The declaration opens Elihu's direct reply to Job together with his companions, taking them up as one audience. That reply stands within the extended speeches that occupy the middle of the book. Elihu gives it to meet the notion that God is exacting and derives gain from human righteousness, answering that human sin cannot harm God and human righteousness cannot benefit Him, but that both affect other people instead.
His larger purpose in the argument is to persuade Job that Job himself is not so very great, while God is everything. To that plea Job returns no answer, and no comment at all is offered upon it. The chapter containing the declaration belongs to Elihu's discourse, which did not help Job much.
The declaration opens Elihu's direct reply to Job together with his companions, taking them up as one audience. That reply stands within the extended speeches that occupy the middle of the book. Elihu gives it to meet the notion that God is exacting and derives gain from human righteousness, answering that human sin cannot harm God and human righteousness cannot benefit Him, but that both affect other people instead.
His larger purpose in the argument is to persuade Job that Job himself is not so very great, while God is everything. To that plea Job returns no answer, and no comment at all is offered upon it. The chapter containing the declaration belongs to Elihu's discourse, which did not help Job much.