Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 36:5
Behold, God [is] mighty, and despiseth not [any: he is] mighty in strength [and] wisdom.
5. and despiseth not ] Though God is mighty He despiseth or dis-daineth not, He gives the weakest his rights as much as the most powerful, for they are all the work of His hand, ch. Job 34:19. The words express Elihu’s conception of God, which He opposes to the conception of Job (e.g. ch. 7 and often).
in strength and wisdom ] Rather, in strength of understanding; lit of heart. It is this perfection of understanding, in which God’s greatness consists, that makes it impossible that He should “despise” any. To know life, however mean, is to love it.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
5 25. Elihu’s doctrine is in a word: God is great and despiseth not, He is great in strength of heart. His greatness is that of understanding, which enables Him to estimate all rightly, to see through all right and wrong, and to adapt His providence to the strong and to the weak, the evil and the good. This thought with the illustrations of it, Job 36:6-15, and the application of it to Job , vv16-25, exhaust the first half of this concluding speech.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Behold, God is Mighty – This is the first consideration which Elihu urges, and the purpose seems to be to affirm that God is so great that he has no occasion to modify his treatment of any class of people from a reference to himself. He is wholly independent of all, and can therefore be impartial in his dealings. If it were otherwise; if he were dependent upon human beings for any share of his happiness, he might be tempted to show special favor to the great and to the rich; to spare the mighty who are wicked, though he cut off the poor. But he has no such inducement, as he is wholly independent; and it is to be presumed, therefore, that he treats all impartially; see the notes at Job 35:5-8.
And despiseth not any – None who are poor and humble. He does not pass them by with cold neglect because they are poor and power. less, and turn his attention to the great and mighty because he is dependent on them.
He is mighty in wisdom – Margin, heart. The word heart in Hebrew is often used to denote the intellectual powers; and the idea here is, that God has perfect wisdom in the management of his affairs. He is acquainted with all the circumstances of his creatures, and passes by none from a defect of knowledge, or frown a lack of wisdom to know how to adopt his dealings to their condition.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Job 36:5
Behold, God is mighty and despiseth not any.
The law of reverence
Contempt, whether of men or of things, is a feeling that is alien to God. With Him there is no littleness; He neither spurns, nor slights, nor disregards. And the reason is that He is so mighty.
I. God is great in intelligence and despiseth not. How great that intelligence is, in its reach, in its grasp, in its certainty, the Scriptures keep continually before us. He whom we worship is the Only Wise. God sees things not only in themselves, but in their connections, sources, and results; sees them with all those secret accompaniments that make matters that are apparently trivial really significant and momentous. Therefore, though man may be careless, he cares; what man holds lightly, he esteems. We argue from the inerrancy of the Divine judgment. We found on the comprehensiveness of the Divine mind. God is great in knowledge and despiseth not, depreciating neither person nor tiring.
II. God is great in holiness and despiseth not. He is so pure and exalted a moral Being Himself, He must needs hold everything of importance into which the moral element enters. Take the minutest moral deflection. He cannot think lightly of that. Sin is sin, whatsoever its scale. He cannot think lightly of the least moral aspiration. The feeblest of our longings, the stretching of a hand, the breathing of a sigh, the dropping of a tear, are matters of interest and importance to Him whose kingdom is a kingdom of uprightness, and who longs for that kingdom to come in the hearts and lives of men. The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. His very purity is a sure guarantee that the yearnings and the strivings of a sin-weary heart will always be precious in His sight. Then beware of contempt. Do not belittle the moral realities. Do not belittle sin. Too often we meet goodness with a spirit of levity.
III. God is great in His love and despiseth not.
1. The greatness of Gods love is a pledge that He will not despise the least or the lowliest disciples. He is not the God of the strong merely, He is the God of the weak.
2. The greatness of Gods love is a pledge that He does not despise the least or the lowliest needs.
3. The greatness of Gods love is a pledge that He will not despise the least and lowliest services. Whatsoever love offers, love will value, love will store up, and love will reward. Two practical lessons.
(1) Observe the light which the text casts on the dignity of everyday life. It illumines our homeliest tasks. Do not think lightly of the homeliest kindnesses.
