Job 34:17

Shall even he that hateth right govern?.... That hates moral and civil justice; is such an one fit to rule among men or over them?

Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just? 'Can even He who (in thy view) hateth right (justice) govern?' The government of the world would be impossible if injustice were sanctioned.

He that hateth right, i.e. that is unrighteous. But this he expresseth in a most emphatical manner, the reason and weight whereof seems to me to be this: If God be unjust, he is not so from fear of any superior, (as inferior magistrates do many unrighteous things against their consciences to please their prince or chief ruler, or to avoid his displeasure,) but merely from an intrinsical hatred of justice, or love of unrighteousness; which being most absurd to imagine concerning God, therefore he cannot possibly be unjust, or do any unjust action. Govern; so this word, which properly signifies to bind, is fitly rendered by most interpreters; and so it is used , because governors have a power to bind their subjects by laws and penalties, and they are as it were the ligaments by which societies are bound and kept together, which without them would be dissolved and broken to pieces. Elihu’ s argument here is the same with that of Abraham’ s, , and that of St. Paul’ s, ,6, If God be unrighteous, how shall he judge or govern the world? And the argument is undeniable, If God were unjust, there would be nothing but injustice, and confusion, and mischief in the world; whereas we see there is a great deal of justice administered by rulers in the world, and all this must proceed from him who is the fountain and author of all justice, and rule, and authority. And as the psalmist saith, , He that formed the eye, shall not he see? so say I, He that makes men just, shall he be unjust? Him that is most just, i.e. God, who hath given so many clear and unquestionable evidences of his justice, in giving just and holy laws, in encouraging and rewarding very many righteous persons in this life, and inflicting dreadful and remarkable judgments upon tyrants and oppressors. Or, him that is just and mighty; for the next verse speaks of such, who were generally in those times more considerable for their power and authority than for their justice. So here is a double argument against Job’ s censures of God’ s justice. He is just, and therefore giveth thee no cause to condemn him; and withal potent, and therefore can punish thee yet far worse for so doing.

Job 34:17 Shall even he that hateth right govern? and wilt thou condemn him that is most just?Ver. 17. Shall even he that hateth right govern?] Heb. Bind; sc. malefactors, whom magistrates use to hamper? Others take it to be binding up the wounded after the manner of chirurgeons. An qui odit iudicium, chirurgos imitaretur? so the Tigurines translate: Would he who hateth right do as surgeons use to do? Would God, if he were unrighteous, bind up the broken hearted, or receive into favour, as he doth, a sinner that repenteth, doing him good again, as if there never had been a breach between them? It hath been noted, that a king hath his name in the Greek tongue from healing, Aναξ from ακος Medela; and that, Isaiah 3:7, a governor is called a healer, or binder up; the same word there as here in the text. But how unfit for such an office must he needs be who not only doth not right, but hateth it, as did Nero, Caligula, Commodus, &c.? And wilt thou condemn him that is most just?] Or, that is strong and just; illumne impietatis sugillabis? (Tigur.) None in his right wits would ever do so; for what else were this but to exalt a man’ s self above the Divine Majesty? And yet what do they less than this who grudge at God’ s proceedings, and are ready to think that if they had the ordering of things in their hands they could dispose of them a fair deal better? How absurd and unseemly this is in any one is aptly set forth in the next verse, "Is it fit?" &c.

(17) Shall even he. . . .—The argument is that one who holds such a position of absolute rule cannot be other than most just. He who is fit to rule must be just, and He who is the ultimate ruler must be fit to rule, and must, therefore, be just; but if He is absolutely just, how shall we condemn His government or Him on account of it, even though we cannot explain it all or reconcile it with our view of what is right? Him that is most just, is rather him that is just and mighty, i.e., not only just, but able also to execute justice because mighty.

Verse 17. Shall - he that hateth right govern?] Or, Shall he who hateth judgment, lie under obligation? It is preposterous to suppose that he who lives by no rule, should impose rules upon others. God, who is the fountain of all justice and righteousness, binds man by his laws; and wilt thou, therefore, pretend to condemn him who is the sum of righteousness?

17. condemn him that is most just] Or, condemn the just, the mighty One.

Shall even he that hateth right govern? - Margin, as in Hebrew “bind.” That is, shall he bind by laws.

17. Govern — The prime meaning of the Hebrew is “restrain.” Eichhorn, Hitzig, etc., propose to read à as a noun, thus, “restrain wrath;” but the reading of the A.V., even, with which agree Ewald,