Job 35:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Job speaks unnecessarily, expending words without understanding. Job 35:16. In making this assertion, Elihu suggests that the righteous Job lacked insight and spoke excessively. While Elihu articulates his own views at length, he paints Job as guilty of being overly verbose. This tendency often characterizes those with arrogance; they convince themselves they have articulated much, while believing that their words are few, and the little they do express is viewed as excessive. Their insistence on voicing their own thoughts prevents them from truly hearing others, leading them to feel wronged if they do not eloquently share their opinions in an ever-expanding manner.

Job's silence provides Elihu the opportunity to reiterate his accusation that Job wrongly believes himself to be blameless (35:1-4). God exists in a realm far beyond humanity; the injustices committed by people do not affect Him; they are detrimental solely to humanity (5-8). However, this does not imply that God is unaware of transgressions or ignores the cries for justice, as His delay in judgment concerning wickedness does not mean He is indifferent (9-15). Consequently, Job mistakenly claimed the opposite (16). Refer to chapter 21.