Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy,
Elihu has heard Job argue with his friends, and now he answers by quoting Job's own charge back at him. Can a man be clean and God be hostile at the same time?
Elihu Quotes Job Accurately
The charge in this verse is not Elihu's invention. One writer traces each phrase back to where Job first said it:
Samuel RidoutSomeone may say that Job was only answering the charges of wickedness brought by his friends. But he was also accusing God of treating him unfairly, by punishing an innocent man. This is clear in the next quotations: "Behold, He finds occasions (or, malicious things) against me, He counts me as His enemy" (Job 33:10). So he had declared, "These things you have hidden in your heart … You humble me as a fierce lion … changes and war are against me" (Job 10:13–17). "Why do you hide your face, and hold me for your enemy?" (Job 13:24; so also Job 19:11). So the insult against divine majesty becomes glaring — Job is pure, but God treats him as impure!
Elihu does not argue about how Job had lived. He builds his case only on what Job said out loud:
Leslie M. GrantHe does not question how Job had lived, but instead deals with what Job had clearly spoken. Job's friends had heard this, and Elihu also. He therefore faithfully quotes what Job had said... Of course Job could not deny that he had said this, so that Elihu had a firm basis for his message to Job.
What "Occasions" Means
The word behind "occasions" is rare. It appears in only one other place in the Old Testament. There it means God turning against someone:
J. N. DarbyMy turning against them, my hostility — t'nuati (my hostility, my alteration) only found here and in Job 33:10, "He finds occasions against me." ... "My turning away and being hostile to them" is "You shall experience what it is to have Me against you."
One translator gives the line as "He finds hostilities against me" (William Kelly). Job is not saying God noticed a fault. He is saying God went looking for grounds to fight him.
The Contradiction Inside the Charge
Put Job's claim of innocence beside his claim of God's hostility, and the two cannot both stand:
C. H. MackintoshAlthough he was so clean, so innocent, so free from iniquity, he still says of God, "He finds occasions, He counts me for His enemy. He puts my feet in the stocks, He marks all my paths." Here is an obvious discrepancy. How could a holy, just, and righteous Being count a pure and innocent man His enemy? Impossible. Either Job was self-deceived, or God was unrighteous. Elihu, as the servant of truth, is quick to give the verdict and tell us which it is.
Not Just an Argument — a Barrier to Peace
Left standing, these words would have ruined both Job's rest and God's reputation:
Samuel RidoutIndeed, the chief sorrow of the patriarch was that he seemed to be losing that kind Being in whom he once delighted... Such charges had to be met, and Job convinced they were false. Otherwise he could never have peace in his own soul, and a dark blot would rest on God's honour.
God Watches to Rescue, Not to Attack
Elihu's reply reverses the meaning of the very evidence Job cited. Being watched and stopped is not the act of an enemy:
W. T. P. WolstonDo you not think it is a good thing for God to mark the paths of a man who is going farther and farther from Him? To mark his paths, and stop him?... If I come to the cross, what an answer to the thought that God is my enemy. Why, He has bruised His own Son that He might deliver me. Far from having a hard thought toward me, Elihu shows us here five ways God works to deliver me.
Behind Elihu's answer stands a question about who may judge whom:
Leslie M. GrantWas it right for Job to judge God? — especially when God is so great that He does not have to give account to man, though man must give account to God.
Summary
- Quoted, not invented. Elihu builds his case only on what Job actually said, so Job cannot deny the charge or dodge the reply.
- A word for hostility. The word behind "occasions" means turning against someone. Job claims God went looking for grounds to fight him.
- Two claims, one lie. A pure man and a hostile God cannot both be true; either Job was self-deceived, or God was unrighteous.
- Peace at stake. Until this charge is answered, Job has no rest in his own soul and God's honour stays under a shadow.
- Watched to be saved. God marks a man's paths to stop him on a road that leads away from Himself. The cross answers the thought that God is anyone's enemy.