Comentário sobre Jó 35:19

Elihu’s Address
Do you consider this to be customary that this is the custom of the creatures toward their Creator, what you said—‘My righteousness is greater than that of the Creator’?

What if man in fact has no free-will: that it is all an illusion and even our apparently voluntary acts are predestined; that whether we are righteous or wicked is decided naturally by the Cosmos; that there is no reward or punishment? This would undermine Elihu’s explanation of why Providence acts invisibly: it isn’t invisible; it just doesn’t exist, for without free-will there is no meaning to Providence. This in turn would remove the question of any injustice on God’s part.

That you say, ‘What will it benefit you ways of uprightness, and what profit will I have more than if I had sinned?’

and your companions with you who remained silent at your words.

Elihu now comes to the crux of his argument. He points out to Job and to his three companions that they had totally misunderstood the nature of Providence. It is not based on a reciprocity between man and God, for that would imply that there is something God needs from man and for which He is prepared to reward or punish. Were this so, a man as good as Job would be right to complain if God took away his prosperity: he had given God what He supposedly wanted and was entitled to expect his reward. But Providence does not work like that for there is nothing God needs from man.

Gaze at the heavens And since He is high and you are low, and He has no benefit from your wickedness and righteousness, why do you boast to Him about your righteousness?

a man like yourself your wickedness or your righteousness can and will benefit. Observe [that there are] many wicked men. who,...

The only person affected by man’s behavior is man himself. Elihu’s thesis is that man’s relationship with God is like that between a patient and his doctor. The doctor neither rewards his patient for taking the medicine he prescribes nor punishes him for refusing to: the patient’s reward or punishment is inherent in the prescription. Thus, the reward the patient gets for taking the medicine is that he gets better and his punishment for not taking it is that he doesn’t and might even die. This principle applies both to persons and to societies: their reward and punishment is inherent in their choices and actions. Furthermore, all creatures have been endowed by God with ways of protecting themselves. In addition, mankind has been endowed with the faculty to govern its own affairs. If they do so properly, they prosper; if they do not, they suffer. Therefore, let man look to himself for the reasons for his own condition. Referring specifically to Job’s complaints about God’s apparent indifference to the way the wicked exploit the weak,³¹The Fifteenth Oration, in particular Ch.24. Elihu adds that it is not only God’s job to deal with tyrants, pirates and other evil-doers but man’s as well, through the instruments of human government. And if man is negligent in this duty, what right does he have to complain about God.

Because of the many oppressed ones whom they oppress, they [the wicked] cause the creatures to cry out before Him, and the poor cry for help from the arm of those who oppress them.

And he did not say The wicked man [did not say] ‘Where is God, my Maker?’ to fear Him.

Who deals destruction Heb. זמירות like (Lev. 25:4), “nor prune (תזמר) your vineyard,” for He cuts off the wicked at night, e.g., Amraphel and his allies, Egypt, and Sennacherib.

Who teaches us He teaches us more wisdom than [He does] the beasts; i.e., He esteemed us and made us greater than the beasts and the birds.

(Malbim adds that human beings should also learn from the animals how to protect their own species and its individuals; they too should unite to defend themselves against bandits and murderers.)

There they cry out And see that there the poor cry out because of the pride of those who oppress them, and He does not answer, for...

Indeed, God will not hear vanity immediately.

neither will the Almighty see it to avenge it immediately, but He is longsuffering.

Surely you who say Surely you, whose cry comes only because of Him, and you say and cry that you do not see Him to debate with Him. That is to say that those who complain and cry, He does not hasten to answer, yet you cry that you do not see Him?

present your case before Him (Your arguments—absent in some editions) wherever He is.

and wait And hope for consolations.

And now you should know that this visitation [of His Wrath upon you is nothing according [compared] to your many iniquities.

As 'the greatest man in all the East', Job should have ensured that justice was properly administered in his society: this was his mission from God. Had he used his wealth and influence to organize a campaign against crime, there would have been no rustlers and gangs of bandits to take off his livestock. But when Job failed to recognize the providential nature of the loss of his own livestock, God's anger was so aroused that he brought the further afflictions down upon him, namely, the death of his children and his sickness.
He should have realized that he himself was the cause of everything that had happened to him. His possessions were stolen because he had not wiped out crime; his children were killed because he did not take this to heart and make amends for his sin; and he was also the cause of his own body's suffering because of his luxurious and indulgent life-style.
According to Malbim's interpretation, Elihu appears to be accusing Job of being the sort of righteous person who only cares for himself. He is scrupulous about what he himself does but is less concerned with the problems and shortcomings of society: politics are beneath him.

and He did not know because of the great multiplicity Because of your many sins, the Creator acted as though He did not know them.

of the...multiplicity Heb. בפש, an expression of multiplicity, like (Malachi 3:20), “and be fat (ופשתם),” and like (Jer. 50:11), “as you become fat (תפושו)”; (Lev. 13:51), “that the mark has spread (פשה).”

he increases Heb. כביר, an expression meaning, exceedingly.