Big Idea: The young Elihu claims to know the truth that has escaped Job and his friends.

Understanding the Text

After Job concludes his words in 31:40, the reader expects to hear Yahweh speak to resolve the debate between Job and his friends. Instead, a young man named Elihu bursts upon the scene, and for the next six chapters he holds the stage. In his long, uninterrupted speech, Elihu summarizes the points made by Job and the friends, often quoting or alluding to their specific words. He agrees with them that God sends suffering as his judgment on sin, but he adds that God can also use suffering to refine human character. Thus, for Elihu suffering is both punitive and formative. Elihu supposes that he has the final word in this discussion, but Yahweh will retain that prerogative in chapters 38–41. In the structure of the book, Elihu’s speeches extend the dramatic tension as the reader keeps waiting for Yahweh to bring resolution to Job’s case.

Job 32 begins with the narrator’s description of Elihu (32:1–5). Then Elihu describes himself in 32:6–22. He claims to be inspired by God (32:6–10), he expresses impatience with the friends and with Job (32:11–16), and he articulates how intent he is on speaking (32:17–22).

Historical and Cultural Background

In 32:19, Elihu compares his urgent intention to speak to wine bottled up in new wineskins and ready to burst. In the ancient world, wine was typically stored in animal skins (Jer. 13:12), which could expand as the wine fermented. In the New Testament, Jesus uses the same image in Matthew 9:17 to explain how his teaching cannot be confined within old ways of thinking that have grown rigid and inflexible. Even new wineskins have to be vented, or else they will explode under the pressure of the fermented wine within them.1

Interpretive Insights

32:2 Elihu . . . became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. The likely sense of the Hebrew is that Elihu perceives Job as regarding himself to be more righteous than God. As Elihu views it, when Job holds on to his claim of innocence, he is implying that his righteousness is superior to God’s. Elihu cannot tolerate Job raising a question about God’s righteousness. He feels that he must defend God’s honor and character against Job’s fallacious accusation.

32:3–5 his anger was aroused. The narrator repeatedly says that Elihu is angry (32:2, 3, 5). Elihu is angry with Job for justifying himself more than God (32:2). He also is angry with the friends, because they have not been able to refute Job, and they have given up the attempt to do so (32:3, 5). To Elihu, Job’s situation seems clear enough, and he is agitated that things have reached an impasse rather than a resolution. The repeated emphasis on Elihu’s anger and his youth may well be intended to alert the reader that Elihu, for all his commendable theology and good intentions, does not provide the final answer to Job’s situation. That will await Yahweh’s speeches at the end of the book.

32:6–7 I am young in years, and you are old. With these words, Elihu begins an extended prelude to his speeches (32:6–22). Traditional wisdom values the aged, because their long years have given them the opportunity to accumulate much observation of life (Prov. 4:1–9), and therefore they can become expert in wisdom. In wisdom thought, the young are the learners, and they receive instruction from their elders (Prov. 1:8). Elihu says that he has deferred to the seniority of Job and the friends. Nevertheless, he is deeply disappointed in their answers, so he determines now to speak up for the truth.

32:8 But it is the spirit in a person . . . that gives them understanding. Elihu argues that the elders do not have a corner on wisdom. Although he is young, he too has the spirit of understanding within him. This expression could refer generally to the spirit that all humans have because they have been made in the image of God (cf. Gen. 2:7), but more likely Elihu is claiming that as he speaks, the Spirit of God is communicating through him (cf. 33:4). Understanding, then, is not the sole possession of the aged (32:9); Elihu has the same capacity for understanding as they. The insight that he has received from divine inspiration is not limited by his age or life experience. Elihu’s claim here is similar to what Eliphaz maintained for himself in chapter 4.

32:9 It is not only the old who are wise. In making this observation, Elihu identifies himself with teachings found elsewhere in the Bible. In Ecclesiastes 4:13–16 a poor but wise boy is regarded as better than an old and foolish king. In Psalm 119:98–100 the psalmist says that the word of Yahweh makes him wiser than the aged. Both Joseph and Daniel confound their elders by their God-given wisdom. In Luke 2:46–47 the boy Jesus amazes the scholars in the temple by his insightful questions and answers.

32:10–14 Therefore I say: Listen to me. In 32:10–14, Elihu addresses the three friends. He has waited and listened to them speak, but they have not been successful in refuting Job (32:11–12). They have claimed in vain to have found wisdom; what they have actually done is to punt to God to answer Job (32:13). Elihu resolves to answer Job more persuasively than the friends have done (32:14), and in fact he does come closer to the mark, but Yahweh alone will give the full and final answer.

32:15–20 Must I wait, now that they are silent? Beginning in verse 15, Elihu turns away from the friends to speak to Job specifically. In Elihu’s opinion, the friends have failed, so he sees no need to wait for them to speak further. He determines to express his opinion that is welling up within him (32:17–20). His turgid language makes Elihu come off sounding pompous rather than as a serious teacher of wisdom.

In 15:2, Eliphaz asked rhetorically if a wise man should fill himself with windy knowledge. Elihu here seems to be doing just that, as he comically describes himself as a windbag who has to speak in order to get relief from the flatulence within him (32:18–20). Elihu indicates that he is ready to explode and that his only relief is to speak right away. He is indeed full of words (32:18), but they come from his belly, which was regarded as the seat of the passions rather than of reasoned reflection. This appears to be another signal by the author that Elihu’s aspirations in speaking to Job are better than the answers he gives him.

32:21–22 I will show no partiality, nor will I flatter anyone. Elihu claims that he is incapable of partiality, which makes him an unbiased observer or a judge who speaks only the truth (cf. Job’s desire for an impartial arbiter in 9:33). Moreover, he says that God would take him away if he were to speak insincerely (32:22). After his long and promising prelude, Elihu’s actual speeches are somewhat disappointing by comparison. When Yahweh finally speaks, he addresses Job and the three friends, but he says nothing about Elihu (42:7–9). Elihu is accurate in defending the justice of God, but in the larger context of the book, he may best be seen as an ironic figure. In his passionate and ornate words he at times says what he does not intend (32:18–20). He is repeatedly described by the narrator as angry (32:2–5), which in the wisdom tradition is a trait of a fool (Prov. 29:22). In his evaluation of Job, Elihu is ignorant of Yahweh’s assessment of him as righteous (1:8; 2:3).

Theological Insights

Interpreters have viewed Elihu in a wide variety of ways, with some evaluating him positively as speaking for Yahweh and others dismissing him as intrusive and empty. In order to assess accurately his role in the book, several textual features must be considered. Elihu is not mentioned either before or after he speaks. In contrast to the other characters, Elihu has a genealogy included, and he seems to be related to Abraham, although he lives outside Israel in the area close to Dedan and Tema (cf. Jer. 25:23). Elihu’s words look back to what the friends and Job have said already, but they also look ahead to foreshadow the entrance of Yahweh. Elihu is represented by the narrator as angry, and his introduction of himself seems to have a bombastic tone. When Yahweh speaks, he does not criticize Elihu, as he does the three friends, but he does not commend Elihu either, as he does Job. Elihu has no knowledge of the events narrated in the prologue, so he does not correctly discern the background to Job’s adversity.

When all of this evidence is taken together, it seems that Elihu summarizes the arguments of both Job and the friends, and he points out their deficiencies. His own position assumes that the retribution formula applies to Job’s case, but he adds the important point that suffering can be formative as well as punitive. Elihu aspires to the role of the judge who will decide the case, but his angry tone and his unintentional slips of speech suggest that the author wants the reader to construe him as a well-intentioned but ironic figure who sets the stage for Yahweh, the real judge.

Teaching the Text

While Job and the three wisdom teachers were speaking in chapters 3–31, a younger man named Elihu listened attentively to what they said. Finally the time has come when all the older men are silent, so Elihu jumps into the conversation. With great self-confidence, the young Elihu claims to know the truth that has escaped Job and his friends. When Job concludes his words in 31:40, the reader expects Yahweh to speak next, but Elihu postpones the divine resolution of the case. As Elihu begins to speak, the reader wonders if perhaps youth will succeed where the reasoning of the elders has failed. However, a self-confident tone is not necessarily an indicator of genuine wisdom.