(2) The principle also throws light on the nearness and sympathy of God. He despiseth not little things, therefore consult Him about little things. (W. A. Gray.)
He despiseth not any
It is a poor result of vast wealth or great learning, or cultivated taste, when a man affects superiority and despises others. True wisdom should make us humble, not haughty. God is mighty. Yet His power is the omnipotence of right, and truth, and love. Gods infinite might has co-existent with it, infinite right and infinite love. This wonderful combination in the Divine character is now before us.
1. Behold this combination in the lower orders of creation. The minutest insects are as well provided for as the cattle on a thousand hills. Compared with man, what are they? Yet God despiseth them not.
2. In the revelation of His Word. All language does but poorly express the great thoughts of God. Yet He condescends to all degrees of thought, The old philosophers concealed their thoughts from common people.
3. In the subjects of the Divine regard. Men are in danger of despising each other. God despiseth not any.
4. In the incarnate life of Christ, how near He seems to come to men! It would not be difficult to survey Hebrew society, and pick out the despised classes–lepers, lost women, publicans. Jesus came very near to the weak and weary, the reviled and persecuted, and they found recovery and rest in Him.
5. In the agencies He employs, God does not pass by His own best materials among men; but He uses the humble prayer of a desolate widow, or the effort of some silent worker, who speaks a word for the Master in quiet places of the city. In the moral world there is no need to despise the day of small things.
6. In the sacrificial atonement of Christ. The magnet of the Cross meets all conditions of men, all types of character, all degrees of education, all depths of ignorance, all forces of rebellion and self-will.
7. In the great gathering of the redeemed. There the rich and the poor, the master and the servant, meet together. Jesus is Lord and brother of men. Deity is linked with humanity in the marks and memories of the manger, the carpenters home, and the Cross. Many who have had scant mercy from man, will enjoy there the triumphs of the mercy of God in Christ. (W. M. Statham.)
None overlooked
You can buy complete sets of all the flowers of the Alpine district at the hotel near the foot of the Rosenlaui glacier, very neatly pressed and enclosed in cases. Some of the flowers are very common, but they must be included, or the fauna would not be completely represented. The botanist is as careful to see that the common ones are there, as he is to note that the rarer specimens are not excluded. Our blessed Lord will be sure to make a perfect collection of all the flowers of His field, and even the ordinary believer, the everyday worker, the common convert, will not be forgotten. To Jesus eye, there is beauty in all His plants, and each one is needed to perfect the fauna of paradise. May I be found among His flowers, if only as one Out of myriad daisies, who with sweet simplicity shall look up and wonder at His love forever. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gods reverence for man
No one renders a better service to his fellows than he who leads them to a true conception of the character and purpose of God. No one has been so grievously misunderstood, caricatured, and aspersed as God. Men have looked at Him with sceptical eyes, melancholy eyes, sin-damaged eyes, tear-filled eyes, and many of their readings have been grotesque, unsatisfactory, and mischievous. How much misery has resulted froth the thought that God is impersonal–that the throne of the universe is without a King, that we are in the hands of a remorseless fate, that blind forces are evermore giving us shape, that we are accountable to no authority beyond ourselves! How much misery has resulted from the thought that God is cruel! Some have imagined God a merciless monster, an infinite detective, a harsh taskmaster, a vindictive gaoler. How much evil has been caused by the thought that God is exclusive–that only a select number are His children, that for the rest He has no love, no care, no blessing! How much evil has been caused by the thought that God is indifferent, that He dwells in splendid isolation, too self-absorbed to heed mans anguish, to ease his woes, redress his