Elihu to Job Pt2: God s Righteousness Defended from the Complaint of Injustice (34.1-37) WestminsterReformedChurch.org Pastor Ostella April 20, 2014 34.1 Then Elihu answered and said: 2 "Hear my words, you wise men, 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 know among ourselves what is good. 5 For Job has said, 'I am in the right, and God has taken away my right; 6 in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.' 7 What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water, 8 who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men? 9 For he has said, 'It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.' 10 "Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. 11 For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him. 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 set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, 15 all flesh would perish together, and man would 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 him who is righteous and mighty, 18 who says to a king, 'Worthless one,' and to nobles, 'Wicked man,' 19 who shows no partiality to princes, 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. 21 "For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. 22 There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves. 23 For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should 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 in a place for all to see, 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 a man? 30 that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people. 31 "For has anyone said to God, 'I have borne 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 make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know. 34 Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say: 35 'Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.' 36 Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men. 37 For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God." (Job 34:1-37 ESV) Introduction There is a shift in thought beginning with Job 34.1. The narrator steps forward and informs us that Elihu answered and said (34.1), which suggests some kind of transition or development. The new section extends to the end of 34. That is the text for this morning where we have Elihu s reply to Job, part 2, on the subject of God s righteousness. Granted, Elihu s entire speech defends the righteousness of God, still, we can isolate distinct units of thought in how he accomplishes his task. Thus, part two defends God s righteousness from Job s complaint of injustice. The outline shows the repeated appeals of Elihu, which guide us as readers to relevance and application. I. Elihu opens with a call to respond in 34.1-9. What he says in 34.2 is another summons to hear his words (as in 33.1), but now he addresses all the wise men, not just Job: Hear my words, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know. In 33.1-7, Elihu had emphasized his own sincerity to encourage a hearing; but here, in 34.1-4, he emphasizes the proper use of the ear, which is to test words as the palate tastes food (v. 3). As your palate discovers the difference between foods so you can choose the good, likewise, your capacity to hear has the proper function of discerning between ideas so you can choose the good. This is a call to all to hear wisely and act righteously, to know what is good and to choose what is right (v. 4).
2 So, he gives some quotations that summarize Job s complaint: 5 For Job has said, 'I am in the right, and God has taken away my right; 6 in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.' 7 What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water, 8 who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men? 9 For he has said, 'It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God' (34.5-9). Job has said the following: First, I am in the right, but God has taken it away and falsely accuses me. Second, I speak the truth about my righteousness, but God counts me a liar. Third, without transgression, God has brought me into suffering with no remedy (my wound is incurable, v. 6). Accordingly, Elihu gives his assessment: Job, he says, scoffs a lot and as easily as drinking water, and thus he travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men (34.9). By implication, though not explicitly, Job has said: It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God (34.9). Not that he merely used God for gain, but Job has said that he is innocent and he delighted in God, nonetheless, contrary to his view of justice and his expectations, God has not blessed him; God has removed His former blessings, sending piercing arrows instead. In 34, Elihu answers the complaint of injustice (of v. 5, I am in the right, and God has taken away my right); in 35.1f, he answers the futility point (of v. 9). II. His answer to injustice has its roots in roughly three things, 34.10-33a They are God s independence, omniscience, and sovereignty. Let s consider each in order with the awareness that they overlap; so, our work has to be rough and ready. A. Independence (aseity from the Latin, aseitas, to exist from Himself), 34.10-20 Clearly, Elihu s ultimate concern is with God s righteousness, which he affirms in a general way in verse 10: Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. He then focuses on justice in 11-12: 11 For according to the work of a man he will repay him, and according to his ways he will make