The narrator describes Elihu much more fully than he does the other speakers in the book. In particular, he repeatedly portrays Elihu as angry—angry with Job, angry with the friends, and angry that the debate seems to have been abandoned rather than resolved. With this description, the narrator provides a lens through which Elihu should be viewed. It is true that anger can at times be justified, if it is directed at those things that dishonor God, and that God himself is angry at sin (Exod. 4:14; Deut. 4:25; Ps. 7:6). However, in wisdom literature anger is the mark not of the wise person but of the fool, so Elihu’s words must be evaluated with that in mind.

In traditional wisdom, wisdom resides in the elders, who have had the opportunity to observe life broadly. Elihu is well aware of his youth, so he claims that he has received his insight from the breath of the Almighty, who gives understanding to humans. Rather than competing head to head with the aged wisdom teachers, Elihu attempts an end run by insisting that he has received his insight directly from God.

Elihu brushes off the arguments of the friends as ineffective. He has listened attentively to them as they tried to prove Job wrong, but they have not been able to do so. Elihu insists that he will answer Job with different and better arguments, and he does provide an important reaffirmation of the justice of God along with his observation that God may use adversity for formative reasons, not just as punishment for sin, as the friends have contended. However, much of what Elihu says repeats what has already been stated, and his new material does not fully explain Job’s situation.

Elihu is almost comical when he says that he is full of words and that he must speak in order to find relief from the words that are ready to burst within him. For all of his good theology, which in many ways surpasses that of the three friends, Elihu mistakes his sense of passionate urgency for genuine understanding. There are many people like Elihu, whose confidence in their opinions is better than their comprehension of the situation. They are eager to speak, but they do not realize that many words do not necessarily equal sound wisdom. People like Elihu end up saying a lot, but they may contribute less of substance to the discussion than they suppose. When so many seem eager to offer their opinions, sometimes very passionately, we need to be careful to measure all that they say by the truths of God’s Word, because true wisdom comes from God.

Illustrating the Text

Even when counselors and public figures are confident, they may be wrong.

Television: Late-night talk show hosts and comedians (e.g., David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, and Jon Stewart) are often witty, brash, and full of ridicule, but when not paired with constructive alternatives, their comments add little understanding to the issues of the day. Elihu is angry at all the previous speakers who have addressed Job; impatient with their arguments, he claims to offer better ones. He is, however, also short on wisdom.

Literature: J.B., by Archibald MacLeish. In this existential version of the book of Job published in 1952, J.B. (the Job character) answers one of his accusers with the following words, which are appropriate in the face of wrong counsel:

Yours is the cruelest comfort of them all,

Making the Creator of the Universe

The miscreator of mankind—

A party to the crimes He punishes.2

Book: In God’s Waiting Room, by Lehman Strauss. After preaching for many years on the Christian’s response to suffering, Strauss (1911–97) learned firsthand about affliction and the pain of helplessness and despair when his wife, Elsie, suffered a severe stroke. He writes in his book In God’s Waiting Room (1984) that there is a chasm between knowing truth intellectually and knowing it by personal experience. He asks himself if there is anything wrong with a minister and teacher of the Bible being “perplexed.” He concludes that such perplexity makes one draw near to God, that God’s adversity can be a gift to his child. This is the posture of a true counselor and not that of Elihu.

Quote: Blaise Pascal. Probably quoting from Isaiah 45:15, Pascal asserts, “A religion which does not affirm that God is hidden is not true. Vere tu es Deus absconditus—truly you are a hidden God.”3

Elihu Urges Job to Listen

Big Idea: Elihu presents a simple explanation for Job’s complex situation.

Understanding the Text

After his extended prelude in chapter 32, Elihu now launches into his speeches to Job. Chapter 33 is the first of four uninterrupted speeches (in chapters 33, 34, 35, and 36–37) by Elihu in chapters 32–37. Elihu talks more than anyone else in the book, with the exception of Job. In fact, Elihu speaks longer than Yahweh does in chapters 38–41. In Job 33, Elihu addresses Job directly, urging Job to listen to the wisdom that he intends to teach him. As Elihu’s prelude has indicated, he is very confident that he understands Job’s situation and that he can point Job in the right direction. It will become evident, however, that Elihu promises more than he can deliver.

Historical and Cultural Background

When Elihu declares to Job in 33:6, “I too am a piece of clay,” he alludes to an image that is found both within the Bible and in ancient Near Eastern literature. The creation narrative in Genesis describes the first human, Adam, as being formed by God from the dust of the ground (Gen. 2:7). Other biblical passages refer to humans as clay that God sculpts (Job 10:9; Isa. 45:9; 64:8; Jer. 18:6; Rom. 9:20–21). In the Mesopotamian Epic of Gilgamesh, the goddess of creation pinches off clay to form Enkidu. In the biblical texts, the image of humans as clay most often focuses on God’s sovereign work in the lives of individuals and nations as he shapes them according to his plan. In all cases, clay suggests that humans are the recipients of God’s actions as he molds and directs their lives.

Interpretive Insights

33:4 The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life. With these words, Elihu echoes what he said earlier, in 32:8, when he implied that he speaks by special revelation from God. He claims to possess a better source of wisdom than either Job or the friends have, because he has received his insight directly from God, not indirectly through observation of life. In effect, Elihu suggests that he is the voice of wisdom (cf. Prov. 8:7–8). By this means he seeks to establish his credentials as superior to Job in knowledge.

33:5 Answer me then, if you can. Elihu takes the tone of a prosecutor as he addresses Job directly. Job has been regarding himself as the plaintiff, but Elihu tries to compel him into the role of the guilty defendant. Elihu seems to be overly impressed with his own intellect, because the words “if you can” imply that Job in fact cannot answer him. There is no record in the book that Job does venture an answer to Elihu, but instead Yahweh speaks up when Elihu is finished at last at the end of chapter 37.

33:8–11 But you have said in my hearing—I heard the very words. Elihu declares that he is quoting the very words of Job, but what Elihu says in verses 9–11 slants Job’s position in a simplistic way that does not encompass Job’s total way of thinking. Elihu depicts Job as saying that he is innocent (four times in v. 9) and that God has wronged him (four times in vv. 10–11). With this skewed summary of Job’s speeches, Elihu expresses the friends’ misconceptions of Job more than Job’s actual position, which is much more complex than this.

33:12 in this you are not right, for God is greater than any mortal. This criticism of Job by Elihu rings hollow, because Job agrees with Elihu and the three friends about the greatness of God (cf. 9:19). Job’s real question is not about God’s transcendence but about God’s justice toward him. Elihu conceives of Job’s situation as a question of abstract theology, but Job is trying to comprehend how his experience of adversity can be reconciled with God’s sovereignty and justice. Elihu has not heard Job nearly as well as he thinks he has.

33:13–14 For God does speak—now one way, now another—though no one perceives it. In verse 14 Elihu counters Job’s complaint in verse 13 that God does not respond to humans when they cry out to him. Elihu insists that God speaks in a variety of ways to humans, even to sinners like Job. Elihu will go on in verses 15–22 to explain how God uses dreams and pain to communicate with people. The problem is not God’s lack of communication but Job’s inability or unwillingness to listen to God. According to Elihu, by wrongly insisting on his innocence Job has become deaf to what God has been saying to him all along.

33:15–18 In a dream, in a vision of the night. Elihu states in 33:15–18 that one of the ways that God communicates with humans is through dreams and visions. God uses these disquieting messages in order to warn sinners and to turn them away from their wrongdoing and pride. God’s purpose is to prevent people from proceeding in their sin. Elihu’s implication is that Job needs to heed the warnings he is receiving from God rather than dismissing them as not applicable to him.

33:19–22 Or someone may be chastened on a bed of pain. Elihu speaks in general terms of “someone” experiencing pain, but it is clear that he has Job specifically in mind. Elihu’s description of the person in pain in verses 19–22 closely resembles Job’s physical ailments in 3:24; 16:8; 19:20; and 30:17. By chastening people with pain, God gives them an opportunity to repent rather than to proceed into death (see the sidebar). Elihu suggests that Job should not reject his pain as an unwelcome intruder but should value it as God’s agent of conviction that can lead to his restoration.

33:23–28 Yet if there is an angel at their side. Earlier in the book, Job expressed his desire for a mediator to represent his case before God (16:19; 19:25). Elihu now raises the possibility of an angel who can restore a person to uprightness and intercede for that person before God. This requires, however, that the person confess any sins (33:27). Like the friends, Elihu thinks that Job’s adversity has been caused by his personal sin. Thus, Elihu repeats their counsel to Job, even though Job has steadfastly maintained that he is innocent of any wrongdoing and has no sin to confess.

33:29–30 God does all these things to a person . . . to turn them back from the pit. Elihu concludes his first speech by summarizing what he has said in verses 13–28. He alleges that God’s purpose in communicating to humans through dreams and pain is to bring them to repentance. God seeks to deliver sinners like Job from the precipice of divine judgment that looms before them. In Elihu’s view, God is just, but he also is gracious in extending forgiveness to those who repent of their sins.

33:31–33 Pay attention, Job, and listen to me. Elihu pleads with Job to be attentive to him rather than brushing him off. Elihu is convinced that he has the wisdom that Job needs (33:33) and that what he has said will vindicate Job (33:32). Once again, Elihu seems to overestimate his ability to comprehend and counsel Job.

Theological Insights

Elihu’s description of God’s communication to humans through dreams and visions (33:15–18) fits into the larger theology of divine revelation in the Bible. Both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament God uses dreams to communicate with numerous individuals, including Joseph, Samuel, Daniel, Paul, and John. Dreams, then, are legitimate means by which God reveals his truth to humans. However, the Bible also warns against those who falsely claim to receive a dream from God when they have not. Charlatans like this are denounced in very strong language in Deuteronomy 13:1–5 and Jeremiah 23:25–32. Although no definitive judgment is made in the biblical text, Eliphaz’s dream that he describes in Job 4:12–21 seems to be something other than a word from God.

Teaching the Text

In his first speech, in Job 33, Elihu presents a simple explanation for Job’s complex situation. The prologue has revealed that Job’s adversity is tied up with the dispute between Yahweh and the adversary, so it is not a standard case easily explained by the retribution formula. Job’s earlier speeches have wrestled with numerous questions that have dominated his mind as he reflects on what has happened to him. Elihu, however, is confident that he has deciphered the puzzle that has baffled Job. The answer he gives would fit many cases, but it does not explain Job’s specific situation.

At the beginning and the end of this speech, Elihu urges Job to listen to him, because he believes that he has the answer that Job needs to hear. No doubt, Elihu is sincere in his motives, and he is confident in his knowledge of the situation. However, sincerity does not always mean accuracy, and confidence is not the same as competence. As a counselor, Elihu wants to help, and he thinks he is helping, but in reality he misses the mark.

Before a cure can be prescribed, the disease must be diagnosed correctly. Elihu has listened to what Job has said, but his diagnosis of Job’s condition is flawed. Elihu has heard Job say two things: he is innocent, and God has wronged him. Job has indeed said these things, but he has also said much more than that. In trying to comprehend Job’s situation, Elihu oversimplifies what Job has said. Because of that, Elihu reduces Job’s problem into an easily treated ailment rather than recognizing it as the complicated condition that it is. In a sense, what Elihu declares is analogous to saying that Job has a common cold when in reality Job is struggling with a serious case of pneumonia. It is tempting to reduce painful situations to simple answers, but Job’s experience reveals that life is more complex than that.

Elihu is more hopeful for Job than the friends are, because he holds out the prospect of restoration for Job. He realizes that one of the most important functions of a comforter is to restore hope to one who is tempted to give up. Elihu’s instinct in this is right, even though he does not fully understand Job’s problem.

Illustrating the Text

Those who counsel others need to understand the situation before they speak.

Psychology: Escape from Loneliness, by Paul Tournier. Tournier (1898–1986) was a Swiss physician and psychotherapist. He describes what a doctor must do for his patient, a description that parallels what a counselor must do for those he or she counsels. He writes, “Often I have heard a patient tell me that he has been disappointed in his doctor, who yet had taken good care of him, ‘because he didn’t take me seriously.’ The patient means that the doctor wasn’t interested in detail, in particular problems that meant a great deal to his patient.” Then he quotes a Dr. Dubois who said, “The patient must be much more than just an interesting case; he must become your friend.”1 To hear details is to begin to know the person one is listening to. This is what Elihu needed to do.

Those who counsel others need to be careful not to oversimplify the situation.

Literature: J.B., by Archibald MacLeish. In this verse play based on the book of Job, MacLeish is responding to the horrors he saw in two world wars, the Holocaust, and the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It tells the story of a twentieth-century American millionaire banker whom God allows to be stripped of everything. In scene 1, the members of a well-to-do family from New England, who are at the core of the story, are seated around a table having Thanksgiving dinner. The wife and mother wishes her children would be more thankful for their substantial gifts because she believes that such gratitude will earn God’s pleasure and that He will punish ingratitude. She says, “If we do our part He does His, / He always has. If we forget Him / He will forget. Forever. In everything.”2 This is the kind of oversimplification Elihu is guilty of.

Elihu Argues That God Always Acts Justly

Big Idea: Elihu reasons that because God is always just, Job must necessarily be wicked.

Understanding the Text

In his second speech, in chapter 34, Elihu takes a tone that is more rigid than in his first speech (Job 33). Adopting the retribution theology of the three friends, Elihu argues deductively from the premise of the justice of God to the necessary conclusion that Job is a sinner. Because God is absolutely powerful and just, humans must not question his ways. By objecting to how God has treated him, Job is proving that he is not pious. Elihu views Job’s situation strictly as a legal case to be adjudicated rather than as a painful personal tragedy. Thus, Elihu is long on rhetoric but short on compassion. In effect, Elihu functions as another prosecutor against Job as he defends God’s just governance of the world. Elihu begins (34:1–9) and ends (34:31–37) this speech with appeals to the wise men, whom he believes he represents, and the central portion of his speech, in 34:10–30, is an extended argument that God always acts justly.

Historical and Cultural Background

In many modern governments, the executive branch is separated from the judicial branch. In ancient cultures, and even in some governments today, the head of state was also responsible for judging the people. This practice is reflected in the Old Testament when individuals appeal to the king for legal judgment or protection (e.g., 2 Sam. 15:2; 1 Kings 3:16–28; 2 Kings 8:5–6). In Psalm 101:8, the king pledges to bring timely judgment against the wicked of the land. Elihu assumes this legal arrangement when he speaks of the impossibility of God perverting justice (34:12) and of God’s judgment of kings and nobles (34:18–19).

Interpretive Insights

34:2 Hear my words, you wise men. As Elihu speaks to Job, he also addresses a wider audience. His references to “wise men” (34:2) and “men of understanding” (34:10, 34) probably are broader than just the three friends who have already spoken, because Elihu has rejected their claim to wisdom (32:11–14). He wants to present a united front of wisdom against Job, and he is very confident that he has the answer that truly wise men understand.

34:5–8 Job says, “I am innocent, but God denies me justice.” Elihu’s quotation in verses 5–6 generally summarizes what Job has said before, especially in 9:15 and 27:2–6. However, Elihu selectively cites Job’s words, and then he interprets them in a way that does not fairly represent Job’s meaning (34:7–8). He also neglects to describe Job’s conflicted feelings and thoughts about God and how Job cannot comprehend why God is treating him as he does. Elihu reduces all the evidence into two simplistic assertions that he puts into Job’s mouth: Job is innocent, and God is unjust. But these assertions do not truly represent all that Job has said. The facts are a lot more complex than Elihu indicates.

