Job 34:15

34:10-15 Elihu had showed Job, that God meant him no hurt by afflicting him, but intended his spiritual benefit. Here he shows, that God did him no wrong by afflicting him. If the former did not satisfy him, this ought to silence him. God cannot do wickedness, nor the Almighty commit wrong. If services now go unrewarded, and sins now go unpunished, yet there is a day coming, when God will fully render to every man according to his works. Further, though the believer's final condemnation is done away through the Saviour's ransom, yet he has merited worse than any outward afflictions; so that no wrong is done to him, however he may be tried.

All flesh shall perish together,.... Not one by one, or one after another, as they generally do, but all together; as when the flood swept away the world of the ungodly. "All flesh" signifies all men, and their bodies of flesh particularly, which are weak, frail, and mortal; and if God gathers or takes out the spirit from them, they die immediately, which is meant by perishing, as in Ecclesiastes 7:15 ; and man shall turn again unto dust; from whence he came, as the body does at death; when those earthly tabernacles of the bodies of men, which have their foundation in the dust, are dissolved and sink into it. Now though this is the case of particular persons, one after another, yet it is not a general case, as it would be if God was to exert his power, as he might without any charge of injustice: and this shows the merciful kindness of God to man, so far is he from doing any thing injurious or unjust.

Verse 15. - All flesh shall perish together (comp. Psalm 104:29 ). Without God's sustaining hand, all creatures would fall back into nothingness. And man shall turn again unto dust, Either Elihu refers here to Genesis 3:19 , or else he has a traditional knowledge of man's origin, handed down from a remote antiquity, which is in entire conformity with the Hebrew belief. Job 34:15

14, 15. "If He were to set His heart on man," either to injure him, or to take strict account of his sins. The connection supports rather [Umbreit], "If He had regard to himself (only), and were to gather unto Himself (Ps 104:29) man's spirit, &c. (which he sends forth, Ps 104:30; Ec 12:7), all flesh must perish together," &c. (Ge 3:19). God's loving preservation of His creatures proves He cannot be selfish, and therefore cannot be unjust.

All flesh, i.e. every man, who is called flesh , Genesis 6:3,17 Isa 40:6 . Together, or, alike , without any exception, be they great or mean, wise or foolish, good or bad; if God design to destroy them, they cannot withstand his power, but must needs perish by his stroke. The design of this and the foregoing verse is the same with that of Job 34:13 , See Poole "Job 34:13" , namely, to declare God’s absolute and uncontrollable sovereignty over all men, to dispose of them either to life or to death, as it pleaseth him, and consequently to show that Job had cause to be thankful to God, who had continued his life so long to him, which he might have taken away as soon as ever he had given it, and had no cause to complain of him, or to tax him with injustice for afflicting him, as he did.

12 Yea verily God acteth not wickedly, And the Almighty perverteth not the right. 13 Who hath given the earth in charge to Him? And who hath disposed the whole globe? 14 If He only set His heart upon Himself, If He took back His breath and His inspiration to Himself: 15 All flesh would expire together, And man would return to dust. With אף אמנם (Yea verily, as Job 19:4, "and really") the counter-assertion of Job 34:11 is repeated, but negatively expressed (comp. Job 8:3). הרשׁיע signifies sometimes to act as רשׁע, and at others to be set forth and condemned as a רשׁע; here, as the connection requires, it is the former. Job 34:13 begins the proof. Ewald's interpretation: who searcheth, and Hahn's: who careth for the earth beside Him, are hazardous and unnecessary. פּקד with על of the person and the acc. of the thing signifies: to enjoin anything as a duty on any one, to entrust anything to any one, Job 36:23; Numbers 4:27; 2 Chronicles 36:23; therefore: who has made the earth, i.e., the care of it, a duty to Him? ארצה (Milel) is not to be refined into the meaning "to the earth" (as here by Schultens and a few others, Isaiah 9:1 by Luzzatto: he hath smitten down, better: dishonoured, to the earth with a light stroke), but is poetically equivalent to ארץ, as לילה (comp. modern Greek ἡ νύχθα) is in prose equivalent to ליל.

Job 34:13 is by no means, with Ew. and Hahn, to be translated: who observes (considers) the whole globe, שׂים as Job 34:23; Job 4:20; Job 24:12 - the expression would be too contracted to affirm that no one but God bestowed providential attention upon the earth; and if we have understood Job 34:13 correctly, the thought is also inappropriate. A more appropriate thought is gained, if עליו is supplied from Job 34:13: who has enjoined upon Him the whole circle of the earth (Saad., Gecat., Hirz., Schlottm.); but this continued force of the עליו into the second independent question is improbable in connection with the repetition of מי. Therefore: who has appointed, i.e., established (שׂם as Job 38:5; Isaiah 44:7), - a still somewhat more suitable thought, going logically further, since the one giving the charge ought to be the lord of him who receives the commission, and therefore the Creator of the world. This is just God alone, by whose רוּח and נשׁמה the animal world as well as the world of men (vid., Job 32:8; Job 33:4) has its life, Job 34:14 : if He should direct His heart, i.e., His attention (שׂים לב אל, as Job 2:3), to Himself (emphatic: Himself alone), draw in (אסף as Psalm 104:29; comp. for the matter Ecclesiastes 12:7, Psychol.

[Bible] 33:31. Attend, Job, and hearken to me, and hold thy peace, whilst I speak. 33:32. But if thou hast any thing to say, answer me, speak: for I would have thee to appear just. 33:33. And if thou have not, hear me: hold thy peace, and I will teach thee wisdom. Job Chapter 34 Eliu charges Job with blasphemy: and sets forth the power and justice of God. 34:1. And Eliu continued his discourse, and said: 34:2. Hear ye, wise men, my words, and ye learned, hearken to me: 34:3. For the ear trieth words, and the mouth discerneth meats by the taste. 34:4. Let us choose to us judgment, and let us see among ourselves what is the best. 34:5. For Job hath said: I am just, and God hath overthrown my judgment. 34:6. For in judging me there is a lie: my arrow is violent without any sin. 34:7. What man is there like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water? 34:8. Who goeth in company with them that work iniquity, and walketh with wicked men? 34:9. For he hath said: Man shall not please God, although he run with him. 34:10. Therefore, ye men of understanding, hear me: far from God be wickedness, and iniquity from the Almighty. 34:11. For he will render to a man his work, and according to the ways of every one he will reward them. 34:12. For in very deed God will not condemn without cause, neither will the Almighty pervert judgment. 34:13. What other hath he appointed over the earth? or whom hath he set over the world which he made? 34:14. If he turn his heart to him, he shall draw his spirit and breath unto himself. 34:15. All flesh shall perish together, and man shall return into ashes. 34:16. If then thou hast understanding, hear what is said, and hearken to the voice of my words. 34:17. Can he be healed that loveth not judgment? and how dost thou so far condemn him that is just? 34:18. Who saith to the king: Thou art an apostate: who calleth rulers ungodly: