(29) When he giveth quietness, who then can make trouble? and when he hideth his face, who then can behold him? whether it be done against a nation, or against a man only: (30) That the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared. (31) В¶ Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more: (32) That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more. (33) Should it be according to thy mind? he will recompense it, whether thou refuse, or whether thou choose; and not I: therefore speak what thou knowest. (34) Let men of understanding tell me, and let a wise man hearken unto me. (35) Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom. (36) My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men. (37) For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God.
How just is the reasoning of Elihu, on this ground, that when a man is visited, he should patiently bear it. This is an exact correspondence to what the LORD himself had appointed; that, with a free acknowledgment of sin, there should be what is called, a free acknowledgment of the rights of GOD'S justice; or, in the language of the Bible, the accepting by the sinner of the punishment of his iniquity. Leviticus 26:41. For this carried with it both the idea of justifying GOD when man is thus judged, and being themselves humbled under a due sense of their undeservings. Reader, mark it down as one of the truest evidences, that a life of grace is wrought in the soul, when a man's own heart takes part with GOD'S justice against himself, and confesses that without an eye to CHRIST, and the covenant engagements of JEHOVAH in him, though the sinner were cast out of the divine presence forever, there would be nothing more than what his sins had deserved. The close of Elihu's discourse in this chapter, that his desire was that Job might be tried unto the end, means, that as the afflictions he was exercised with had a gracious design in them, as the real friend to Job he could not but hope, that they might be so long continued, until that GOD'S glory was fully manifested, by the issue of them, and Job himself brought to that blessed and gracious conclusion, that GOD is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works. Psalms 145:17.