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Job 9:13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
Job 9:14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
Job 9:15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
Job 9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.
Job 9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.
Job 9:18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
Job 9:19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
Job 9:20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Job 9:21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.
Job 9:22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
Job 9:23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.
Job 9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

Introduction

Let us not forget that Job is the Old Testament type and shadow of those “in Christ” who have been granted “the patience of Job”. In the book of Revelation those who are granted “the patience of Job” are said to have “the patience and faith of the saints”.

Jas 5:10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
Jas 5:11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

According to James, Job is our “example of suffering of affliction”, and all of Job’s suffering and affliction prove “that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy”. So what was the source of Job’s suffering? What does Job himself tell us was the source of his sufferings?

Job 9:13 If God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers do stoop under him.
Job 9:14 How much less shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?

We saw in our last study that Job recognized that the man who contends with God will have the mountains within himself ‘overturned… in His (God’s) anger’.

Job 9:2 I know it is so of a truth: but how should man be just with God?
Job 9:3 If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand.
Job 9:4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
Job 9:5 Which removeth the mountains, and they know not: which overturneth them in his anger.

Job 14:13 O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!

Job 16:9 He teareth me in his wrath, who hateth me: he gnasheth upon me with his teeth; mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.

Does God really “hate” Job? Should we hate our “old man” or “first man Adam” within us? What do the scriptures teach?

Psa 139:19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
Psa 139:20 For they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy name in vain.
Psa 139:21 Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?
Psa 139:22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.

What we need to understand is that God’s ‘hatred’ is scripturally defined as ‘loving less’ those who are our ‘enemies’, even as this applies to our “old man… the first man Adam”. Notice how “the sum” of God’s Word reveals this to us.

Mat 10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Now here is how the holy spirit inspired Luke to make this same statement:

Luk 14:26 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.

We are here to “hate… [our] own life” and yet we are told”:

Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:

The Lord’s church is, at this time, “in earthen vessels”.

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

So our “hatred” for “our own life” means that we love our life less than we love God and obey Him. We are ‘the Lord’s church’, and while our “flesh and blood cannot enter into the kingdom of God”, even in these “earthen vessels” He “nourishes and cherishes” us.

Who is Job referring to as “mine enemy [who] sharpens His eyes upon me?”

Job 19:11 He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.

As surely as our Lord created Satan to be His adversary, He also created “the first man, Adam”, the first Job in all of us, to be “of [his and our] father the devil”.

Joh 8:30 As he spake these words, many believed on him.
Joh 8:31 Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

Joh 8:37 I know that ye are Abraham’s seed; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you.

Job “believed in” God, but God’s ‘word had no place in Job’. Job believed himself to be righteous; certainly more righteous than to have to endure God’s wrath being poured out upon himself.

Elihu, who is speaking for God, tells Job and us this about Job and about us:

Job 35:14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
Job 35:15 But now, because it is not so [you do not “trust in Him”], he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:

Like Job, we will go through God’s “goodness and His wonderful works to the children of men” (Psa 107:21, 31), through His wrath and His anger against our “old man” be brought to “trust… in Him.”

Psa 107:21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!
Psa 107:22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing.
Psa 107:23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters;
Psa 107:24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.
Psa 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Psa 107:29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still.
Psa 107:30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven.
Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Neither Job nor we are able at first, to “sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing”, much less “praise the Lord for His goodness, and His wonderful works to the children of men”. At first we identify with “the first man Adam”, and we see God only as having made us His enemy, and we see that He has set out to destroy us, and we do not want our “old man… the first Adam” to be destroyed.

Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and holdest me for thine enemy?

We actually think our first man Adam, because he does “believe on” Christ, is a son of Abraham and therefore worthy of being saved. But this is what God has decreed from “before the world began”:

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
1Co 15:46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
1Co 15:47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.
1Co 15:48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
1Co 15:49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
1Co 15:50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

Flesh was “corruption” while still “in the Potter’s hand” (Jer 18:4), and was designed with what we today call ‘built in obsolescence’. Corruption is the natural and necessary state of all flesh. From the moment God places His ‘breath of life’ within all flesh, “the days ordained for” us begin to be counted down. But while we are in the strength of our flesh, that is the last thought on our minds, and all we can see is just how good and how glorious and how righteous we are having overcome so many weaknesses of our flesh.

