"(ahem) Speaking for God, let me say..."

Elihu really is a very complete composite of all the elements Job's friends present in the first half of the book.

  • Their key argument is that God doesn't punish people without cause. If you're getting afflicted, you have some evil, whether it's hidden or apparent (4:7; 34:11, 12, 26, 27).
  • Subordinate to this is that nobody is perfect; no one can stand before an almighty, perfect God and say they are without fault (4:17; 33:12).
  • He takes on Job's assertion that living a righteous life doesn't bring a person any greater benefit than living as a sinner (35:3ff).

Like most people of faith who acknowledge to their friends the insights and understanding they've experienced, Elihu shares his perspective on right living. Each of Job's other friends have done that, too, and he's felt the harsh blows of their condemnation: he isn't living like they think he should, and they consider it their obligation to let him know. So the let him have it.

Their common recitation of God's ways are not much different from what you might expect to find in the Proverbs or the Psalms. Generally very good, true revelations of the nature of God and how he rules his creation. Elihu's version is especially good, and doesn't side-step the more challenging features of God's character. In 33:14 and following, he describes how God speaks to man: in terrifying dreams and through affliction. In this last way he does depart from his elders by developing a theology of suffering they didn't have room for. In verse 19 and following he states that "man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and continual strife in his bones..." This leads to a conclusion in verses 26 and 27 that isn't much different from the Apostle John's and Paul's conclusions in 1 John 1:9 and Romans 6:23.

But he has opened the door for the fullness of God to break through.

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