Elihu Condemns Job 35 And Elihu answered and said: 2 “Do you think this to be just? Do you say, ‘It is my right before God,’ 3 that you ask, ‘What advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned?’ 4 I will answer you and your friends with you. 5 Look at the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. 6 If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? 7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? 8 Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself, and your righteousness a son of man. 9 “Because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out; they call for help because of the arm of the mighty. 10 But none says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, 11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?’ 12 There they cry out, but he does not answer, because of the pride of evil men. 13 Surely God does not hear an empty cry, nor does the Almighty regard it. 14 How much less when you say that you do not see him, that the case is before him, and you are waiting for him! 15 And now, because his anger does not punish, and he does not take much note of transgression, 16 Job opens his mouth in empty talk; he multiplies words without knowledge.” Elihu answers Job's question that has been nagging at him. While all of Job's friends have been busy trying to figure out why Job has to be guilty and Job has been proclaiming his innocence, they weren't listening to the underlying question like Elihu was--"What does it profit a man to be righteous if his end and his lot in life is the same as the wicked man?" First Elihu points out that while all sin is against God, God does not somehow less of who He is because we sin as our sin against Him does not somehow injure Him, though in a very real sense we know that God chose to be injured physically in the death of Christ because of our sin, but yet Elihu's point is valid that God continues to be exactly who He is whether or not we are faithful to Him, and that the idea of "righteous" and "unrighteous" man are usually used in one man comparing himself to another since no one can compare themselves to the righteousness of God and declare themselves righteous--that is, not until God imputes His righteousness to us at the point of repentance and salvation. Then Elihu makes the, "there are no atheists in foxholes" argument. Whenever things get really bad, everyone cries out to God--the only one big enough to help them--and no one has to convince them that there is a God who is the Creator. That same God is the one who gives us peace and joy in the dark times and the times of suffering and lets us go through our circumstances instead of living under them as we follow Him step by step, day by day. He has a special relationship with man and teaches us about Himself so that we know more than the animals or even the angels as we experience God as our Redeemer and Savior--something the angels will never fully experience and understand. But, must God answer the cry of the unrepentant, wicked man? Does God even need to respond to the cry of the so-called "righteous" man? Paul asks and answers this question in Romans 9:22--even if God did do such a thing and create a man to be a "vessel of God's wrath" and pour out His wrath on Him, God would be completely just in doing so because that man, a sinner, deserves nothing better. But God is not just just and we know more than His wrath, for we also know God to be full of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control (as the Spirit living in and through us and making us more like the Son also makes us more like the Father since the Son was the One who showed us the Father). In the same way that people who saw Christ should have been able to say they had "seen" God, so the world should be able to look at the Christian and say that they have "seen" the Spirit of Christ (the Holy Spirit), Jesus and the Father living in and through you and they should know God's invisible attributes by your words and works now (and of course through the Bible--but we are filled with the Bible and are singing it, preaching it, and walking and talking it all day, every day, then they can't miss it, even if they never pick up a Bible and read it). Elihu argues that God does not need to answer Job's accusation because the evidence is clear through the natural revelation of creation that God is living and active. Just because God did not respond the way Job wanted when Job wanted Him to does not mean that God is not listening or not present (see Romans 1 where Paul expands on this idea in his argument for why all men stand guilty before God because they have chosen to ignore or deny His existence, power and authority, even though He has made it self-evident through creation). Elihu also answers that just because God is longsuffering doesn't mean we should count Him slack concerning His promise to bring justice and it is not reason to bring a charge or accusation against God. Let's take a look at a similar passage from a book we already studied (especially see verses 8-10 in light of Elihu's argument). 2 Peter 3:1-13 English Standard Version The Day of the Lord Will Come 3 This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, 2 that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, 3 knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. 4 They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” 5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, 6 and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. 7 But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 8 But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. 9 The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. 11 Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. So what do you think about Elihu's argument? Is he right that Job has sinned and is too proud to admit it and is bringing an unjustified and possibly false accusation against God that doesn't deserve any of God's attention? Is Elihu right that God simply overlooks our sin because it doesn't personally injure Him? This is where I think Elihu really starts to slip with his argument--the more he talks, the further he gets away from what is happening and starts slipping into the same kinds of arguments as Job's friends accusing Job of speaking without knowledge and engaging in "empty talk," yet at least he's not accusing Job of intentionally lying like so many of Job's friends did.
Elihu will continue speaking for two more chapters (he really speaks no more or less than anyone else in the book other than Job), and then God Himself will show up and speak. Get read, because that is going to be quite the encounter and conversation!
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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