 35:5His words here must be contrasted with Job's thoughts on God's transcendenceJob 9:8-11; Job 11:7-9; Job 22:12. Job has always maintained that God controlled the heavensJob 9:8 ff. But here the thought is that God is so far removed from us that He is beyond man's reach. God is neither benefited by our righteousness nor harmed by our sin.

Job 35:6Eliphaz had set forth this same argument in Job 22:2 ff. But Job had already set forth his position in Job 7:20.

Job 35:7God's self-interest is not the basis of His decisions in distributing His justiceLuke 17:10; Romans 11:35.

Job 35:8Eliphaz had said that a man's righteousness only profited himself. Elihu more perceptively exalts God's greatness at the expense of His grace; His transcendence at the price of His immanenceProverbs 9:12.