Job 35 explained: Elihu Says God Owes No One

Elihu sums up Job (vv. 1-3)

Elihu accuses Job of claiming to be more in the right than God and of asking what good it ever did him to avoid wrongdoing. Job came close to saying this in chapters 9 and 10, yet in chapter 21 he also put that question in the mouths of the wicked and distanced himself from it, so readers differ on whether Elihu's summary is fair.

God is beyond our reach (vv. 4-8)

Elihu points to the sky: if the clouds are far above us, God is higher still, so human sin cannot hurt God and human goodness cannot enrich God. His point is that our choices mainly affect other people, and on one common reading he means that God, gaining nothing either way, has no motive to treat anyone unjustly.

Why cries go unanswered (vv. 9-13)

Elihu admits that oppressed people cry out, but says they rarely turn to the God who made them, who gives "songs in the night" (hope in dark times) and gives humans more understanding than animals. He claims God ignores cries that are empty or come from pride, which in effect puts the blame on those who suffer, and readers disagree about whether the book means us to accept that view.

Elihu turns on Job (vv. 14-16)

Job has said he cannot see God and is left waiting for his case to be heard, and Elihu says God is even less likely to listen to talk like that. Verse 15 is hard to translate and scholars are unsure of its exact sense, but Elihu ends by saying Job speaks many words without knowledge.

Key verse: Job 35:7

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Elihu offers real insight that prepares for God's speeches or mostly repeats the friends' mistaken view that suffering points to the sufferer's fault.

Something to think about

If our good and bad actions matter mostly because of what they do to other people, does that feel like enough reason to care about them?