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Commentary on Job 35 verses 9–13
Elihu here returns an answer to another word that Job had said, which, he thought, reflected much upon the justice and goodness of God, and therefore ought not to pass without a remark. Observe,
I. What it was that Job complained of; it was this, That God did not regard the cries of the oppressed against their oppressors (Job 35:9): "By reason of the multitude of oppressions, the many hardships which proud tyrants put upon poor people and the barbarous usage they give them, they make the oppressed to cry; but it is to no purpose: God does not appear to right them. They cry out, they cry on still, by reason of the arm of the mighty, which lies heavily upon them." This seems to refer to those words of Job (Job 24:12), Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded cries out against the oppressors, yet God lays not folly to them, does not reckon with them for it. This is a thing that Job knows not what to make of, nor how to reconcile to the justice of God and his government. Is there a righteous God, and can it be that he should so slowly hear, so slowly see?
II. How Elihu solves the difficulty. If the cries of the oppressed be not heard, the fault is not in God; he is ready to hear and help them. But the fault is in themselves; they ask and have not, but it is because they ask amiss, Jam 4:3. They cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty, but it is a complaining cry, a wailing cry, not a penitent praying cry, the cry of nature and passion, not of grace. See Hos 7:14, They have not cried unto me with their heart when they howled upon their beds. How then can we expect that they should be answered and relieved?
1.They do not enquire after God, nor seek to acquaint themselves with him, under their affliction (Job 35:10): But none saith, Where is God my Maker? Afflictions are sent to direct and quicken us to enquire early after God, Psa 78:34. But many that groan under great oppressions never mind God, nor take notice of his hand in their troubles; if they did, they would bear their troubles more patiently and be more benefited by them. Of the many that are afflicted and oppressed, few get the good they might get by their affliction. It should drive them to God, but how seldom is this the case! It is lamentable to see so little religion among the poor and miserable part of mankind. Every one complains of his troubles; but none saith, Where is God my Maker? that is, none repent of their sins, none return to him that smites them, none seek the face and favour of God, and that comfort in him which would balance their outward afflictions. They are wholly taken up with the wretchedness of their condition, as if that would excuse them in living without God in the world which should engage them to cleave the more closely to him. Observe, (1.) God is our Maker, the author of our being, and, under that notion, it concerns us to regard and remember him, Ecc 12:1. God my makers, in the plural number, which some think is, if not an indication, yet an intimation, of the Trinity of persons in the unity of the Godhead. Let us make man. (2.) It is our duty therefore to enquire after him. Where is he, that we may pay our homage to him, may own our dependence upon him and obligations to him? Where is he, that we may apply to him for maintenance and protection, may receive law from him, and may seek our happiness in his favour, from whose power we received our being? (3.) It is to be lamented that he is so little enquired after by the children of men. All are asking, Where is mirth? Where is wealth? Where is a good bargain? But none ask, Where is God my Maker?
2.They do not take notice of the mercies they enjoy in and under their afflictions, nor are thankful for them, and therefore cannot expect that God should deliver them out of their afflictions. (1.) He provides for our inward comfort and joy under our outward troubles, and we ought to make use of that, and wait his time for the removal of our troubles: He gives songs in the night, that is, when our condition is ever so dark, and sad, and melancholy, there is that in God, in his providence and promise, which is sufficient, not only to support us, but to fill us with joy and consolation, and enable us in every thing to give thanks, and even to rejoice in tribulation. When we only pore upon the afflictions we are under, and neglect the consolations of God which are treasured up for us, it is just with God to reject our prayers. (2.) He preserves to us the use of our reason and understanding (Job 35:11): Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, that is, who has endued us with more noble powers and faculties than they are endued with and has made us capable of more excellent pleasures and employments here and for ever. Now this comes in here, [1.] As that which furnishes us with matter for thanksgiving, even under the heaviest burden of affliction. Whatever we are deprived of, we have our immortal souls, those jewels of more worth than all the world, continued to us; even those that kill the body cannot hurt them. And if our affliction prevail not to disturb the exercise of their faculties, but we enjoy the use of our reason and the peace of our consciences, we have much reason to be thankful, how pressing soever our calamities otherwise are. [2.] As a reason why we should, under our afflictions, enquire after God our Maker, and seek unto him. This is the greatest excellency of reason, that it makes us capable of religion, and it is in that especially that we are taught more than the beasts and the fowls. They have wonderful instincts and sagacities in seeking out their food, their physic, their shelter; but none of them are capable of enquiring, Where is God my Maker? Something like logic, and philosophy, and politics, has been observed among the brute-creatures, but never any thing of divinity or religion; these are peculiar to man. If therefore the oppressed only cry by reason of the arm of the mighty, and do not look up to God, they do no more than the brutes (who complain when they are hurt), and they forget that instruction and wisdom by which they are advanced so far above them. God relieves the brute-creatures because they cry to him according to the best of their capacity, Job 38:41; Psa 104:21. But what reason have men to expect relief, who are capable of enquiring after God as their Maker and yet cry to him no otherwise than as brutes do?
