Elihu Condemns Self-Righteousness

Job 35:1–16
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In his third speech, Elihu attempted to refute Job’s argument that righteousness avails nothing. Job had claimed to have done no wrong and that he was righteous before God, but that had made no difference (vv. 1-3). In other words, he would have been just as well off, had he sinned. While responding to Job’s claim, Elihu, at the same time corrected his three friends (v. 4). He told Job to look heavenward and see if he were able to detect any effect of his sin upon the abode of God (vv. 5-6). In doing so he implied that it had not made the slightest difference. Even if man had performed only righteous acts, these did not in the end benefit God (v. 7). They would only benefit man. Only man  is the loser from sin, or the one to gain from righteousness (v. 8). By this Elihu was suggesting that in the end righteousness benefits man just as surely as unrighteousness harms him.

Following these assertions, Elihu took up the problem of God’s righteousness and the cry of the oppressed (v. 9). He would give them reason to sing His praise (v. 10). He reminds Job that the birds and beasts can teach us the ways of God in the world, but that men are made to be wiser than they (v. 11). Men should be able to see that suffering is to encourage them to call upon God in sincere repentance, not just to be delivered from the circumstances (v. 12). It should be obvious to all, especially to Job, that God will not hear that kind of cry (v. 13). God will not hear those who do not cry in penitence, nor to those who charge Him with inconsistency in the way that Job had (v. 14). Elihu concludes with a condemnation of Job’s charge that the wicked go unpunished (vv. 15-16).

Application

Job was saying, “My life is not affecting God.” The problem was that it was affecting God. A sin is something that is infinite. An example is when Abraham sinned when he took his handmaid Hagar. The world is still paying for that sin in the conflicts in the Middle East. I am a “preacher“ of righteousness or unrighteousness. Sin in my life will hurt me, and it may hurt many other people. But if I live a righteous life it possibly will help many people.