Job 36:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Elihu also proceeded Having reprehended some of the unwarrantable expressions in Job's discourses, Elihu comes closer to the business, and speaks to the very cause itself, showing, from the nature of God, and the methods of his providence, that he will administer impartial justice to all men. That the general course of his providence is to favour the righteous; that though he may sometimes correct them in love, yet, if they submit patiently to his fatherly correction, and amend their ways, they shall enjoy all manner of prosperity; but, if they are stubborn, and will not submit, they only draw down greater degrees of his vengeance on themselves. That, if Job had, instead of disputing, submitted himself humbly to God's corrections, he would have delivered him, (it being as easy for him to lift up as to cast down.) And that his not discerning the reason of his corrections (which Job had made a great cause of his grief, Job 19:7) ought not to have hindered his humble submission; because we are not able to comprehend any of the works of God, which we see every day, and acknowledge to be most excellently contrived. He therefore warns him to make use of the present opportunity, lest God should cut him off while in a state of rebellion. That God was infinitely powerful; that there was therefore no resisting him; infinitely wise, as sufficiently appeared by his works; there was therefore no escaping out of his hand; that his purity was so great, that the sun in his presence was more dim than the smallest ray when compared to that bright luminary; that his holiness was manifest from his aversion to iniquity, and his goodness in supplying the wants of his creatures. That man was utterly incapable of accounting for the least of his works; how then dared he to attempt to penetrate the secrets of his providence, and to call him to an account for his dealings with men? This could proceed only from an unjustifiable self-conceit; a crime which the Almighty would not fail severely to punish. Upon the whole, the difference between the argument of Elihu and that of the three friends seems to be this; they suppose Job to be guilty of great crimes, which had drawn down the divine vengeance on him, and infer his guilt merely from his sufferings; on the contrary, Elihu takes it for granted his plea of innocence was true, nevertheless, thinks him exceedingly blameworthy for his behaviour under his afflictions: that he did not sufficiently consider the infinite distance between a weak, frail, sinful creature, and an all-powerful, wise, just, and good Creator; that, instead of submitting himself, as was his duty, and owning the justice of God's providence toward him, he acted the part of the hardened sinner, and flew in the face of the Almighty; accusing him of injustice and severe treatment; rudely challenging him to answer for his conduct, and pretending to erect himself into a judge of his actions. He tells him, as long as he continued in those dispositions, there was no hope of an abatement of the correction he was under; but he might rather expect an increase of affliction, if not an utter destruction. Job himself is so sensible of the truth of what Elihu had said, that he doth not so much as attempt to answer; and, though he doth not absolutely give up the point for it was God must convince him, and not man yet it undoubtedly laid the foundation of that disposition, which ended in an entire submission to God's will, and a thorough conviction of his own vileness.