“But you are full of the judgment on the wicked; judgment and justice seize you.
Elihu, who speaks after Job's three friends, has just described the broad place God was ready to bring Job into. Now he names the thing blocking it: Job is full of the wicked man's way of talking about God, and that talk has come back on his own head.
The Meaning of "the Judgment of the Wicked"
Does this mean the sentence God passes on wicked men? One writer reads it instead as the way wicked men themselves speak of God. He also gives a second rendering of the line:
Samuel RidoutThis principle is applied to Job's case. God would have dealt with him this way, restoring him to prosperity, as He soon will. But Job had blocked this by his unholy charges against God. This was "the judgment of the wicked" (v. 17) — their way of charging God. He need not be surprised that judgment had laid hold of him. This has been rendered, "Judging and judgment lay hold on one another," but the thought is similar. If one judges God, it is closely linked with judgment on himself.
A Blessing Held Back
Elihu is not telling Job he has failed. He names what stands in the way of a deliverance God still holds out:
Leslie M. GrantIf Job had not been crushed and resentful about this test, God would have brought him out of his distresses "into a broad place where there was no cramping" (v. 16). That is what Elihu assures him. Not that Job had completely failed the test, as hypocrites and others had, for God was still testing him. But Job's blessing was hindered by his idea — or misconception — of judgment and justice (v. 17).
The obstacle was not Job's suffering. It was what Job thought about God's justice while he suffered.
Arguing Like the Wicked
Job was a righteous man, yet he had taken up the reasoning of the wicked. Elihu sets out where each road ends:
Arno Clemens GaebeleinLove and kindness, not His wrath and displeasure, are what the afflictions of the righteous reveal. He wants to teach them through suffering... It was a call to Job to acknowledge this. It is a prophecy that before long he would find it out. When God has accomplished His purpose with him, his end would be peace and prosperity. The wicked do not heed this and therefore perish... He would have led Job out into a broad place. But if Job continues in the argument of the wicked — reasoning and pleading as they do, charging God falsely — then let him beware.
Another writer shows where Elihu found his material. He quotes Job back to himself:
Leslie M. GrantElihu does not consider at all what the three friends had charged Job with. They had no basis for their accusations. Rather, Elihu refers to what Job himself had said, "I am in the right, and God has taken away my right"... However righteous Job was, it was unrighteous of him to dare to speak of God in this way.
Pride Beneath the Words
Why would God press a righteous man this hard? One writer finds the reason not in Job's actions but in his heart:
F. B. HoleElihu seems instead to admit that Job was righteous. Because he was righteous, God had permitted this severe discipline to come on him. In verse 16 Elihu does apply what he is saying to Job. After all, the deep-seated pride and vanity of the human heart is the greatest offence of all.
Job could not see this in himself. That blindness is what the affliction came to cure:
Samuel RidoutTo Job it had been [a contradiction], because he failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart. He had a pride that was as real a transgression as the terrible evils the friends falsely charged him with. God's object was to lay bare to man the hidden evil of his heart, to open his ear to His warnings and to turn him from pride.
Summary
- Filled. Job had taken in the wicked man's way of speaking about God, and Elihu tells him he is now full of it.
- Seized. Judging God and being judged are bound together; the man who puts God in the dock finds the case turned around on himself.
- Hindered. God was ready to lead Job into a broad place. Job's own mistaken view of justice held that blessing back.
- Exposed. The affliction aimed at pride — a real transgression, hidden from Job himself, and the greatest offence of the human heart.
- Warned. Elihu argues from Job's own words, not the friends' false charges. So the way out is plain: stop charging God, and the broad place is still ahead.