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Let Us Learn Together What Is Good
Let Us Learn Together What Is Good Job 34:1-35:16 Key Verse: 34:4 “Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.” Two weeks ago we began to look at the mysterious speech by a young man named Elihu. Elihu is a very unique character in the Bible because he is mentioned nowhere except in chapters 32-37 of the book of Job, where he shows up, gives an uninterrupted speech that rather harshly rebukes Job and then simply disappears. All we know about him is that his name is the only Hebrew name given in the book of Job, his name means either “He is God” or “Yahweh is God,” that he was younger than Job and his three friends and the reason he felt compelled to speak. The reason given for his speech can be found in 32:2-3, “But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.” In his initial speech we saw that Elihu had some very good insight into the heart of God. In 33:14-22 he tells Job that God speaks with people in specific ways, but people don’t perceive it. In verses 23-28 he goes on to give a very accurate account of the gospel. Finally in verses 29 and 30 he explains that God speaks to people in these ways so that they might repent and have the light of life shine on them. I found this part of Elihu’s speech to be amazing, but this week’s part of Elihu’s speech is just as amazing but maybe a little more difficult to accept. This week Elihu really begins to explain why he was angry at Job for justifying himself rather than God. When I first read it, I thought Elihu was being a little harsh on Job, but the more I studied what he said, the more I realized that Elihu has a right view of God and man. Throughout this book it is easy to see the bad theology of Job’s three friends Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar. In their view, if a person is suffering it means that they have some hidden sin that God is punishing, but this is clearly not the case for Job. In chapters one and two we see that God tells Satan twice to consider his servant Job, because there was no one on earth like him. God said that Job was a blameless and upright man who feared God and shunned evil. If God declared Job to be upright and blameless, then it is clear that he was not suffering for some hidden sin. What is more, we know exactly why Job was suffering. God was not causing Job to suffer, God was using Job to win a great victory over Satan. It was Satan who was causing all the suffering. This is what Job just didn’t understand. However, in Job’s mind, God was absolutely sovereign, and therefore, if he were suffering, God must somehow be the cause. In all of the speeches that Job gave, he kept saying that he was blameless and that he needed to bring his case before God so that God could see his innocence. This sounds perfectly correct from our human point of view. However, this view of God and man is also not quite correct, because it implies a few things about God that Job had no right in assuming. First, it implied that God did not hear Job’s plea or see the situation that Job was in. Elihu corrects this in this speech. Secondly, in Job’s way of thinking, he was being unfairly treated by God because he was suffering even though he had led a blameless or upright life. This is basically assuming that God was making a mistake. Elihu also addresses this mistaken idea in this speech. Today’s speech by Elihu seems rather harsh. Parts of it are fairly difficult to understand and even more difficult to accept. One thing that kept coming back to my mind was God’s words at the end of this book. In those closing words, God rebukes Job (using a line of reasoning that is very similar to Elihu’s in next week’s speech) and God rebukes Job’s three friends, but God did not rebuke Elihu for what he said. After a lot of prayer and study, I came to the conclusion that God didn’t rebuke Elihu because what he says is actually most in agreement with God’s way. Let’s listen to what Elihu has to say. Elihu begins this part of his speech by addressing Job and his three friends, but he does it in a rather interesting way. He calls them wise men and men of learning. It almost sounds as if Elihu is being sarcastic – remember that Elihu’s anger at Job and his three friends is what inspired this speech and if this is true he must have thought that what they had to say was not so wise. In fact, by the end of chapter 34, Elihu says that Job had answered like a wicked man and by the end of 35 he says that Job was basically talking like a fool opening his mouth with empty talk and without knowledge. So, I’m not really sure how we should look at this address to these men. In verse 4 he gets to the point. Let’s look at verse 4. “Let us discern for ourselves what is right; let us learn together what is good.” Learning together with others is always a good thing, because sometimes the way we look at things might seem right to us, but then someone when else sees and explains things a little differently, suddenly what we thought was right turns out not to be true. I think this is a good case in point. As I have stated time and time again the theology of Job’s three friends was clearly not right, however it is not so easy to see how Job’s theology is also not quite right. However, if we put his words and thoughts alongside Elihu’s and consider what we know about why Job was suffering we begin to see that there is indeed something that appears to be not quite right about Job’s theology. Elihu also states that he wants to learn together what is good. Now we must remember that what is good may not necessarily be what we want to hear. In this case, I found that what was good was certainly not what Job wanted to hear and, quite frankly, a lot of it is certainly not what I wanted to hear either. Look at verses 5-7. Elihu starts with Job's own words. “Job says, ‘I am innocent, but God denies me justice. Although I am right, I am considered a liar; although I am guiltless, his arrow inflicts