Job 9:15 Whom, though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
Job 9:16 If I had called, and he had answered me; yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice.

Job actually thinks he is righteous of himself, and he (and we) thinks He has no right to treat us as He does.

“If… He had answered me; yet would I not believe that He had listened to my voice”. What utter presumptuousness on our part and on Job’s part! Job does not trust God, and we now know that “without faith it is impossible to please [God]” and yet Job, the Old Testament type of each of us, comes right out and admits that if God did answer him he would not believe that God had heard his prayer”. So Elihu was simply taking Job at his own word when he told Job that He did not trust God.

Job 35:14 Although thou sayest thou shalt not see him, yet judgment is before him; therefore trust thou in him.
Job 35:15 But now, because it is not so [ because you do not “trust in Him”], he hath visited in his anger; yet he knoweth it not in great extremity:

What Job is telling God, in effect, is that he simply doesn’t like God’s ways of dealing with His creatures. Why is this so? Here is why Job hates God’s ways:

Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Here is the essential part of God’s ways which our flesh refuses to accept as being needed and essential to our salvation. Here is what our flesh considers to be our suffering at the hands of God “without cause”. This is “enmity against God”:

Job 9:17 For he breaketh me with a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.

“Without cause”??? That is how little we know of the mind of God at this point in our walk. God “seeks an occasion against our flesh”, and He provides Himself with that “cause”. Our condemnation of Him with statements such at these are the ‘occasion’ and the ’cause’ He is seeking to destroy our old man. We dare not condemn our own Creator, and yet that is exactly what we do. We simply cannot see any love in His dealings with us when is bringing us “to our wits’ end”.

God provides His own ‘occasion’ against His adversary. That includes Job and you and me. This “tempest” with which God is ‘breaking’ Job is the “stormy wind” which King David calls “the wonderful works of God”. The scriptures call Job’s trial “His goodness and… His wonderful works to the children of men”.

Psa 107:25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

Psa 107:31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!

Why is it necessary to raise this “tempest and multiply our wounds… [and bring us to our] wits’ end”? It is necessary to reveal to us what is within our flesh. This trial is essential to show us that we are contending with, reproving, and condemning our own Creator.

Is it true that God does this “without cause”? Of course, that is not true. Christ tells us that ‘the kingdom of God is within us’ (Luk 17:20-21). But He also reveals that His inward kingdom is first full of uncircumcised spiritual Philistines who are bearing rule in His kingdom and who must be destroyed from His kingdom which is within us. So He tells us that He is “seeking an occasion against” those Philistines who are ruling in His kingdom.

Jdg 14:4 But his father and his mother knew not that it was of the LORD, that he sought an occasion against the Philistines: for at that time the Philistines had dominion over Israel.

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

There it is. Many hundreds of years after Job, Samson’s parents were not aware that it is God who is “working all things after the counsel of His own will”. “They knew not that it was of the Lord…” So Job, of course, knows nothing of being subject to the spiritual Philistines of his own self-righteousness, as well as the self-righteousness of his miserable comforters. “Though I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make my supplication to my judge.” Neither Job nor us are “righteous” as he and we suppose ourselves to be. We may not “deserve” what God does to us, simply because even our own sins, including our sin of self-righteousness, is all of Him, and none of this is of us (Rom 7:17-21). But our trials are nevertheless, exactly what we need. We need our trials in order to have our “old man… the man of sin… revealed” and then destroyed.

2Th 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
2Th 2:5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
2Th 2:6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
2Th 2:7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
2Th 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Our “old man” must be destroyed for the very same reason we need our trials. That reason is that we are “marred in the Potter’s hands” (Jer 18:4). The reason we are marred in the Potter’s hands and we must be revealed as “that man of sin”, is that “all things are of God”, and none of it is of us (Eph 1:11).

Neither Job nor his friends, who are both types of us at this stage of our spiritual journey, know anything of any of this. We know God is sovereign, yet we have no idea what that means.

1Co 8:6 But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.

