Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 35:5
Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds [which] are higher than thou.
5 8. The reply of Elihu to Job’s complaint. A glance at heaven, the infinitely exalted abode of God, must tell us that our conduct whether good or bad cannot affect Him. Our righteousness confers no profit on Him, neither does our wickedness entail any loss. It is men themselves that their conduct affects. It is in human life that the influence of righteousness or evil-doing is seen. And being so eternally unlike they cannot have the same effect.
Elihu does not contemplate any one going so far as to maintain that godliness and unrighteousness do not differ in themselves. Job assumes and most strongly asserts their difference. He even rises to the sublime height of resolving to adhere to righteousness though God and men should shew their indifference to it (ch. Job 17:9). And what he complains of is that God is indifferent to it, and that in His government the righteous is treated as the wicked. This is the point which Elihu touches.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Look unto the heavens, and see – This is the commencement of the reply which Elihu makes to the sentiment which he had understood Job to advance, and which Eliphaz had proposed formerly to examine. The general object of the reply is, to show that God is so great that he cannot be affected with human conduct, and that he has no interest in treating people otherwise than according to character. He is so exalted that their conduct cannot reach and affect his happiness. It ought to be presumed, therefore, since there is no motive to the contrary, that the dealings of God with people would be impartial, and that there would be an advantage in serving him – not because people could lay him under obligation, but because it was right and proper that such advantage should accrue to them. To impress this view on the mind, Elihu directs Job and his friends to look to the heavens – so lofty, grand, and sublime; to reflect how much higher they are than man; and to remember that the great Creator is above all those heavens, and thus to see that he is so far cxalted that he is not dependent on man; that he cannot be affected by the righteousness or wickedness of his creatures; that his happiness is not dependent on them, and consequently that it is to bc presumed that he would act impartially, and treat all people as they deserved. There would be, therefore, an advantage in serving God.
And behold the clouds – Also far above us, and seeming to float in the heavens. The sentiment here is, that one view of the astonishing display of wisdom and power above us must extinguish every feeling that he will be influenced in his dealings as people are in theirs, or that he can gain or suffer anything by the good or bad behavior of his creatures.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. Look unto the heavens] These heavens, and their host, God has created: the bare sight of them is sufficient to show thee that God is infinitely beyond thee in wisdom and excellence.
Behold the clouds] shechakim, the ethers, (Vulgate, aethera,) from shachak, to contend, fight together: the agitated or conflicting air and light; the strong agitation of these producing both light and heat. Look upon these, consider them deeply, and see and acknowledge the perfections of the Maker.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
How much more is God, who is far above all heavens, higher than thou! And therefore God is out of the reach of all profit or loss by thy actions. If thy goodness do not profit thee, it is certain it doth not profit him; and therefore doth not lay any obligation upon him to indulge or recompense thee for it, save only so far as he hath graciously obliged himself; and therefore thou canst not accuse him of injustice for afflicting thee, nor pretend that thou hast deserved better usage from him. And this infinite distance between God and thee should cause thee to think and speak more modestly and reverently of that glorious majesty.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5-8. Elihu like Eliphaz (Job 22:2;Job 22:3; Job 22:12)shows that God is too exalted in nature to be susceptible of benefitor hurt from the righteousness or sin of men respectively; it isthemselves that they benefit by righteousness, or hurt by sin.
behold the clouds, which arehigher than thouspoken with irony. Not only are they higherthan thou, but thou canst not even reach them clearly with the eye.Yet these are not as high as God’s seat. God is therefore too exaltedto be dependent on man. Therefore He has no inducement to injusticein His dealings with man. When He afflicts, it must be from adifferent motive; namely, the good of the sufferer.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Look unto the heavens, and see,…. The firmament of heaven, in which are the sun and moon and stars:
and behold the clouds [which] are higher than thou; the clouds of the air or sky, which are lower than the starry heavens, yet these were higher than Job, and much more the starry heavens: but because the word has the signification of “thinness”, which does not so well agree with the clouds, which are thick substances, condensed air; some take it to be meant of the supreme region of the heavens, which is pure and thin; so Sephorno: and Job is directed to look to these, not as stargazers do, such as are given to judicial astrology, to judge of the fates of men and kingdoms; but rather thereby to be led to the contemplation of God the author of them, and the glorious perfections of his being they display; and chiefly to observe the height of them, that they were out of his reach, and he could neither help them nor hurt them; that he could neither increase nor diminish the light of the celestial bodies, which he could only behold; nor either advance or hinder their course, nor in the least add to or abate their influence and efficacy; and if he could neither be beneficial nor harmful to them, how was it possible that he could be of any advantage or detriment to God, by any actions of his, good or bad, who is higher and out of sight? This is the answer Elihu in general returned, he more particularly replies as follows.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 Look towards heaven and see,
And behold the ethereal heights: they are high above thee.
6 If thou sinnest, what dost thou effect with Him?
And if thy transgressions are many, what doest thou to Him?
7 If thou art righteous, what dost thou give Him,
Or what doth He take from thy hand?