wrongs! Here, then, is our thought–God has a profound reverence for man; and this is so because of His unequalled greatness. This we know runs counter to our general way of thinking. We think of greatness as isolating, separating, and not as uniting men. We think contempt a proper sort of thing, and not often do we see greatness and gentleness going together. Our great teacher John Ruskin says One of the signs of high breeding in men generally will be their kindness and mercifulness. And Shakespeare says: Mockery is the fume of little hearts. Now, whatever we may find in men, we see that the greatness of God is not aloofness, not high disdain, not proud contempt, but infinite love, eternal compassion, omnipotent tenderness, absolute devotion to mans interests. Behold, God is mighty–so mighty that we are awed as we think of Him. But He despiseth not, for in Him might and mercy are combined. This is an oft-recurring note of the Bible. I will sing of Thy power, says the Psalmist, but he adds, Yea, I will sing aloud of Thy mercy. And again, He telleth the number of the stars, He calleth them all by their names. But what says the context: He healeth the broken in heart; He bindeth all their wounds. Oh, beautiful juxtaposition of power and tenderness, knowledge and grace. God does not despise any person. No human soul is valueless in the eye of God; it is more than all else to Him–the jewel of priceless value, the gem of peerless worth. Disparagement of man has been a note of all times, and not least of our own. Mans contempt for man finds luxuriant expression, and all its signs are ugly. Sometimes we see men despising others because of their poverty. Not for this reason does God despise men. Among the indigent He has found His princeliest souls, His most faithful servants. The ban of poverty is nothing to Him. Sometimes we see men despising others because they are commonplace. The world swarms with the colourless, the insignificant, the inept, the failing. Not so does God regard men. The colourless are full of suggestions to Him; the commonplace all have a place in His great heart. He does not measure men superficially, but radically. He takes note, not of the accidental, but of the essential. God is willing to take in hand the inept, the unbrilliant, the unpromising, and to bring their lives to an undreamt-of glory and greatness. Sometimes we see men despising their fellows because of their sinfulness. Man never appears so mean and worthless as when his sin is obvious. He, to whom sin is most offensive; He, whom it has cost more than anyone, despiseth not any sinner. He loves the sinner in spite of his sin, for love sees what nothing else can see. It is in Jesus Christ we see this truth best illustrated. He went straight to the worst. He touched the outcast, and he became a denizen of Gods Kingdom. More than comforting is the precious truth that no soul is God-despised. He who despiseth not any person does not despise our desires. How often we despise ourselves because of the paucity of our good desires, or else on account of their feebleness. Well, we may sit in stern judgment on ourselves, and it is well, perhaps, we do so, but God despiseth not any desire. And God does not despise any service. Sometimes we disparage our services. We think them slight, imperfect, obscure. God never overlooks the quiet, obscure workers. Do not despise yourself. Are you poor? So have been earths noblest children, so have been the peers of piety. Are you sinful? Thank God for the consciousness of your sin; it is a stepping-stone to salvation. Remember, the Church is made up of transmuted failures. God gives to men a second chance, and He delighteth in mercy. Do not despise your fellows. Moreover, it is ours to make it as easy as possible for every prodigal son of our Father to come home. Do not despise God. The adjuration is not unnecessary. Alas! this is the fatal fault of men; they disesteem their Maker, Redeemer, Friend. The Apostle asks: Despisest thou the riches of His goodness and forbearance and long-suffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? (J. Pearce.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. God is mighty and despiseth not any] He reproaches no man for his want of knowledge. If any man lack wisdom, he may come to God, who giveth liberally, and upbraideth not. I prefer this to the passive sense, will not be despised.