34:9 There is no profit in trying to please God. Job comes close to saying these words in 21:14–15, but in that context Job is describing what the wicked cry out. Elihu insists that Job is indeed one of the wicked (34:8), and that Job’s earlier sentiments in 9:29–31 are proof of his guilt. Elihu, however, fails to consider how these words were prompted by Job’s pain and anguish as he felt abandoned by God. Instead of considering this factor, Elihu extrapolates Job’s words into an outright dismissal of God as morally arbitrary.

34:10–15 Far be it from God to do evil. Elihu begins with the premise that the Sovereign God (34:13) is incapable of doing evil, so whatever he does is just. This leads logically to the doctrine of exact retribution (34:11), by which God repays all people for what they have done. Any departure from divine justice is unthinkable to Elihu (34:12). Elihu, therefore, has no place in his tidy theological system for the possibility of a righteous man experiencing adversity, so he regards Job’s contention that he is innocent as a theological impossibility. Elihu goes on in verses 14–15 to argue that God can do whatever he pleases, even causing the whole human race to perish. With these words, Elihu comes very close to affirming the deistic dogma that whatever is, is right.

34:16–20 Can someone who hates justice govern? In verses 16–20, Elihu describes God as all-powerful, ruling even over the kings of the earth. Elihu connects God’s power with his justice, reflecting the widespread ancient notion that the king is the source, interpreter, and executor of the law. Within this framework of thought, one who exercises rule is by definition just, so God as the absolute ruler must be absolutely just in all that he does. Elihu’s implication is that Job, by questioning God’s justice, is also rebelling against his authority.

34:21–23 God has no need to examine people further. In verses 21–22, Elihu states that God sees every step that humans take. Consequently, there is nothing that is hidden from the all-knowing God, a truth that Job also affirms (31:4). Unlike a human judge in a trial, God never has to acquire more information than he already possesses before he can make a just decision. Elihu concludes that Job cannot tell God anything that he does not know completely. Therefore, Job’s request for a trial in which he can present his case before God is unnecessary.

34:24–27 He punishes them for their wickedness. Elihu is confident that he knows where Job must fit in God’s just world. In Elihu’s view, Job has turned from following God (34:27), so God has overthrown him (34:25), as God does regularly to evildoers. With these words, Elihu lumps Job’s adversity into the general category of divine punishment of the wicked.

34:29–30 But if he remains silent, who can condemn him? Elihu grants that God may not always exact judgment immediately. This divine silence, however, should not be misconstrued as God’s lack of sovereign control. Elihu’s implication is that Job’s previous prosperity, not his present adversity, was the anomaly. The question that Job should be asking is why God allowed him to prosper before despite his wickedness. What Job is now receiving from God is the just retribution that he deserves for his sin.

34:33 Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent? To Elihu, the next step is simple: Job needs to repent of his sin. In this, Elihu echoes what Eliphaz said earlier (22:21–30). Elihu perceives that the ball is in Job’s court, not in God’s court, as Job insisted at the end of his final confession of innocence in chapter 31. God, moreover, will not change his rules of justice, no matter how much Job complains to him.

34:34–35 Men of understanding declare . . . , “Job speaks without knowledge.” As he comes to the end of his second speech, Elihu claims to speak for all men who truly understand. He is supremely confident of his analysis of Job’s situation, and just as certain that Job speaks without knowledge and insight.

34:36–37 To his sin he adds rebellion. In verse 36, Elihu expresses his desire that God would exact his full judgment upon wicked Job. Elihu’s rigid logic has led him to conclude that Job is not at all a victim as he has claimed. Rather, he is an obstinate fool, a scorner whose words against God are prompted by a spirit of rebellion.

Theological Insights

In Genesis 2:7, the creation of the first human is described as God forming the physical body out of the dust of the ground and then breathing into it his breath of life. This divine breath continues to sustain humans throughout the duration of their lives (Eccles. 3:19–21; 12:7), until it is withdrawn at the time of death. Elihu refers to this in 34:14–15, when he argues that if God intended to withdraw his spirit and breath, then all humanity would perish together. When that occurs, humans return to the dust from which they have been made (Job 21:26; Ps. 104:29). The Old Testament says little about a future resurrection (Dan. 12:2 is a rare exception), but in the New Testament the resurrection of Christ prompts revelation of the resurrection of humans, in which the present corruptible body is transformed into an incorruptible, glorified body (1 Cor. 15:42–57).

Teaching the Text

In Job 34, as Elihu answers Job he follows much the same line of reasoning that the three friends have taken. Although Elihu does acknowledge that God may not exact judgment immediately, he accepts the basic structure of retribution theology. Therefore, Elihu reasons that because God is always just, and Job is experiencing adversity, Job must be wicked. To Elihu’s thinking, that is the only reasonable way to explain the situation. Elihu’s theological system does not allow for the possibility of a righteous man experiencing adversity despite his innocence. Like the friends, Elihu demonstrates that reducing theology to a simple formula may not adequately represent all of God’s truth about the subject.

Elihu begins and ends this speech by claiming to be the voice of wisdom. He calls on those who are wise to join with him in discerning what is right. He claims that wise men who truly understand agree with him that Job has spoken without knowledge. In his own mind, Elihu has attained wisdom, but what he concludes about Job will not be validated by Yahweh when he speaks in chapter 42. We may give answers that seem convincing to ourselves and to others, but they may actually be inaccurate and hurtful. Sometimes it is best not to give an answer but to point the person to God, who alone knows the answer.

Elihu reasons that because God is sovereign, he must be just. In other words, as the ultimate authority, God makes the rules, and he is always right. Elihu comes very close to saying that whatever happens in life is good and right, simply because it occurs in the world governed by the Sovereign God. This simplistic view of life, however, does not consider that there are incidents in life that grieve God and that there are human wrongs that deeply offend him.

God will triumph over all sin and wrong in the end, but in the meanwhile we live in a world that is contaminated by many evils. The death and resurrection of Christ are the down payment of the final victory that God will accomplish for those who are in Christ (1 Cor. 15:12–28).

Both Job and Elihu agree that God knows all things, including every step that Job takes. Job regards this as a promising basis on which to approach God with his case. Elihu takes the opposite view, for he insists that God already knows all the facts of Job’s situation, so he has all the evidence he could possibly need to adjudicate Job’s case. Job believes that God knows his heart is innocent, but Elihu counters that God knows Job is guilty. Elihu concludes that Job’s insistence on bringing his case before God is really a demonstration of his rebellious attitude. As Elihu sees it, Job deserves punishment from God, because his heart is wicked and rebellious. In trying to analyze Job’s situation logically, Elihu misreads Job’s heart. Elihu gives a cold, theoretical answer when what Job needs is compassionate support. Elihu tries to solve a theological puzzle, but he fails to salve the pain of Job’s heart. Although other people can and do misconstrue our hearts, the Lord always understands us perfectly, and his omniscience is a great comfort.

Illustrating the Text

God’s promises to bless the faithful are not meant to be turned into litmus tests that judge the hurting.

Object Lesson: Use a telescope or binoculars to highlight this point. When viewed through one end, the optics can make something far away seem very close and clear; when viewed through the other end, they have the opposite effect, making something quite near seem much smaller and farther away. Explain that in the same way, proverbs and statements of truth about God’s justice and desire to bless the righteous help us to see the character and heart of an immense and invisible God quite clearly; conversely, when we attempt to evaluate the cause of human suffering through those same promises, we end up looking through the same lens but in the wrong direction. In such cases, our view of things ends up distorted as God gets smaller and less immanent and people’s value gets reduced to the sum of their works rather than the immensity of God’s grace to them.

Even when no one else understands our hearts or our motives, God does and his omniscience is a great comfort.

TV Clips: Consider using a clip from an appraisal-based show in which antiques or memorabilia are evaluated by experts and items of great value are distinguished from fakes. This could be used as a springboard to discuss the notion of expert testimony. When the owner brings in his or her knickknack to the pawn shop or the antiques show, he or she may have an idea of what it is worth. But until the expert appraiser verifies the value of the object, the accuracy of the owner’s evaluation is highly disputable. In the same way, human evaluation of our own motivations and intentions is highly disputable; on the last day, however, the omniscient God will give his appraisal and there will be public vindication for those who are righteous through Christ and public humiliation for the wicked.

Human Experience: Encourage reflection on the following questions: “If you were accused of a crime and thrown into jail, whom would you call with your one phone call? Who would trust you and believe in your innocence, even before they heard your side of events? Why would they do that? Are they blind, biased fans, or do they actually know your character that deeply? Who are the ones that would stay on your side, forgive you, and love you, even if you did do it?” Point out that God knows our hearts even better than we do. The Lord knows us and our motivations completely and still loves us whether we are innocent in a given situation or not, and he loves us enough to forgive and redeem us at the cost of his only Son, even when we have been guilty of trampling him underfoot in our ignorance.

Elihu Describes God as Too Distant and Detached to Listen to Job

Big Idea: Elihu regards God as absolutely transcendent and therefore unconcerned about human actions.

Understanding the Text

In his third speech, in Job 35, Elihu attempts to summarize Job’s claims and then counters them. Elihu, however, has not really grasped Job’s meaning, but instead he exaggerates Job’s anguished words in passages such as 7:17–21 into a view of God as totally impervious to human actions. Following the lead of the three friends before him, Elihu so emphasizes God’s transcendence that he concludes that humans cannot affect God either by their sins or by their righteous deeds. God is so far above humans that he does not pay attention to what they say and do. Elihu declares that Job has no grounds for his legal case against God and that his words are just empty talk. Although Elihu regards himself as wiser than Job and the friends, he does not offer any additional insight beyond what has already been suggested by the others.

Historical and Cultural Background

In Job 35:10 Elihu reasons that people who are oppressed cry out in pain, but they fail to pray to the God who made them. The God to whom they should pray is the one “who gives songs in the night.” This reference has prompted a broad variety of interpretations, including viewing the songs as the clap of divine thunder (cf. Psalm 29) and the music of the heavenly spheres (Ps. 19:2–4). Some scholars appeal to a homonym that means “protection.” Although the precise meaning of this phrase is not clear, the other biblical references to night as a time of peril and to singing in the night in anticipation of God’s deliverance seem to fit Elihu’s thought well (see further discussion of this verse under “Theological Insights” below).1

Interpretive Insights

35:2–3 You say, “I am in the right, not God.” The final clause in this verse is ambiguous, and the earlier NIV edition renders it “I will be cleared by God.” Elihu construes Job as saying that he is more righteous than God but that his righteousness brings him no profit (35:3). It is true that Job said in 10:7 and 27:5 that he is innocent, but Elihu here puts words into Job’s mouth that Job did not intend. In 21:15 Job actually said that it is the wicked who complain that serving God brings them no gain, although in 9:21–23 he did perceive God as judging the innocent and the wicked identically. Elihu seems to view Job in the most negative light rather than taking into account the emotional trauma from which Job has spoken.

35:4 I would like to reply to you and to your friends with you. On the surface, Elihu appears polite, but once again he assumes the role of the master teacher explaining what he alone understands. With a condescending tone, Elihu is supremely confident that he has the answer that has eluded the others (cf. 32:11–22; 33:2). No one else can comprehend this situation, but Elihu can!

35:5–7 If you sin, how does that affect him? . . . If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Directing attention to the heavens (35:5), Elihu portrays God as so absolutely transcendent that there is a vast and impassable chasm between God and humans. This leads Elihu to agree with Eliphaz’s words in 22:2–3 that God is so high that his governing of the world is not affected either by human sin or by human righteousness. By this view, the transcendent God is distant and detached, and therefore unmoved by what humans do.

35:8 Your wickedness only affects humans like yourself, and your righteousness only other people. Elihu declares that human actions are significant only within the human sphere. Only humans suffer from oppression by other people, and only humans benefit from the goodness of others. All these human actions mean nothing good or bad to the transcendent God. From God’s lofty perspective, what humans do is negligible. The implication of what Elihu says is that there is no way the high God could be concerned enough about a human situation to respond to Job’s cry or to intervene on his behalf. This, however, clearly conflicts with the prologue of the book, in which Yahweh is very much aware of Job’s life and concerned about his condition, as well as Psalm 8:4, where Yahweh is mindful of humans and cares for them.

35:9 People cry out under a load of oppression. Elihu is skeptical about human appeals to God, because to him they smack of self-interest. He says that God pays no attention to these cries (35:13), because he is not impressed by foxhole converts who only turn to him when their situation is dire. Elihu implies that Job’s cries to God are not sincere expressions of his faith and devotion but rather insincere schemes to manipulate God to come to his aid.

35:10–11 But no one says, “Where is God my Maker?” Elihu argues that humans who cry out for relief from oppression (35:9) are not sincerely seeking God. What they need to do is submit themselves to God’s teaching (35:11), so that they can learn his wisdom. As it is, they want to enjoy the privileges of the graduate without having to undergo the regimen of the student.

35:12–13 God does not listen to their empty plea; the Almighty pays no attention to it. The reader realizes that Job’s condition is complex, but Elihu instead offers only a trite analysis of it. In Elihu’s thinking, all humans are sinful, so God does not listen to their cries. If this were the whole story, however, it would destroy any possibility of communication or relationship between God and humans. In addition, it would reduce God to a being who is thoroughly predictable.

35:14–15 How much less, then, will he listen when you say that you do not see him. In verses 14–15, Elihu twists words that Job has uttered previously. Job said in 9:11 that he cannot see God. He brought his legal case before God in 23:4 and 31:35. Job expressed his hope in God in 13:15 and 14:14. He complained in 9:24; 12:6; and 21:17 that God is not acting justly toward him. Elihu takes Job’s words and spins them so that they sound like an arrogant rejection of God, but that is not an accurate sense of Job’s spirit and intention.

35:16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk. Taking the same harsh tone as the three friends before him, Elihu concludes that Job’s words are empty. He uses the Hebrew term hebel, which is found repeatedly in the book of Ecclesiastes and is often translated “vanity.” To Elihu, Job’s words have no substance or value, so he dismisses them as worthless and insubstantial. In wisdom literature, the wise person is restrained in speech, but the fool speaks many words (Prov. 10:19; Eccles. 10:14). In effect, Elihu insists that Job is not at all wise but that his empty prattle evidences he is indeed a fool. How this charge must cut Job to the heart!

Theological Insights

In the Bible, the night is often depicted as a time fraught with danger (Song 3:8), so it can prompt discouragement and despair (Ps. 30:5). However, as 35:10 indicates, God can give songs in the night as he provides protection for his people (Ps. 121:6). In Psalm 42:8, Yahweh’s song is with the psalmist in the night, as a parallel to the divine loving-kindness that ministers to the psalmist in the daytime. In Psalm 77:6, the psalmist remembers his song in the night, as his heart meditates on how God has helped him in the past. As Paul and Silas are imprisoned in the Philippian jail, they sing praises to God at midnight (Acts 16:25), and at that time the Lord intervenes to release them from their bondage.

Teaching the Text

The Bible teaches that God is both transcendent and immanent. As the transcendent God, he is exalted over all of his creation. As the immanent God, he is involved in his creation. These theological truths are equally taught in the Scriptures, so they must be held together rather than pitted against one another, as Elihu does.

Elihu focuses so much on the absolute transcendence of God that he comes to the faulty conclusion that God is unconcerned about human actions. He pictures God as distant and indifferent to human matters. By neglecting to consider God’s involvement in his creation, Elihu ends up with a distorted perception of God that causes him to misjudge Job.

Elihu also misconstrues Job’s claim of innocence. He has heard what Job has said, but he does not grasp Job’s intended meaning. Therefore, Elihu distorts Job’s words to say Job insists that he is in the right and that God is not right. Elihu also concludes wrongly that Job has given up on the righteous life because there is no profit to be gained by not sinning. Instead of really hearing Job, Elihu filters what Job says through his own assumptions. This is not fair to Job, because it distorts what he truly means. Elihu demonstrates that one who comforts must first listen carefully and really hear the heart of a person in pain.

