Job Session Four

Before we move on to Session Four, let's review what we've learned and thought about in the previous sessions. Take a moment to refresh your memory on the key points: Job's character; what God and the narrator said about him; the bet between God and Satan; Job's lament; what Job's three friends said about him, his suffering, and what he should do to regain his good life; and Job's response to all this.

Elihu is said to be young; some believe he may in fact be in his teen years. This may explain his attitude of having great crystallization of thought, of being able to see things so clearly, unlike his elders. Given that, I thought it would be good to reflect on that rocky yet oh-so-cocky-confident time of life.

What were you like as a teen?

Teenagers today... [fill in the blank]?

Take a few minutes to think these over on your own or discuss with others, and then write down your answers.

Elihu speaks for six chapters, from chapter 32 to 37. I recommend reading through the chapters once before commencing this session, just to get a feel for the guy. I'll be giving specific verse readings to highlight his content and my points.

Elihu though young has a good background. According to the notes in the HarperCollins study bible, he is the son of Barachel, the Buzite. Buz was a son of Abraham's brother Nahor (Genesis 22:21). The name Barachel means "El blesses" or "bless El." and Elihu means "He is my God."

Unlike the three friends, Elihu has been paying attention to what each person has said. He has been sitting quietly, so quietly that we the reader didn't even know he was there during all the time that the three and Job were talking. I wonder how many others are sitting there listening to this conversation. But I digress. Elihu states that no one has confuted Job (to prove him wrong) and they have not answered his words. (32:12) That frustrates Elihu; he's been waiting for someone to be able to answer Job about the reason for his suffering, but they could not as
they had not been listening to Job, only to the traditional ideas and to their own words.

So Elihu tells everyone that he has been listening to Job. One would thus think that being a self-proclaimed good listener, Elihu would hear Job's pain and have compassion on him, enough to really think about what Job has said. After all, Job's faith has delivered unto him suffering and pain.

Unfortunately, Elihu does not hear too well. He too is constrained by the traditional ideas written down in Deutoronomy 28, of who is blessed and who is cursed (notice the parallels between the blessings and the curses). These blessings and curses apply to the whole nation, but what the friends and Elihu don't seem to see is that it is possible that within a nation enjoying blessings from God, an individual can innocently suffer curses. And it is also possible that when God brings curses down on the nation, an individual is being blessed.

Elihu also believes God will not answer Job directly. That's why he piped up and butted in before God could speak.

One thing almost every reader notices is how wordy Elihu is. In our comparison between Zophar and Elihu saying that they must speak and Job must listen, Elihu took many verses to say what Zophar said in one. Elihu speaks like that throughout the whole of his very long, uninterrupted speeches. In the first seven verses of Chapter 33, he gives us no new information, and he takes awhile to get started. He also reflects in 33:3 the idea too often repeated by friends to sufferers that he has good intentions, as if that will excuse the harsh words to follow. Often with windbags, people become too weary and eyes­-glazed­-over to interrupt plus it is rather difficult to interrupt someone in love with their own words, who've been bursting to speak, and who now that they have the opportunity, aren't about to cede the floor to anyone, running their words so closely together, even the most motivated person finds it darn near difficult to edge in. Kind of like that sentence.

Some wonder if Elihu was a later insert into the Book of Job because the friends and Job do not answer him and later God does not speak to him either. But I contend it would've been difficult for the three and for Job to interrupt his flow of verbiage and by the time he finished, they would've been comatose, just like anyone who experiences the long­-windedness of a windbag. Also, don't forget, Job has rested.

He has said everything he has to say and isn't about to speak just to repeat himself, not even to God as we find out. He is suffering greatly and has no energy left to do that. Repetition is only for the energetic, healthy, and hope­-filled who believe that repeating themselves will result in something different from their listener. Job is wise in knowing that's not going to happen.

The friends are also kaput. As the narrator said in 32:1, they ceased to speak because "Job was righteous in his own eyes." They are showing some sense in realising at last that they're not about to move him. Elihu shows no such wisdom. He believes his words, in content and number will sway Job. For, in his own words, he is perfect, he has the understanding and knowledge needed to answer Job: "But truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty, that makes for understanding." (32:8) "The spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life." (33:4) "Bear with me a little, and I will show you, for I have yet something to say on God's behalf. I will bring my knowledge from far away, and ascribe righteousness to my Maker. For truly my words are not false; one who is perfect in knowledge is with you." (36:2­4)

Have you ever been fooled by a salesperson? Seen how they sidetrack you from your cogent point back to their script so that it takes a great effort of concentration to remember your point and come back to it? And also how hard they make it to interject a skeptical word? Have you noticed how confident they, and their counterparts politicians, are, how that confidence pulls you into agreement with them? And then how they give you no time to think so that you're caught up in the moment, in their enthusiasm, and that if you want a second to think, that there's something wrong with you? Elihu is rather like that.

Job's three friends had argued that Job was suffering for a reason. They asserted that only the wicked suffer, that the innocent do not. Thus Job's suffering was proof of his wickedness, his sin, his need to repent. On top of that, they said that Job is of no consequence in God's eyes, so why would his righteous acts be of any account (22:30). Their arguments got more outrageous as they started to accuse Job of acts which we know he could not have done since God had declared him blameless and upright.