He is mighty] Literally, “He is mighty in strength of heart;” he can never be terrified nor alarmed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
His greatness doth not make him (as it doth men) to scorn, or despise, or oppress the meanest. Though he may do what he pleaseth, and none can hinder him, yet he will not use it to do any man wrong, as Job seemed to insinuate, Job 10:3; 19:7; 23:13. His strength is guided by wisdom, and therefore cannot be employed to do any thing unbecoming God, or unjust to his creatures; for either of these is folly. Or,
in strength, or virtue of heart; for the and is not in the Hebrew. So the sense is, He is truly magnanimous, of a great and generous mind or heart, and therefore not unrighteous; for all injustice proceeds from littleness or weakness of heart. Truly great souls scorn unjust actions.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. Rather, “strength ofunderstanding” (heart) the force of the repetition of “mighty”;as “mighty” as God is, none is too low to be “despised”by Him; for His “might” lies especially in “Hisstrength of understanding,” whereby He searches out the mostminute things, so as to give to each his right. Elihu confirms hisexhortation (Job 35:14).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Behold, God [is] mighty,…. This is a clear plain truth, easy to be discerned, and worthy of notice, and therefore introduced with a “behold”; that God is mighty, the most mighty, the Almighty, as appears from his works of nature and providence; making all things out of nothing, upholding them by the word of his power, and governing and overruling all things in the world, and doing in it whatever he pleases: and from the works of redemption and grace; ransoming his people out of the hands of them that are stronger than they; converting them by the power of his grace; assisting them to do all they do in a spiritual way; supporting them under all their troubles; protecting and defending them from all their enemies; supplying all their wants, and preserving them safe to his kingdom and glory;
and despises not [any]; not the meanest of his creatures, clothing the grass of the field, feeding the fowls of the air, and preserving man and beast; and particularly he despises not any of the sons of men: not the mighty through fear of them, nor envy at them, whose power and grandeur are from him, which he gives and can take away at his pleasure; nor the mean and miserable the poor and the afflicted, to whom he has a merciful regard; much less the innocent and harmless, as the Septuagint; or the just and righteous man, as the Targum: he does not despise his own people, whom he has loved and chosen, redeemed and called; nor any, as Aben Ezra observes, without a cause; for though there are some whose image he will despise, it is because of their own sins and transgressions; and since, therefore, though he is mighty, yet despises not any of his creatures, he cannot do any unrighteous thing; he does not and cannot use or abuse his power to the in jury of any of his creatures;
[he is] mighty in strength [and] wisdom, as there is a pleonasm, a redundancy in the expression, “mighty in strength”, it denotes the abundance of his strength, that he is exceeding strong, superlatively and all expression so; and also strong in wisdom, his strength is tempered with wisdom, so that he cannot employ it to any bad purpose, or be guilty of any unrighteousness. Some men have strength, but not wisdom to make a right use of it; but God abounds as much in wisdom as in strength; he is the only wise and the all wise God, and therefore can do no injustice; and thus Elihu, as he promised, ascribes righteousness to his almighty Maker.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
5 Behold, God is mighty, and yet doth not act scornfully,
Mighty in power of understanding.
6 He preserveth not the life of the ungodly,
And to the afflicted He giveth right.
7 He withdraweth not His eyes from the righteous,
But with kings on the throne
He establisheth them for ever, and they are exalted.
The obj. that must be mentally supplied to is, as in Job 42:6, to be derived from the connection. The idea of the verb is, as in Job 8:20: He is exalted, without however looking down disdainfully ( non despicit ) from His height, or more definitely: without setting Himself above the justice due to even the meanest of His creatures – great in power of heart (comp. Job 34:33 , Arab. ulu – l – elbab ), i.e., understanding ( ), to see through right and wrong everywhere and altogether. Job 36:6, Job 36:7 describe how His rule among men evinces this not merely outward but spiritual superiority coupled with condescension to the lowly. The notion of the object, (as Isa 9:11 the subject), becomes the more distinctly prominent by virtue of the fut. consec. which follows like a conclusion, and takes it up again. Ewald thinks this explanation contrary to the accents and the structure of the sentence itself; but it is perfectly consistent with the former, and indisputably syntactic (Ges. 129, 2, b, and Ew. himself, 344, b). Psa 9:5, comp. Psa 132:12, Isa 47:1, shows how is intended (He causes them to sit upon the throne). Job 5:11; 1Sa 2:8; Psa 113:7. are parallel passages.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
5 Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom. 6 He preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor. 7 He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous: but with kings are they on the throne; yea, he doth establish them for ever, and they are exalted. 8 And if they be bound in fetters, and be holden in cords of affliction; 9 Then he showeth them their work, and their transgressions that they have exceeded. 10 He openeth also their ear to discipline, and commandeth that they return from iniquity. 11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. 12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge. 13 But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath: they cry not when he bindeth them. 14 They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean.
