Psalm 41 and Job 32 - 34
In today’s reading the youth Elihu breaks the silence between Job and his friends and prepares us for Yahweh’s response which will begin in chapter 39.
Just as in our readings of the conversations between Job and his friends, we must remember that Elihu’s discourse is not 100% trustworthy. Just like the previous speakers, Elihu sometimes expresses truth accurately, sometimes is correct in doctrine by applies it incorrectly, and sometimes is completely wrong. In summary however, he prepares us for the topics that Yahweh will cover in much greater detail and in perfect truth in the final chapters of the book.
For example, Elihu for a moment puts aside Eliphaz’s rigid and repetitive theology to pinpoint the central problem in Job’s discourse: “Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words. You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me. Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy… Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man” (Job 33:8-10, 12). Here Elihu prepares us for the error that Yahweh will find in Job’s words: “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (Job 40:8). Elihu’s observation also prepares us for Yahweh’s response which will exalt His righteousness in comparison with Job’s.
But at the same time, Elihu misunderstands Job’s words. He exaggerates the purpose of Job’s testimony of his lost honor and thinks it means, “It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God” (Job 34:9). Job never arrived at this conclusion. Elihu therefore insists (as he thinks, against Job’s reasoning): “For according to the work of a man he [God] will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him” (Job 34:11). But Job has confirmed the same truth in several statements, and that is why he is certain that God eventually will justify him.
In what is perhaps one of his most interesting comments, Elihu counsels Job to change his attitude toward this whole situation: “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more; teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’” (Job 34:31-32). Even though this advice agrees with Eliphaz’s blind and rigid theology, at least it opens up a new possibility, a possibility that God is teaching Job something in his tribulation… that instead of insisting on his own righteousness to the point of hardening himself, Job should prepare his heart to hear the word of God. And that is exactly the attitude he will take toward God’s word in chapter 39.
Just as in our readings of the conversations between Job and his friends, we must remember that Elihu’s discourse is not 100% trustworthy. Just like the previous speakers, Elihu sometimes expresses truth accurately, sometimes is correct in doctrine by applies it incorrectly, and sometimes is completely wrong. In summary however, he prepares us for the topics that Yahweh will cover in much greater detail and in perfect truth in the final chapters of the book.
For example, Elihu for a moment puts aside Eliphaz’s rigid and repetitive theology to pinpoint the central problem in Job’s discourse: “Surely you have spoken in my ears, and I have heard the sound of your words. You say, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am clean, and there is no iniquity in me. Behold, he finds occasions against me, he counts me as his enemy… Behold, in this you are not right. I will answer you, for God is greater than man” (Job 33:8-10, 12). Here Elihu prepares us for the error that Yahweh will find in Job’s words: “Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?” (Job 40:8). Elihu’s observation also prepares us for Yahweh’s response which will exalt His righteousness in comparison with Job’s.
But at the same time, Elihu misunderstands Job’s words. He exaggerates the purpose of Job’s testimony of his lost honor and thinks it means, “It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God” (Job 34:9). Job never arrived at this conclusion. Elihu therefore insists (as he thinks, against Job’s reasoning): “For according to the work of a man he [God] will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him” (Job 34:11). But Job has confirmed the same truth in several statements, and that is why he is certain that God eventually will justify him.
In what is perhaps one of his most interesting comments, Elihu counsels Job to change his attitude toward this whole situation: “For has anyone said to God, ‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more; teach me what I do not see; if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’” (Job 34:31-32). Even though this advice agrees with Eliphaz’s blind and rigid theology, at least it opens up a new possibility, a possibility that God is teaching Job something in his tribulation… that instead of insisting on his own righteousness to the point of hardening himself, Job should prepare his heart to hear the word of God. And that is exactly the attitude he will take toward God’s word in chapter 39.
