Thoughts on Job 34-35

Today’s reading: Job 34-35; 1 Corinthians 10

I can’t help cringing a bit this morning, reading Job, as I think back to all the times I’ve played the role of Elihu…

So sure he is right, and that nobody else sees the truth as clearly as he does; unabashed and unnecessarily offensive in his defense of the “truth”; and rambling on without taking a breath for so much longer than is really needed to make his point; I have been Elihu so many times.

The fact of the matter is, Elihu isn’t saying anything Job’s friends haven’t already said, he’s just angry that they gave up when Job wouldn’t listen. Elihu, like the others, believes that God runs the world according to a strict principle of just retribution, meaning that the things happening to Job could only possibly be the result of sin heinous enough to deserve what he is experiencing. Job himself has said that he agrees with this principle, which is why he keeps appealing to God to let him make his case, because while his friends look on from the outside and have to assume he’s hiding something, Job is in the position to know he has truly done nothing wrong, leaving him confused. But while Job’s three friends started from a gentler place, getting stronger and more forceful the more Job held his ground, Elihu comes out with guns blazing, saying:

“What man is like Job,

who drinks up scoffing like water,

who travels in company with evildoers

and walks with wicked men?”

Despite the fact that Job is known for his righteousness, his love for God, and his care for others, Elihu boldly speaks so derisively about him. He is so sure of his own understanding, but he seems more concerned with showing off his ability to argue his point than he is with actually leading Job to a different conclusion.

My friend Jim, in the Thoughts on the Word discord server (feel free to join us if you haven't already: https://discord.com/invite/CQWYVXqbKR) gave the great example of parenting when talking about Elihu. He said that, pre-parenting, you can know all the latest parenting theories, read all the best parenting books, know where your parents "got it wrong," and have all the plans for how you're going to parent "right," but then actually having kids is a whole different ballgame. All that learning can certainly be incredibly valuable, and it can set you up for much greater success than if you hadn't prepared at all for the task, but a tested and tried, experienced parent is going to have much more valuable input into parenting than the childless person with all the learning and theory.

Elihu is like that well-learned person who doesn't yet have kids. He is young, and self-admittedly doesn't have the wisdom of experience that Job's three other friends do, but that doesn't stop him from jumping in and declaring that he knows better than the rest.

Some of what Elihu says is right, some of it is wrong, and some of it merely needs tempered. But one of the things the Lord has taught me over the years is how difficult it can be to tell the difference at times. There were "truths" I boldly declared and taught in my earlier years as a Christian that I now think are wrong understandings of the Bible. So while I will still argue for what I believe to be true (maybe a little too vehemently at times), time and experience have taught me to be a lot more humble in how I view my own perspective, a lot more ready to hear what and why someone doesn't share my view, and a lot less aggressive in how I treat all but the most flagrant of falsehoods or misunderstandings.

It's easy for me to loose track of this perspective though, and to start to think too highly of my own understanding, so I always welcome the regular reminder of Elihu every time I read the book of Job.