Elihu, being to speak on God’s behalf, and particularly to ascribe righteousness to his Maker, here shows that the disposals of divine Providence are all, not only according to the eternal counsels of his will, but according to the eternal rules of equity. God acts as a righteous governor, for,
I. He does not think it below him to take notice of the meanest of his subjects, nor does poverty or obscurity set any at a distance from his favour. If men are mighty, they are apt to look with a haughty disdain upon those that are not of distinction and make no figure; but God is mighty, infinitely so, and yet he despises not any, v. 5. He humbles himself to take cognizance of the affairs of the meanest, to do them justice and to show them kindness. Job thought himself and his cause slighted because God did not immediately appear for him. “No,” says Elihu, God despises not any, which is a good reason why we should honour all men. He is mighty in strength and wisdom, and yet does not look with contempt upon those that have but a little strength and wisdom, if they but mean honestly. Nay, for this reason he despises not any, because his wisdom and strength are incontestably infinite and therefore the condescensions of his grace can be no diminution to him. Those that are wise and good will not look upon any with scorn and disdain.
II. He gives no countenance to the greatest, if they be bad (v. 6): He preserves not the life of the wicked. Though their life may be prolonged, yet not under any special care of the divine Providence, but only its common protection. Job had said that the wicked live, become old, and are mighty in power, ch. xxi. 7. “No,” says Elihu: “he seldom suffers wicked men to become old. He preserves not their life so long as they expected, nor with that comfort and satisfaction which are indeed our life; and their preservation is but a reservation for the day of wrath,” Rom. ii. 5.
III. He is always ready to right those that are any way injured, and to plead their cause (v. 6): He gives right to the poor, avenges their quarrel upon their persecutors and forces them to make restitution of what they have robbed them of. If men will not right the injured poor, God will.
IV. He takes a particular care for the protection of his good subjects, v. 7. He not only looks on them, but he never looks off them: He withdraws not his eyes from the righteous. Though they may seem sometimes neglected and forgotten, and that befals them which looks like an oversight of Providence, yet tender careful eye of their heavenly Father never withdraws from them. If our eye be ever towards God in duty, his eye will be ever upon us in mercy, and, when we are at the lowest, will not overlook us.
1. Sometimes he prefers good people to places of trust and honour (v. 7): With kings are they on the throne, and every sheaf is made to bow to theirs. When righteous persons are advanced to places of honour and power, it is in mercy to them; for God’s grace in them will both arm them against the temptations that attend preferment and enable them to improve the opportunity it gives them of doing good. It is also in mercy to those over whom they are set: When the righteous bear rule the city rejoices. If the righteous be advanced, they are established. Those that in honour keep a good conscience stand upon sure ground, and high places are not such slippery ground to them as they are to others. But, because it is not often that we see good men made great men in this world, this may be supposed to refer to the honour to which the righteous shall rise when their Redeemer shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; for then only they shall be exalted for ever, and established for ever; then shall they all shine forth as the sun, and be made kings and priests to our God.
2. If at any time he bring them into affliction, it is for the good of their souls, v. 8-10. Some good people are preferred to honour and power, but others are in trouble. Now observe, (1.) The distress supposed (v. 8): If they be bound in fetters, laid in prison as Joseph was, or holden in the cords of any other affliction, confined by pain and sickness, hampered by poverty, bound in their counsels, and, notwithstanding all their struggles, held long in this distress. This was Job’s case; he was caught, and kept fast, in the cords of anguish (as some read it); but observe, (2.) The design God has, in bringing his people into such distresses as these; it is for the benefit of their souls, the consideration of which should reconcile us to affliction and make us think well of it. Three things God intends when he afflicts us:– [1.] To discover past sins to us, and to bring them to our remembrance. Then he shows them that amiss in them which before they did not see. He discovers to them the fact of sin: He shows them their work. Sin is our own work. If there be any good in us, it is God’s work; and we are concerned to see what work we have made by sin. He discovers the fault of sin, shows them their transgressions of the law of God, and withal the sinfulness of sin, that they have exceeded, and have been beyond measure sinful. True penitents lay a load upon themselves, do not extenuate, but aggravate, their sins, and own that they have exceeded in them. Affliction sometimes answers to the sin; it serves, however, to awaken the conscience and puts men upon considering. [2.] To dispose our hearts to receive present instructions: Then he opens their ear to discipline, v. 10. Whom God chastens he teaches (Ps. xciv. 12), and the affliction makes people willing to learn, softens the wax, that it may receive the impression of the seal; yet it does not do this of itself, but the grace of God working with and by it; it is he that opens the ear, that opens the heart, who has the key of David. [3.] To deter and draw us off from iniquity for the future. This is the errand on which the affliction is sent; it is a command to return from iniquity, to have no more to do with sin, to turn from it with an aversion to it and a resolution never to return to it any more, Hos. xiv. 8.
