1/16/10
Job 32-34
Elihu Rebukes Job’s Friends
Job 32:1 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became angry. He was angry at Job because he justified himself rather than God; 3 he was angry also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, though they had declared Job to be in the wrong. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job, because they were older than he. 5 But when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouths of these three men, he became angry.
6 Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite answered:
and you are aged;
therefore I was timid and afraid
to declare my opinion to you.
7 I said, ‘Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.’
8 But truly it is the spirit in a mortal,
the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding.
9 It is not the old that are wise,
nor the aged that understand what is right.
10 Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;
let me also declare my opinion.’
11 “See, I waited for your words,
I listened for your wise sayings,
while you searched out what to say.
12 I gave you my attention,
but there was in fact no one that confuted Job,
no one among you that answered his words.
13 Yet do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;
God may vanquish him, not a human.’
14 He has not directed his words against me,
and I will not answer him with your speeches.
15 “They are dismayed, they answer no more;
they have not a word to say.
16 And am I to wait, because they do not speak,
because they stand there, and answer no more?
17 I also will give my answer;
I also will declare my opinion.
18 For I am full of words;
the spirit within me constrains me.
19 My heart is indeed like wine that has no vent;
like new wineskins, it is ready to burst.
20 I must speak, so that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21 I will not show partiality to any person
or use flattery toward anyone.
22 For I do not know how to flatter—
or my Maker would soon put an end to me!
Elihu Rebukes Job
and listen to all my words.
2 See, I open my mouth;
the tongue in my mouth speaks.
3 My words declare the uprightness of my heart,
and what my lips know they speak sincerely.
4 The spirit of God has made me,
and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 Answer me, if you can;
set your words in order before me; take your stand.
6 See, before God I am as you are;
I too was formed from a piece of clay.
7 No fear of me need terrify you;
my pressure will not be heavy on you.
8 “Surely, you have spoken in my hearing,
and I have heard the sound of your words.
9 You say, ‘I am clean, without transgression;
I am pure, and there is no iniquity in me.
10 Look, he finds occasions against me,
he counts me as his enemy;
11 he puts my feet in the stocks,
and watches all my paths.’
12 “But in this you are not right. I will answer you:
God is greater than any mortal.
13 Why do you contend against him,
saying, ‘He will answer none of my words’?
14 For God speaks in one way,
and in two, though people do not perceive it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on mortals,
while they slumber on their beds,
16 then he opens their ears,
and terrifies them with warnings,
17 that he may turn them aside from their deeds,
and keep them from pride,
18 to spare their souls from the Pit,
their lives from traversing the River.
19 They are also chastened with pain upon their beds,
and with continual strife in their bones,
20 so that their lives loathe bread,
and their appetites dainty food.
21 Their flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen;
and their bones, once invisible, now stick out.
22 Their souls draw near the Pit,
and their lives to those who bring death.
23 Then, if there should be for one of them an angel,
a mediator, one of a thousand,
one who declares a person upright,
24 and he is gracious to that person, and says,
‘Deliver him from going down into the Pit;
I have found a ransom;
25 let his flesh become fresh with youth;
let him return to the days of his youthful vigor’;
26 then he prays to God, and is accepted by him,
he comes into his presence with joy,
and God repays him for his righteousness.
27 That person sings to others and says,
‘I sinned, and perverted what was right,
and it was not paid back to me.
28 He has redeemed my soul from going down to the Pit,
and my life shall see the light.’
29 “God indeed does all these things,
twice, three times, with mortals,
30 to bring back their souls from the Pit,
so that they may see the light of life.
31 Pay heed, Job, listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
32 If you have anything to say, answer me;
speak, for I desire to justify you.
33 If not, listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”
Elihu Proclaims God’s Justice
Job 34:1 Then Elihu continued and said:
and give ear to me, you who know;
3 for the ear tests words
as the palate tastes food.
4 Let us choose what is right;
let us determine among ourselves what is good.