3.They are proud and unhumbled under their afflictions, which were sent to mortify them and to hide pride from them (Job 35:12): There they cry - there they lie exclaiming against their oppressors, and filling the ears of all about them with their complaints, not sparing to reflect upon God himself and his providence - but none gives answer. God does not work deliverance for them, and perhaps men do not much regard them; and why so? It is because of the pride of evil men; they are evil men; they regard iniquity in their hearts, and therefore God will not hear their prayers, Psa 66:18; Isa 1:15. God hears not such sinners. They have, it may be, brought themselves into trouble by their own wickedness; they are the devil's poor; and then who can pity them? Yet this is not all: they are proud still, and therefore they do not seek unto God (Psa 10:4), or, if they do cry unto him, therefore he does not give answer, for he hears only the desire of the humble (Psa 10:17) and delivers those by his providence whom he has first by his grace prepared and made fit for deliverance, which we are not if, under humbling afflictions, our hearts remain unhumbled and our pride unmortified. The case is plain then, If we cry to God for the removal of the oppression and affliction we are under, and it is not removed, the reason is not because the Lord's hand is shortened or his ear heavy, but because the affliction has not done its work; we are not sufficiently humbled, and therefore must thank ourselves that it is continued.
4.They are not sincere, and upright, and inward with God, in their supplications to him, and therefore he does not hear and answer them (Job 35:13): God will not hear vanity, that is, the hypocritical prayer, which is a vain prayer, coming out of feigned lips. It is a vanity to think that God should hear it, who searches the heart and requires truth in the inward part.
“Because of the pride of humanity,” that is, they are reproved for the pride and arrogance that they show before their neighbors. And God will not hear the vain cries of proud people.
32. There; namely, in tribulation: as it is written on the other hand of joy, The children of thy servants shall inhabit there. [Ps. 102, 28] But it seems doubtful whether he says, Because of the pride of evil men He will not hear, or, they will cry because of the pride of evil men. But it can be better understood, if they are rather said not to be heard, than to cry out, because of the pride of evil men. For, that they cry out, because of the pride of evil men, is already stated, in the verse in which it is said, They will cry out by reason of the multitude of the violent. [ver. 9] Something is therefore suggested to us in this verse, to be attended to a little more minutely. Because often, when the oppressed have cried out, they deserve indeed to be heard, for their own sake; but yet their desires are deferred, on account of the pride of their oppressors. For the Just God allows His own people to be oppressed in their worldly goods, and the malice of the violent sinfully to increase; in order that, while the life of these is wasted away in purification, the wickedness of those may be consummated. But it frequently happens, that the righteous, when involved in tribulation, enjoy, even in this life, heavenly consolation, which they do not ask for in this life. For they wish to be saved not for their own sakes, but for the salvation of their adversaries; in order that, while Almighty God delivers them, by working a kind of miracle, from their boundless dangers, He may manifest His might, even to their persecutors; and may deliver the adversaries for eternity, by the same means, as He rescues His own people in this world. As the Prophet also, taking up the language of martyrs, says, Deliver me, because of mine enemies. [Ps. 69, 18] As if he were saying; For myself indeed, I seek not to be delivered from temporal tribulation; but yet I wish to be delivered, on account of my adversaries; in order that, while my life is seen to be miraculously preserved, the hardness of my enemies may be converted at the very sight of the miracles. As the Lord then frequently rescues the life of His own people, in this world, for the conversion of His enemies, so does He frequently not listen to the cry of His own people, for the sake of the condemnation of their persecutors; in order, namely, that they may add to their guilt, from the fact that they wickedly rejoice that they have prevailed. For they, who despise invisible things, can sometimes be moved by visible miracles. But frequently no visible miracle is worked in behalf of the righteous, because their adversaries do not deserve to be invisibly enlightened. Let it be said then, There will they cry, and He will not hear, because of the pride of evil men. As if he were saying, The guilt of the oppressors prevents His hearing the voice of the oppressed: and the righteous are not visibly rescued, because the unrighteous do not deserve to be invisibly saved. Hence it is again said by the Prophet, When he shall see the wise dying, the simple and the foolish shall perish together. [Ps. 49, 10] For those, whom they behold dying visibly, they do not believe can live invisibly, and they add to the guilt of their unbelief, as they despair of eternity, when they behold the death of the faithful. The violent, then, fail the more fatally, from the very fact, that they outwardly prevail against the life of the innocent. And the inmost Truth drives them forth the more from Itself, the more It suffers them to work their will, in this world, against those who are Its own.
