seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Job 35:1 Then Elihu said:
2 “Do you think this is just?
You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[a]
and what do I gain by not sinning?’
You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.’
3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me,[a]
and what do I gain by not sinning?’
4 “I would like to reply to you
and to your friends with you.
5 Look up at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds so high above you.
6 If you sin, how does that affect him?
If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,
and your righteousness only other people.
and to your friends with you.
5 Look up at the heavens and see;
gaze at the clouds so high above you.
6 If you sin, how does that affect him?
If your sins are many, what does that do to him?
7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
or what does he receive from your hand?
8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself,
and your righteousness only other people.
9 “People cry out under a load of oppression;
they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than he teaches[b] the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than[c] the birds in the sky?’
12 He does not answer when people cry out
because of the arrogance of the wicked.
13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;
the Almighty pays no attention to it.
14 How much less, then, will he listen
when you say that you do not see him,
that your case is before him
and you must wait for him,
15 and further, that his anger never punishes
and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.[d]
16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;
without knowledge he multiplies words.”
they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful.
10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
who gives songs in the night,
11 who teaches us more than he teaches[b] the beasts of the earth
and makes us wiser than[c] the birds in the sky?’
12 He does not answer when people cry out
because of the arrogance of the wicked.
13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;
the Almighty pays no attention to it.
14 How much less, then, will he listen
when you say that you do not see him,
that your case is before him
and you must wait for him,
15 and further, that his anger never punishes
and he does not take the least notice of wickedness.[d]
16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;
without knowledge he multiplies words.”
a. Job 35:3 Or you
b. Job 35:11 Or night, / 11 who teaches us by
c. Job 35:11 Or us wise by
d. Job 35:15 Symmachus, Theodotion and Vulgate; the meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
So I figure God watches my every step???? I guess not.... Elihu is right.... why would God want to follow me around judging my every step. God created everything around me so He knows how everything will work. It's like a baker watching a beginner bake a cake from the baker's recipe. The baker knows how it tastes.... how it will rise.... how it will smell... the baker even knows what benefits the cake will have on the human body..... so why bother watching every movement..... just intervene at the major parts where required. God's there when we need Him. He is after all God.... He knows how it all turns out.... God's not worried about every move we make.
Elihu makes another point here.... God does not punish out of anger. If God took it out on humans everytime He had reason to be angry.... the earth would be long gone. Humans even made a golden calf jump out of the cauldron while God was busy handing down the 10 Commandments. Humans are always ready to worship everyone and everything except God. Humans think what happened to Sodom was a mean deal.... they haven't seen anything yet... I would bet.
This is from the easy English site.
In other words, Job was saying, ‘God does not care whether a man is innocent or not. I thought that God would help me because of my good deeds. But in fact, I am suffering as an evil person deserves to suffer. So when I did these good deeds, I was wasting my time.’
Elihu disagreed. This was a stupid attitude. Job’s words were like the words of an evil man.
In Job 24:1-12, Job spoke about the poor people who were suffering because of their cruel rulers. And Job complained that God was not helping these people. Elihu’s answer to Job was in two parts:
· Perhaps those poor people did not deserve to suffer (Job 34:23-28). Whenever they cried, they prayed to God for help. Elihu believed that God would often help such people (Job 34:28). God listened to their cries. So God would punish their cruel rulers.
· But perhaps those poor people were evil (Job 35:9-13). They were too proud to pray to God. They did not realise that God is good. They were not grateful for all God’s good gifts. Instead, they were angry. And they complained. God would not listen to their hopeless cries.
Job had not thought about this. He imagined that poor people would always be innocent. He heard their cries. So he supposed that they were praying. He did not imagine that they might be opposing God.
This is from Bible-studys.org.
Elihu again referred to Job’s complaints, first of all his thinking that there appeared to be no advantage to being righteous, which Job had said, as recorded. The first part of his answer is that Job gained nothing by sinning or not sinning because God was so high that nothing men do affects Him. It only affects other men. Job had also complained that God did not answer his prayers when he cried under this oppression. Elihu coldly gave 3 reasons why Job’s prayers had not been heard: pride, wrong motives, and lack of patient trust. Again, all this theoretical talk missed Job’s predicament completely because he was righteous. Elihu was no more help than the other counselors.
So perhaps what Elihu was saying was simply.... God doesn't have time for you every time you beckon. God's got more on His mind. I'm trying not to get sidetracked by believing the arguments Job's friends are coming up with. After all... they don't know that satan is trying to prove that Job [that good guy] is only a good guy because God is so good to him..... and satan is trying to prove that Job will hate God... Elihu doesn't know that in this one particular case.... Job really was covered by God..... but God lifted His protective hand to show satan that Job obeys God's laws because Job loves to do what is right.
God's just giving satan time to realize he is wrong.... that some humans just simply love God and want to serve Him. Job's friends have had some interesting ideas..... but no one on earth knows what is going on....
Elihu is considering my affect on God.... right? What affect does this stupid human have on God?
Powers and Principalities.... right?
