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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width; initial-scale=1.0;"/><title>Job 35 Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers</title><link rel="canonical" href="https://biblehub.com/commentaries/expositors/job/35.htm" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/5001com.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 4800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 4800px)" href="/4801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1550px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1550px)" href="/1551.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1250px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1250px)" href="/1251.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 1050px), only screen and (max-device-width: 1050px)" href="/1051.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 900px), only screen and (max-device-width: 900px)" href="/901.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 800px), only screen and (max-device-width: 800px)" href="/801.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-width: 575px), only screen and (max-device-width: 575px)" href="/501.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link media="handheld, only screen and (max-height: 450px), only screen and (max-device-height: 450px)" href="/h451.css" type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="/print.css" type="text/css" media="Print" /><script type="application/javascript" src="https://scripts.webcontentassessor.com/scripts/8a2459b64f9cac8122fc7f2eac4409c8555fac9383016db59c4c26e3d5b8b157"></script><script src='https://qd.admetricspro.com/js/biblehub/biblehub-layout-loader-revcatch.js'></script><script id='HyDgbd_1s' src='https://prebidads.revcatch.com/ads.js' type='text/javascript' async></script><script>(function(w,d,b,s,i){var cts=d.createElement(s);cts.async=true;cts.id='catchscript'; 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Job had not in so many words said this, but what he had said was capable of being so represented, and perhaps seemed to involve it. (Comp. <a href="/job/9-22.htm" title="This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroys the perfect and the wicked.">Job 9:22</a>; <a href="/job/10-15.htm" title="If I be wicked, woe to me; and if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head. I am full of confusion; therefore see you my affliction;">Job 10:15</a>.) Here, again, there was a misrepresentation of what Job had said. He certainly did not mean that he was none the better for being righteous; on the contrary, he had distinctly said, “Let mine enemy be as the wicked,” &c. (<a href="/job/27-7.htm" title="Let my enemy be as the wicked, and he that rises up against me as the unrighteous.">Job 27:7</a>, &c.), because <span class= "ital">he </span>could not delight himself in God; but it was perfectly true that he had said that his righteousness had not delivered him from suffering.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/35-4.htm">Job 35:4</a></div><div class="verse">I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.</div>(4) <span class= "bld">And thy companions.</span>—Elihu professes to answer Job’s friends as well as himself, but what he says (<a href="/job/35-5.htm" title="Look to the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than you.">Job 35:5</a>, &c.) is very much what Eliphaz had said before (<a href="/job/15-14.htm" title="What is man, that he should be clean? and he which is born of a woman, that he should be righteous?">Job 15:14</a>, &c., <a href="/job/22-3.htm" title="Is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that you are righteous? or is it gain to him, that you make your ways perfect?">Job 22:3</a>, &c., and Bildad in Job 25). It is indeed true that God is too high to be affected by man’s righteousness or unrighteousness, but it does not follow therefore that He is indifferent, for then He would not be a righteous judge. (See Note on <a href="/job/34-9.htm" title="For he has said, It profits a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.">Job 34:9</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/35-9.htm">Job 35:9</a></div><div class="verse">By reason of the multitude of oppressions they make <i>the oppressed</i> to cry: they cry out by reason of the arm of the mighty.</div>(9) <span class= "bld">By reason of the multitude of oppressions.</span>—The argument seems to be that among men there may be oppression, but not with an almighty and just Judge. The right course, therefore, is to wait. “Men may, indeed, complain because of the oppression of an earthly tyrant; but how canst <span class= "ital">thou </span>say thou beholdest Him not?” (See <a href="/job/9-9.htm" title="Which makes Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south.">Job 9:9</a>.)<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/35-10.htm">Job 35:10</a></div><div class="verse">But none saith, Where <i>is</i> God my maker, who giveth songs in the night;</div>(10) <span class= "bld">But none saith.</span>—Some render this, “But he who giveth songs in the night saith not, Where is God my Maker,” <span class= "ital">i.e., </span>the selfish and luxurious oppressor, who spendeth the night in feasting and revelry. This is an intelligible meaning. On the other hand, though the phrase, “who giveth songs in the night,” has become proverbial, and, with the meaning assigned to it, is very beautiful, it may be doubted whether it is so obvious or natural in this place. This is a matter for individual taste and judgment to decide. If it is understood of God, it ascribes to Him the turning of sorrow into gladness, and the night of affliction into joy—an office which is, indeed, frequently assigned to God, but of which the appropriateness is not so manifest here. The decision of this question will perhaps partly depend upon the view we take of the words which follow—“Where is God my Maker?”—whether they are part of the cry of the oppressed or whether they are the words of Elihu. If the latter, then they become more intelligible; if otherwise, it is difficult to see their special appropriateness in this particular place. Perhaps it is better to regard them as the words of Elihu.