an incurable wound.’” These are of course, a paraphrase of Job’s actual words, but they are fairly accurate and they convey the essential meaning of Job’s argument. If we look really carefully at what Elihu says that Job is saying something very disturbing jumps out. Job claims that he is innocent, but God is denying him justice and even though he is guiltless God’s arrows are inflicting an incurable wound. What Job is essentially saying is that God is wrong. Elihu attributes Job’s words to the fact that he keeps company with evildoers and associates with the wicked. This probably wasn’t what Job’s three friends wanted to hear since these three friends were probably the closest to Job and therefore he was probably most associated with them. However, as we have seen, their theology was clearly wrong and perhaps Elihu thought that this may have influenced Job over the years. Still, if we think about it, we all keep company with evildoers and associate with the wicked, because this is the nature of all men – we are all fallen. The Bible says that no one is righteous, we have all gone astray. This is simply another way of saying that we are all evil doers. However, I think that Elihu was using these words to emphasize just how much Job’s words had upset him. What did Job say that was so bad? Well, whatever it was, I don’t think that it was what Elihu said Job said in verse 9. “For he says, ‘There is no profit in trying to please God.’” I looked, but I could not find where Job said this. In chapter 24, Job did point out that he saw the wicked prospering and he wondered why God didn’t set times of judgement for them, but I could find nowhere where Job said “There is no profit in trying to please God.” It is in verses 10-15 that Elihu gets to the foundation of his argument. If we look at these verses carefully, in the complete context of Elihu’s speech, we can see that at the heart of his argument is justifying God and not Job – this is exactly opposite of why he was angry with Job. In this I found the logical consistency of Elihu, where everyone else’s logic in this book seemed to be lacking. However logically consistent Elihu is, what he says may not be what we want to hear, but I do believe that it is right and it is good, which is what we have set out to learn according to our key verse. Let’s take a closer look at verses 10-15. In verse 10, Elihu says, “Far be it for God to do evil, from the Almighty to do wrong.” Job had implied that by denying an innocent man justice and inflicting a guiltless man with an incurable wound that God was doing something that was not right, maybe even evil. In verse 11, it sounds as if Elihu is falling back on the theology of the Job’s three friends, but this is not necessarily the case. I think Elihu’s vision is much farther out than Job’s three friends. They talked only about present suffering being caused by God punishing evildoers, but I think Elihu is talking about the ultimate justice of God. Anyway, in verse 12 he goes back to his main theme when he says, “It is unthinkable that God would do wrong, that the Almighty would pervert justice.” In verses 13-15 Elihu talks about the greatness of God and his abundant grace that actually gives all of us life. When I read these verses carefully, I can really see that of all the people in this book, only Elihu really seems to grasp the immensity, awesomeness and absolute transcendence of God. In simple English, what Elihu is saying here is that God is so great that he cannot make a mistake or do anything wrong and it is by His grace alone that we are even living here. This is the foundation of Elihu’s message and I can see no way of arguing against it. However, that has some very deep consequences for how we, as God’s creatures, should view Him, the world around us and our own lives. Let's look and see what Elihu has to say about this. In verses 16-20 Elihu is basically saying that God is so great, that for him there is no difference between the king on the mightiest throne and the poorest beggar in the street. God does what he wants with people, and He judges the greatest and the least alike. Why? Simply because he created all of them. He created them, and he created them exactly how he wanted to create them. God didn’t make a mistake when he created anyone. A person’s situation in life in not a mistake by God; it is exactly according to his plan. I have said many times that God didn’t cause Job’s suffering. God didn’t cause the suffering, Satan did, but it was all a part of God’s perfect plan to win a victory over Satan. God simply doesn’t make mistakes. This means that we can never blame God for anything. In fact, it means just the opposite and Paul got it exactly right when he said, “Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” No circumstance that you ever find yourself in is ever God’s fault, meaning you can never blame him for it. Instead, it is all part of God’s perfect plan for your life. This is often very hard to understand, let alone accept. In verses 21-30 Elihu emphasizes God’s greatness when it comes to judging people. God is always watching us. There is nowhere we can hide from Him. He has seen everything every one of us has ever done. Now I want you to remember that everyone one of us is a sinner. We have all done something that has cut us off from God and he has seen it. He has no reason to call us to trial and ask us questions. This is exactly what Job was asking for. A trial, so that he could bring his case to God and prove his innocence. But if he proved his own innocence wouldn’t he then be proving that God was wrong for afflicting him. Elihu says that God doesn’t even need to question Job because he has already seen the sin that Job has committed. I have no idea what that sin might be, and in fact, according to this book God must have already forgiven Job of whatever it was because not once, but twice, God called Job blameless and upright. Having said that, Elihu’s logic still holds. Why? The Bible teaches us that