For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right;
Elihu turns to the wider audience and repeats back to Job words Job himself had used. Can a man call himself righteous, charge God with denying him justice, and still be telling the truth about God?
Elihu argues from Job's own words
Elihu sets the friends' charges aside and starts from the record.
Leslie M. GrantElihu does not consider at all what the three friends had charged Job with, for they had no basis for their accusations. Rather, Elihu refers to what Job himself had said, "I am righteous, but God has taken away my justice" (v.5). However righteous Job was, it was unrighteous of him to dare to speak of God in this way.
The commentators quote the verse from older translations, where the ESV's "I am in the right" reads "I am righteous," and "my right" reads "my judgment" — the justice Job thought he was owed. The two halves Elihu repeats do not come from the same place: one is drawn from Job's own boasting, the other is word for word.
F. B. HoleJob does not appear to have said, "I am righteous," in so many words; he had rather inferred it by singing his own praises in the way recorded in Job 29. But, turning back to Job 27:2, we note he did definitely say, "God has taken away my judgment." So his attitude clearly was, "Should I lie against my right?"
Right in one sense, wrong in another
Job's claim was half right. Everything turns on which kind of righteousness is meant.
William Kelly"Job has said, I am righteous." And he was righteous, in the sense his three friends denied. But he was not righteous in glorifying God. No, he found fault with God.
The charge behind the complaint
A complaint about God's justice does not stay a complaint. It hardens into a verdict on God.
Samuel RidoutElihu quotes Job's thoughts again, if not his exact words, and draws the proper conclusion from them. He points out the monstrous deduction — "My righteousness is more than God's." Had Job not brought himself to exactly that conclusion? "I have not sinned to deserve this treatment. My life is blameless before man and before God. He would only afflict me for glaring transgressions. So He is unjust!" It is good for us to face our own conclusions, and to learn how foolish our reasoning is.
Elihu's answer moves from Job's case to God's right to govern the world.
The Bible TreasuryJob had said that he himself was righteous, and that God had taken away his judgment. If God were not righteous — indeed, the fountain of righteousness — how could He govern? "Can someone who hates justice really govern? Surely God will not do wrong, and the Almighty will not pervert justice."
Where "I am righteous" leads
Job's claim does not stay where it started. Elihu names the step that follows it.
Charles StanleyElihu now speaks to those who have an ear to hear. He shows where Job had so badly erred. First, in saying, "I am righteous"; and then for saying it was no use serving God. So we see that self-righteousness leads to unbelief and the deepest spiritual wickedness.
The root of the problem
Job really was upright. The danger lay in what he did with that knowledge.
J. N. DarbyBut these spiritual affections of Job did not stop him from turning this awareness of his own integrity into a robe of self-righteousness. That robe hid God from him, and even hid him from himself. He declares himself to be more righteous than God (Job 10:7-8; 16:14-17; 23:11-13; 27:2-6). Elihu reproves him for this, and on the other hand explains the ways of God.
Reproof with grace
Elihu tells Job hard truths, and does not tell them coldly.
William KellyHe blames Job in real faithfulness, sprinkling reproof now and then with all these gracious words. Is not this too a needed and happy lesson for our souls? ... The speech of Elihu was always, we may say, "with grace, seasoned with salt."
Elihu's reproof is not the last word in the book. Job's own answer is still coming.
Samuel RidoutElihu will get what he asks for. Before long, Job will take back his false charges against God as completely as Elihu rejects them here.
Summary
- Quoted, not accused. Elihu's case rests on Job's own words — some spoken exactly, some the plain sense of what he implied.
- Half true. Job was righteous in the way his friends denied; he was not righteous in the way that glorifies God.
- The deduction. "God has taken away my justice" ends in "my righteousness is more than God's." Face that conclusion before it hardens.
- The slide. Self-righteousness does not stop at self-defence. It ends up saying there is no profit in serving God.
- The cure. Integrity worn as a robe of self-righteousness hides God from the soul. Reproof given with grace strips the robe off, and Job comes round to Elihu's verdict.