Job 34 — When God Gives Quietness
Setting the room Elihu calls the elders to weigh his words: “For the ear tests words as the tongue tastes food” (Job 34:3, New International Version). It’s a conscious echo of Job 12:11, and a poetic device called inclusio: Elihu steps into Job’s own proverb to challenge him with it. The Hebrew behind “taste” (ta’am) is used for discernment as well as flavor; wisdom is learned by palate—slow, communal, attentive. Protestant instincts for testing spirits belong here.
Justice as borrowed breath Elihu’s core claim is not small: God’s justice is as near as your next inhale. “If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, all humanity would perish together” (34:14–15, New International Version). Note the paired words ruach and neshama—Spirit-wind and breathed life (Genesis 2:7). In ANE courts, the poor often lost to bribes; in carved stelae kings receive law from the sun-god Shamash yet still show partiality. Elihu insists Israel’s God is not like that: “who shows no partiality to princes” (34:19, New International Version). In Hebrew he can call a king beliyya‘al—“worthless.” Later Jewish texts used Belial for a demonic figure; Elihu says even thrones sit under judgment.
Mercy and justice held together Yesterday we heard Elihu whisper ransom (33:24). Now he thunders equity: “He repays everyone for what they have done” (34:11, New International Version). Scripture will not let us choose between these. At the cross, God remains “just and the one who justifies” (Romans 3:26, New International Version). Job 34 also touches the book’s hidden engine: profit. Elihu paraphrases Job as saying piety is useless (34:9). That brushes the Accuser’s opening dare: “Does Job fear God for nothing?” True worship refuses the calculus of gain, yet still cries when the world bleeds.
What Western readers miss - “He takes away the mighty … in the night” (34:20). In the ancient world, night signaled swift, divine intervention; think Passover, Sennacherib’s camp. Some traditions read “not by human hand,” a biblical motif for God’s unassisted rule (compare Daniel 2:34). - “He claps his hands among us” (34:37). In the Levant, clapping can be derision as well as delight (Nahum 3:19). Elihu hears Job’s protest as scornful applause; God will later say Job spoke what is “right” of him (42:7). Truth can be spoken in a torn tone.
Counsel for the soul - Receive quietness as governance: “But if he remains silent, who can condemn him?” (34:29, New International Version). Silence is not absence; it can be the King’s steadying hand. The monastic fathers called it hesychia—holy stillness. - Pray Job 34:32 as a rule of life: “Teach me what I do not see.” Gregory the Great warned in his Moralia that true doctrine misapplied becomes cruelty. Calvin read these chapters as a summons to bow before God’s right to rule—and to submit our diagnoses to Scripture’s fuller light. - Practice impartiality. If the Lord names nobles “worthless” when they crush the poor, the church must not flatter power (Deuteronomy 10:17; James 2:1). - Breathe gratefully. Each breath is on loan; Pentecost is God lending it back forever (John 20:22; Psalm 104:29–30).
Cross-references - God’s impartial rule: Deuteronomy 10:17; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Acts 10:34; 1 Peter 1:17 - Breath and life: Genesis 2:7; Psalm 104:29–30; Ecclesiastes 12:7 - The great reversal of rulers: Daniel 2:21; Luke 1:52
Hymn suggestion “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence” — to learn the awe of 34:29 and kneel before the King who feeds us with his own life.
Prayer Holy Judge and Giver of breath, teach us what we do not see. Save us from flattering the powerful and from scorning in our pain. Lend us your quietness where we demand noise; lend us your Spirit where we borrow every breath. Hold mercy and justice together in us, as you did at the cross of your Son. Amen.