2Co 5:18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

The adversary has to convince our carnal mind that it is not loving to destroy our fleshly, old… man of sin. When we do that, we are believing what he is commissioned to have us believe. When we refuse to believe that it is in God’s love that He will destroy our flesh through His wrath, then we have succumbed to the lies of the adversary. No one can enter the temple of God until the seven plagues of the seven angels is fulfilled. That is the patience and the faith of the saints (Rev 13:5-10 and Rev 14:9-12), and that is the goodness of God and His wonderful works to the children of men:

Rev 15:7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.
Rev 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

But it is all part of the revelation of Jesus Christ. It was God Himself who created us “marred” in His own hands. So it is ever so true:

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

We were “made to err”, and God Himself has “hardened our heart from [His] fear… even for this same purpose”, that our “first man, Adam… Esau” might be destroyed and that a “new man… the last Adam… Jacob” might be birthed within us. Another way of saying all of this is that Esau within us is being destroyed through the wrath of God, and Jacob is being birthed within us, as we “live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4).

Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
Rom 9:14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
Rom 9:15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
Rom 9:16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

If “it is not of him that wills”, who then is it “of”?

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.

It is “all… of God”. “It is God which worketh” even our will and our doing “of His good pleasure”!

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

Rom 9:17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

Eph 1:11 In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:

We and Job know this to be true, and yet we reprove, contend with and condemn our Creator for His ways which we hate:

Job 9:18 He will not suffer me to take my breath, but filleth me with bitterness.
Job 9:19 If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?

Verse 19 is so true. God is stronger than all the nations of this world.

Isa 40:15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.

Here is what God said to His own people concerning their strength as compared to His:

Eze 22:13 Behold, therefore I have smitten mine hand at thy dishonest gain which thou hast made, and at thy blood which hath been in the midst of thee.
Eze 22:14 Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the LORD have spoken it, and will do it.
Eze 22:15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.

But Job knows fully well that he still has his breath, and He is ill advised by his own bitterness to condemn His Creator, who is showing Job and all of us just what is in our flesh.

Rom 7:17 Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

Along with Job, we simply cannot see the Truth that is those verses in Rom 7, until we “hear behind us” those words. They are heard “behind us” for the very reason that we have this all “behind us” when we are finally granted, as was Job, to see that we have been contending with, reproving and condemning our Creator every time we question Him and His way of working with His Creatures.

Rev 1:10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

“The Lord’s day” is our day of judgment, and it is only when God’s judgments are in the earth that we learn righteousness.

Zep 2:3 Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD’S anger.

We are all first proud and unrighteous before “the day of the Lord’s anger” comes to judge us and to humble us.

Ecc 1:13 I applied my heart to inquiring and exploring by wisdom concerning all that is done under the heavens: it is an experience of evil [ including “the day of the Lord”] Elohim has given to the sons of humanity to humble them by it.

Isa 26:9 With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

As Job, we know nothing of the fact that “in me… is no good thing”. Job believes that he is righteous of himself:

Job 32:1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

Job claims that he trusts God even as he contends with and reproves God for God’s ways with His creatures, while maintaining his (Job’s) own ways before God. Both ways cannot be right, and God will not be condemned by His own creatures:

Job 13:15 Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.

The capacity we are given to contradict ourselves and be blinded to that fact is beyond understanding or explanation, other than to know that we are all by nature born blind, and are not even aware of that Truth.

Joh 9:41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.

So Paul continues condemning himself.

Job 9:20 If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me: if I say, I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Job 9:21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

Job is truly “filled with confusion”. He knows that if he contends with God and justifies himself he will at the same time condemn himself. “My own mouth shall condemn me… it will prove me perverse”. Still he is just getting started doing just that. His condemnation of God is clarified in these verses:

Job 9:22 This is one thing, therefore I said it, He destroyeth the perfect and the wicked.
Job 9:23 If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent.

There is no such thing as an ‘innocent’ human being. The fact that we are “made to err” or that God has “made the wicked for the day of evil” does not change the fact that God has made us to be the sinning machines which we are by design:

Psa 14:3 They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Pro 16:5 Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD: though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished.

There is no human who has ever lived who was not “proud in heart” by nature. That is especially true of the self-righteous Job part of our evil experience which we are given to humble us, and we will not go unpunished by God’s wrath against that ‘proud… man of sin’ within us:

Jer 25:28 And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink, then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; Ye shall certainly drink.
Jer 25:29 For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts.