Because Elihu emphasizes God’s transcendence, he views God as so far above humans that they do not affect him no matter what they do. Whether humans sin or are righteous, it makes no difference to God, according to Elihu. God is distant and remote, and he does not concern himself with human matters. Elihu argues that because this is true of humans in general, it is even more true of an individual like Job. In Elihu’s thinking, God created the world, but he is not actively concerned about the lives of the mere humans that he has made. However, the book of Psalms and the prophets repeatedly present God as attentive to the cries of his people and active in coming to their aid (see the sidebar “Why Pray?”). God is indeed great, but he is also good.

Illustrating the Text

God is both transcendent and immanent.

Human Metaphor: Invite your listeners to reflect on the relationship between a child in utero and his or her mother. The mother’s experience and influence far transcend the child’s; she sees, hears, understands, and interacts in matters that are not only beyond the child’s senses but also vastly more complex than any reality the child has ever experienced. The mother’s existence transcends the child’s in innumerable ways about which the child could never even begin to guess. At the same time, however, there is no human relationship that is more immanent; the child literally lives and moves and has his or her being (Acts 17:28) within the mother’s womb and draws everything necessary for life from organic connection to the mother through the placenta and umbilical cord. In the same way, God’s ways and thoughts are higher than ours, and he exists in a reality that is so far beyond our reckoning that we cannot begin to imagine or describe it. Yet he is so immanently and intimately connected to us that apart from his providence and grace we could never draw a breath or live a day.

Christian Year: This is a great place to connect with the idea of the Incarnation and the story of Christmas. In many ways, God never answers all the questions raised in the book of Job until he sends his Son to become incarnate and to reveal the full redemptive character of righteous suffering. The idea that God is only transcendent is put to rest soundly in the manger, and the assumption that suffering only comes to sinners is fully refuted at the cross. Invite listeners to wonder what Elihu would think of Christmas, and what he might have to say about God’s transcendence if he were kneeling beside Mary and Joseph in the Bethlehem stable. Ask how the name Immanuel (God with us) ministers to the hearts of hurting people like Job.

God is not detached; he listens to what we have to say and responds immanently with compassion and grace that flow from his transcendent holiness and perfection.

Bible: There are a variety of passages you can cite that confirm the passionate, present nature of God’s heart for his people. Try looking at Isaiah 49:13–18, Zephaniah 3:17, and John 1:1–14. Feel free to prayerfully search the Bible and add your own passages to the list. Sharing such references with listeners will assure them that, no matter how the Elihus of the world insist that God is detached, God’s own revealed Word about himself begs to differ.

Testimony: Invite one or two individuals to share a brief testimony about a time they were certain that God was with them. It may have been a sense of his presence in a time of crisis, a supernatural intervention in answer to prayer, a direct response to a request for insight or direction, or in many other ways.

Elihu Points to the Corrective Benefit of Suffering

Big Idea: Elihu insists that God is seeking to correct Job.

Understanding the Text

Elihu’s fourth and final speech is also his longest, for it encompasses chapters 36 and 37. His tone in this speech is more compassionate and constructive than it was in his previous three speeches. Elihu now considers the consequences of suffering rather than merely its cause. He discusses what suffering can produce, not what precipitates it. He reasons that suffering is God’s discipline by which humans can be built up. The wise person will accept suffering and become better because of it, but the fool resists suffering and is destroyed by responding to it with hostility. Even though Elihu is not accurate in his assessment of why Job is suffering, what he says in this speech does help to set the stage for the appearance of Yahweh in chapter 38, with his resolution of Job’s situation.

Historical and Cultural Background

In Job 36:14, Elihu states that godless people who reject God’s correction will die young among the male prostitutes of the shrines. In Canaanite and in Mesopotamian fertility religions, both men and women were employed in cultic prostitution, as worshipers engaged in sexual acts in an effort to elicit the blessing of the gods on their crops. In the Old Testament, homosexual intercourse in general and its occurrence in ritual prostitution in particular are regarded as abominations to Yahweh (Lev. 18:22; 19:29; 20:13; Deut. 23:17–18; 2 Kings 23:7). The reference here to dying young could point to the disastrous effects of venereal disease (cf. Prov. 7:23). With this image Elihu paints the horrific and shameful end that Job will experience if he does not respond positively to God’s correction of his sin.

Interpretive Insights

36:2 Bear with me a little longer. Elihu likely senses that Job and the friends are losing interest in what he has to say. After all, Elihu has spoken without interruption for a long time, so they are probably getting impatient for him to finish. In 35:16 Elihu accused Job of multiplying words, but he outdoes Job, sounding like a talking windup toy that will not quit. His “little longer” turns into his longest speech, encompassing chapters 36 and 37.

36:3 I will ascribe justice to my Maker. In 35:2, Elihu misconstrued Job as calling God’s righteousness into account. Elihu now insists that he will champion the justice of God. Elihu claims that what he says is right, because he has received his knowledge from afar, from the God who is right.

36:4 one who has perfect knowledge is with you. Once again Elihu confidently touts his own credentials. In the prologue, Job was three times described as tam, perfect or blameless in his behavior (1:1, 8; 2:3). Now Elihu uses a closely related term to describe the perfect knowledge he claims to have. Later, in 37:16, Elihu will affirm that God is perfect in knowledge. Thus, Elihu as much as says that because he has received his knowledge from God, he is the voice of God’s knowledge. To disagree with Elihu, then, would be tantamount to disagreeing with God himself.

36:5–7 He does not keep the wicked alive. . . . He does not take his eyes off the righteous. Elihu again reasserts the legitimacy of the retribution formula. According to him, God destroys the wicked (36:6) and exalts the righteous (36:7). In 21:7–16, Job called into question the validity of the retribution formula by adducing substantial evidence that the wicked actually often prosper in life. Elihu, however, totally ignores those facts that disagree with his conclusion.

36:8–14 He makes them listen to correction. Elihu now develops a new point that significantly qualifies the retribution formula. He says that God uses adversity to reveal to humans their sin (36:8–9). This is really God’s severe mercy to them, because through the pain of adversity God challenges them to repent of their evil. If they respond to God’s correction with repentance, they will enjoy his prosperity (36:11). If, however, they refuse to listen to God, they will perish (36:12–14). In Elihu’s thinking, adversity is prompted by personal sin, but it may also have the positive effect of correction (cf. Prov. 3:11–12; Heb. 12:5–7), as well as the negative effect of punishment. How the sinner responds to God’s adversity makes all the difference.

36:16–21 He is wooing you from the jaws of distress. In this verse, Elihu turns from expounding general principles (36:2–15) to speaking directly to Job about his specific situation. Elihu portrays God as seeking to allure Job, by adversity, back into a place of blessing (cf. Hosea 2:14). Job, however, has become preoccupied with his legal dispute against God (36:17). Job needs to respond positively to God’s tender overtures rather than resist him. If Job does not respond to God, he will have to endure the judgment that is due to wicked people.

36:22–23 God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? Elihu depicts God as transcendent both in his power and in his pedagogy, echoing what Job said about God in 21:22. Elihu does not realize all that he is affirming as he describes God as the unrivaled teacher. When Yahweh speaks in chapters 38–41, he demonstrates what a master teacher he is, for his thoughts are high above all human thoughts (cf. Isa. 55:8–9; Rom. 11:33–34). What Yahweh teaches far surpasses what Elihu is able to comprehend.

36:24 Remember to extol his work, which people have praised in song. Elihu urges Job to stop complaining against God and instead to praise him. Praise would silence Job’s objections and enable him to accept God’s correction. By this counsel, Elihu echoes the lament psalms, in which the psalmists turn to God in their times of affliction and, by doing that, find that their pain is transformed into praise (e.g., Ps. 30:8–12). Elihu advises Job to take this well-worn path that is familiar to faithful worshipers of God.

36:27–30 He draws up the drops of water. In 36:26–37:5, Elihu graphically describes God’s power in a thunderstorm (esp. 36:32–33). This storm, as also in Psalm 29, is a visible indication of the greatness of God, which exceeds human understanding (36:26, 29). With this illustration, Elihu begins a transition to Yahweh’s speech out of a storm, which commences in 38:1.

