JOB 34
OPENS WITH...ELIHU DENOUNCES JOB FOR LOSING FAITH AND DENYING GOD’S JUSTICE
Verses 1-9 tells us Elihu AGAIN inaccurately summarizes Job's argument.
“Elihu further answered and said:
"Hear my words, you wise men;
Give ear to me, you who have knowledge.
For the ear tests words
As the palate tastes food.
Let us choose justice for ourselves;
Let us know among ourselves what is good."
"For Job has said, 'I am righteous,
But God has taken away my justice;
Should I lie concerning my right?
My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.'
What man is like Job,
Who drinks scorn like water,
Who goes in company with the workers of iniquity,
And walks with wicked men?
For he has said, 'It profits a man nothing
That he should delight in God.'"
Here Elihu again gave a wordy introduction to his point. In this speech he would PARAPHRASE AND SUMMARIZE THE words of Job, the ones he felt accused God and justified himself.
My wound is incurable, though I am without transgression…
This was another slight mischaracterization of what Job said. Job certainly did claim to be wounded so severely by his trials that it might seem incurable; yet again he NEVER claimed to be sinless. He only claimed that there was NOT some special sin that made him the target of this special catastrophe.
Elihu tried to quote specific statements of Job to rebuke, but he quoted selectively and unfairly. "Elihu picked out only those words of Job that he needed in order to prove his point.
What man is like Job … who goes in company with the workers of iniquity…
It seems unthinkable that Elihu believed that Job actually was companion of wicked men.
BRADLEY says it well, "In language even stronger than that of his elders, the youthful speaker attacks Job, not for some concealed guilt in his past life - of this, unlike his three elders, the youthful speaker says nothing - but as uttering blasphemy with delight, as drinking up scorning, as one athirst beneath an Eastern sun drinks water, and by so doing throwing himself on the side of the wicked."
Job certainly said nothing like this. Job DID claim to delight in God.
Verses 10-15 tells us The righteousness of God and His moral order.
"Therefore listen to me, you men of understanding:
Far be it from God to do wickedness,
And from the Almighty to commit iniquity.
For He repays man according to his work,
And makes man to find a reward according to his way.
Surely God will never do wickedly,
Nor will the Almighty pervert justice.
Who gave Him charge over the earth?
Or who appointed Him over the whole world?
If He should set His heart on it,
If He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath,
All flesh would perish together,
And man would return to dust."
For he repays man according to his work…
Elihu followed the worldly man’s wisdom that said, "you always reap what you sow" equation earlier promoted by Eliphaz in the very first speech of Job's friends (Job 4:7-11).
Many people today WRONGLY TEACH AND BELIEVE the idea of Elihu (and Eliphaz), and believe it as an ABSOLUTE spiritual law instead of a general principle.
Some take the passage from Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.”
Yet it is important to understand THE FULL CONTEXT of Paul's statement, which was encouragement and exhortation for Christians to give materially for the support of their ministers. It is true that the principle of Galatians 6:7 has application beyond giving and supporting teachers and ministers. It has a general application in life; what we get out is often what we put in.
Yet Paul did NOT promote some law of spiritual karma that ensures we will get good when we do good things or always get bad when we do bad things.
If there WERE such an absolute spiritual law it would surely **** US ALL.
Instead, Paul simply related the principle of sowing and reaping to the way we manage our resources before the Lord. He used the same picture in 1 Corinthians 9:11 and 2 Corinthians 9:6-10.
Surely God will never do wickedly, nor will the Almighty pervert justice…
Yet the problem was that Elihu and Job three friends also seemed to assume that God would never do mysteriously, and were too confident in their ability to understand God and His ways.
ONCE AGAIN, THE YOUNG AND THE OLD SELF-POSSESSED AND SELF-PROCLAIMED WORLDLY WISE AND GODLY WISE DID NOT NEED TO PRAY, TO CRY OUT TO GOD, ELIHU, LIKE ELIPHAZ, BILDAD, AND ZOPHAR THOUGHT THAT HE KNEW ALL THERE WAS TO KNOW ABOUT GOD.
