Job 35:5

_LOOK UNTO THE HEAVENS, AND SEE; AND BEHOLD THE CLOUDS WHICH ARE HIGHER THAN THOU._ Elihu, like Eliphaz (Job 22:2; Job 22:12), shows that God is too exalted in nature to be susceptible of benefit or hurt from the righteousness or sin of man respectively: it is themselves that they benefit by righteousness or hurt by sin. HIGHER THAN THOU - spoken with irony. Not only are they higher than thou, but thou cannot even reach them clearly with the eye. Yet these are not as high as God's seat. God is therefore too exalted to be dependent on man. Therefore, He has no inducement to injustice in His dealings with man. When He afflicts, it must be from a different motive-namely, the good of the sufferer. Verse 6. WHAT DOEST - how canst thou affect Him? UNTO HIM - that can h

1-8 Elihu reproves Job for justifying himself more than God, and called his attention to the heavens. They are far above us, and God is far above them; how much then is he out of the reach, either of our sins or of our services! We have no reason to complain if we have not what we expect, but should be thankful that we have better than we deserve....

Verse Job 35:5. _LOOK UNTO THE HEAVENS_] These heavens, and their host, God has created: the bare sight of them is sufficient to show thee that God is infinitely beyond thee in wisdom and excellence. _BEHOLD THE CLOUDS_] שחקים _shechakim_, the _ethers_, (Vulgate, _aethera_,) from שחק _shachak_, to _contend, fight together_: the agitated or conflicting air and light; the strong agitation of these producing both light and heat. Look upon these, consider them deeply, and see and acknowledge the perfections of the Maker....

LOOK UNTO THE HEAVENS, AND SEE - This is the commencement of the reply which Elihu makes to the sentiment which he had understood Job to advance, and which Eliphaz had proposed formerly to examine. The general object of the reply is, to show that God is so great that he cannot be affected with human conduct, and that he has no interest in treating people otherwise than according to character. He is so exalted that their conduct cannot reach and affect his happiness. It ought to be “presumed,” therefore, since there is no motive to the contrary, that the dealings of God with people would be impartial, and that there “would” be an advantage in serving him - not because people could lay him under “obligation,” but because it was right and proper that such advantage should accrue to them. To impress this view on the mind, Elihu directs Job and his friends to look to the heavens - so lofty, g...

EXPOSITION JOB 35:1 In this short chapter, once more Elihu addresses himself to Job, first (verses 1-8) answering his complaint that a life of righteousness has brought him no correspondent blessings; and then (verses 9-14) explaining to him that his prayers and appeals to God have probably not been answered because they were not preferred in a right spirit, _i.e. _with faith and humility. Finally (verse 15, 16), he condemns Job for haughtiness and arrogance, and reiterates the charge that he "multiplies words without knowledge" (comp. Job 34:35-18). JOB 35:1, Job 35:2

LOOK UNTO THE HEAVENS, AND SEE,.... The firmament of heaven, in which are the sun and moon and stars: AND BEHOLD THE CLOUDS [WHICH] ARE HIGHER THAN THOU; the clouds of the air or sky, which are lower than the starry heavens, yet these were higher than Job, and much more the starry heavens: but because the word has the signification of "thinness", which does not so well agree with the clouds, which are thick substances, condensed air; some take it to be meant of the supreme region of the heavens, which is pure and thin; so Sephorno: and Job is directed to look to these, not as stargazers do, such as are given to judicial astrology, to judge of the fates of men and kingdoms; but rather thereby to be led to the contemplation of God the author of them, and the glorious perfections of his being they display; and chiefly to observe the height of them, that they were out of his reach, and he c...

CHAPTER 35 _ 1. Remember the greatness of God (Job 35:1)_ 2. Why God is silent and does not answer (Job 35:9) Job 35:1. Job having kept silence Elihu continues and asks him if this is sound judgment, what he had said, “My righteousness is greater than God's righteousness.” This was the logical conclusion which Elihu drew from some of his words. Because God did not care for him the sufferer what profit was it to him if he had not sinned? Then Elihu answers and his friends as well by following Job's unjustly charge. He points out the greatness of God and that cannot in any way be affected by what man does. That was Job's contention. Look at the heavens which are higher than the creature of the dust. If thou hast sinned b

Elihu inquires whether it is Job's righteousness which finds expression in his question as to the profitableness of religion. Let him look to the heavens and see how far God is above him. Man's sin or righteousness in no way injures or profits God, but only other men. In Job 35:2 instead of Or sayest thou, my righteousness is more than God's, translate And callest it my righteousness before God. With Job 35:5; cf. Job 22:2; cf. Job 22:12....

LOOK. Look attentively....

The reply of Elihu to Job's complaint. A glance at heaven, the infinitely exalted abode of God, must tell us that our conduct whether good or bad cannot affect Him. Our righteousness confers no profit on Him, neither does our wickedness entail any loss. It is men themselves that their conduct affects. It is in human life that the influence of righteousness or evil-doing is seen. And being so eternally unlike they cannot have the same effect. Elihu does not contemplate any one going so far as to maintain that godliness and unrighteousness do not differ in themselves. Job assumes and most strongly asserts their difference. He even rises to the sublime height of resolving to adhere to righteousness though God and men should shew their indifference to it (ch. Job 17:9). And what he complains of is that God is indifferent to it, and that in His government the righteous is treated as the wick...