36:31 This is the way he governs the nations. Elihu draws a parallel between how God directs the natural world and how he governs the world of humans. In both areas God is transcendent and in control, but he is also immanent. Just as God is actively involved in forming the thunderstorm, so he is involved in the affairs of humans. This claim actually undermines what Elihu said earlier, in 35:6–7, where he argued that God is unconcerned with what humans do, whether it is good or bad.

Theological Insights

Job 36:27 begins a colorful description of how God rules over the natural world. Throughout the Old Testament, nature bears testimony to the greatness of God. The nature psalms are especially clear in describing how the heavens declare the glory, or impressiveness, of God (Ps. 19:1).1As God demonstrates his power in nature, humans are prompted to praise him (Ps. 104:33–34) and to find their peace in him (Ps. 29:11). As powerful as the forces of nature are, nature is not independent of God but is firmly under his control. The natural world is one of the primary contexts in which God reveals himself to humans (cf. Rom. 1:18–20).

Teaching the Text

Elihu believes in the validity of the retribution principle, that God blesses the righteous and punishes the wicked. However, he adds a feature to what the three friends declared in their retribution theology. Elihu says that God endeavors to correct sinners, so they will turn away from their wicked ways and to his righteous way. This, Elihu insists, is what God is seeking to do in Job’s life. In other words, God afflicts sinners in such a way that they may repent of their sin and obey him. Adversity, then, may be God’s severe mercy that prompts sinners to turn to him and to accept his gracious forgiveness. In times of pain, people may be prompted to turn to God.

Although Elihu presents some important truths for Job to contemplate, his tone sounds proud and arrogant. He is unduly confident that he has figured out life in general, and Job’s situation in particular. In fact, he goes so far as to say that he has perfect knowledge, an expression that he will use again in chapter 37 for God’s knowledge. Even if Elihu were accurate in his analysis of Job’s situation, it would be very hard for Job to accept counsel from one who seems so smug and sure. By failing to maintain a humble spirit, we can dilute whatever positive effect we want to have on those to whom we minister. That is why Galatians 6:1 warns us that in restoring one who has sinned, we must do so with gentleness.

Elihu emphasizes that God uses affliction to correct sinners. This is a principle that can be observed many times in the Bible, as well as in the experience of many Christians today. God in his grace does not write off sinners but continues to seek and to save those who are lost (Luke 19:10). God, then, goes beyond the retribution principle, as he graciously extends the opportunity for repentance and restoration to those who deserve only his judgment. In doing that, God provides an example for us to keep reaching out to those who have sinned rather than writing them off as hopeless.

Where Elihu errs is in applying this truth to Job’s specific situation. He assumes that Job’s adversity must be God’s correction, so he challenges Job to respond with repentance. Elihu is unable to recognize that if God treats sinners better than they deserve, then perhaps it is possible for a righteous man like Job to experience adversity that is worse than what he deserves. In other words, if the retribution principle does not hold absolutely on one side, then maybe it does not hold absolutely on the other side either. God’s way of working with humans is likely a good deal more complex than the simple retribution formula allows.

Illustrating the Text

God’s work with humans is more complex than Elihu understands.

Literature: Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen. In this nineteenth-century British novel (1813), Elizabeth Bennet is convinced that Fitzwilliam Darcy is aloof and judgmental, while he is convinced that Elizabeth is not his social and intellectual equal. So each disdains the other. Later in the story, both come to realize that their perceptions have been partially or totally flawed. Like Elihu, they are not as perfect in knowledge as they initially suppose.

Film: Groundhog Day. In this movie (1993), the lead character, a lovable egocentric played by Bill Murray, is given repeated opportunities to change his actions until he finally gets things right. Elihu says rightly that God uses affliction so that people can repent of their sins, but he fails to recognize that God, like the reality Bill Murray’s character comes to grasp, is more gracious and complex than we might first assume or deserve.

Quote: Madame Jeanne Guyon. Madame Guyon (1647–1717), often thought of as the leader of the Quietist movement (spiritual passivism—“let go and let God”), in what is probably an oversimplification, once wrote, “If knowing answers to life’s questions is absolutely necessary to you, then forget the journey. You will never make it, for this is a journey of unknowables—of unanswered questions, enigmas, incomprehensibles, and most of all, things unfair.”2

Hymn: “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” by William Cowper. This hymn by Cowper (1731–1800) has been a source of comfort and blessing to many of God’s people. Yet few people know of the circumstances leading to its composition. As a Christian, Cowper was often in the depths of despair, having never recovered from the death of his mother when he was a child. In fact, he lived with deep depression, what today might be considered mental illness, while still writing his inspirational hymns. One foggy night he called for a horse-drawn carriage and asked to be taken to the London Bridge on the Thames River. Overcome by depression, he intended to commit suicide. But after two hours of driving through the mist, Cowper’s coachman confessed that he was lost. Disgusted by the delay, Cowper left the carriage to find the bridge on foot. After walking only a short distance, he discovered that he was at his own doorstep. The carriage had been going in circles. Immediately convicted, he recognized the restraining hand of God. He realized that the way out of his troubles was to look to God, not to jump into the river. Deeply comforted, he sat down and wrote these enduring words:

God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines

Of never failing skill

He treasures up His bright designs

And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,

Unfolding every hour;

The bud may have a bitter taste,

But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err

And scan His work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.

Sometimes the righteous and obedient experience adversity worse than they deserve.

Missionary History: Paul Carlson. Many missionaries were killed in a single year during the Simba rebellion from 1964 to 1965. In fact, as Ruth Tucker reports it, “The terror unleashed on innocent Congolese Christians and foreign missionaries left thousands dead and even more to suffer from physical and emotional scars that would stay with them the rest of their lives.” One of these missionaries, Paul Carlson, had only been in the Congo for two years. As a medical doctor, he had responded to a letter detailing a pressing need in the Congo. Leaving his wife and two children behind, he went; soon becoming convinced of the need, he made a radical commitment. Then came the rebellion. Carlson, who was attending to approximately two hundred patients a day in a remote region, was taken by the rebels and subjected to months of brutal torture before his death.3

Elihu Finishes with a Flourish

Big Idea: Elihu challenges Job to consider the implications that God’s wonders in nature have for his life.

Understanding the Text

In Job 37, Elihu completes his final speech, which he began in chapter 36. Throughout chapter 37 he continues to employ the storm imagery that he started to develop in 36:27, as he uses this vivid language to picture God’s awesome power and majesty. Elihu’s animated description of God’s work in the world of nature anticipates what Yahweh will communicate to Job when he appears in chapter 38. Elihu is a skilled orator who finishes with a brilliant rhetorical flourish. Although Elihu thinks that he speaks for God, Yahweh will speak for himself in chapters 38–41, and in the epilogue he will not refer to what Elihu has said.

Historical and Cultural Background

The storm imagery that Elihu uses in Job 37 was familiar in ancient Near Eastern texts. In the Canaanite myths, Baal is the storm god who thunders at his enemies, and in the Mesopotamian literature Adad plays the same role. In 1 Kings 18, the prophet Elijah stages a contest with the prophets of Baal, in order to demonstrate to the people of Israel that Yahweh is the only true God, who deserves their worship. After the prophets of Baal try but fail to get their god to send a lightning bolt to ignite their sacrifice, Yahweh answers Elijah’s prayer in a dramatic and undeniable fashion. In Psalm 29, a thunderstorm is portrayed as the voice of Yahweh, clearly countering and rejecting the false claims of the adherents of Baal and Adad.

Interpretive Insights

37:1 At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. As Elihu observes God’s mighty display of power in the storm, he has a strong emotional response. This strong rush of adrenaline is similar to what Habakkuk (Hab. 3:6) and the psalmist in Psalm 29 feel as they view the awesome power of God evidenced in the natural world. In 37:8, the storm has a comparable effect on the animals, which scurry to take cover in their dens.