“Though hand join in hand, he shall not be unpunished”. In other words, there is no safety in numbers when it comes to disobeying God. While there is no such thing as “the innocent”, there is such a thing as ‘the just’ man in Christ:

Psa 7:9 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end; but establish the just: for the righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.

Job does not know Christ, yet he sees himself as “the just upright man”.

Job 12:4 I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth upon God, and he answereth him: the just upright man is laughed to scorn.

The fact is that there is no righteousness apart from Christ.

Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

Eph 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Eph 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Eph 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

But Christ had not yet come, and Job’s entire experience “happened to him and was written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world have come”.

1Co 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
1Co 10:12 Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.

We do not “stand” before God. Only “in Christ” do we have any standing before God.

Job 9:24 The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

It is true that God rules “over all the kingdoms of the heathen”.

2Ch 20:6 And said, O LORD God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

But Job’s quip at the end of this verse, “If not, where, and who is He?” is overflowing with Job’s and with our disapproval of God’s ways in dealing with us, His creatures. That is the very reason we need the reproof and the trials we receive at the hand of our Lord and our “Potter” (Jer 18:4). We are all first this first Job and “the first man Adam” before we are made “of the same lump… the last Adam”:

Rom 9:21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

1Co 15:45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

That “quickening spirit” is given us now in “earnest” even while we are still in these “earthen vessels”.

Eph 1:13 In whom [Christ] ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14 Which is the earnest [down payment] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

In time, Job will be granted to know his own lack of spiritual integrity. But at this time He is condemning God for ‘covering the faces of the judges of this earth, and giving this earth into the hand of the wicked’.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will continue with ourselves, in Job, castigating our Lord for His failure to acknowledge that we have ‘washed ourselves with snow water and are never so clean’. Here are next week’s verses:

Job 9:25 Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
Job 9:26 They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.
Job 9:27 If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness, and comfort myself:
Job 9:28 I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
Job 9:29 If I be wicked, why then labour I in vain?
Job 9:30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
Job 9:31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
Job 9:32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.
Job 9:33 Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.
Job 9:34 Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his fear terrify me:
Job 9:35 Then would I speak, and not fear him; but it is not so with me.

Hi Mike,

I noticed this scripture while reviewing Elihu’s comments to Job. It reads somewhat different in other translations, but if the NIV is correct in its expression, it seems to be supporting God’s intention to judge all of his creatures with mercy and not according to their sins. This is the way Job 34:31-33 reads in the NIV:

Suppose a man says to God, ‘I am guilty but will offend no more. Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’ Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent? You must decide, not I; so tell me what you know.

What is your take on this?
J____

Hi J____,
Thanks for your question. You ask:

This is the way Job 34:31-33 reads in the NIV:
Suppose a man says to God, ‘I am guilty but will offend no more. Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’ Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent? You must decide, not I; so tell me what you know.
What is your take on this?”

Elihu, I think you know, is the youngest of Job’s four “comforters.” He is the only one who God did not rebuke for his words to Job.

Job 42:7  And it was so, that after the LORD had spoken these words unto Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath. [ After God’s words with Job}.
Job 42:8  Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you [ after your] folly, in that ye have not spoken of me the thing which is right, like my servant Job.
Job 42:9  So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.

Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar laid all the blame for Job’s problems upon Job’s sins. Elihu is not rebuked by the Lord. Not one of these men, nor Job himself, acknowledged the sovereignty of God over both good and evil in the lives of all men. Elihu alone made that connection.

Job 34:29  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:

When God “hides his face” it is an act “against a nation or a man,” and it will bring evil against that nation or man. If on the other hand “He give quietness, who then can make trouble?” Elihu understood the sovereignty of God and while he acknowledged that he, too, was merely clay, Elihu also acknowledged that he was actually speaking in God’s stead.

Job 33:6  Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead: I also am formed out of the clay.
Isa 54:7  For a small moment have I forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee.
Isa 54:8  In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.

