Job 34:12

_YEA, SURELY GOD WILL NOT DO WICKEDLY, NEITHER WILL THE ALMIGHTY PERVERT JUDGMENT._ (Job 8:3.) In opposition to Job (Job 34:5). WILL NOT - cannot....

10-15 Elihu had showed Job, that God meant him no hurt by afflicting him, but intended his spiritual benefit. Here he shows, that God did him no wrong by afflicting him. If the former did not satisfy him, this ought to silence him. God cannot do wickedness, nor the Almighty commit wrong. If services now go unrewarded, and sins now go unpunished, yet there is a day coming, when God will fully render to every man according to his works. Further, though the believer's final condemnation is done away through the Saviour's ransom, yet he has merited worse than any outward afflictions; so that no wrong is done to him, however he may be tried....

YEA, SURELY GOD WILL NOT DO WICKEDLY - So important does Elihu hold this principle to be, that he repeats it, and dwells upon it. He says, “it surely (אמנם _'omnâm_) must be so.” The principle must be held at all hazards, and no opinion which contravenes this should be indulged for one moment. His ground of complaint against Job was, that he had not held fast to this principle, but, under the pressure of his sufferings, had indulged in remarks which implied that God might do wrong. NEITHER WILL THE ALMIGHTY PERVERT JUDGMENT - As Elihu supposed Job to have maintained; see Job 34:5. To “pervert judgment” is to do injustice; to place injustice in the place of right....

EXPOSITION JOB 34:1 In this chapter Elihu turns from Job to those whom he addresses as "wise men" (verse 2), or "men of understanding" (verse 10). Whether these are Job's three special friends, or others among the company which had perhaps gathered to hear the debate, is uncertain. He makes the subject of his address to them Job's conduct—scarcely a polite thing to do in Job's presence. Job, he says, has scorned God and charged him with injustice (verses 5-9). He will vindicate him. This he proceeds to do in verses 10-30. He then points out what Job's course ought to be (verses 31-33), and winds up by an appeal to the "men of understanding" to endorse his condemnation of Job as a sinner and a rebel (verses 34-37). JOB 34:1,...

YEA, SURELY GOD WILL NOT DO WICKEDLY,.... This truth is repeated and affirmed in the strongest manner; or "will not condemn", as the Vulgate Latin version, and so the Targum, that is, he will not condemn the righteous; for, though he may afflict them, which is done that they may not be condemned with the world, he will not condemn them; for there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ; his righteousness, by which they are justified, secures them from all condemnation; NEITHER WILL THE ALMIGHTY PERVERT JUDGMENT: pronounce a wrong sentence, decline the execution of justice, swerve from the rule of it, or do a wrong thing; for he punishes wherever he finds it, either in the sinner or his surety; and his punishing it in his Son, as the surety of his people, is the strongest proof of his punitive justice that can be given: nor does he neglect to chastise his people for sin, though sat...

Job 34:1. _Furthermore Elihu answered and said, Hear my words, O ye wise men; and give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge. For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meat._ I wish that verse was always true, especially concerning those who hear what purports to be the gospel; I only wish they would test and try what they hear, just as, with their mouth, they taste what they eat. But, as there are some persons who will eat anything that is set before them, so there are some who will accept anything that they hear, without exercising any spiritual discernment whatever. «It is cleverly put,» they say, and therefore they receive it; yet they would scarcely be foolish enough to eat unhealthy food simply because it was skillfully carved. Job 34:4. Let us choose to us judgment: let us know among

CHAPTER 34 _ 1. Hear my words ye wise men (Job 34:1)_ 2. The refutation of Job's accusation of God (Job 34:5) 3. Job needs testing to the end (Job 34:31) Job 34:1. In beginning this part of the address, in which Elihu vindicates God's character against Job's insinuations, he addresses the friends of Job, and perhaps others who were gathered there. He wants them to pay the closest attention to what he will say. Job 34:5. This is the main burden of his address; it is taken up with refuting Job's charge against God. He treats Job with all fairness a

Elihu summons the wise men who hear him to seek a right decision. Job has accused God of injustice, when he is innocent. But in reality Job is the worst of scorners, for he denies the profit of religion. JOB 34:3 is quoted from Job 12:11. With Job 34:7 f., _cf._ Psalms 1:1. JOB 34:10. God will not do wickedly, but will render to each man retribution. He is no deputy of some higher power (Job 34:13), but the Sovereign Lord of man's breath; when He withdraws it, man returns to dust.

Elihu's argument in these verses is the truest answer that can be given: injustice on the part of God is inconsistent with the idea of God. The three friends had urged the same plea. And Job would have accepted the argument had his friends or himself been able to take it up as a general principle and keep it clear from complications with the events of actual providence. When, however, they combined it with their other theory that good and evil befell men solely according to the principle of retribution, and that this latter principle was that according to which God's actual providence was entirely administered, Job could not consent to their reasoning. And as he agreed with them that retributive righteousness was or ought to be the principle of God's rule of the world, he was obliged, as he entirely failed to perceive such a principle adhered to, to charge God with injustice. It is not e...

TEXT 34:10-15 10 THEREFORE HEARKEN ONTO ME, YE MEN OF UNDERSTANDING: Far be it from God, that he should do wickedness, And from the Almighty, that he should commit iniquity. 11 For the work of a man will he render unto him, And cause every man to find according to his ways, 12 Yea, of a surety, God will not do wickedly, Neither will the Almighty pervert justice. 13 Who gave him a charge over the earth? Or who hath disposed the whole world? 14 If he set his heart upon himself, _If_ he gather onto himself his spirit and his breath; 15 All flesh shall perish together, And man shall torn again unto dust. COMMENT 34:10-15 JOB 34:10Bildad raised this question in Job 8:3; Elihu echoes it here in...