37:5 he does great things beyond our understanding. Earlier, in 36:4, Elihu presumed that he was perfect in knowledge, but here he has to acknowledge that God’s deeds exceed what humans can understand. This naturally prompts a question for the reader: if what God does in the natural world is beyond human understanding, then could not Job’s situation also lie beyond what humans can comprehend? Elihu expresses the theological truth that God’s ways are inscrutable, but he does not seem to grasp the possible implications of what he is saying for Job’s situation. He is moving in the right direction, but he doesn’t take his line of thought far enough.

37:6–13 He brings the clouds to punish people, or to water his earth and show his love. By his inscrutable actions, God accomplishes a variety of purposes. In contrast to the simplistic retribution formula that the friends and Elihu have expounded, there is no single purpose that governs all that God does in the world. Sometimes God acts in order to correct evil, as he did when delivering the people of Israel from bondage in Egypt. Sometimes God acts for the benefit of his creation apart from any human consideration (cf. 38:26). Sometimes God acts out of his loyal love for his people. This range of divine purposes is much broader than the retribution principle will allow, and yet Elihu’s direct entreaty to Job in verse 14 suggests that he believes he knows what God is doing in Job’s particular situation.

37:14 Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders. Once again, Elihu appeals to Job to consider God’s wonders in the natural world. Using the familiar teaching strategy of traditional wisdom (e.g., Prov. 6:6), Elihu calls on Job to observe and be wise. Elihu follows this entreaty with a string of rhetorical questions in verses 15–20 that suggest how little Job really understands of God’s ways and how much he needs to learn. Elihu’s implication is clear: if Job cannot understand God’s dealings in the world of nature, then how can he reasonably expect to comprehend how God works with humans like him? What Elihu fails to consider, however, is that the same question could be posed to him. In his effort to prove that Job cannot understand God’s ways, Elihu has managed to indict himself for the same inability to comprehend what God is doing.

37:16 those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge. Elihu describes God as having total knowledge, and this corresponds to what the psalmist says in Psalm 139:1–6. Elihu, however, has also claimed that he himself is perfect in knowledge (36:4), and that is where he has missed the mark. Elihu does not know all that he thinks he knows. He has criticized Job for speaking beyond what he knows, but Elihu is guilty of doing that very thing as well. Elihu is critical of Job, but he is not critical of himself. In trying to remove the speck from Job’s eye, Elihu has neglected to consider the beam in his own eye (cf. Matt. 7:3).

37:21–22 Now no one can look at the sun. In verses 21–24 Elihu describes the breaking of a storm as the sunlight streams through the clouds. This vivid picture from nature is a fitting illustration of the awesome majesty of God Almighty. Humans are warned against looking at the sun, even during a solar eclipse, because its light is so intense that it can easily cause blindness. In the same way, no human can comprehend the majesty of God. At best, God’s majesty can be glimpsed only in part, because finite humans do not have the ability to understand the full measure of the greatness of God. He is beyond human comprehension.

37:23 The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power. Humans cannot comprehend God in his greatness, and neither can they by their efforts manipulate what God does. They can, however, be certain that God is always just and righteous in his dealings. God, then, does not expect humans to comprehend all that he does, but he does want them to trust him to do what is just and right. With these words, Elihu anticipates—more than he realizes—the conclusion of the book, when Job will acknowledge that he cannot understand God’s ways, and yet he will submit to him (42:2–6).

37:24 Therefore, people revere him. Elihu’s final words in this verse are ambiguous, and various translations have rendered them in disparate ways. The NIV reads the final line in this way: “For does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?” Francis Andersen in his commentary on Job adapts the Septuagint reading: “Surely all wise of heart fear him!”1The general point of the verse is that wise humans will revere God even when they cannot comprehend all that he does. This links back to the statement in 28:28, which affirmed the basic tenet of traditional wisdom, that the fear of the Lord is wisdom (cf. Prov. 9:10; Eccles. 12:13). Being wise does not mean that one knows everything, but that one reveres and trusts the Lord who does know all things perfectly.

Theological Insights

In the ancient world, nature was often regarded as inhabited by a vast range of deities. The Bible is distinct, however, in its insistence that there is only one God, Yahweh, who created the world by himself, and who rules over the world and all that is in it. In the Old Testament, and especially in the wisdom literature, the natural world is one of the contexts in which God reveals himself and his wisdom to humans. Elihu calls upon Job to listen and consider God’s wonders (37:14). In Psalm 8, the psalmist exclaims that the God who has displayed his splendor in nature has also taken thought of humans and placed them in a position of great responsibility in ruling over the works of his hands. The book of Proverbs frequently points out aspects in the natural world that illustrate principles of God’s wisdom. In the New Testament, Jesus uses God’s care of the birds and the flowers as the rationale for trusting him to supply every need rather than being anxious (Matt. 6:25–34).

Teaching the Text

Elihu concludes his speeches with a dramatic description of a thunderstorm. With this image he emphasizes God’s wonders in nature. How God rules in nature, however, also has profound implications for humans like Job. Elihu speaks directly to Job as he urges him to stop and consider God’s wonders. It is one thing to observe God’s power in nature, but quite another to live in the light of that observation. All around us God gives tangible evidence of his greatness, and we need to consider how the great God who has revealed himself in the physical world can fully meet the needs of our lives.

Elihu accurately portrays God as ruling over the natural world in order to accomplish his varied purposes. What God chooses to do cannot be reduced into a single purpose that fits every situation. Rather, sometimes God works in his world in a way that punishes evildoers. Other times he works in the physical world for purposes that do not directly affect humans. Sometimes, God’s actions are intended to bring blessing on humans as the expression of his love and commitment to them. The specific purpose of God in any particular action may well be difficult or even impossible for humans to discern. But we can be confident that what God is doing fits into his overall plan.

Elihu seems firmly convinced that Job is ignorant of God’s ways, so he urges Job to consider God’s wonders. To consider means to think carefully or to meditate on the significance of what God has done. If Job would ponder the rhetorical questions that Elihu has posed to him, he would realize that he does not comprehend how God controls the world of nature. This realization should naturally prompt Job to admit that he does not understand what God is doing in his life either. In the same way, this pattern of thinking will move us in the right direction toward greater trust in God.

In his final words, Elihu states that God’s majesty, as demonstrated in nature, is beyond human reach. When humans like Job recognize God’s transcendence, they should respond to him in reverence. God’s mighty acts should lead humans to respect and fear God all the more. When the book ends in chapter 42, this is precisely what happens in Job’s life, as his fear of Yahweh moves into a deeper level through what he learns about God from his experience of adversity. As James 1:2–8 teaches, trials can develop our faith, just as they do for Job.

Illustrating the Text

God rules over the natural world to accomplish his varied purposes.

Nature: A video clip of the sights and sounds of a vivid thunderstorm would capture the force of the imagery that Elihu describes and get your audience’s attention.

Nature: Storms are most often considered destructive forces, but sometimes they can have marked beneficial effects. For example, the rare storms that come to desert regions can cause flowers to germinate after many years of apparent barrenness. Pictures or videos of a desert in bloom can illustrate 37:13, in which one of God’s purposes for the storm is watering the earth.

Nature: Elihu uses the light of the sun to portray how humans cannot observe the full majesty of God. It is dangerous to view the sun directly, but watching a video of a solar eclipse can provide a good sense of how awe-inspiring the light of the sun is. This natural phenomenon only points to the greater awesomeness of God’s unrivaled power and knowledge. Our response to him should be one of reverential awe and worship.

Elihu is rigid and limiting when he applies God’s rule to humans.

Book: Your God Is Too Small, by J. B. Phillips. Phillips (1906–82) was a British preacher and writer who was encouraged in his writing by C. S. Lewis. In his book Your God Is Too Small (1952), Phillips discusses the various ways in which inadequate views of God are detrimental to people’s spiritual lives. Some of these are seeing God as a policeman, a parental hangover, a grand old man, God-in-a-box, managing director, and so on. Some of these categories fit well the views of God expressed by Elihu and the other friends of Job. The author concludes this book by saying, “We can never have too big a conception of God.”2