Elihu continues his defense of God as just:
Eliud presented two things in the words of Job again which he wanted to argue: first, the fact that he said he was just and the fact that he accused God of injustice in his judgment, according to the interpretation Eliud had given the words of Job. Eliud had disputed against these two ideas above. (cc. 34 and 35) Now for a second time he intended to argue against the same ideas using another argument and so the text says, “And Eliud continued,” with arguments supporting the ones already used, “and said,” what follows. First, he gets his attention saying, “Bear with me a little while,” because he intends to dispute briefly against the two ideas in one answer, and so he says, “and I will show you,” the truth of the thing about which we are treating. He does not want to seem redundant because he seems to have shown already what he wanted [cc. 34 and 35], so he then says, “for I have something to say on behalf of God,“ as if to say: I still have other arguments at hand with which I can defend the justice of divine judgment. Since he intends to introduce reasons a second time against both of these ideas, he says, “I will take up my argument from the beginning,” for against everything which has been said from the beginning, I will again adduce arguments which support my opinion. He shows this is his duty saying, “and my Maker,” God who made me, “I will prove just.” I will show there is no evil in his judgment which you, Job want to charge him with so that you may assert that you are just. He precludes someone saying that what he was about to say did not proceed from true science, but false opinion saying, “For truly my discourses are without deceit,” for I will not say anything but what is true and accords with true knowledge. So he says, “and I will show you perfect science,” the following proofs will convince you because they seem to come from perfect science.
After these introductory remarks he begins to discuss the arguments already adduced by Job. First he argues against the fact that Job had said that he was just. To disprove this he proceeds in this manner: Job had enjoyed great power in the time of his prosperity. Powerful men sometimes menace others who either from envy or from fear are afraid that they will be crushed by their power. This is properly the lot of the weak, who both envy the powerful and fear their oppressions. But this cannot be said about God, who excels all in power, and so he says, “God does not cast out the powerful because he is powerful.” Therefore one can understand that God hates nothing in man in which man is similar to him, because since God is the very essence of good, there cannot be anything like him unless it is good. From this it is clear that God does not persecute certain men because they are powerful, but because he sometimes finds evil in them, and for this God punishes them. So he says, “but he does not save the wicked,” that is, he damns them. He shows the cause of this damnation saying, “and he grants right judgment to the poor,” because he passes judgment on evil powerful men in favor of the poor who have been oppressed by them. He does not desist because of power from the assistance of the just, and so he says, “He does not take away from the just,” even the powerful man, “his eyes,” the gaze of his goodness and mercy, according to Psalm 33, “The eyes of the Lord are on the just.” (v. 16)
Since he does not take his mercy away from the powerful if they are just, he shows the benefits which he confers on the powerful. First, he confirms their power, and so he says, “And he places kings on the throne for all time,” if they have been just. Second, he shows it since he promotes them to greater dominion, and so he says, “and they,” placed on the throne, “are raised up,” for they are exalted to greater things when God increases their power and wealth. Third, he manifests it because even if they are punished for their sins, he has mercy on them if they wish to do penance, and so he says, “and if the (the kings) were in chains,” placed in prison, “and were bound with the bonds of poverty,” if they suffered poverty when they were tied up in prison. This is like a chain which binds men so that they cannot fulfill their work and they are more confined by many miseries besides. Yet to those who have been so constituted in unhappiness, God first confers this benefit of recognizing the past sins for which they have been punished, and so he says, “he will show them their works,” for he will make them know what they have done which is unjust. So he continues, “and their crimes,” because he will force them to recognize that the works which they did were criminal acts. He shows then what their sin was, saying, “because they were violent.” For the special sin of the powerful is to inflict violence on their subjects, using their power like the law of justice. Not only does he force them to recognize their past sins, but he also shows them that they are punished for these sins, and so he says, “He will also open their ears,” that is, he will make them understand that God speaks to them in punishing them. Therefore they are punished because of their sins, and so he says, “to correct them”, as if to say: He will make them recognize that God punished them to correct them. Further he will persuade them to do penance, and so he says “and he speaks,” interiorly or by exterior admonition, “to turn them back from evil,” by doing penance for their past sins. He shows the fruit of this penance when he says, “If they listen,” taking it to heart, “and they observe it,” completing it with works, they will be brought back to their former state and so “they will complete their days in the good,” of virtue and earthly prosperity, “and their years in the glory” of the earth. “But if they do not listen, “if they do not obey this interior inspiration to do penance, “they will pass away by the sword,” because they will be led to prison to be killed by the sword, “and they will be consumed,” destroyed “in their foolishness”, because of their foolishness. Here consider that in this Eliud seems to agree with the friends of Job that present adversities are punishments for sins and that through repentance one returns to his former state. Although this sometimes happens, this does not always happen according to the opinion of Job.
Since men sometimes suffer adversities even though their sins are not apparent, he wants to preclude his previously cited opinion being dashed to pieces by this fact. So he interprets them to be pretenders because they make a pretense of justice which they do not have, and are clever inasmuch as they use certain things to do injustice under the guise of justice. In this they sin more gravely. So he says, “Pretenders and knaves provoke the anger of God,” since God detests this even more. Such men do not do penance easily even in time of persecution because they think themselves just since they are praised by others, and so he says, “they will not cry out” begging mercy from God, “when they have been bound,” with the chains and bonds of poverty. In this he gives us to understand that he thought Job was a pretender and knave and thus he should recognize his sin in the punishments he was experiencing. Because such men do not do penance in their punishments, they are not freed from adversity, and so he says, “Their soul will die in torment,” since they suffer diverse agonies even to death, “and their life” will fail, “among effeminate men,” who do not have the power to free themselves from the hand of their oppressors. He rightly compares pretenders to effeminate men because men make pretensions from meanness of soul. People who are magnanimous do everything in the open as Aristotle says. Since he had said that God helped the powerful in tribulation, he does not want to seem to say that God is a respecter of persons and so he shows that he confers the same benefit also on the poor. He expresses this saying, “He will snatch the poor man from his anguish,: by freeing him from adversity. He shows the order of liberation saying, “and he will open his ears in tribulation,” for he will make him understand that he is punished for his sins and he leads him to do penance as he has already also said about the powerful.
He applies what he has said already in general to the person of Job (vv.5-12). First, since he has said that God brings salvation to both the poor and the powerful in tribulation (vv. 8 and 15), he concludes that even Job can hope for such salvation from God when he says, “Thus he will save you most amply from the narrow and gaping mouth,” from the tribulation which is a narrow hole by which man enters into a wide range of different miseries. For one evil becomes for man the cause of many different evils, and the multiplication of evils of this kind can proceed to infinity so that he never arrives at a state of rest. He expresses this saying, “which is without a foundation,” on which a man can rest, “beneath him,” when he has descended to the depths of evil. This seems especially to express the punishments which occur after death, which last perpetually without any respite. He not only promises him freedom from evils if he will be willing to recognize his sin and repent, but also a great quantity of goods, and so he says, “The rest at your table will be full of fat,” as if to say: You will be able to eat abundantly in safety and in peace of the good things which will be restored to you by God.
Go here to read the rest. Elihu notes that God is both all powerful and all just, and that Man, in his ignorance, is unfit to judge the ways and the work of God.
