Job 32:1-22
Young Elihu Speaks
1 So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. 3 He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him. 4 Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he. 5 But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused.
6 So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said:
“I am young in years,
and you are old;
that is why I was fearful,
not daring to tell you what I know.
7 I thought, ‘Age should speak;
advanced years should teach wisdom.’
8 But it is the spirit in a man,
the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
9 It is not only the old who are wise,
not only the aged who understand what is right.
10 “Therefore I say: Listen to me;
I too will tell you what I know.
11 I waited while you spoke,
I listened to your reasoning;
while you were searching for words,
12 I gave you my full attention.
But not one of you has proved Job wrong;
none of you has answered his arguments.
13 Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom;
let God refute him, not man.’
14 But Job has not marshaled his words against me,
and I will not answer him with your arguments.
15 “They are dismayed and have no more to say;
words have failed them.
16 Must I wait, now that they are silent,
now that they stand there with no reply?
17 I too will have my say;
I too will tell what I know.
18 For I am full of words,
and the spirit within me compels me;
19 inside I am like bottled-up wine,
like new wineskins ready to burst.
20 I must speak and find relief;
I must open my lips and reply.
21 I will show partiality to no one,
nor will I flatter any man;
22 for if I were skilled in flattery,
my Maker would soon take me away.
Job 33:1-33
Young Elihu Continues
1 “But now, Job, listen to my words;
pay attention to everything I say.
2 I am about to open my mouth;
my words are on the tip of my tongue.
3 My words come from an upright heart;
my lips sincerely speak what I know.
4 The Spirit of God has made me;
the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
5 Answer me then, if you can;
prepare yourself and confront me.
6 I am just like you before God;
I too have been taken from clay.
7 No fear of me should alarm you,
nor should my hand be heavy upon you.
8 “But you have said in my hearing—
I heard the very words—
9 ‘I am pure and without sin;
I am clean and free from guilt.
10 Yet God has found fault with me;
he considers me his enemy.
11 He fastens my feet in shackles;
he keeps close watch on all my paths.’
12 “But I tell you, in this you are not right,
for God is greater than man.
13 Why do you complain to him
that he answers none of man’s words?
14 For God does speak—now one way, now another—
though man may not perceive it.
15 In a dream, in a vision of the night,
when deep sleep falls on men
as they slumber in their beds,
16 he may speak in their ears
and terrify them with warnings,
17 to turn man from wrongdoing
and keep him from pride,
18 to preserve his soul from the pit,
his life from perishing by the sword.
19 Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain
with constant distress in his bones,
20 so that his very being finds food repulsive
and his soul loathes the choicest meal.
21 His flesh wastes away to nothing,
and his bones, once hidden, now stick out.
22 His soul draws near to the pit,
and his life to the messengers of death.
23 “Yet if there is an angel on his side
as a mediator, one out of a thousand,
to tell a man what is right for him,
24 to be gracious to him and say,
‘Spare him from going down to the pit;
I have found a ransom for him’—
25 then his flesh is renewed like a child’s;
it is restored as in the days of his youth.
26 He prays to God and finds favor with him,
he sees God’s face and shouts for joy;
he is restored by God to his righteous state.
27 Then he comes to men and says,
‘I sinned, and perverted what was right,
but I did not get what I deserved.
28 He redeemed my soul from going down to the pit,
and I will live to enjoy the light.’
29 “God does all these things to a man—
twice, even three times—
30 to turn back his soul from the pit,
that the light of life may shine on him.
31 “Pay attention, Job, and listen to me;
be silent, and I will speak.
32 If you have anything to say, answer me;
speak up, for I want you to be cleared.
33 But if not, then listen to me;
be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”
Job and all his friends are believers in God...All try to follow His ways...Job, nor none of his friends know that God had allowed the devil to cause Job his suffering...Job was not in misery because of a sin, according to the story of Job...He was suffering because God allows the devil to affect Job's health...From what we are told early in that God tells the evil one that Job is blameless and upright...Job is a man that fears God and shuns evil...Job everyday tried to be perfect and good...
Job's older friends had stopped talking and answering Job and his questions for God...Now Elihu, son of Barakel the Buzite became very angry...His friends were not convincing enough...Elihu is the youngest of Job's friends...He politely waits and lets the older friends speak first...He thought that age should first, and age would show its wisdom...Elihu was angry that Job claimed to have done no sin, and that God was unfairly punishing him...Job claims throughout that God has no reason to punish him...Elihu tells the group that they have not in any way have been able to refute Job...Job's older two friends had failed to refute what Job was saying...Elihu in defending God, would not concede that Job was actually innocent...So now it was his turn to correct Job with his words...Elihu very much has waited and wants to speak and says that he is full of words that are like a bottled-up like wine, in new wine skins ready to burst...
We have heard from the three friends of Job, and they make good, strong traditional arguments for Job's suffering...Elihu was fearful to speak because he was young... He had hoped that his two other friends would have more to say about Job saying he was pure and without sin -and that he was clean and clear from guilt...He was fearful to speak because he was young, but he should be fearful of God...
Elihu tells us that it is in the spirit of man and from the breath of the Almighty that gives us understanding...It is not only the elders who are wise, and it is not only the elders who understand what is right...Elihu tries to teach Job and us that God does these things to man, like suffering, two and sometimes three times to discipline us of our sins...But we are told early on that God says there is no one on earth like Job...And Job's regular custom was to honor God with sacrifice, and tried to keep sin away from his family and himself...Job knew God...Job sought out God...Job feared God...Job was trying hard to please God...
Job, throughout The Book of Job, is basically asking why does good things happen to bad people?...Why does God allow this suffering?...Why is God allowing my suffering?...First, it is because God is Almighty and is Infinitely Superior to us...And we know from the very start of The Book of Job is that God allows his suffering...After reading Job many times, this is a reason to fear God...We can try and try to be perfect and the best before God...Our Great Saints tried very hard...But we all fall short of Him, because He alone is perfect...Fear is also a reason, albeit an unusual reason, to follow God...The idea of following God because He allows suffering was one I had not really thought about, but also I do not like to focus on suffering...Following God out of fear, out of the dread of suffering, or knowing that my sins separate from Him, and makes some sense to me after reading the New Testament...No matter how good Job or we are, we are sinners...Are only hope is to believe in the One He sent...God sent Jesus to die for us...Jesus knew His whole life when He would die, and what for...He would die for us...The One who came, was not for the righteous, but for the sinner (Matthew 9:13)...We have God's grace, of giving us a Savior, known as Christ our LORD for our suffering and our fear...