33. Whoever, then, persecutes the life of the good, is then condemned with more fearful vengeance, when he is opposed by no adversity; and he is then exposed to the risk of more fearful wrath, when he prosecutes successfully his sinful desires. Because, namely, the vengeance of the Divine Judgment has given up, by reserving for future punishment, him, whom It has here not cared to oppose in his wickedness. For hence the Lord says by the Prophet, I gave them up according to the desires of their heart, and they will go on in their own wills. [Ps. 81, 12] Hence it is said again, The rod of God is not upon them. [Job 21, 9] Hence also it is written of their chief himself, He will do, and prosper. [Dan. 8, 12] Hence again it is said of the same person, And craft shall be guided aright in his hand. [ib. 25] For craft is guided aright, in the hand of Antichrist, because he is not hindered by any adversity, in this world, from fulfilling that, which he has purposed against the good. Hence again it is said by Solomon, The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. [Prov. 1, 32] It is, then, a manifest token of perdition, when subsequent success favours much-wished for iniquities, and when no obstacle hinders that, which a perverse mind has conceived. For frequently, while the wishes of sinful men are delayed, they are changed, and, while they feel the difficulty of performing an evil action, they learn its guilt; and they, who are thwarted at first against their will, shrink afterwards, of their own accord, from that which they had conceived. Because then the Lord, when He forsakes the wicked, allows them to prevail, and, because the wickedness of the proud is perfected, by the same means, as the long-suffering of the humble is consummated, let it be rightly said, There will they cry, and He will not hear, because of the pride of wicked men.
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SUMMARY
Job 35:12, a pivotal statement from Elihu's third speech, posits that the cries of distressed individuals often go unanswered not due to divine neglect or inability, but rather as a consequence of human pride. Elihu, in his earnest attempt to defend God's righteousness and wisdom against Job's lamentations, suggests that a heart marked by arrogance or self-righteousness can impede the divine response, thereby offering a theological framework for understanding experiences of unalleviated suffering or perceived divine silence. This verse underscores Elihu's conviction that God's justice is unimpeachable, and any apparent lack of intervention stems from the spiritual condition of humanity.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Elihu's statement in Job 35:12 is crafted with several literary devices to effectively convey his theological argument. Central to his discourse is Causal Explanation, where he directly attributes the lack of divine response to the "pride of evil men," establishing a clear cause-and-effect relationship. This serves as a Didactic Assertion, as Elihu presents his explanation not as a suggestion but as a definitive truth, aiming to instruct Job and the other friends on the correct understanding of God's justice and human culpability. The verse also employs Generalization, applying this principle broadly ("they cry," "none giveth answer") rather than confining it to a specific instance, thereby suggesting a universal truth about the conditions under which God chooses to respond. Furthermore, there is an implicit Juxtaposition between the human cry of distress and the perceived divine silence, with Elihu providing the moral bridge—human pride—that explains this apparent disconnect. This rhetorical strategy aims to shift the perceived blame for unanswered prayer from God's character to human sinfulness, particularly arrogance.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Elihu's explanation in Job 35:12, while representing a specific theological viewpoint within the broader narrative of Job, resonates with profound biblical themes concerning the nature of prayer, divine response, and the posture of the human heart. The consistent witness of Scripture affirms that God attentively hears the cries of the righteous and the humble, yet actively opposes the proud. This verse serves as a potent reminder that the efficacy of our prayers is not solely dependent on God's omnipotence or willingness, but also significantly on the condition of our hearts and the spiritual posture of our supplication. Pride, self-righteousness, or a lack of genuine humility can indeed erect a formidable barrier between humanity and God, thereby hindering the very communion and responsive interaction that prayer is designed to foster. While acknowledging God's absolute sovereignty and His capacity to act independently of human merit, the consistent biblical encouragement is towards a humble and contrite spirit as a prerequisite for intimate fellowship and effective, Spirit-led prayer.