But Elihu has already emerged as a complex character, a young person who listened to all of them and kept quiet until they were finished speaking. He rebukes the friends for being unable to answer Job and accuses them of having no wise words. This declaration sets us up to expect wiser, more nuanced arguments. Like the friends when they first sat silently in solidarity with Job, Elihu seems to begin also in solidarity, declaring to Job that he too "was formed from a piece of clay." (32:6).

But unlike the friends, he spends virtually no time in solidarity with Job. He goes straight from that sympathetic statement to quoting Job and then saying he is wrong. He talks at length about how wrong Job is, and he pounds the pulpit on his weak points to make them look strong, as when he dresses up Eliphaz's point about spirits (a no-no in the ancient Jewish culture) with kosher-sounding words. See Eliphaz in 4:12­ to 21 vs. Elihu in 33:15­ to 28)

Elihu says the same things as the friends but in more words, with more poetry and in a more convincing way. So it doesn't sound quite the same; or in his mouth, the trite ideas sound right. Yet we know the friends were off base. So if they are not right, why would he be?

There is a science in the art of persuasion. Some have this gift naturally; some take several-hour-long workshops to learn how to persuade their listeners to their point of view in 2 minutes. Some of the tips they learn: (1) Speak "I". (2) Speak in feeling language. (3) Disarm with humour, maybe a smile. (4) Make your point quickly, repeat it, and allow no distractions. How does Elihu stack up in this art of persuasion?

The other thing that makes Elihu dangerous is his complex character. Like most of us, he gets some things right. He talks of the wonder of Creation, the rain, the thunder of God's voice, the whirlwind. He says he has listened to Job, a courtesy any good person gives to another in pain. He is in tune with theology, with what we in general believe is true, so that when he throws in an outrageous lie, we may see it as truth instead. Seeing it as a lie may set up cognitive dissonance in us -- makes us squirm with discomfort at the thought that this earnest, young man who speaks so well of God would willingly or unwittingly confuse us and lead us down the wrong path. But when one starts parting the verbiage and seeing the words themselves, to look at how he's actually perceiving Job's suffering, one realises that Elihu hasn't got much right. But because he did get some things right, particularly talking of the thunder of God's voice and the whirlwind, he's able to persuade many readers that the rest of what he says must be right.

The three friends were easy to put in a box, to predict what they would say and thus easier to see where they're going and put our defenses up or to really think about they're saying. But you can't put Elihu in a box. He's all over the place, in a way. That also makes it harder to see the lies hidden in the truths he speaks. When someone gets some stuff right, and when they can make things sound plausible, then we tend to accept the rest, or most of the rest, of what they say as being right. We tend to stop listening with an astute ear and simply listen uncritically. That's what happens as we read Elihu, and it doesn't help that his windy words also tend to lull us into no longer hearing exactly what he's saying.

Various people have looked at Elihu from different perspectives to try and discern if he's in sync with God or as off track as the three friends. Anna Carter Florence preaches that Elihu's youth discounts him from being taken seriously by most people. She says he interrupted an adult conversation, and since adults don't like being interrupted by impertinent youth, that's why he's discounted. But that's not true, for the narrator said that Job had rested and that the three had nothing further to say. No interruption there. I do believe that his youth is why God did not rebuke him like he did the friends. Since he was arguing against Job for essentially the same reasons as the three and God rebuked them, then we can assume God has the same thoughts about Elihu. Why then did He not speak to Elihu? God knows his power, He knows how intimidating an adult can be to a youth; if God had rebuked Elihu, that would have done much more harm to him than to the adults. As hard as it is on adults when God tells them off, it's so much worse for sensitive, emotionally fraught teens. Furthermore as a young person, he's not considered as fully responsible for his words as adults are for theirs. God did Elihu a mercy not to speak to him but to allow him the Grace to learn from what He said to the three. That's one idea. Another is that Elihu ends with the words, "[God] does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit." Elihu was referring to Job, but as he had declared himself "perfect" that statement reflects Elihu perfectly. And so God fulfilled it. And lastly, maybe God is fed up too with listening to Elihu!

Larry J. Waters is another proponent for Elihu, while Matthew Lynch does a phonetic rhetoric study of Elihu's copious words and suggests that Elihu's speeches are the climax of Job's ordeal and that it depicts Elihu as oblivious to his own verbosity and to the affect he has on a man longing to hear from God.

Elihu suggests that Job was asking what advantage he has being innocent over if he had sinned and answers that by saying that sinning would net Job nothing as his sins have zero effect on God, just as his righteousness has no effect either. We know that's wrong because it's Job's righteousness tied up in his integrity that God is relying on to win his bet with Satan. Furthermore, Job had already answered that question when he declared that the ways of the wicked are repugnant to him as they devoid themselves of a relationship with God. Just how closely was Elihu listening to Job anyway?

