He does not keep the wicked alive, but gives the afflicted their right.
Elihu speaks here for God's character, after Job's three friends have run out of arguments. His short statement of how God runs the world raises the hardest question in the book: if it is true, why is Job, a righteous man, sitting in ashes?
Greatness That Does Not Look Down
The verse sits inside a sentence that begins with God's might. One commentator shows how that might and His compassion hold together.
Samuel RidoutIn one word he sweeps away the unholy suspicions Job had been holding: "God is mighty, and does not despise any." He is infinite in power, yet He looks with compassion on the weakest of His creatures. We see Him just as clearly in two infinities — the infinitely great, and the infinitely small. His greatness is never an occasion for scorn. His wisdom has infinite power, but He never uses it against weakness.
Another writer presses the same point against a common instinct — that a bigger God would be a more distant one.
William KellyPeople might have thought, and do think, that the greater the majesty of God, the less He takes notice of the very smallest thing on earth. It is all the other way. God shows His might by being able to grasp everything, and to take notice of and show His concern about the smallest insect.
What "Does Not Keep the Wicked Alive" Means
The first half of the verse is not a claim that no wicked man ever draws breath. It is a claim about what God is doing while that breath continues.
William Kelly"He preserves not the life of the wicked." He bears with it. So we should not call it preserving. "He gives the poor their right. He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, but with kings they are on the throne." It does not matter whether it is the poor, or kings on the throne. They all come under the eye of God.
(The older wording here is "He preserves not the life of the wicked." The ESV reads "He does not keep the wicked alive.")
Another commentator adds the question of timing, then follows this promise forward to where it now rests.
Leslie M. GrantIn the long run, He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but in contrast He gives justice to the oppressed (v.6). But more than justice, His eyes are upon them for good: He lifts them up to a position of dignity as though on the throne with kings. Today God has set the Lord Jesus on His throne of infinite glory, and every believer is "accepted in the Beloved One" (Ephesians 1:6), and so linked with Christ on His throne. Elihu did not understand this, but he did see that God gives believers a position of dignity far above their present circumstances. Job did not see it, because he was swamped by his circumstances.
The Sting in the Verse for Job
If God guards the righteous, why is a righteous man in chains? Elihu's answer is not the friends' charge of open sin. It points to something hidden that needed exposing.
Samuel RidoutThese "righteous" people are the objects of God's care, yet at times they are "bound in fetters, held in cords of affliction." Does that contradict what Elihu had just said? To Job it did. He failed to see the possibilities of evil in his own heart — a pride that was as real a transgression as the glaring evils his 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.
Why God Watches His Own Most Closely
The verse moves from the wicked, to the afflicted, to the righteous. God watches the last group most closely.
William KellyThat is the great point of this chapter. In chapter 33 it was "man," but here it is "the righteous" man that He looks at more particularly. God disciplines man to win him to Himself. With the righteous man that discipline is far stricter, to keep him right. If God has justified him, that should never end in dishonour to God. For it is a terrible thing when a saint of God goes wrong.
One writer describes this as God's normal way with His children, and names one thing it never puts in doubt.
J. N. DarbyHe warns them by His word, and if they do not listen, He steps in with His power to stop them so that He may be able to bless them. See Job 36:5-14; chapter 33:14-30. In God's dealings salvation is never in question. He looks upon His children, and chastens those whom He loves.
Summary
- Mighty — God never uses His greatness against weakness. The same power that holds everything notices the smallest creature.
- Patient — the wicked live on only because God bears with them. Bearing with them is not preserving them, and it will not last.
- Just — the afflicted receive their right, and more. God lifts them to dignity, as though seated with kings.
- Watchful — His eye stays on the righteous most of all. A justified man going wrong touches God's own honour.
- Purposeful — chains on a righteous man do not contradict this verse. They carry it out: God exposes hidden pride, opens the ear, and turns the sufferer back.