all human beings are sinners. Job was a human being. Therefore job was a sinner. God saw that sin, and although he forgave it, that sin was enough to condemn Job. In verses 31 and 32, Elihu talks about a person who repents before God and then asks God to teach him/her God’s way so they won’t fall back into sin. But verse 33 suddenly goes back to Job. In Elihu’s view Job has never acknowledge his sin and repented so Elihu asks why Job should expect God to do anything for him. Elihu leaves this question with Job to decide. If Job wants to hold onto his own righteousness that is up to him, but even if he is righteous before God, why should he expect God to reward him for that? This is a very interesting question. Should we ever expect God to do more for us than He already has? Just take a moment to think about what God has already done for you. Why would he even do that? Should we really expect more? Elihu ends chapter 34 by basically saying that Job has been speaking without wisdom or knowledge and that instead of the suffering he was enduring, he should be suffering much more. In Elihu’s mind, Job is not only speaking wickedly, but he is also acting rebelliously toward God. This was very hard for me to accept, because I want to side with Job, a man who God called upright and blameless. However, I think I must side with Elihu, because in the end, God rebukes Job for his words, but he does not rebuke Elihu. In Chapter 35, Elihu really rebukes Job. Look at verse 2. “Do you think this is just? You say, ‘I am in the right, not God.” As I’ve said above, this is a paraphrase, but essentially it is what Job is saying. In this chapter, Elihu shows why Job’s argument not only is not just, but why it simply doesn’t make sense. In verse 5 he tells Job to do something very simple. This is something that God told Abram to do in Genesis 15. God told Abram to “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” God told Abram to do this to show him the greatness of God and of God’s promise. Elihu told Job to do this simply so that he could consider the greatness of God. God created everything we see up in the heavens. Scientist now say that we can see galaxies that emitted their light some 13 billion years ago, so this light has been traveling for longer than we can imagine, faster than we can imagine just to reach us now. Well if you do a little math (and you know how faced the universe is accelerating into something) you can figure out that those galaxies which gave off light 13 billion years ago that just reached us today are now about 46 billion light years away. Well, the God who created you and I created all of that. So Elihu asks Job, “What does your righteousness or your sinfulness do to God. Elihu’s simple answer to that question is nothing at all. Our sinfulness and our righteousness can surely affect our neighbor’s, but does this really affect God? I had to struggle with this for a while as well, but Elihu’s answer must be correct. Although God created us for his glory, my existence or nonexistence cannot do anything to increase or decrease the infinite glory of God. Therefore, the way I live my life can’t effect that glory either. However, that does not mean that we should go around living anyway we see fit. The Bible is also clear that God created us for himself and for a purpose or mission. Likewise, when we accept Jesus we are born again as the children of God to complete his mission in this generation. That mission is to bring the Gospel to the ends of the earth. In verse 9-14, Elihu speaks about when and why people cry out to God. In verse 9, he says that people cry out to God when they are under a load of oppression and he contrasts this with verses 10-11, when people don’t think about God when things are going well. Once again, I was struck by Elihu’s insight into the human condition. In verses 12-13 he explains that God doesn’t appear to answer men because of man’s pride. If we go back to chapter 33 we hear Elihu telling Job that God does speak to men in specific ways to help men repent and live in the light of life. But in that chapter he says that no one perceives what God is saying, here he gives us the reason why no one perceives it – we are proud. On brilliant Bible scholar compared God speaking to radio waves. He said it is like God is speaking using FM waves but because of our pride we are trying to listen to Him using the AM band. God’s speaking is out there, we just can’t hear him because we have our radios tuned to the wrong station. Elihu says that Job will not hear God’s answer to his plea because of his own arrogance. Job himself said that he could not find God and although he had brought his plea before God he simply had to wait because he didn’t see God punishing or taking any notice of the wicked people in his generation. So Elihu’s conclusion in verse 16 is very harsh. He says, “So Job opens his mouth with empty talk; without knowledge he multiplies words.” We must remember that Elihu was younger than Job and in that culture younger people didn’t speak to their elders like this. It would be as if one of my students said, “Mr. Damon you are a fool. You know nothing about English or how to teach it. Your words are nothing but empty babbling.” Job had already taking a lot of abuse and accusations from his friends who had come to comfort him, now he had to take the harshest from this young man. When I first read Elihu’s words, I thought they were too harsh and that somehow they just weren’t quite right. But after considerable study and prayer, and especially after reading God’s closing remarks, I can’t really find anything wrong with what Elihu says here. God is far greater than any of us and everything he does is just and good. We have absolutely no right to complain or blame him for our own situation. These are very difficult words to accept, but I think we need to deeply reflect on them and accept, like Elihu, that God must be justified above all else. |
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