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 35:12, though articulated by Elihu within a complex theological debate, offers a challenging yet deeply insightful lens through which to examine our own experiences of unanswered prayer and perceived divine silence. It compels us to move beyond simply questioning God's faithfulness or power and instead prompts a profound introspection into the state of our own hearts. When we cry out to God in distress, are our petitions truly humble, born of a genuine recognition of our dependence and a sincere desire for His will, or are they tinged with arrogance, self-pity, or a demanding spirit that seeks to dictate terms to the Almighty? This verse serves as a crucial reminder that God is not a cosmic vending machine, but a holy and righteous Father who desires genuine, humble relationship. His "silence" may not signify absence or indifference, but rather an invitation to self-examination, a call to repentance, or a period of spiritual refinement designed to humble us and draw us closer to Him in spirit and truth. It challenges us to honestly consider if our own pride, unconfessed sin, or a lack of trust in His sovereign purposes might be inadvertently hindering the very answers and interventions we so desperately seek.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Does Elihu's explanation fully account for all unanswered prayer in the Bible?
Answer: No, Elihu's explanation in Job 35:12, while providing valuable insight into the role of pride, does not offer a comprehensive or exhaustive answer for all instances of unanswered prayer or perceived divine silence found in the Bible. The Book of Job itself ultimately demonstrates that suffering is not always a direct result of personal sin, and God's ways are often far more complex and mysterious than human logic can fully grasp. While pride can certainly hinder communication with God and impede the effectiveness of prayer, the Bible also presents other profound reasons for perceived divine silence. These include God's sovereign timing, His desire to develop perseverance and mature faith in the supplicant, as articulated in James 1:2-4, or His working out a larger redemptive plan that is not immediately apparent to human understanding. Sometimes, God's answer is a clear "no," or "wait," or even a different answer than what was specifically requested, as vividly illustrated in Paul's prayer concerning his "thorn in the flesh" in 2 Corinthians 12:7-9. Elihu's perspective is one of several presented within the intricate dialogue of Job, and the book's profound conclusion reveals that God's wisdom and purposes transcend the limited understanding of Job's friends, including Elihu himself.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job 35:12 powerfully illuminates the devastating barrier that human pride erects between humanity and God, often resulting in cries that appear to go unheard and a perceived divine silence. However, in the person and work of Jesus Christ, this formidable barrier is utterly demolished. Unlike the "evil men" whose pride hinders their supplications, Jesus Christ perfectly embodied profound humility, willingly humbling Himself even to the point of obedient death on a cross (Philippians 2:8). He, the sinless Son of God, cried out to the Father in perfect submission and profound humility, even amidst the deepest anguish of Gethsemane (Luke 22:42). His perfect life of obedience and His atoning sacrifice on the cross not only removed the stain of sin but also conquered the very pride that separates us from a holy God, thereby opening a new and living way into the divine presence (Hebrews 10:19-20). Through Christ, believers are now invited to approach God's throne of grace with confidence and boldness, not based on their own merit or perceived lack of pride, but solely on the infinite merit of Christ's perfect humility and His ongoing intercession on their behalf (Hebrews 4:16). Thus, while Elihu correctly identifies pride as a significant spiritual impediment, Christ provides the ultimate and eternal solution, enabling all who place their faith in Him to have their cries heard and answered according to God's perfect will, empowered by the Holy Spirit who intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words (Romans 8:26-27).