3. If the affliction do its work, and accomplish that for which it is sent, he will comfort them again, according to the time that he has afflicted them (v. 11): If they obey and serve him,–if they comply with his design and serve his purpose in these dispensations,–if, when the affliction is removed, they continue in the same good mind that they were in when they were under the smart of it and perform the vows they made then,–if they live in obedience to God’s commands, particularly those which relate to his service and worship, and in all instances make conscience of their duty to him,–then they shall spend their days in prosperity again and their years in true pleasures. Piety is the only sure way to prosperity and pleasure; this is a certain truth, and yet few will believe it. If we faithfully serve God, (1.) We have the promise of outward prosperity, the promise of the life that now is, and the comforts of it, as far as is for God’s glory and our good; and who would desire them any further? (2.) We have the possession of inward pleasures, the comfort of communion with God and a good conscience, and that great peace which those have that love God’s law. If we rejoice not in the Lord always, and in hope of eternal life, it is our own fault; and what better pleasures can we spend our years in?
4. If the affliction do not do its work, let them expect the furnace to be heated seven times hotter till they are consumed (v. 12): If they obey not, if they are not bettered by their afflictions, are not reclaimed and reformed, they shall perish by the sword of God’s wrath. Those whom his rod does not cure his sword will kill; and the consuming fire will prevail if the refining fire do not; for when God judges he will overcome. If Ahaz, in his distress, trespass yet more against the Lord, this is that king Ahaz that is marked for ruin, 2Ch 28:22; Jer 6:29; Jer 6:30. God would have instructed them by their afflictions, but they received not instruction, would not take the hints that were given them; and therefore they shall die without knowledge, ere they are aware, without any further previous notices given them; or they shall die because they were without knowledge notwithstanding the means of knowledge which they were blessed with. Those that die without knowledge die without grace and are undone for ever.
V. He brings ruin upon hypocrites, the secret enemies of his kingdom (such as Elihu described, v. 12), who, though they were numbered among the righteous whom Elihu had spoken of before, yet did not obey God, but, being children of disobedience and darkness, become children of wrath and perdition; these are the hypocrites in heart, who heap up wrath, v. 13. See the nature of hypocrisy: it lies in the heart, which is for the world and the flesh when the outside seems to be for God and religion. Many that are saints in show and saints in word are hypocrites in heart. That spring is corrupt, and there is an evil treasure there. See the mischievousness of hypocrisy: hypocrites heap up wrath. They are doing that every day which is provoking to God, and will be reckoned with for it all together in the great day. They treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, Rom. ii. 5. Their sins are laid up in store with God among his treasures,Deu 32:34; Jas 5:3. As what goes up a vapour comes down a shower, so what goes up sin, if not repented of, will come down wrath. They think they are heaping up wealth, heaping up merits, but, when the treasures are opened, it will prove they were heaping up wrath. Observe, 1. What they do to heap up wrath. What is it that is so provoking? It is this, They cry not when he binds them, that is, when they are in affliction, bound with the cords of trouble, their hearts are hardened, they are stubborn and unhumbled, and will not cry to God nor make their application to him. They are stupid and senseless as stocks and stones, despising the chastening of the Lord. 2. What are the effects of that wrath? They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean, v. 14. This is the portion of hypocrites, whom Christ denounced many woes against. If they continue impenitent, (1.) They shall die a sudden death, die in youth, when death is most a surprise, and death (that is, the consequence of it) is always such to hypocrites; as those that die in youth die when they hoped to live, so hypocrites, at death, go to hell, when they hoped to go to heaven. When a wicked man dies his expectations shall perish. (2.) They shall die the second death. Their life, after death (for so it comes in here), is among the unclean, among the fornicators (so some), among the worst and vilest of sinners, notwithstanding their specious and plausible profession. It is among the Sodomites (so the margin), those filthy wretches, who going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire, Jude 7. The souls of the wicked live after death, but they live among the unclean, the unclean spirits, the devil and his angels, forever separated from the new Jerusalem, into which no unclean thing shall enter.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
. THE SUBJECT CONSIDERED ABSTRACTLY, Job 36:5-15.