it befall him. 12 Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. The debt to justice will be paid according to what each has done. God will see to it that the payment required by justice is fully paid so that all is made right without perversion, made straight without crookedness. Verse 13 introduces the defense of God s righteousness by appeal to divine aseity: Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world? The implied answer is that no one entrusted Him with the charge of caring for the whole world. The rule of the entire world was not placed on His shoulders by someone other than Himself. Neither the authority to rule nor the power to rule was given to Him. He is God and there is no other. He maintains His existence from eternity to eternity without any necessary reference to anything outside of Himself. He is self-existing and He alone has this attribute. He is independent of everything other than Himself and therefore, all things are dependent on Him. Therefore, the existence and preservation of all things is completely a matter of His decision. At the snap of His fingers, if He so decided, all flesh (all living things, all humans) would perish in a sober march from dust to dust completing the cycle from creation to birth to death (34.14): If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, 15 all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust. All people are kept alive by God s free decision. He is not constrained by anything or anyone higher than Himself or lower than Himself to which He owes some obligation. He is the greatest and best of beings and all else depends on Him. In 34.16, we have another summons: "If you have understanding, hear this; listen to what I say; listen, harken, and heed what I say as I now focus my argument (based on God s aseity). His argument begins with the questions in 34,17a: Shall one who hates justice govern and Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty? So, how does the argument work? How does this question lead the way to a defense of God s justice? These questions teach that God does not hate
3 justice in His righteous and mighty governing of the world and what follows in 18-20 proves the point because He says to a king, 'Worthless one,' and to nobles, 'Wicked man,' 19 who [He] shows no partiality to princes, 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. The questions imply that the righteous and mighty one loves justice by showing no favoritism in judging kings, nobles, princes, rich, and poor. He rightly identifies the worthless and wicked because as the work of his hands, they pass away at His time by His hand. Therefore, the point is that God s independence proves His impartiality and that entails His justice and righteousness in His rule of the world. This is a powerful point easily missed. God s righteousness is proven by His aseity: because He is independent, then He is not constrained by the status of people rich or poor; therefore, He is impartial and righteous in judging. At the least, His aseity proves that He does not operate on unjust principles that drive unrighteous judges who show partiality. Consequently, it is wrong to condemn Him (17b). B. Omniscience (perfect, exhaustive knowledge), 34.21-28a Another proof of His righteousness is His omniscience. 21 "For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. 22 There is no gloom or deep darkness where evildoers may hide themselves. 23 For God has no need to consider a man further, that he should 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 in a place for all to see, 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. God sees all and knows all (v. 21). He is transcendent in His knowledge; omniscient, all-knowing. He knows Himself and all that He created perfectly and exhaustively. That is why evil doers have no place to hide (34.22). He knows the truth and He does not have to take the time to investigate to discover it (34.23-24). He knows all the facts of every case and how the facts relate to each other and how they demonstrate the guilt of the wicked. Having this knowledge of man, of the wicked and all their works. He knows how they treat the poor and afflicted (28). He judges them at His time and the general fact is apparent to all (despite the attempts of the wicked to hide themselves in the darkness) and He knows the truth that they do not follow Him nor regard Him ((25-27). Hence, being independent, He is impartial and just. When you factor in His omniscient grasp of the truth, the argument grows in power because in this context, knowing includes His love for the afflicted, even though He is quiet (apparently inactive) and even though neither nations nor individuals can understand what He is doing (He hides His face, 34.29). What they cannot grasp is that He sometimes judges the wicked at His time and place according to His own will and other times He does not prevent them from oppressing and ensnaring the vulnerable. Nevertheless, being independent, He is therefore impartial and just, and He acts according to what He knows and loves (justice and the afflicted). To get the full story from Elihu, we need to read his arguments in a cumulative way as they overlap and form an interrelated whole in defense of God s righteousness. So, why is it foolish to question the actions of God, even though the godless have success as they commit acts of oppression against the little people, the poor and vulnerable? It is a matter of God s rule with complete authority and perfect knowledge. Still, being independent and therefore impartial means that He is not unjust in allowing the oppression to occur, so no one can condemn when He hides a smiling face behind a frowning providence. C. Sovereignty adds to the defense of God s righteousness How do the questions of 31-33 contribute to Elihu s argument? "For has anyone said to God, 'I have borne 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 make repayment to suit you [NAS, on your terms], because [since, given that] you reject it [Him; you fault Him]? Here is a challenge to God s sovereignty. Sovereignty refers to
