Job 34:9

For he hath said,.... Not plainly and expressly, but consequentially; what it was thought might be inferred from what he had said, particularly in Job 9:22; it profiteth a man nothing that he should

For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God. With God - in intimacy (Psalms 50:18, "When thou sawest a thief, then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers").

He hath said; not absolutely and in express terms, but by unforced consequence, and as concerning this life, and with reference to himself; because he said that good men were no less, nay, sometimes more, miserable here than the wicked, 30:26, and that for his part he was no gainer as to this life by his piety, but a loser, and that God showed him no more kindness and compassion than he usually did to the vilest of men; which was a very unthankful and ungodly opinion and expression, seeing godliness hath the promise of this life as well as of that to come, and Job had such supports, and such assurances of his own uprightness, and of his future happiness, as he confesseth, as were and should have been accounted even for the present a greater comfort and profit than all which this world can afford. That he should delight himself with God; that he should choose and delight to walk with God, and make it his chief care and business to please him, and to do his commandments; which is the true and proper character of a godly man.

Job 34:9 For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.Ver. 9. For he hath said, It profiteth a man not] Did Job ever say so or think so? where? and when? He said indeed, and truly, that in this life it is oft seen, that bad men prosper and good men suffer. But must it needs follow, therefore, that it is a course of no profit to walk with God? Knoweth not Elihu that there is nothing that may not be taken with either hand? and that it is a spiritual unmannerliness to take it with the left? Indeed, it is not amiss to admonish good men, what absurdities may be gathered out of their words; and it is fit that they should prevent it as much as may be. Elihu also was the more to be borne with (and that made Job let him go on, likely, without a reply) because he pleaded for God and the glory of his justice, which Job had somewhat wronged, as cannot be denied, while he gave too much way to his grief and other passions, and now beginneth to be sensible of his outbursts. But, truly, if he should have said as here he is taxed (and yet David and Jeremiah said little less), he would have gone in company with those workers of iniquity, Isaiah 58:3 Malachi 3:14-15, and have lifted at the very foundation of all true religion, Hebrews 11:6, and thence it was that Elihu was so hot. But men must take heed of drawing odious consequences out of other men’ s speeches; and of forcing them to go two miles when they would go but one. "Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood," &c., Proverbs 30:33. That he should delight himself with God] Or, When he runneth with God. Tremellius, When he shall be willing to walk with God, as Genesis 5:22; see Ezekiel 1:14. The Tigurines render the whole verse thus, Dixit enim, vir non faciet paria, si cum Deo cursu contendat. Sure it is nec volentis, nec volantis (as a nobleman gave it for his motto), it is not in him that willeth, nor in him that runneth; no, though he could run as fast as a bird can fly; but in God that showeth mercy.

(9) It profiteth a man nothing.—Comp. what Job had said (Job 9:20-22; Job 9:30-31; Job 10:6-7; Job 10:14-15). Eliphaz had virtually said the same thing, though the form in which he cast it was the converse of this (see Job 22:3), for he had represented it as a matter of indifference to God whether man was righteous or not, which was, of course, to sap the foundations of all morality; for if God cares not whether man is righteous or not, it certainly cannot profit man to be righteous. On the other hand, Eliphaz had in form uttered the opposite doctrine (Job 22:21).

9. Job had nowhere used this precise language, though the idea is not an unnatural inference from much that he had said; comp. ch. Job 9:12, Job 21:7, Job 24:1, and ch. 21 throughout. This charge that a man is nothing bettered by being religious Elihu refutes in ch. 35, directing his attention in the meantime to the general charge of in justice so far as it bore on God Himself.

For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself in God - That is, there is no advantage in piety, and in endeavoring to serve God. It will make no difference in the divine dealings with him.

9. It profiteth a man nothing, etc. — Job had, indeed, used a similar expression, (Job 21:15,) but had applied it to the wicked.