Job 35:1-3 (NASBStr)
(Elihu Sharply Reproves Job)
Then Elihu continued and said,
“Do you think this is according to justice?
Do you say, ‘My righteousness is more than God’s ’?
“For you say, ‘ What advantage will it be to You?
What profit will I have, more than if I had sinned? ’
In this speech of Elihu he continues to rebuke Job (and Job's three friends ... Is Elihu, here, a type of Christ since he seems to stand for God and corrects they others?). Elihu is particularly concerned about Job's theme and premise in his defense of his own righteousness that somehow God may be unjust and there may be no "profit" or advantage in serving a, therefore, unjust God. There may be some rebuke of Job because he seems to continue to be focus on himself and uses "my" themes throughout his response to his friends. It is important to realize that IF we say that God is unjust or imply that He is unjust in His Ways we are also implying we are just, as we are making a judgement about Him. In order to make a judgment about Him we MUST be more just than God. That is why it is sinful to claim God is unjust in any form or function. If God's justice can be judged by us we make ourselves out to be gods. Job, in claiming that God is being "unfair" to him is also accusing God's acts of being unjust. This is Elihu's argument to Job and his friends. The same can be said about the question if there is any "profit" to live for and serve God. The very question claims a judgment about God that only God can make. Measuring God the same way we would the gas mileage of a car is not honoring Him or respecting His character and gifts in our lives. To imply He is less that glorious and therefore worthy of our praise, service and life, is to demote Him from The Lord of Lords to a god. Elihu is rebuking Job for good reason. His themes are all diminishing the character and attributes of God. Yes, he was under extreme attack, but he, like we, must still remember who God is and glorify Him, even in our pain.
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