5 For Job has said, ‘I am innocent,
and God has taken away my right;
6 in spite of being right I am counted a liar;
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
7 Who is there like Job,
who drinks up scoffing like water,
8 who goes in company with evildoers
and walks with the wicked?
Elihu was a friend of Job’s. That means he knows Job. So he knows what he says is not true, but because the force of his argument (his theology) is more important than his relationship with Job, and because his mind cannot come to grips with the possibility that what Job is saying might be true, he fabricates to prove his point. Polemics has not changed. Caricature painting is almost always to the extreme. No one is that good and no one is that bad. It is our universal this or that, either or thinking, the Drama Triangle Katie Skurgia calls it. Over and over his protractors tried to catch our Lord in the either-or, but Jesus never entered the Drama Triangle, never succumbed to our two dimensional, yes or no thinking. I heard Dallas Willard say you can’t have gray without black and white. Reality, absolute truth, which some say does not exist, exists beyond the black or white, either or, yes or no of our understanding. Maybe when our relational understanding comes into focus and we learn to see beyond ourselves God will open our eyes to the other. Maybe we will never get a glimpse of absolute truth until the person we are looking at is more important than the person doing the looking.
to take delight in God.’
10 “Therefore, hear me, you who have sense,
far be it from God that he should do wickedness,
and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
11 For according to their deeds he will repay them,
and according to their ways he will make it befall them.
12 Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
13 Who gave him charge over the earth
and who laid on him the whole world?
14 If he should take back his spirit to himself,
and gather to himself his breath,
15 all flesh would perish together,
and all mortals return to dust.
16 “If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17 Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn one who is righteous and mighty,
18 who says to a king, ‘You scoundrel!’
and to princes, ‘You wicked men!’;
19 who shows no partiality to nobles,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
20 In a moment they die;
at midnight the people are shaken and pass away,
and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
If justice were immediate you and I would never have been born because Adam and Eve would have been zapped with the first sin. If God decided to apply absolute justice right now our human breath would be removed; mine, yours, everyone. Still, we persist in protesting for justice every time we are injured, insulted, overlooked. I do believe there are natural laws and spiritual laws. Do this and do that and you get this, but in the spiritual it is not speaking a chant, performing a rite, keeping the classical disciplines. These are all helpful, but it is our attitude, our posture, our relationship to the Holy of Holy that empowers what we do, identifies who we are and brings meaning to our life through our relationships with others. What are the sacraments if we have no relationship with God? What is all of this brother and sister talk if there is no relationship? It is only talk.
and he sees all their steps.
22 There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.
23 For he has not appointed a time for anyone
to go before God in judgment.
24 He shatters the mighty without investigation,
and sets others in their place.
25 Thus, knowing their works,
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
26 He strikes them for their wickedness
while others look on,
27 because they turned aside from following him,
and had no regard for any of his ways,
28 so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
and he heard the cry of the afflicted—
29 When he is quiet, who can condemn?
When he hides his face, who can behold him,
whether it be a nation or an individual?—
30 so that the godless should not reign,
or those who ensnare the people.
31 “For has anyone said to God,
‘I have endured punishment; I will not offend any more;
32 teach me what I do not see;
if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
33 Will he then pay back to suit you,
because you reject it?
For you must choose, and not I;
therefore declare what you know.
34 Those who have sense will say to me,
and the wise who hear me will say,
35 ‘Job speaks without knowledge,
his words are without insight.’
36 Would that Job were tried to the limit,
because his answers are those of the wicked.
Elihu wearies me. Here he is like the disciples who wanted to call down fire from heaven and destroy those who had done them a seeming injustice. Maybe if I look at Elihu long enough I will see myself. It is easy to see why people don’t want to read the Bible. The ancient priest stared into a brazen lavar to see himself, to prepare himself before entering the presence of God. Now we have the Bible, a looking glass revealing what we want kept hidden, revealing it only to ourselves so we can take care of our attitude before we enter God’s presence and before we enter the presence of others. Yep, it is much easier to watch TV, at least for me.
he claps his hands among us,
and multiplies his words against God.”