God had revealed to Elihu alone, of these four comforters, that all that was taking place in Job’s life was for Job’s (and our) benefit. Elihu knew that God was working with Job, and he knew that God had given him words for both Job and Job’s accusers. While the other comforters merely insinuated that Job must have committed some heinous hidden sin during the time he was living such a charmed life, Elihu made no such insinuations, and showed Job exactly and specifically what his sins were and the sins of his accusers. Elihu had been made to understand that God’s plan does not depend upon our understanding of that plan. Nor are His actions dictated by our lack of understanding of His sovereignty. Elihu actually spoke in God’s stead. So he asks Job:

Job 34:31  Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement, I will not offend any more:
Job 34:32  That which I see not teach thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.
Job 34:33  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.

Your translation is much clearer:

Job 34:31-33 Suppose a man says to God, ‘I am guilty but will offend no more. Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’ Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent? You must decide, not I; so tell me what you know.

Elihu was speaking in God’s stead asking Job if he really believed that he could expect to lay down the terms on which God would come to Job and repent for the way He had treated Job. Job had made it quite clear to everyone that he had no intention of repenting of anything, and that God had “taken away Job’s judgment.” Job had vowed to maintain his own integrity with his dying breath:

Job 27:2  As God liveth, who hath taken away my judgment; and the Almighty, who hath vexed my soul;
Job 27:3  All the while my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils;
Job 27:4  My lips shall not speak wickedness, nor my tongue utter deceit.
Job 27:5  God forbid that I should justify you: till I die I will not remove mine integrity from me.
Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

God had not “taken away” Job’s judgment. He was in the very process of judging Job, and Job had no integrity of his own, and his righteousnesses were as filthy rags in God’s nostrils.

So Elihu tells Job:

Job 34:35  Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.
Job 34:36  My desire is that Job may be tried unto the end because of his answers for wicked men.
Job 34:37  For he addeth rebellion unto his sin, he clappeth his hands among us, and multiplieth his words against God.
Job 35:1  Elihu spake moreover, and said,
Job 35:2  Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?
Job 35:3  For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?
Job 35:4  I will answer thee, and thy companions with thee.
Job 35:5  Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds [ which] are higher than thou.
Job 35:6  If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?
Job 35:7  If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?
Job 35:8  Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.

God, speaking through Elihu, has Job’s friends and all of us, to know that when we sin we do not hurt God, and when we do righteously, we have given nothing to God. Whether we sin or whether we do righteously, we are doing nothing more or less that what God has created us to perform:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

It is the proud man like Job, who credits himself with either his own sins or his own righteousness. Neither one is of ourselves and neither make us any better or worse than any other man on earth. It is God alone who works all things after the counsel of His own will, and anyone who thinks that he is responsible for either his righteousness or his sins is in the same position Job was in when God had hedged Satan out of his life.

Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [ how] to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Are our sins of us, or are they not? What does “It is no more I that do it” mean? Job and His three friends thought that both their sins and their righteous deeds were of themselves. Job and his three friends had a big lesson to learn, and we are all Job in our own appointed time.

Pro 20:24  Man’s goings are of the LORD; how can a man then understand his own way?

Act 17:28  For in him we [ Pagan Athenians] live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we [ Pagan Athenians] are also his offspring.

As hard as it is to understand or believe, the Truth is that even the “first Adam” is God’s “offspring,” and serves a vital function in the revelation of the “last Adam,” because we cannot be the last Adam until we have been the first Adam.

Luk 3:38  Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.

All things are of Him, and this is what Elihu was given to reveal to Job and his friends and to us all.

Rom 11:35  Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

That sounds a whole lot like Elihu’s words in the first verses of Job 35:

Job 35:6  If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him?
Job 35:7  If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?

What does God say about all these words of Elihu? Here is just a taste of what God says. He certainly did have Elihu speaking in His stead. These are just a few of God’s own words to Job:

Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

I have said enough. I hope this helps to make clear what Elihu meant when he asked Job:

Suppose a man says to God, ‘I am guilty but will offend no more. Teach me what I cannot see; if I have done wrong, I will not do so again.’ Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent? You must decide, not I; so tell me what you know.

Asking God to teach you is worthless if it is not accompanied with godly repentance, which acknowledges that God owes us nothing, and we owe Him everything.
The total sovereignty of God is the main lesson of the book of Job. It is He who is working all things after the counsel of His own will.

Your brother in Christ.
Mike