Strophe a Elihu proceeds to lay down some general principles involved in the distribution of the allotments of men; first, denying that God is the promoter of the interests of the wicked; on the contrary, he has committed himself to the final and eternal promotion of the righteous, Job 36:5-7.
5. Despiseth not any The small and the great are alike to God. He despises not the cause of the lowliest; they also are the work of his hand. God cannot be otherwise than just. Grace, justice, and condescending love are no less the attributes of God than omnipotence and sovereignty. Mohammedanism, in almost unceasing doxology, extols the one attribute of God, “God is great;” the religion of Christ, extols the attributes of grace and love. “All the attributes unite in most blessed harmony,” as Dachsel happily remarks; “since they are all rays of the same sun, they cannot be arrayed against each other.”
Strength and wisdom Literally, force of heart; heart power, which finally culminated in the cross. God is mighty, not only in power of arm, but power of heart. To allow leb its legitimate meaning, heart, (though it often means understanding,) would accord with the scope of this chapter. The man of God worships a being of heart, not of cold understanding merely, but of warm throbbings toward all whom he has redeemed.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 36:5. Despiseth not any Will not yield to any. Heath.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 36:5 Behold, God [is] mighty, and despiseth not [any: he is] mighty in strength [and] wisdom.
Ver. 5. Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any ] Much less oppresseth he any one in a good cause, or tyrannically abuseth his power to the crushing of an innocent. He is equally good as great; neither was Job well advised in seeming to sunder these two excellencies in God, the one from the other; since whatsoever is in God is God; neither ought we to think of him otherwise than of one not to be thought of; as of one whose wisdom is his justice, whose justice is his power, whose power is his mercy, and all himself.
He is mighty in strength and wisdom
Una est in trepida mihi re medicina, Iehovae
Cor patrium, os verax, omnipotensque manus.
Behold. Figure of speech Asterismos. App-6.
GOD. Hebrew El. App-4.
is mighty. This is the text of Elihu’s discourses, leading up to God’s own addresses to Job. Compare Job 36:26, and Job 33:12.
Job 36:5-14
Job 36:5-14
GOD’S PURPOSE SEEN IN SUFFERING
“Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any:
He is mighty in strength of understanding.
He preserveth not the life of the wicked,
But giveth to the afflicted their right.
He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous:
But with kings upon the throne
He setteth them forever, and they are exalted.
And if they be bound in fetters,
And be taken in the cords of affliction;
Then he showeth them their work,
And their transgression, that they have behaved themselves proudly.
He openeth also their ear to instruction,
And commandeth that they return from iniquity.
If they hearken and serve him,
They shall spend their days in prosperity,
And their years in pleasure.
But if they hearken not, they shall perish by the sword,
And they shall die without knowledge.
But they that are godless in heart lay up anger:
They cry not for help when he bindeth them.
They die in youth,
And their life perisheth among the unclean.”
Many of the scholars are complimentary toward what Elihu says here, pointing out that his approach is a little different from that of the three friends who had spoken earlier. The alleged difference is that Elihu views Job’s sufferings and misfortunes as disciplinary, rather than punitive. That is a distinction without a difference. Elihu clearly states and often implies that Job’s pride is the cause of God’s punishment. The strategy of the devil is here slightly changed. Having given up altogether on his allegation that Job is a carnal reprobate and a grossly wicked man, the new approach is to make him guilty of such a thing as pride – anything, absolutely anything, to induce him to renounce his integrity. Note what Elihu promises here, IF Job will admit his sins. He will spend his days in prosperity and pleasure (Job 36:11); but if not, he will perish.
Throughout this chapter, Elihu’s logic is false. In the first part of it, he would prove God is just because he is powerful; “But power does not necessarily go with justice”; and then in the latter part of this chapter and throughout Job 37, he appeals to nature. But how does the natural world support any conception whatever either of mercy or justice? “Nature is red in tooth, and fang and claw.” “One cannot prove from nature that God is either just, or loving or merciful.” It is only by divine revelation that such things concerning God may be known.
“He preserveth not the life of the wicked” (Job 36:6). “This is the same old position advocated by the three friends.”
