Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Job 34:19

According to the plain meaning of the text we can explain this apparent duplication of information already supplied by the Torah as proof that G’d is very meticulous when dealing with even the slightest error committed by socially and spiritually eminent people such as the sons of Aaron (and of course Aaron himself as well as Moses). We have a verse to this effect in Psalms 50,3: ”those around Him are judged fiercely.” By adding the words: “the priests who had been anointed,” the Torah explains in advance why even highly esteemed people like Nadav and Avihu do not have their mistakes overlooked; not only is G’d not indulgent with people of such stature, but, on the contrary, He is more demanding of them in light of their representing not only themselves but G’d and His image. When the Torah describes the enemies of Israel who will invade the country as part of G’d’s retribution for Israel’s private and collective sins, it mentions a people who will show no respect for the elderly (Deut. 28,50). The reason this is mentioned is because normally one indulges the elderly, crediting them with wisdom, etc. G’d had to make plain that in His system of justice the more rarefied the spiritual atmosphere in which a person moves the more is he prone to retributive action by G’d if he fails to live up to G’d’s and the people’s expectations. We find the same point being made in Job 34,19 when Elihu tells his friend Job that “he is not partial to princes; the noble are not preferred to the wretched, for all are the work of His hands.”

כגר כאזרח יהיה, for I the Lord your G’d am just as much the G’d of the convert (compare Job 34,19).

ואהליאב AND OHOLIAB — he was of the tribe of Dan, of one of the lowest of the tribes, of the sons of the handmaids, and yet the Omnipresent placed him with regard to the work of the Tabernacle on a level with Bezalel although he was a member of one of the noble tribes (Judah)! in order to confirm what Scripture says, (Job 34:19) “He regardeth not the rich more than the poor” (Midrash Tanchuma 2:10:13).