Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 34:17

Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?

17. condemn him that is most just ] Or, condemn the just, the mighty One.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Shall even he that hateth right govern? – Margin, as in Hebrew bind. That is, shall he bind by laws. The argument in this verse seems to be an appeal to what must be the conviction of mankind, that God, the Great Governor of the universe, could not be unjust. This conviction, Elihu appears to have supposed, was so deep in the human mind, that he might appeal even to Job himself for its truth. The question here asked implies that it would be impossible to believe that one who was unjust could govern the universe. Such a supposition would be at variance with all the convictions of the human soul, and all the indications of the nature of his government to be found in his works.

And wilt thou condemn him that is most just? – The great and holy Ruler of the universe. The argument here is, that Job had in fact placed himself in the attitude of condemning him who, from the fact that he was the Ruler of the universe, must be most just. The impropriety of this he shows in the following verses.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 17. Shall – he that hateth right govern?] Or, Shall he who hateth judgment, lie under obligation? It is preposterous to suppose that he who lives by no rule, should impose rules upon others. God, who is the fountain of all justice and righteousness, binds man by his laws; and wilt thou, therefore, pretend to condemn him who is the sum of righteousness?

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He that hateth right, i.e. that is unrighteous. But this he expresseth in a most emphatical manner, the reason and weight whereof seems to me to be this: If God be unjust, he is not so from fear of any superior, (as inferior magistrates do many unrighteous things against their consciences to please their prince or chief ruler, or to avoid his displeasure,) but merely from an intrinsical hatred of justice, or love of unrighteousness; which being most absurd to imagine concerning God, therefore he cannot possibly be unjust, or do any unjust action.

Govern; so this word, which properly signifies to bind, is fitly rendered by most interpreters; and so it is used Isa 3:7, because governors have a power to bind their subjects by laws and penalties, and they are as it were the ligaments by which societies are bound and kept together, which without them would be dissolved and broken to pieces. Elihus argument here is the same with that of Abrahams, Gen 18:25, and that of St. Pauls, Rom 3:5,6, If God be unrighteous, how shall he judge or govern the world? And the argument is undeniable, If God were unjust, there would be nothing but injustice, and confusion, and mischief in the world; whereas we see there is a great deal of justice administered by rulers in the world, and all this must proceed from him who is the fountain and author of all justice, and rule, and authority. And as the psalmist saith, Psa 94:9, He that formed the eye, shall not he see? so say I, He that makes men just, shall he be unjust? Him that is most just, i.e. God, who hath given so many clear and unquestionable evidences of his justice, in giving just and holy laws, in encouraging and rewarding very many righteous persons in this life, and inflicting dreadful and remarkable judgments upon tyrants and oppressors. Or, him that is just and mighty; for the next verse speaks of such, who were generally in those times more considerable for their power and authority than for their justice. So here is a double argument against Jobs censures of Gods justice. He is just, and therefore giveth thee no cause to condemn him; and withal potent, and therefore can punish thee yet far worse for so doing.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

17. “Can even He who (inthy view) hateth right (justice) govern?” The government of theworld would be impossible if injustice were sanctioned. God must bejust, because He governs (2Sa23:3).

governliterally,”bind,” namely, by authority (so “reign,” 1Sa9:17, Margin). UMBREITtranslates for “govern, repress wrath, namely, againstJob for his accusations.

most justrather, “Himwho is at once mighty and just” (in His government of theworld).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Shall even he that hateth right govern?…. That hates moral and civil justice; is such an one fit to rule among men or over them? No, surely; for to love righteousness and do it is a qualification of a civil governor; it is his business to administer justice; and if an hater of it, he can never be a proper person to rule: and if God was an hater of that which is right, as he would seem to be if he did not do it, he would not be fit to govern the world as he does. To this absurdity is Job reduced, by suggesting that right was not done him, or that God had removed his judgment from him; see 2Sa 23:3 Ro 3:5. Mr. Broughton translates the words, “can a foe to judgment rule well?” And yet it cannot be denied, but must be owned, that God does judge in the earth, and judges righteously. Or shall such an one “bind” b? the allusion may be to a surgeon that binds up wounds. Sin makes wounds, and such as cannot be healed by men; but God can bind them up and cure them, and does: but would he do this if he hated that which is right, if he was not kind and merciful, just and good? see Ho 6:1. Or, as others render it, which comes pretty near to the same sense, “shall a hater of judgment refrain wrath” c? Such are tyrants, cruel and unmerciful, full of wrath and vengeance, and which they execute in a barbarous manner: but such is not God; he stirs not up all his wrath, which he in justice might; he retains it not for ever, but delights in mercy;

and wilt thou condemn him that is most just? It is not right to condemn any just man, to charge him wrongfully, and then pass an unrighteous sentence on him; and much less to charge the righteous God with injustice, and condemn him that is most just, superlatively just; in whom there is not the least shadow of unrighteousness; who is righteous in all his ways, and holy in all his works; who is naturally, essentially, and infinitely righteous.

b “obligabit”, Montanus; so Junius and Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius, Michaelis. c “An nasum osor judicii fraenabit?” Schultens.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(17) Shall even he. . . .The argument is that one who holds such a position of absolute rule cannot be other than most just. He who is fit to rule must be just, and He who is the ultimate ruler must be fit to rule, and must, therefore, be just; but if He is absolutely just, how shall we condemn His government or Him on account of it, even though we cannot explain it all or reconcile it with our view of what is right?

Him that is most just, is rather him that is just and mighty, i.e., not only just, but able also to execute justice because mighty.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

17. Govern The prime meaning of the Hebrew is “restrain.” Eichhorn, Hitzig, etc., propose to read as a noun, thus, “restrain wrath; ” but the reading of the A.V., even, with which agree Ewald, Dillmann, etc., accords better with the argument of Elihu, notwithstanding the opinion of Umbreit, that the rendering wrath is favoured by the parallelism. Right is equivalent to law, order; wrong means lawlessness, confusion, anarchy. The idea is absurd, so Elihu argues, that a wrongdoer or a hater of the right would govern “restrain” (a world.) But God does govern the world, as Elihu proceeds to show; thus establishing his proposition that injustice does not belong to God.

Most just Literally, the just, the mighty.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments