Job 34:16 - Meaning and Application

Elihu now speaks more directly to Job. He had spoken to the others as men of understanding, but now he says to Job, if you have understanding, listen carefully and pay attention (Job 34:16). He begins with this point: God must not be blamed for anything he does. To accuse and condemn God’s ways, as Job had done in his distress, is bold and wrong.

Elihu says this is as unreasonable as putting a known enemy of justice in charge of government: “Would one who hates what is right govern?” (Job 34:17). God loves what is right so completely that, compared with him, even a good man like Job could seem to “hate right.” So how could any creature tell God how to rule, or correct what he does? When we remember how much sin twists human nature, it is clear how shameless it is for us to tell God what is fair.

He gives another picture. It would be just as unreasonable to bring a perfectly innocent man into court and condemn him after finding he was fully righteous. Elihu’s point is that God is righteous in all his ways, and he cannot be otherwise. So it is absurd to speak against his judgments as if he had done wrong.

Elihu adds that this would be even more offensive than saying to a king, “You are wicked,” or to judges, “You are ungodly” (Job 34:18). Such words would be seen as a serious insult to authority. Even if people privately doubt a ruler’s decision, they are not to speak so boldly and insultingly. Nathan did rebuke David, but he did it by using a parable. Ordinary people have no right to speak to God as if he were accountable to them.

How much worse, then, to accuse God of injustice, since he shows no favoritism and cannot be tempted to do wrong. “He does not show partiality to princes, nor regard the rich more than the poor” (Job 34:19). Rich and poor stand on the same level before God. Wealth does not earn a person special favor, and poverty does not make God treat a person unfairly. Job, even in his poverty, should know that God still sees him as one of his own creatures, just as when he was wealthy. The poor and the rich were made by the same hand.

Elihu next says that God must be acknowledged and submitted to in all he does. To help Job see this, he points to God’s power. God is almighty, and when he judges, he can bring down even the strongest people. Even a whole nation can be shaken by him, and a mighty ruler can be removed from his throne, even from the land of the living (Job 34:20). He can do this suddenly, in a moment. His judgments do not need long preparation, and he does not owe anyone advance warning.

Elihu also says God can strike at midnight, when people feel secure and cannot defend themselves. In that way, he can remove them quietly and secretly, without human help. He does not need any other hand to do his work. He can humble the greatest tyrant all by himself. He can also break many mighty men at once, because no joined power can stand against his power (Job 34:24).

Yet when God puts down evil rulers, he does not mean to create lawlessness. If he removes one bad ruler, that does not mean people should have no ruler at all. He may raise up others in their place, and if they also rule badly, he can bring them down too, even in the night (Job 34:25). Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, is a clear example. Or, if God gives such rulers time to repent, he may not destroy them at once, but he strikes them as wicked men, bringing painful and humbling judgments on them (Job 34:26). He does this openly, as a warning to others. The point is that if kings cannot stand before him, neither can we.

Elihu then turns to God’s perfect knowledge. If no one can resist God’s power, no one can escape his sight. So if some people are punished more or less than we think they should be, we should not accuse God. We should assume there is some hidden reason known to him alone. “His eyes are on the ways of man” (Job 34:21). God does not merely have the ability to see our ways, he is actively watching them. Everywhere we go, we are under his eye. Every action is observed, recorded, and kept for judgment when the books are opened.

Nothing can be hidden from him, not even the darkest place. “There is no darkness or shadow of death where evildoers can hide” from God’s sight and judgment (Job 34:22). People who do evil may try to hide from other people out of shame, and from God out of fear, as Adam once hid among the trees of the garden. One day, the mighty and the proud will call on the rocks and mountains to hide them.

They would be glad to hide, even in the shadow of death, to stay in the grave forever rather than stand before Christ’s judgment seat. It is useless to think we can escape God’s justice or hide when his anger is after us. People who do evil may find ways to hide from other people, but they cannot hide from God. He knows their deeds, both what they do and what they plan to do (Job 34:25).

God is righteous, and everything he does follows what is right. Even when he brings down strong leaders and crushes them, he does not wrong anyone or go beyond what is fair, Job 34:23. He will not punish the innocent, and he will not demand from the guilty more than their sins deserve. Only God’s perfect wisdom can judge the exact fit between sin and punishment. No one can fairly accuse him of treating them harshly, and no one can bring a case against him and win. If anyone does try, God will be shown right in what he says and clear in what he judges.

So Job was wrong to complain against God. Elihu is really telling him to drop his lawsuit, because he would surely lose. It is foolish for any person to plan to enter judgment with the Almighty. Job had often wished to present his case before God, but Elihu asks, “What would be the point?” The judgment already given against Job would stand, because no errors can be found in it and no objections can overturn it. Everything God does is right, and it will be seen that way in the end.

To show that God does not punish the mighty more than they deserve, Elihu points to their wickedness (Job 34:27, 28). Let anyone compare their sins with their suffering and then decide whether they got less than they deserved. These unjust rulers, whom God rightly judges, neither feared God nor respected people (Luke 18:2). They turned away from God, threw off fear of him, and stopped thinking about him. They would not consider his ways, meaning neither his commands nor his acts of providence. They lived as if God had no claim on their lives.

At the root of all wickedness is this turning away from God. People do not sin because they cannot understand. They sin because they will not consider. When people stop paying attention to God, they become ungodly, and from that come all kinds of evil. These rulers were also cruel to other people (Job 34:28). They did not call on God for themselves, but they made the poor cry out to him, and that cry rose against them. They hurt the poor, crushed them, made them poorer still, and added pain to those already suffering.

The poor cried out to God, and he heard them and took up their cause. Anyone who has the prayers and tears of the poor against them is in a dangerous place. The cry of the oppressed will sooner or later bring judgment on those who oppress them, and no one can say that this is unfair (Exodus 22:23).

God also has full rule over everything in human life. He guides both whole nations and single people, so that what he plans cannot be stopped and what he does cannot be changed, Job 34:29. If God gives peace, who can bring trouble? The whole world, including all the powers of hell and earth, cannot unsettle those whom God has given peace. If he gives outward peace to a nation, he can keep it safe. If he gives inward peace to a person, that quiet assurance that comes from righteousness cannot be shaken by Satan’s accusations, present sufferings, or even death itself (Philippians 4:7).

On the other hand, if God is displeased and hides his face, no one can truly bring comfort. Who can look at a hidden, offended God and bear his anger, or turn it away? Who can force him to show favor when he has chosen to withhold it? And who can give real relief to a troubled sinner when God himself is against that person? No one can remove the troubles of outward life without God’s help. If the Lord does not help, where else can help come from? (2 Kings 6:27). No one can soothe a guilty conscience when God’s wrath presses on it. Human comfort is powerless there. The same rule holds for nations and for individuals. God’s works cannot be controlled, whether he acts against a nation publicly or against one person in private.

God is also wise and cares for the good of the people. For that reason, he sees to it that a hypocrite does not keep ruling, lest the people be trapped, Job 34:30. Hypocrites often want power and the praise of people. Tyrants may even use religion as a cover for ambition and reach the throne through false piety. When such people rule, the people are in danger of being trapped in sin, in trouble, or in both. Power in the hands of pretenders often destroys a people’s rights and freedoms, which are easier to coax away than to take by force. Much harm has also been done to real godliness under the cover of a mere appearance of godliness.

God’s care for the people is seen in this, that the hypocrite does not reign, or does not reign long. If God has mercy in store for a people, he will either prevent such rulers from rising or quickly bring about their fall.