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/35-11.htm">Job 35:11</a></div><div class="verse">Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?</div>(11) <span class= "bld">Who teacheth us.</span>—Or it may be, <span class= "ital">Who teacheth us by, and maketh us wise by, &c. </span>Then the sense will be that the oppression is so severe that the victims of it forget that God can give songs in the night, and that He has favoured men more than the beasts of the field, and that, as not one sparrow can fall to the ground without Him, so He has even numbered the hairs of those who are of more value to Him than many sparrows.<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/35-13.htm">Job 35:13</a></div><div class="verse">Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it.</div>(13) <span class= "bld">God will not hear vanity.</span>—Some understand this as part of the cry in <a href="/job/35-12.htm" title="There they cry, but none gives answer, because of the pride of evil men.">Job 35:12</a> : “Seeing it is all in vain, God doth not hear, neither doth the Almighty regard it.”<p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/35-14.htm">Job 35:14</a></div><div class="verse">Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, <i>yet</i> judgment <i>is</i> before him; therefore trust thou in him.</div>(14) <span class= "bld">Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him.</span>—Rather, <span class= "ital">Dost not behold Him.</span><p> <div class="versenum"><a href="/job/35-15.htm">Job 35:15</a></div><div class="verse">But now, because <i>it is</i> not <i>so</i>, he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth <i>it</i> not in great extremity:</div>(15) <span class= "bld">But now, because it is</span> <span class= "bld">not so, </span>is very obscure. The Authorised Version refers the first clause to God and the second to Job. Perhaps we may render, <span class= "ital">But now, what His anger has visited upon thee is as nothing </span>(compared with thy deserts); <span class= "ital">yea, He hath not regarded the great abundance </span>(of thy sin), <span class= "ital">i.e.</span>, hath not visited it with anger. <span class= "ital">Therefore doth Job, </span>&c. Others render it, “But now, because it is not so (<span class= "ital">i.e., </span>there is no judgment), He hath visited in His anger, <span class= "ital">saith Job, </span>and He regardeth it not, <span class= "ital">saith He, </span>in His exceeding arrogance;” or, “But now, because He hath not visited in His anger, neither doth He much regard arrogance, therefore Job,” &c. The word thus rendered <span class= "ital">arrogance </span>is not found elsewhere; it appears to mean abundance or superfluity. Of these renderings, the first seems to give the better sense. The general bearing of the verse is perhaps apparent however rendered, namely, that Job is encouraged in his murmurings, because God hath dealt too leniently with him. Elihu’s reproaches must have been some of the heaviest that Job had to bear. Happily the judgment was not to be long deferred. (See <a href="/job/38-1.htm" title="Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,">Job 38:1</a>.)<p><span class= "bld"> <div id="botbox"><div class="padbot"><div align="center">Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers<br /><br />Text Courtesy of <a href="//biblesupport.com" target="_top">BibleSupport.com</a>. Used by Permission. <span class="p"><br /><br /></span><a href="/">Bible Hub</a></div></div></div></div></td></tr></table></div><div id="left"><a href="../job/34.htm" onmouseover='lft.src="/leftgif.png"' onmouseout='lft.src="/left.png"' title="Job 34"><img src="/left.png" name="lft" border="0" alt="Job 34" /></a></div><div id="right"><a href="../job/36.htm" onmouseover='rght.src="/rightgif.png"' onmouseout='rght.src="/right.png"' title="Job 36"><img src="/right.png" name="rght" border="0" alt="Job 36" /></a></div><div id="botleft"><a href="#" onmouseover='botleft.src="/botleftgif.png"' onmouseout='botleft.src="/botleft.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botleft.png" name="botleft" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="botright"><a href="#" onmouseover='botright.src="/botrightgif.png"' onmouseout='botright.src="/botright.png"' title="Top of Page"><img src="/botright.png" name="botright" border="0" alt="Top of Page" /></a></div><div id="rightbox"><div class="padright"><div id="pic"><iframe width="100%" height="860" scrolling="no" src="//biblescan.com/mpc/job/35-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></div></div><div id="rightbox4"><div class="padright2"><div id="spons1"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tr><td class="sp1"><iframe width="122" height="860" scrolling="no" src="/commentaries/ellicott/sidemenu.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></div><div id="bot"><br /><br /><div align="center"> <script id="3d27ed63fc4348d5b062c4527ae09445"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=51ce25d5-1a8c-424a-8695-4bd48c750f35&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script> <script id="b817b7107f1d4a7997da1b3c33457e03"> (new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=cb0edd8b-b416-47eb-8c6d-3cc96561f7e8&cid=3a9f82d0-4344-4f8d-ac0c-e1a0eb43a405'; </script><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-2'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-0' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-3'> </div><br /><br />  <div id='div-gpt-ad-1529103594582-1' style='max-width: 300px;'> </div><br /><br />  <div align="center" id='div-gpt-ad-1531425649696-0'> </div><br /><br /> <ins class="adsbygoogle" style="display:inline-block;width:200px;height:200px" data-ad-client="ca-pub-3753401421161123" data-ad-slot="3592799687"></ins> <script> (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); </script> <br /><br /> </div><iframe width="100%" height="1500" scrolling="no" src="/botmenubhchap.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></div></td></tr></table></body></html>