Elihu accuses Job of being obsessed with the case of the wicked and that justice has seized him. Yet God is very concerned about justice here on earth, and even though He seems to bless the wicked, He is much concerned with ensuring His people don't fall into their ways. God works with us to further justice on earth, to espouse the case of goodness, to help the lost and vulnerable. Zoroastrianism talks about walking hand in hand with God to further His work here on earth. Jesus taught us to pray that God's will be done on earth as it is heaven, and God's will includes justice. The people of God in Job's time also held justice as important! Why should Job not be concerned with such things?

Elihu goes on to warn Job of things he has not done and has shown no sign of doing, such as falling into the kind of wrath Elihu accuses him of being prey to; if anything such concern about the wicked and injustice has roused him out of his despair into seeing his own case more clearly and into challenging God more directly for an answer. Some, including Elihu see challenging God as a bad thing.

But God does not. For He answers Job and declares that he said right of Him.

Elihu sways the reader so easily because his words sound so good. He intersperses legitimate questions like "Do you know the balancings of the clouds" (37:16) with scoffing words like "Teach us what we shall say to him;" (37:19) and so we are persuaded that the scoffing words are good and legitimate things to say to Job. And he ends with an ironic line: "he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit." (37:24). Elihu says that of Job; he meant to skewer into him the thought that God is not going to answer Job! But, as I mentioned above, perhaps he ended up skewering himself instead.

One of the things I've learned from my Pastor is that how closely a character repeats what God has said reflects how closely they are in sync with God or with Jesus. We can infer whether they are on the right track or totally off base by how well their thoughts run in line with the teachings of God or of Jesus. Job provides us plenty of opportunity to do such a comparison. I have only scratched the surface here below I'm sure, but this comparison on a few important points serves to point out how wrong Elihu is, especially in light of what God says of Job in the end. Of course, if one was reading in chronological order and did not know how the book ends, we might be fully convinced of Elihu's arguments. They come on the heels of the three's eight speeches; they reflect traditional theology that God repays good to the innocent and suffering to the wicked; they are many chapters removed from the first two when the narrator and God described Job and thus will have more weight in the reader's mind; and they are eloquent. But the careful reader who has kept the narrator's and God's words from chapters 1 to 2 firmly in mind, will already see some cracks in Elihu's stance. And once we have heard from God, we have the full picture in front of us.

At this point we do not yet know if God will answer or what He will say when he does, but we can still make comparisons with God's words at the beginning. We begin with the biggest issue: wisdom and understanding. Elihu ignores wisdom and speaks in many words a different definition of understanding. One can construe it as meaning the same, but it is the human being who decides to depart from evil, not God's breath that makes the decision for him or her:

God: "Job...fears God and turns away from evil." (2:3)
Job: "Truly the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil is understanding"(28:28)
Elihu: "Truly it is the spirit in a mortal, the breath of the Almighty that makes for understanding" (32:8)
Elihu: "I will teach you [Job] wisdom." (33:33)

Elihu contradicts God's assessment of Job:

God: "a bameless and upright man" (1:8, 2:3)
Job: "my lips will not speak falsehood...I will not put away my integrity from me...I hold fast my righteousness." (27:3­6)
Elihu: "[Job] goes in company with evildoers...he has said, 'It profits one nothing to take delight in God.'...[Job's] answers are those of the wicked...he adds rebellion to his sin." (34:8­-9, 36­-37)

God put Job into Satan's hands because he was God's most faithful servant. Elihu espouses the idea that wickedness begets what Job suffered:

God said to Satan: "All that he has is in your power" "he is in your power" (1:1-2, 2: 6)
Job: "my heart does not reproach me for any of my days" (27:6) "Does he not see my ways and number all my steps?" (31:4) "Here is my signature!" (signs oath of innocence) (31:35)
Elihu: "For according to their deeds he will repay them and according to their ways he will make it befall them." (34:11)

Elihu says God will not answer Job. But God does:

Job: "Here is my signature (oath of innocence)" a way to get God to answer him. (31:35)
Elihu: "Surely God does not hear an empty cry...How much less when you say you do not see him...Job opens his mouth in empty talk." (35:13, 14, 16)
God: "Then the Lord answered Job..." (38:1)

And then we get to these comparisons after God answers Job.

Job: "He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not torn open by them" (26:8)
"By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent." (26:13)
"But the thunder of his power who can understand?" (26:14)

Elihu: "He loads the thick cloud with moisture; the clouds scatter his lightning." (37:11)
"Look at the heavens and see; and behold the clouds ­­ they are higher than you." (35:5)
"The Almighty ­­ we cannot find him; he is great in power and justice..." (37:23)

God: "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you?" (38: 34)
"Can you send forth lightnings.." (38:35)

Job says that God puts water in the clouds, and they cannot release it. Inference: God releases the rain. God says he causes the clouds to rain. Elihu says God puts water in the clouds. Elihu says the clouds scatter his lightning. God says he sends forth the lightning.

Elihu says nothing of the heavens' creation, only that they are high. Job talks of God's wind making the heavens fair, which is in Genesis.

Job says who can understand God's exercise of power. Elihu asks instead who can find him but his power is great. God challenges Job on whether he can understand his ways. Job found God by not stopping asking him for an answer.

Elihu is wrong.