8 To man like thee thy godlessness availeth,
And to thee, a son of man, thy righteousness.
Towards heaven he is to direct his gaze, to obtain from the height of heaven a notion of the exaltation of God who dwells above the heavens. The combination is like Psa 80:15 and freq. ( , Arab. shq , to rub in pieces, make thin, therefore the opposite of ) are the thin transparent strata of the atmosphere above the hanging clouds. after denotes the height that is on the opposite side to the beholder. From the exaltation of God it is then further inferred that it is impossible to exercise any human influence upon Him, by which He might suffer. The pointing wavers here between (the common fut. form) and (as a contraction of after the form , Num 23:8). Human wrong or right doing neither diminishes nor increases His blessedness; injury or advantage is only on the side of man, from whom it proceeds. Others, whom his conduct affect, are not included in Job 35:8: righteous or ungodly doing, Elihu means to say, as such and with its consequences, belongs solely to the doer himself, the man “like thee” ( with Munach, with Munach), the son of man, i.e., man, capable of evil as of good, and who always, after deciding in favour of the latter or the former, determines his fortune or misfortune, in distinction from God, who ever remains unchangeably the same in His perfect righteousness. What Elihu here says we have already heard from Eliphaz, Job 22:2., and Job even expresses himself similarly in Job 7:20; but to Elihu’s mind it all becomes for Job new and powerful motives to quiet submission, for what objection should Job raise in justification of his complaints concerning his affliction against such sentiments as these, that goodness bears its reward and evil its punishment in itself, and that God’s reward of goodness is not a work of indebtedness, nor His punishment of evil a work of necessity? Before such truth he must really hold his peace.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
b. God is self-sufficient in his infinite exaltation, and consequently cannot be benefited or injured by the moral acts of men: the consequences of our actions are confined to ourselves or our fellows. “Good and evil cannot affect God; if they are distinct things, as Job, who is no Pantheist, would admit, they must have distinct effects; and these effects, not reaching God, must be on man, on the man who does good or evil.” Davidson. Job 35:5-8.
5. Look unto the heavens The infinite greatness of God is feebly shadowed forth by the heavens, the work of his hands. “Job’s weak and foolish attack on the divine righteousness makes shipwreck of the glory of the divine nature, as manifested in the works of creation.” Hengstenberg. Higher than the heavens, God is too high to gain by the virtue of man or to lose by his vice.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 35:5 Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds [which] are higher than thou.
Ver. 5. Look unto the heavens and see ] Yea, look into them, if thou couldst, as did Stephen the proto-martyr, Act 7:56 , and as our Saviour Christ, as man, could do (say some) with his bodily eyes; and as a believer by the eye of his faith, through the perspective glass of the promises, may do, doubtless. The further we can look unto heaven (or into it) the better shall we conceive of that infinite distance that is between God in heaven and men on earth. God is far above the highest heavens, therefore higher than any mortal can attain to him, much less contribute anything unto him by his righteousness, or assault him by his wickedness. Herodotus writeth, That the Thracians once were so mad against their god Jupiter, for raining down upon them when ready to join battle with the enemy, that they threw up their darts against heaven, which shortly returned upon their own heads. And of Caligula, the emperor, the story is told, that he thundered and lightened with certain engines he had; and if at any time a thunderbolt fell from heaven, ipse contra iaeiebat lapidem, he on the other side threw up a stone, and used that hemistich a in Horner, , Either do thou kill me, or I will kill thee if I can, (Dio in Vit. Calig.). And what less than this upon the matter do those monsters and miscreants among us, who set their mouths against heaven when things go cross with them especially; and their “tongues walk through the earth?” Psa 73:9 . As Hacker did, who lifting up his eyes to heaven, and grinning against God, blasphemed him, and threatened him, even when he had the rope about his neck, A. D. 1591. Now, as in the water face answereth to face, so doth the face of a man to a man. And as there were many Marii in one Caesar, so there are many Caligulas and Hackets in the best of us all, if God restrain us not from such horrid outrages. But Elihu would have us here to know, that God is far above our reach, neither can we throw this high and lofty one out of his throne, utcunque fremamus et ferociamus; for how should anything that we silly creatures can do reach to God, when as we cannot reach up to the visible heavens?
And behold the clouds which are higher than thou
a The half or section of a line of verse, as divided by the Caesura or the like; also, a line of less than the usual length. spec. Such a half-line or line in Old English verse.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Look = Look attentively.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Look: Job 22:12, Job 25:5, Job 25:6, Job 36:26-33, Job 37:1-5, Job 37:22, Job 37:23, 1Ki 8:27, Psa 8:3, Psa 8:4, Isa 40:22, Isa 40:23, Isa 55:9
the clouds: Job 36:29, Job 37:16, Nah 1:3
Reciprocal: Job 9:32 – not a man Job 11:8 – It is as high as heaven Pro 14:21 – that despiseth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
35:5 Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the {c} clouds [which] are higher than thou.
(c) If you cannot control the clouds, will you presume to instruct God?