4 God s Kingly rule over all that He created and over every fact of human history. It goes with His aseity, omniscience, and might. Sovereignty is entailed by the fact that being independent, He is not obligated to His creation in any necessary way. Thus, it all depends on His rule, on how He chooses to rule all things as sovereign over all. Elihu appeals to God s sovereignty by reference to a specific example: someone who has sinned and repented. Such a person (as Job in his life before the trial) cannot make demands on God, that is, demand that (insist that) God must treat him in some way that he himself decides. This is an insightful look into the fact that Job was blameless as a repentant man and that fact of his experience made it extremely difficult to understand God s treatment of him. The problem for Job is that God does not give him what he mistakenly expects from Him, and now faults God (rejects Him, 33b) for not giving it! Elihu shows that Job (repentant, blameless, suffering Job) cannot challenge the righteousness of God because God is sovereign and He rules without obligation to men. Even repentant blameless men cannot insist that God give them a life that they demand He give them according to their terms instead of His terms! Man has no right to question the righteousness of God in how He rules His creatures because being God, being the independent all-knowing mighty Creator of all, He is not only impartial and thus just in His dealings, but He is also sovereign in the bestowal of His gifts on the righteous who repent. Being sovereign, He cannot be faulted by men as unjust in what He does for the wicked or the righteous. Man is in no position to fault God on anything in anyway. III. Call to respond, 34.33b-37 In a call to respond, Elihu says (33b): For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know. He calls Job to choose a better way than the one he now travels. This call is to verbalized choice, a confession of his repentance from faulting God for not giving him what he expects (declare what you know). It sends an arrow directly to our hearts as readers! Is Elihu overconfident when he says: 34 Men of understanding will say to me, and the wise man who hears me will say [all will agree with me]: 35 'Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.' 36 Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men. 37 For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God (34-37). No, he simply says that those who have wisdom will agree with him and say that Job faults God in ignorance (without knowledge or insight). Elihu is on target. As Job continues to entrench himself in this posture, he shows himself to be like wicked men who add rebellion to sin for he gestures his anger (clapping his hands figuratively or literally) at the wise who counsel him, and increases in his anger toward God by his words of complaining against God and faulting God. This is sharp, to him and to us! Application 1) Man s knowledge of God in creation and conscience Elihu is given a fair shake when we see him working with the points that Paul makes Romans 1-2. His argument has its point of contact with listeners and readers in the fact that all people know God through what He has created and that includes what they see when they look within themselves and are stirred in their consciences. Hence, Elihu s arguments do not float aimlessly in the air to no good effect as many modern commentator s on the Book of Job think. 2) We must not forget the work of the special angel-mediator The call that Elihu makes to submission to God is radical but it is not separable from submission to Christ the Angel of the Lord of the OT and the one mediator between God and man of the NT. 3) We must hear and heed
Elihu s calls to responsible hearing and a wise use of the ear may be repetitive and seem tedious, but they are directly important and valuable for us. He is not just a pompous kid with nothing to contribute. Let s go back and listen to His appeals: 5 34.2-4 Hear my words, you wise men, 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 know among ourselves what is good. 34.10 Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. 34.12 Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice 34.29-33 When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man? 30 that a godless man should not reign, that he should not ensnare the people. 31 "For has anyone said to God, 'I have borne 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 make repayment to suit you, because you reject it? For you must choose, and not I; therefore declare what you know. May we fall down in humble submission to God who is majestic in His glory, independent, omniscient, and sovereign; may we praise Him with the words of the apostle Paul: For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen