Job 33:13

Why dost thou strive against him?.... A creature against the Creator, a man against his Maker, the clay against the potter; how absurd and stupid is this!

Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters. Why dost thou strive against him? (Isaiah 45:9.) His matters - ways; literally, words.

Why? upon what grounds and for what ends? What advantage dost thou expect from it? Dost thou strive against him, to wit, in a judicial way? See . He giveth not account of any of his matters; he neither useth, nor is by any law obliged, to give an account to any of his creatures of the grounds and reasons of his judgments or dispensations, as being the supreme and absolute Governor of all persons and things, in whose will and pleasure it becometh all men to acquiesce. And therefore, O Job, thou exceedest all bounds of modesty, and humility, and reverence, and submission, which thou owest to thy Maker, in that thou presumest to demand a reason for his dealings with thee, and to quarrel with him for not giving it to thee at thy desire. Or, he answereth not all his words, i.e. he doth not say, or hath not said, all that he can to justify his actions, which he can do many more ways than we can imagine; but hath revealed so much of his will and ways to mankind as he hath thought meet, and as their narrow capacity can comprehend; as he declareth in the following verses.

Job 33:13 Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.Ver. 13. Why dost thou strive against him?] Why dost thou wrangle and reason it thus irreverently with God, whose will alone is the supreme reason, nec recta solum, sed et ipsa regula; and not only right, but the very rule of right? He may better say, than any Constantine, that Arian emperor, Quod ego volo, pro Canone sit, Let my will be your sovereign rule; since things are therefore right because I will them; I will them not, because they are right. Who then art thou, O man, that repliest against God? saith St Paul; that chattest and wordest it with him, that answereth again, and thinkest to hold him to it, and be hard enough for him? Romans 9:20. "Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth," Isaiah 45:9. Let men learn to meddle with their match, and not to contend with God, who is much mightier than they, Ecclesiastes 6:10, and hath assured them that with the froward he will wrestle, Psalms 18:26. Jeremiah, who in his distemper would needs reason the cause with God concerning his judgments (which are sometimes secret, but always just), did well and wisely to preface thus: "Righteous art thou, O Lord, when I plead with thee," Jeremiah 12:1. For he giveth not account of any of his matters] Heb. of all his matters; for he is ανυπευθυνος, the most highest; and therefore not to be reckoned with by any for aught he doth. If he so far abase himself as to give account of any of his proceedings for our satisfaction, it is dignatio stupenda, a wonderful condescension. Vatablus rendereth the text thus, Non enim omnia verba sua loquitur; for he uttereth not all his words; that is, he revealeth not all his secrets, q.d. he doth all for our good, though we for present understand it not. He oft answereth us as the echo doth the voice, cutting off the one half of it; but stand a while and see the salvation of the Lord, he is usually better to his people than their conceits, and delighteth to help those that are forsaken in their hopes.

(13) Why dost thou strive against him?—Job had not striven against God, he had only expressed his longing to come into judgment with Him (Job 23:3, &c.). Job was striving with and against the darkness that was round about His throne, not with the justice of God, which he entirely trusted. Some render the last clause of the verse, “For none can answer any of His words,” but the Authorised Version seems preferable.

Verse 13. Why dost thou strive against him?] Is it not useless to contend with God? Can he do any thing that is not right? As to his giving thee any account of the reasons why he deals thus and thus with thee, or any one else, thou needest not expect it; he is sovereign, and is not to be called to the bar of his creatures. It is sufficient for thee to know that "he is too wise to err, and too good to be unkind."

13–28. When Elihu gives the general answer to Job’s charges against God that “God is greater than man” he means that the moral loftiness of God’s nature made it impossible that He should act in the arbitrary, hostile manner charged against Him by Job (comp. ch. Job 36:5). It was but another form of the same charge of arbitrary hostility to man when Job affirmed that God was deaf to all appeal and refused to speak to man; comp. ch. Job 19:7, Job 30:20, and often. To this general form of the charge Elihu directs his attention and replies that God speaks to man in many ways, though He may not answer when challenged as Job had challenged Him; comp. ch. Job 35:14. He speaks to man in ways becoming His greatness, ways that shew that His goodness is over all His works. Job 33:13 probably reads Why dost thou contend against him That he giveth not account of any of his matters? that is, Job’s contention or plea against God is that He deals arbitrarily and refuses all account of His dealing.

Why dost thou strive against him? - By refusing to submit to him, and by calling in question his wisdom and goodness.

13. For he giveth not account, etc. — God is not accountable for his doings, least of all to man; yet he condescends to communicate with man, as is seen in the following verses.