Job 34:15

_IF HE SET HIS HEART UPON MAN, IF HE GATHER UNTO HIMSELF HIS SPIRIT AND HIS BREATH;_ 'If He were to set His heart on man,' either to injure him, or to take strict account of his sins. The connection supports rather (Umbreit), 'If He had regard to Himself (only), and were to gather unto Himself (Psalms 104:29) His Spirit. etc. (which He sends forth to give life to man and all other animals, Psalms 104:30; Ecclesiastes 12:7), all flesh must perish together,' etc. (Genesis 3:19.) God's loving preservation of His creatures proves He cannot be selfish, and therefore cannot be unjust....

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....

ALL FLESH SHALL PERISH TOGETHER - If God chose, he would have a right to cut down the whole race. How then shall people complain of the loss of health, comforts, and friends, and presume to arraign God as if he were unjust?...

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,...

ALL FLESH SHALL PERISH TOGETHER,.... Not one by one, or one after another, as they generally do, but all together; as when the flood swept away the world of the ungodly. "All flesh" signifies all men, and their bodies of flesh particularly, which are weak, frail, and mortal; and if God gathers or takes out the spirit from them, they die immediately, which is meant by perishing, as in Ecclesiastes 7:15; AND MAN SHALL TURN AGAIN UNTO DUST; from whence he came, as the body does at death; when those earthly tabernacles of the bodies of men, which have their foundation in the dust, are dissolved and sink into it. Now though this is the case of particular persons, one after another, yet it is not a general case, as it would be if God was to exert his power, as he might without any charge of injustice: and this shows the merciful kindness of God to man, so far is he fro

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

PERISH. expire. TURN AGAIN. Compare Genesis 3:19; Ecclesiastes 12:7....

This charge of injustice Elihu rebuts, _first_, on the general ground of its impiety: God cannot be thought of as acting in the way Job asserted He rewardeth every man according to his works (Job 34:10); and _second_, he then resolves the general idea into two distinct thoughts, Job 34:13, and Job 34:16....

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...