The Intervention Of Elihu
Job 32-37

Elihu's Speech To Job's Three Friends

Job 32

• Elihu has been standing in the shadows, giving deference to his older friends. Now that everyone has quit talking, Elihu is ready to step up and show both Job's friends and Job that they are wrong.
• Everyone quit talking, because they knew that Job wouldn't budge. (Job 32:1)
• Elihu, however, was angry with Job for seeming to give himself the credit, instead of directing it to God. (Job 32:2)
• Elihu was was also angry with Job's friends because they continued to to condemn him, even though they could find no way to contridict or refute him. (Job 32:3)
• Elihu had not spoken up to this point because he was younger than all of the others. However, once he realized that no one else had anything to say, his anger was aroused and he spoke up. (Job 32:4-5)
• Elihu says that he had refrained from speaking because he believes that age should speak and teach wisdom, while youth should learn. (Job 32:6-7)
• Elihu says that wisdom does not necessarily come from age, but is giving by God. (Job 32:8-9)
• Elihu announces that he has something to say. (Job 32:10)
• Elihu had remained silent while everyone else was blabbering. He tells Job's friends that they have unfairly accused Job. He reminds everyone that they were unable to disprove Job and prove his arguments wrong. (Job 32:11-12)
• Elihu reprimands Job's friends for claiming to have wisdom when they don't. (Job 32:13)
• Elihu says that now that everyone else has had a say, he has something to say. (Job 32:17-19)
• Elihu seems to think that some important points have been left out and that it is up to him to bring them up. (Job 32:20-22)
• Elihu has much to say and his speech goes uninterrupted. Even though he has criticism for Job, Elihu confines his criticism to quotes from what Job has said. Compare with the behavior of Job's friends, who have been (unfairly) criticising Job's life.
• Elihu is a bit of a mystery man. Commentators have differing opinions about how to treat him. Many commentators regard Elihu as a rather brash young man, full of arrogance and youth, seeking to upstage the older men in their errors. Others simply see him repeating the same arguments of the previous three elders.
• Things to note about Elihu that point to him being a significant character: 1) God does not rebuke Elihu in the end. 2) He has 6 complete chapters devoted to his speech -- the longest of all of the discourses. 3) Unlike the sarcasm of Job's other friends, Elihu always speaks politely to Job. 4) Elihu speaks from revelation (see Job 32:8), not from personal experience.
• Wisdom and understanding can come only from God and God can give it out to whomever he sees fit, young or old.

Elihu's Speech To Job

Job 33

• Elihu turns to Job and tells him to pay attention to everything he says. (33:1-4)
• Notice that Elihu addresses Job by name. He doesn't do that for Job's friends.
• Elihu promises to be honest, impartial, and to give advice from a humble heart.
• Elihu tells Job to answer him and prepare to defend himself. (33:5)
• Elihu points out that he is just like Job before God - a man. (33:6-7)
• Elihu is pointing out several problems with Job's view of God. The first problem is that Job sees God as capricious, acting out of His feelings like people do, according to His mood.
• Elihu reviews Job's claims: that Job is pure and without sin, yet God had found fault with him anyway. (33:8-11)
• In Job 33:11, Elihu is quoting Job almost directly. (See Job 13:27)
• Elihu tells Job that he is wrong, that God is greater than man. Elihu thinks that Job needs to be corrected. (33:12)
• Elihu asks Job why he complains that God doesn't answer when, in fact, God does speak - although not necessarily in ways that man may perceive it. Elihu details some of the ways that God speaks to man. (33:13-22)
• The second problem that Elihu addresses is the matter of the silence of God. We struggle with this one, too: we call it "unanswered prayer." We fail to account for timing and style. Often we don't recognize the answer when it comes. Elihu suggests ways in which ansers might come: dreams, pain.
• There is a lot of biblical support for God speaking to man through dreams.
• Elihu is telling Job that his sufferings are speaking to him - but not in the way that Job's friends are suggesting that the sufferings are speaking to him.
• Elihu speaks of a mediator that can act on man's behalf before God. (33:23-25)
• Elihu's speaking of a mediator echos Job's suppositions from several times earlier in the book.
• Elihu says that when the mediator prays to God, man is restored. (33:26)
• Man goes to other men to say that God has dealt with them kindly - that God didn't give them what they deserved. (33:27-30)
• Elihu emphasizes the importance of the chastening aspect of suffering, which is a point that was only briefly mentioned by Eliphaz (see Job 5:17).
• Even thought Elihu has some important insight on the nature of God and of suffering, he remains ignorant about the true nature of Job's relationship with God.
• Elihu tells Job to be quiet while he teaches Job a lesson. (33:31-33)
• Job's silence indicates that he is ready to listen.