“Then he showeth them their work and their transgression, that they have behaved themselves proudly” (Job 36:9). The lying persuasion of this is that Elihu, pretending to be inspired of God, promising mercy, prosperity and pleasure if Job will admit his sins, lays down the proposition here that Elihu himself, as God’s representative, is present to help Job remember those sins he surely has committed but which he may have forgotten. This was Satan’s trump card; and when Job refused to believe it, ignored and rejected it, God’s judgment of Job was gloriously vindicated.
“He openeth their ear to instruction, and commandeth them that they return from iniquity” (Job 36:10). It is amazing that Rawlinson, while admitting that what Elihu said in these verses, “Is not exactly the truth,” he still finds merit in Elihu’s theory of suffering as disciplinary and restorative, rather than punitive. Every word of this verse is a subtle, skillful and lying inducement for Job to renounce his integrity.
“If they hearken and serve him” (Job 36:11). In context, Elihu means, Job, if you will listen to what I say, confess your sins, repent, and turn to God, “You will receive prosperity; if you do not listen, you will perish.”
“They die in youth, and their life perisheth among the unclean” (Job 36:14). The word unclean here is the rendition of a word that actually means sodomites, as indicated in the American Standard Version margin. Pope rendered the passage, “Their soul dies in youth, their life among the sodomites.” James Moffatt’s Translation of the Bible (1929) rendered it, “They die in youth like men debased by vice.” Driver made it, “Their soul dieth in youth, and their life among the temple prostitutes.” This is of interest, because it indicates the customary brevity of life among the cult prostitutes of the old Canaanite fertility worship.
Elihu no doubt mentioned this because it fitted his theory that God punishes wickedness in this present life; and of course, it many instances he does, as was the case with the cult-prostitutes; but that in no manner bolstered their evil theory that all misfortunes were directly due to the sins of the unfortunate.
E.M. Zerr:
Job 36:5-6. God is mighty but will condescend to bless the afflicted when he humbles himself and acknowleges his sins.
Job 36:7. This verse states a truth already referred to in the 35th chapter and agrees with Dan 4:17.
Job 36:8-9. Sheweth them their work means that God will chastise kings when they do wrong. This he will do by letting them be bound in fetters.
Job 36:10. Openeth their ear, etc., means he will cause them to listen to Him.
Job 36:11-12. This paragraph states an important truth that is taught in many places in the Bible. However, the information was known to Job as well as to Elihu.
Job 36:13. The hypocrites do not appear to be concerned about the wrath of God but pretend to be at ease. In so doing they are storing up wrath for the future. This thought is taught in Rom 2:5.
Job 36:14. The hypocrites will come to shame in early life and suffer the lot belonging to unclean persona.
despiseth: Job 10:3, Job 31:13, Psa 22:24, Psa 138:6
mighty: Job 9:14, Job 9:19, Job 12:13-16, Job 26:12-14, Job 37:23, Psa 99:4, Psa 147:5, Jer 10:12, Jer 32:19, 1Co 1:24-28
wisdom: Heb. heart
Reciprocal: Gen 18:14 – Is Job 9:4 – wise in heart Job 33:12 – God Rom 12:16 – condescend to men of low estate
Job 36:5. God is mighty, and despiseth not any His greatness doth not cause him (as the greatness of men causeth them) to despise or oppress such as are mean. He is mighty in strength and wisdom His strength is guided by wisdom, and therefore cannot be employed to do any thing unbecoming him, or unjust toward his creatures, either of which would be an instance of folly.
Job 36:5-12. God is mighty, yet despises none. He destroys the wicked, but watches over the righteous, exalting them to honour. If He afflicts them it is to bring home to them their sin. Thus God instructs them and teaches them repentance. If they repent they prosper, but, if not, destruction is their portion.
In Job 36:5 b read He is mighty in strength and understanding (Ley). In Job 36:7 read his sight with LXX instead of his eyes.
36:5 Behold, God [is] mighty, and despiseth not [any: he is] {c} mighty in strength [and] wisdom.
(c) Strong and constant, and of understanding: for these are the gifts of God, and he loves them in man: but as much as God punished Job now, it is a sign that these are not in him.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes