“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”
God answers Job with a question of His own: can a man who argues with the Almighty correct Him? Job had asked for this meeting, and now he must make his case or drop it.
The hearing Job asked for
This verse is God taking Job at his word. The ESV calls him a "faultfinder". The older wording the writers use asks whether the man who contends with the Almighty can correct Him.
Leslie M. GrantJob had said that if God would only listen to him, he would present his whole case. He would show how God was unfair in His dealings. Therefore now God gives Job opportunity to do this. He asks Job, "Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it." Where were Job's arguments then? How withering God's words were to Job's shameless pride!
A claim, not a mood
To rebuke God is to claim you can instruct Him. The question asks Job to make that claim good.
William KellyIf he judges God, he ought to be able to instruct Him. This is precisely what fills Job with shame. Job had contended with the Almighty. God brought Job right down from his own high opinion of himself. He was ashamed that he had complained against God and His ways without understanding the least of them.
The root of Job's trouble
So where did Job go wrong? One writer points past the suffering to Job's own answer, quoted here in older wording.
Samuel RidoutHere lies the root of Job's trouble: he had sat in judgment upon God; he had accused the Omnipotent of evil. God has come near. He has made His presence felt, and pulled back the veil from nature to show part of His character. What is the effect on the proud man? "I am vile; what shall I answer You?" "I will lay my hand on my mouth."
Why the answer is obvious once stated
The question answers itself, once you grant one plain truth.
C. H. MackintoshIf God is greater than man, then, obviously, He, and not man, must be the Judge of what is right. The unbelieving heart refuses this. So it keeps sitting in judgment on the works and ways and word of God — on God Himself. In his godless folly, man 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.
A hard question from a tender heart
The question sounds harsh. One writer looks at the heart behind it.
W. H. WestcottPoor Job. He little knew the tenderness of the heart that was leading him to sound the depths of his own mind. He was to learn himself in his own insignificance, in the smallness of his outlook, in the poverty of his ideas of God... In short, deep sorrow was to teach him two things. Without knowing it, he had been making JOB his own centre. And the worst immorality is to judge GOD by what Job thought He ought to be and do.
What God is working toward
Pride like Job's is not unique to him. One writer sets it against what grace produces.
William KellyWhat a proud thing is the flesh, and no better in the saint than in the sinner! Would Job also set aside the moral dealings of Jehovah? Worse still, would he condemn Him to justify himself? Grace produces the exact opposite in every soul born of God. It makes a person ready to take God's part against self, to judge his own ways, and to bow to the word, however withering its blast on every way or word, thought and feeling. Such is repentance.
Summary
- Contend — Job had demanded a hearing to argue that God was unfair. This verse gives him what he asked for, and his arguments vanish.
- Correct — the question tests a claim. Anyone who rebukes God is claiming to instruct Him, and would have to be able to make that good.
- Cause — Job's real trouble was not his losses. He had sat in judgment on God and charged Him with wrong.
- Common — the same reflex runs deeper than Job. Since God is greater than man, He, and not man, must decide what is right; yet the heart still rules on what is worthy of God.
- Converse — grace works the other way round. It takes God's part against self, judges one's own ways, and bows to His word. That is repentance.