“Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God’s?”
Elihu continues: 'What advantage is it to you if you are righteous? What do you gain from your lack of sin?' framing righteousness as a matter of personal advantage or gain. This verse introduces what will become the central claim of this discourse: that righteousness does not bring advantage to the righteous person, particularly not advantage in God's eyes. Elihu suggests that Job's complaint is motivated by a desire to gain reward or advantage from his righteousness, and that Job is angry because righteousness has not produced the expected benefit. The framing of righteousness in terms of advantage or gain reflects an utilitarian understanding of ethics, where virtue is valued instrumentally for the benefits it produces. Yet the verse also raises questions: if virtue genuinely does not produce advantage, does this undermine virtue's value? Or could virtue be valuable apart from advantage? Job's very complaint might be read as a tacit assertion that virtue should produce advantage, or alternatively as an assertion that innocence should at least not produce suffering.
Church Fathers on Job 35:2
Doth thy thought seem right to thee, that thou saidst, I am more righteous than God. Every one observes, who reads the text of the history, that blessed Job did not say that he was more righteous than God. But he says, Let Him put forth equity against me, and my judgment shall come to victory. Examining namely his life, and not knowing the reasons of his smiting, as has been often observed, he believed that he was scourged for the sake of washing away his sins, and not of…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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