It was a searching question that Elihu asked of Job: "Thinkest thou this to be right, that thou saidst, My righteousness is more than God's?" Not in just those words had Job spoken, but in chapter 10:7-8, in chapter 16:17, and in chapter 23:11-13, he had said what really meant that; it was his partly formed thought.
Elihu was showing Job his faults, which his friends had not been able to do. If Job asked what profit it was, what he gained more than if he had sinned, Elihu would point him to the heavens, the skies stretching far beyond the reach of puny man.
Sinning or righteous as Job might be, his ways or his doings could neither injure nor give to God, though his wickedness, as his righteousness might affect another man (verse 8).
As for men, on account of those who oppress them, they cry out, but none of them say,
"Where is God my Maker, who giveth songs in the night; who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowl of the heavens?"
Is it not so with men today? God is not in their thoughts except as One to be avoided till the last. He would be their Friend, their Deliverer from the wrath to come, but they say "No God" (Psalm 14), and do not like to retain God in their knowledge (Romans 1:2828And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; (Romans 1:28)). He alone has power to "give songs in the night,"—not only to Paul and Silas in the prison at Philippi (Acts 16:23-2523And when they had laid many stripes upon them, they cast them into prison, charging the jailor to keep them safely: 24Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison, and made their feet fast in the stocks. 25And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. (Acts 16:23‑25)),—but to all who love Him, He it is, as every Christian knows, who teaches us more than the beasts, and makes us wiser than the birds.
If pride keeps men away from God (verses 12-13), what about Job? (verses 15-16).
He was, without realizing it, feeling and speaking very much like the wicked who forget God, but God was dealing with him, and using Elihu just now to bring him to see the error of his way.