Why do you contend against him, saying, ‘He will answer none of man's words’?
Job had said that God counts him an enemy and gives him no answer. Elihu replies by turning the complaint around: what right has a man to argue with his Maker at all?
The Ground of the Rebuke: God Is Greater Than Man
Elihu's answer rests on one simple truth, and everything else follows from it. One writer shows the damage done when people forget it:
C. H. Mackintosh"Look, in this you are not just. I will answer you, for God is greater than man." What a simple truth! And yet how little understood! If God is greater than man, then obviously He, and not man, must be the Judge of what is right. This the unbelieving heart refuses. So there is a constant tendency to sit in judgment on the works and ways and word of God — on God Himself. Man, in his irreverent and unbelieving folly, sets himself up to judge what is and is not worthy of God. He decides what God ought and ought not to say and do.
The same writer points to the contradiction in Job's words. Could a holy and righteous God count an innocent man His enemy? Either Job had deceived himself, or God was unrighteous.
What "He Gives No Account" Means
Older translations read that God "gives no account of any of His matters." The ESV puts the words in Job's own mouth: God "will answer none of man's words." One writer weighs both readings:
Samuel RidoutAs long as a soul raises a question against the character of God, he is in no state to have his difficulties met. Let the broken bits of pottery on the earth quarrel with each other; God will not stoop to such a conflict. "Why do you strive against Him? for He gives no account of any of His matters" (v. 13). That is the plain meaning of the passage. Some translators word it a little differently — "God is too exalted for man"; He is too exalted to enter into a dispute with man (Enosh, frail man). Verse 13 then reads, "Why have you contended with Him, that He does not answer concerning all His doings?" In other words, why is Job complaining that he gets no full replies to all his questions? The soul must find its rest in God, not in our reasonings.
Accountability Runs One Way
Another writer puts it as a question of who answers to whom:
Leslie M. GrantElihu flatly contradicts Job's claim to be righteous. Was 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. God is always right to act as He pleases without explaining His reasons to man. God is sovereign. So it is only right for every creature to be subject to Him always and in every circumstance, never daring to question His righteousness.
Job's Real Fault Was Insubmission
The three friends had suspected Job wrongly. Elihu points to something different — not a crime, but an attitude of heart:
William KellyElihu rightly complained of such language. A believer should be reverent. "He puts my feet in the stocks, he watches all my paths. Look, in this you are not just. I will answer you, that God is greater than man. Why do you strive against Him?" The three friends had failed to convict Job rightly while suspecting him wrongly. Not only was Job judging God, he was also not subject to Him. There was insubmission of heart. If God was dealing with him, why did he not ask Him, instead of murmuring?
Submission Is What Opens the Answer
But the silence is not the end. Once a man takes his true place, God can unfold His ways:
Samuel RidoutGod is infinitely above man and beyond his understanding. Even so, He is not indifferent to His frail creatures, and He is not arbitrary in how He deals with them. Once the soul is subject to God and has taken its true place, He can unfold His ways to it. As soon as it is ready to admit that God has some wise purpose in view, He will show more. Affliction is only one of the ways God deals with men, and it has a definite object. This, Elihu now goes on to explain. As long as Job accuses, he gets no answer; let him submit, and God will make everything plain.
One writer applies the verse to the questions that stay unanswered in this life:
Ernst-August BremickerEverything will turn out according to His purpose. No one will ever be able to oppose Him. This should strengthen our faith and trust in our God, particularly in a difficult day like the present… When we reach heaven, there will be no more questions about His dealings with us. All of it will be to His everlasting glory and honour.
Summary
- Greatness. The whole answer rests on one plain statement — God is greater than man. So God, not man, decides what is right.
- Silence. He gives no account of His matters. He is too exalted to argue with frail man, and He owes the creature no explanation.
- Strife. While a soul attacks God's character, it is in no state to have its difficulties met. Accusation gets no answer.
- Submission. Job's fault was not a hidden crime but insubmission of heart. He judged God instead of asking Him, and murmured instead of submitting.
- Answer. God is neither indifferent nor arbitrary. Once the soul takes its true place, He unfolds His ways — and in heaven no questions about His dealings will remain.