I HAVE SAID IT MANY TIMES THROUGH THE STUDY OF JOB, BUT WITH FRIENDS LIKE THESE, WHO NEEDS ENEMIES.
Verses 16-20 tells us God preserves His moral order.
"If you have understanding, hear this;
Listen to the sound of my words:
Should one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn Him who is most just?
Is it fitting to say to a king, 'You are worthless,'
And to nobles, 'You are wicked'?
Yet He is not partial to princes,
Nor does He regard the rich more than the poor;
For they are all the work of His hands.
In a moment they die, in the middle of the night;
The people are shaken and pass away;
The mighty are taken away without a hand."
Elihu took Job's agonized cries to God as Job condemning God. It was an unfair assumption; Job's agony was deeply rooted in the sense that he did love God and respect His justice and sought His face, His will, and His answers INSTEAD OF ACCEPTING THESE FOUR MEN THEIR LIMITED WORLDLY WISDOM AND ANSWERS.
Verses 21-30 tells us The perfection of God's judgments.
"For His eyes are on the ways of man,
And He sees all his steps.
There is no darkness nor shadow of death
Where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.
For He need not further consider a man,
That he should go before God in judgment.
He breaks in pieces mighty men without inquiry,
And sets others in their place.
Therefore he knows their works;
He overthrows them in the night,
And they are crushed.
He strikes them as wicked men
In the open sight of others,
Because they turned back from Him,
And would not consider any of His ways,
So that they caused the cry of the poor to come to Him;
For He hears the cry of the afflicted.
When He gives quietness, who then can make trouble?
And when He hides His face, who then can see Him,
Whether it is against a nation or a man alone?;
That the hypocrite should not reign,
Lest the people be ensnared."
Elihu continued on the theme of God's perfect justice. Here he emphasized the idea that nothing man does is hidden from the eyes of God.
He strikes them as wicked men in the open sight of others, because they turned back from Him, and would not consider any of His ways…
Elihu meant this as a warning for Job. If Job did not repent of the sin that prompted his crisis and his sinful response to it, he could be certain God would judge him as one who turned back from Him.
That the hypocrite should not reign, lest the people be ensnared…
ANDERSEN says it well, “The message of Elihu to Job was clear. God always does right. Yet the way he developed and applied that thought to Job's situation was wrong and even dangerous. "If everything God does is right, by definition, and if, because He is Sovereign, God does everything that happens, it follows that everything that happens is right, and the category of evil disappears."
Verses 31-33 tells us Elihu states What Job should have said.
"For has anyone said to God,
'I have borne chastening;
I will offend no more;
Teach me what I do not see;
If I have done iniquity, I will do no more'?
Should He repay it according to your terms,
Just because you disavow it?
You must choose, and not I;
Therefore speak what you know."
Elihu spoke the words of humble repentance that he thought Job should have said. Job was the “anyone” that Elihu had in mind.
JUST LIKE THE OTHERS...Elihu is locked in to the inevitable conclusion: Job is to blame. And his guilt is measured by the scale of his sufferings.
It is painful to see this young, brash Elihu speak to the godly Job in this manner. Yet we remember that there is little doubt that Elihu had the best of intentions. He really thought he was helping Job.
Verses 34-37 tells us Job's multiplied sins invite God's judgment.
"Men of understanding say to me,
Wise men who listen to me:
'Job speaks without knowledge,
His words are without wisdom.'
Oh, that Job were tried to the utmost,
Because his answers are like those of wicked men!
For he adds rebellion to his sin;
He claps his hands among us,
And multiplies his words against God."
Job speaks without knowledge, his words are without wisdom…
This, according to Elihu, was the common opinion of the men of understanding and the worldly wise men who looked at Job's situation. They all agreed that Job had no real wisdom or knowledge in his situation.
Young Elihu thought that Job had NOT suffered enough. He thought that a little more suffering (tried to the utmost) might bring Job to repentance.
We know from Job 1 and 2 that ALMIGHTY GOD HIMSELF CALLED Job a blameless and upright man.
Elihu thought that Job's problems began with his sin, and got worse as he adds rebellion to his sin, as he scorned the good advice of his friends (claps his hands among us) and as he multiplies his words against God.