Job 35 — Songs in the Night, Worship Without Profit
Elihu presses a hard word into Job’s ache: “What advantage will it be to you? What profit…?” (Job 35:3, New International Version). The Hebrew for “profit” here is betza—the same word the brothers used when they asked, “What profit (betza) is it if we kill Joseph?” (Genesis 37:26). It’s the vocabulary of the marketplace, of leverage. Elihu exposes a subtle shift in Job (and in us): when pain lingers, worship can turn into negotiation.
God Has No Needs—And That Is Good News “Look up at the heavens,” Elihu says (35:5). If we sin, we do not wound God’s life; if we are righteous, we do not enrich his being (35:6–7). This is the doctrine the church later called God’s “needlessness.” Augustine and Aquinas would say: God lacks nothing; he is fullness itself. Paul echoes it: “He is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything” (Acts 17:25, New International Version). Elihu draws a startling ethical line from this: “Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself, and your righteousness only a human being” (35:8, Christian Standard Bible). Luther paraphrased it well: God doesn’t need your good works—your neighbor does. This frees us from bargaining piety. We obey not to put God in our debt (Romans 11:35–36) but because love is the shape of truth.
Cries or Songs? “People cry out under the arm (zeroa) of the powerful” (35:9). The word zeroa usually names the saving arm of God in the Exodus. Here it is the arm of oppressors. Many cries are real—but, Elihu says, “no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?’” (35:10). The phrase “songs in the night” is zemirot ba‑layla—night‑songs, not techniques to pry heaven open, but gifts that visit the dark like birds on a rooftop. In the ancient Near East, people watched birds for omens; Elihu counters: God “teaches us more than the beasts and makes us wiser than the birds” (35:11). We are not led by entrails or flights, but by a Teacher who meets us in the night. Think of Psalm 42:8—“at night his song is with me”—and of Paul and Silas singing at midnight (Acts 16:25). The mark of true prayer is not volume, but yielded praise that outlives answers.
The Scandal of Divine Quiet “He does not answer empty cries” (35:13). Elihu is not saying God is deaf; he is saying God will not be used. Western ears often miss this: in much of the ancient world, the gods were bribed by precision ritual. Job refuses that, but his words sometimes drift toward “What’s the gain?” (cf. Malachi 3:14). Elihu overstates Job’s fault, yet he lands on a holy warning: “You must wait for him” (35:14). Yesterday we spoke of “worship beyond profit.” Today the knife goes deeper: God’s silence is not absence but patience. He is preparing a storm (Job 38), and a speech that will be worth the long night.
Literary notes - Rhetorical elevation: “Look at the heavens” (35:5) reorients desire. - Lexical thread: “empty/vanity” (shav) bookends the chapter (35:13, 16). - Human focus: “son of man” (ben‑adam, 35:8) universalizes the neighbor.
To sing: “Sometimes a Light Surprises” (William Cowper) — “He gives the songs in the night.”
Suggested cross‑references - Acts 17:24–25; Romans 11:33–36 — God’s fullness and freedom - Psalm 42:8; Isaiah 30:29; Acts 16:25 — Night songs - Malachi 3:14; Luke 17:10 — Serving without profit - Exodus 6:6 — The true Arm that saves
Prayer Maker of my soul, Giver of night‑songs, free me from profit‑seeking faith. Teach me to wait when you are quiet, to sing when I cannot see, and to spend my righteousness on my neighbor. Stretch out your strong arm for the oppressed, and make my heart honest before you. Through Jesus Christ, our Mediator and our song. Amen.