If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him?
Elihu turns on Job a question that sounds almost dismissive: your sins, however many, do not reach God. Behind it sits a real problem: if what we do makes no difference to God, does God take any interest in us at all?
The Complaint Behind the Question
Elihu is answering something Job had said. Job had come to think that God took no notice of how he lived. Living well gained him nothing.
Samuel RidoutJob had declared that his case was more righteous than God's, because (v. 3) God took no interest at all in whatever he did. There was no advantage in righteousness any more than in sin! Imagine an upright, God-fearing man bringing himself to such a conclusion! It leads to, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die."
The trap is that Job wants it both ways. He says human conduct does not move God, then complains in the same breath that God has singled him out unfairly.
Leslie M. GrantJob had already recognised what Elihu insists on here: his conduct, whether good or bad, did not influence God. How inconsistent, then, that Job would accuse God of unfairness! He was in effect saying that God should make an exception for him, because he was such a righteous man. Unbelief contradicts itself.
Reasoning from God, Not from Ourselves
Kelly points to the root mistake. Job argued from himself upward to God.
William KellyTo judge from yourself, or from anything here, up to God is always false ground, and all the more now that sin has come into the world, with all its bitter results and darkening influence. Job needed to learn, and his friends needed it even more and with less excuse, that the only wise, fitting and safe way is to reason from Him and from His revelation of Himself down to ourselves, or to anything else.
No Shadow on His Glory
The force of Elihu's question is that God's greatness is out of reach. Human wrongdoing is deadly serious — but not because it damages God.
William KellyMan's sin is serious for himself, and may be so for his fellows; but what difference does it make for God? Not even the boldest sinners can darken one ray of His glory, though He may turn it all, as He chooses, to exalt and to display what He is. And it is the same with man's righteousness: what does it give God? What does He receive from man's hand? God is the unchanging One, always good, never unrighteous. It is man, the human race, that feels the effect of a person's righteousness or sin.
Where the Damage Falls
If sin does not wound God, it does not follow that sin is harmless. The weight of it lands on the people around us, and the same holds true of our good conduct.
F. B. HoleGod was far above His heavens. He was so great that nothing wrong, done by weak man, could hurt Him, and nothing right could add anything to Him. Our wrongs may harm the people around us, and our right actions may do them good. And when we wrong them, they cry out in complaint — yet they forget God.
Love, Not Gain
God gains nothing from His creatures. So what moves Him to give them anything at all?
Frederick W GrantRevelation is for the creature, not for God. The glory it reveals is not there to increase the wealth of the One who reveals it, but the wealth of the one who receives it. God is not making gain out of His creatures, and they are not increasing His wealth at their own cost. Love alone can count its riches in taking up such burdens. And God is love; and His glory is in the outflow of His goodness.
Only One Side of the Truth
Elihu's argument is true, but on its own it would leave a God too remote to care. The next thing he says corrects that.
Samuel RidoutElihu has shown that his view of God's independence from man answers Job's accusations. Now he goes straight on to show that God does care about man's ways. God does not slumber. He sees and hears. It grieves Him at His heart when men sin. Evil outrages His infinite perfections.
Summary
- Contradiction — Job said God takes no notice of how we live. Then he asked God to treat his own life as a special case.
- Reach — no amount of human rebellion can darken one ray of God's glory. He stays the unchanging One.
- Rebound — sin does not travel up to God. It lands on the people around us, and on us.
- Gift — God gains nothing from us. So what moves Him to act must be love, pouring out its own goodness.
- Balance — God's independence is only half the truth. Elihu goes straight on to say that God sees, hears, and grieves when men sin.