Elihu's Second Speech To Job's Three Friends

Job 34

• Elihu addresses Job's friends and invites them to work with him in determining the facts around Job's situation. (Job 34:1-4)
• Job has claimed innocence yet wonders why God has denied him justice. (Job 34:5-9)
• Part of Job's problem is that he sees God as unjust, unfair, and unwilling to explain what's going on.
• Elihu claims that God does not do evil, that he gives a man what he deserves. (Job 34:10-13)
• No matter how long it may tke, God will do it. He is beyond accountability to man.
• Elihu points out that if God withdrew his spirit, mankind would perish. (Job 34:14-15)
• Elihu continues to describe the fairness of God. (Job 34:16-20)
• Elihu points out that God knows everything and sees everything. God is active in the affairs of mankind. (Job 34:21-28)
• Elihu says that even when God is quiet, it's not man's place to question it. (Job 34:29-30)
• Elihu wonders about how God should treat people when they repent and when they don't repent. He points out that it's a question for God to decide, not man. (Job 34:31-33)
• Elihu claims that Job speaks without knowledge. (Job 34:34-35)
• Elihu harshly criticises Job of rebellion. (Job 34:36-37)
• Elihu's view of God: 1) the Just Rewarder, 2) the Sovereign Authority, 3) the Impartial Ruler, 4) the Omniscient Judge, 5) the Absolute Executor.
• Job is a righteous man, his heart is right, he wants to serve God, but he thinks he can do it by his own efforts. [Missler]
• The toughtest lesson God has to teach us is to see the evil in what we think is nothign but good. Our best is but filthy rags in His sight! It is only our dependence on His gift of righteousness that will ever be acceptable to Him. Here is the struggle of Romans 7 here in the Old Testament. [Missler]
• Remember that it was God who initiated this contest, not Satan. He did it to teach us - you and me - the ugliness of self-righteousness.

Elihu's Second Speech To Job

Job 35-37

• Elihu turns his attention back to Job. (Job 35:1)
• Job has claimed that he will be cleared by God. (Job 35:2)
• At the same time that Job has been maintaining that he would be cleared by God, he wonders whether he gains anything by not sinning. (Job 35:3)
• With the above two statements, note Job's flip-flopping. Elihu thinks that it is unjust and inconsistent for Job to expect vindication from God and at the same time imply that God does not care whether we are righteous. But alowance must be made for a person to express his feelings. The psalmist who thirsted for God (Psalms 42:1-2) also questioned why God had forgotten him (Psalms 42:9) and rejected him (Psalms 43:2). (NIV Study Notes)
• What you do or do not do does not change God or affect Him in any way. God will be God no matter what you do. (Missler)
• Elihu announces that he's going to make a reply. (Job 35:4)
• Elihu directs Job's gaze to the heavens. (Job 35:5)
• Elihu wonders how our sins affect God. (Job 35:6)
• Elihu also wonders how our righteousness affects God. (Job 35:7)
• Elihu says that sins and righteousness only affect other people. (Job 35:8)
• Elihu says that men cry out to God when they need help, but don't recognize him when things are going well - this is arrogance. (Job 35:9-12)
• Elihu states that those like Job who pray for help when suffering innocently never seem to get around to trusting the justice and goodness of their Maker, who is also the author of wisdom and joy (see vv. 10-11). Such a failure is a sign of arrogance (see v. 12), so Job's complaint against God's justice and about God's silence is meaningless talk (see vv.13-16) (NIV Study Bible Notes)
• Men cry for help, but God knows that what they are crying for is merely relief. They want to be delivered from the painful effects of their selfish ways but then be allowed to go back to being selfish. They are simply trying to use God. This is one reason for God's silence. (Missler)
• Because of this arrogance, God doesn't answer. (Job 35:12-13)
• Elihu wonders why God would pay attention to Job when Job's acting in much the same way. (Job 35:14-16)
• Elihu is trying to be gentle, to speak the truth in love. (Missler)
• Elihu continues his speech in chapters 36 and 37, mostly addressing Job.
• Elihu says that there is more to be said on God's behalf. He desires to strengthen the case for God's goodness and justice. (Job 36:2)
• Elihu claims that his words are divinely inspired. (Job 36:3-4)
• God is mighty. (Job 36:5)
• God is just. (Job 36:6-7)
• God tells people of their sins. (Job 36:8-10)
• How does God tell people of their sins? The Holy Spirit.
• Elihu is stating that God uses trouble to gain man's attention. Job 36:10) (NIV Study Bible Notes)
• Depending on how people react to God's prompting, their lives will be good or bad. (Job 36:11-12)
• The godless in heart harbor resentment. (Job 36:13-14)
• God delivers those who suffer from their suffering. (Job 36:15)
• Elihu understands that the basic spiritual need of man stems from his hardness of heart - his refusal to yield to God, to cry out to God in his distress (see Psalms 107), or to hear the voice of God in suffering. (Job 36:13-15) (NIV Study Bible Note)
• Elihu says that God is wooing Job away from the distress that he's currently suffering. (Job 36:16)
• See also Hosea 2:14 for an example of how God brings his people back to himself with tender compassion.
• Elihu notes that Job is laden with the judgment due the wicked. (Job 36:17)
• Elihu warns against being enticed by wealth. (Job 36:18-19)
• Elihu warns against longing for vengance. (Job 36:20-21)
• God is exalted. Elihu points out that no one is a better teacher than God. (Job 36:22-23)
• Elihu reminds Job (and us) to praise God for his mighty works. (Job 36:24-26)
• Elihu describes how rain works and marvels at it's magnificance and mysterry. (Job 36:27-30)
• Elihu shows that God governs the nations the same way he governs the skies. (Job 36:31-33)
• God is beyond man's instruction and understanding.
• Elihu describes God's wonderfulness at length. (Job 37:1-13)
• Elihu asks Job if he can even concieve of the things that God does. (Job 37:14-18)
• Elihu challenges Job to come up with something that he can say to God. (Job 37:19-24)
• "Through the entire Bible, the only man or woman who ever receives anything from God is the one who comes with a humble and contrite heart." (Missler)