Job 36:15 - Meaning and Application

Elihu now speaks more directly to Job. He first tells him what God would have done for him earlier if he had been truly humbled under his suffering. We all know how ready God is to rescue the poor in trouble, and he has always been so. He looks with tenderness on the poor in spirit, those with a broken and sorry heart, and when they suffer, he is ready to help them.

God opens their ears and makes them hear joy and gladness even while they are still under hardship. While he has not yet set them free, he speaks to them kind and comforting words. Those words strengthen their faith, steady their patience, quiet their fears, and ease their grief. Elihu says God would have done that for Job too if Job had submitted to God’s rule and behaved rightly. Then God would have delivered and comforted him, and there would have been no need for all these complaints.

If Job had accepted God’s will, his freedom and prosperity would have returned with even greater blessing. He would have been brought into a broad place, where there is no tightness or crushing pressure. He would no longer have been squeezed by sickness and shame, with all his plans broken. He also would have been made rich again. His table would have been spread with more than ordinary food, even with the finest wheat and the best meat (Deuteronomy 32:14).

This should quiet us under affliction. If we were better, things would be better for us in every way. If we had answered the purpose of the trial, the trial would have ended, and deliverance would have come when we were ready for it. God would have done well for us if we had behaved well toward him (Psalm 81:13, Psalm 81:14; Isaiah 48:18).

Then Elihu charges Job with putting himself in the wrong and making his own trouble continue. He says, “You have fulfilled the judgment of the wicked,” meaning that, whatever Job truly was, in this matter he had acted like a wicked man. He had spoken and behaved like the wicked, and so he had taken their side. He had helped their cause, and therefore judgment had come on him as though he belonged with them. It is dangerous to stand on the wrong side. Those who help treason will be treated like traitors themselves.

Elihu then warns Job not to stay stubborn and unbending. First, he must not treat God’s anger lightly or act safe when he is in danger of it. Because God is a righteous ruler who rightly resents every insult to his rule, and because Job had reason to fear that he stood under God’s displeasure, he should be careful. He should not let God strike him suddenly, but should quickly make peace with him and ask for his anger to be turned away. Job had given a similar warning to his friends, saying they should fear the sword, because wrath brings punishment by the sword (Job 19:29). Men often threaten one another with God’s judgment too boldly, but a clean conscience does not need to fear the empty threats of proud people. Still, Elihu’s warning was a kind one, and Job needed it. Even good people must sometimes be held to their duty by fear of God’s wrath.

Second, Job must not think that, if God’s anger should burn against him, he could find a way out. There is no escape by money. No man can buy a pardon with silver, gold, or any other fading treasure. Even a great ransom cannot save a person when God brings him into judgment. God’s justice cannot be bribed, nor can any officer of his justice. Riches will not matter then, and gold will not buy relief (Job 36:19). Even if Job still had all his wealth, it would not protect him from God’s wrath, because riches do not help in the day when judgment is revealed (Proverbs 11:4; Psalm 49:7, Psalm 49:8).

There is also no escape by force. Even if Job had many servants and followers ready to fight for him, they could not pull him out of God’s hand. God would not be moved by such help. No one can deliver a person from his hand. There is no shelter in hiding either. Job must not long for the night, as though darkness could hide him from judgment (Job 36:20). Darkness does not hide anything from God (Psalm 139:11, Psalm 139:12; Job 34:22). People sleep at night and turn to their own places, so it may seem like a time when they cannot be seen. But God does not sleep, and he never loses sight of us. His eyes are open on all people at all times. No rocks or mountains can hide anyone from him.

Some take this to mean the night of death, the time when people are cut off from their place. Job had often longed for that night, as a hired worker longs for evening (Job 7:2). Elihu says he should not do that, because he does not know what the night of death will be. People who eagerly wish for death, thinking it will shelter them from God’s wrath, may be mistaken. God’s anger can follow a person into that night too.

Third, Job must not keep arguing against God and his providence, which he had been doing instead of humbling himself under his suffering (Job 36:21). He must be careful, watch himself closely, and not turn back to wrongdoing. Some read it as, “Do not even look toward iniquity again.” We should never dare to think well of sin, never enjoy it, and never allow ourselves to keep it. Elihu thinks Job needed this warning because he had chosen iniquity rather than affliction, meaning he had preferred to protect his pride and willfulness by arguing with God instead of humbling himself and accepting correction. More broadly, anyone who chooses sin instead of suffering makes a foolish choice.

Those who try to ease their worries with sinful pleasures, gain wealth through sinful plans, escape trouble by wrong schemes, or avoid suffering for doing right by giving in against their conscience, choose a path they will later regret. There is more evil in the smallest sin than in the greatest suffering. Sin is evil, and only evil.

Let him not dare to tell God what to do, or set limits for him (Job 36:22, Job 36:23). God lifts up by his power. He can set up or bring down whom he wills, so it is not for you or me to argue with him. The more we honor God, the more we should humble ourselves.

Think about this first, God is the absolute ruler. He lifts up by his own power, not by power borrowed from anyone else. He raises whom he pleases, even those who were afflicted and brought low, by the strength he gives his people. So who has appointed him his path? Who stands over him to direct his way? Is there some higher ruler from whom he received his authority and to whom he must answer? No, he alone is supreme and independent.

Who has taught God his way, as some put it? Does the eternal mind need someone to remind him? No. His own way, like ours, is always before him. He has received no orders or lessons from anyone (Isaiah 60:13, Isaiah 60:14), and he answers to no one. He gives every creature its path, so we should not try to prescribe his. We should leave it to him to govern the world, since he alone is fit to do it.

Second, he is the best teacher. Who teaches like him? It is foolish for us to try to instruct the One who is the source of light, truth, knowledge, and wisdom. He gives knowledge to human beings, and no one else can do it like he does, so should not he know all things? (Psalm 94:9, Psalm 94:10). Shall we light a candle to the sun?

Notice this, when Elihu wanted to honor God as ruler, he praised him as teacher too, because rulers must also teach. God does this. He guides people with the cords of a man, in a way suited to them. In this, as in everything else, no one equals him. No one is so fit to direct his own actions as God is. He knows what he must do and the best way to do it, and he does not need advice or new information.

Even Solomon, Israel’s wise king, had a council to advise him, but the King of kings has none. No one is so fit to direct our actions as God is either. No one teaches with such authority, clear proof, kindness, pity, power, and success as God does. He teaches through the Bible, and that is the best book. He teaches through his Son, and he is the best Master.

Third, he is perfectly just in all he does. Who can say, “You have done wrong”? Not, who dares say it, for many do wrong, and those who confront them often do so at risk. Rather, who can truly say it? Who has any reason to say it? Who can say it and prove it? This is a sure truth without limit, the King of kings can do no wrong.