Chapter 37
Elihu still speaks...
He extols the power of God in the world and the universe. He lifts God up, and tries to describe how far beyond the ways and understanding of man God really is. And this verse:
13 Whether for correction or for his land or for love, he causes it to happen. [Job 37:13 ESV]
What a fine summary of the ways of God. If he controls nature itself to accomplish His purposes, and we don't have a clue as to the why of those, how can we expect to understand all that He does with us?
2021 - Elihu calls the lightning portents of God's judgment, and the thunder that follows is the voice of God. So Elihu is all about interpreting dreams, about the 1000 guardian angels, and now hears God's voice in the thunder. He is young, and I think he has a lot to learn. But like the first three, he has some things right. God is above all, unquestionable by mankind, maker of wind and rain and storm, beyond our reach. It is not, and is never for us to question Him.
I see that tomorrow, God will answer Job. Job does not answer Elihu, as we might expect, but instead, God speaks next. Surely this says something about the "insightful words" of Elihu?
2021 - Elihu certainly goes on and on once he decides to explain to his elders, and to Job, what is really going on. He gets lots of chapters all to himself. But it is interesting that Job doesn't even answer him directly, as he has his three friends previously.
2021 - Read these verses from Prov 2 today, on 9/2:
21 For the upright will inhabit the land, and those with integrity will remain in it, 22 but the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be rooted out of it. [Pro 2:21-22 ESV] Surely this is exactly the philosophy of Bildad and Eliphaz and Zophar. The good do well, the evil suffer. Interesting that Solomon is a possible author of Job - and I have seen many lines that are reminiscent of Proverbs, but here is the whole philosophy of the three friends in one place. Perhaps Solomon was intrigued by the story of Job because he knew that things do not always work out like these two verses say they do. Perhaps the whole book of Job is Solomon's exploration of this discrepancy between how a perfect world ruled by a perfect God over perfect men would work as opposed to the demonstrable exceptions to this rule. The three friends were on the mark with how it ought to be. Job, though, is about how it is not always that way, because there is something more important than justice in the earth. Faith in God in all circumstances is the most fundamental fact.
2024 - I like the above from 2021. Solomon's exploration of the argument that it does NOT always work this way, and statistically, perhaps not even half the time. It is certainly not provable statistically. It is how it SHOULD work, it is how the imago dei in us all knows that it should work, and when it does not work this way, we ought to see it as a reminder of the fall, a reminder of our own sins and shortcomings, and make us thankful that God made a way to restore this perfection - on earth - that we all crave in the very molecules of our being.
2024 - And unless I forget, I note again that Job suffers unjustly as Christ suffered unjustly. Jesus died on a cross found innocent of any crime and even without sin in his life. Job's suffering was to prove a point. Man can be faithful in unjust circumstances. There is no built in switch that says even good men always blame God for their problems. And this was used by God in sending Christ in human form to take the sins of the whole world upon himself without turning on God. The ultimate refutation of Satan's claim that man is only good as long as God blesses him. Satan is not only wrong, but the principle is used to save the whole world. Wow. What a book Job is!
2024 - Oh my! Is this the answer to the Bill Burr argument? Satan's contention is that there is a flaw in those created with free will - both angels and men. When treated unfairly, man will curse God and die. His further point is that since the flaw is built in - a design error - God cannot blame men for rebellion - can't blame men for sin at all - because man cannot help it. But Job's suffering proves that Satan's accusation is wrong. Many DO rebel, Job being a notable exception, but the exception proves that the creation is perfect. Job does not sin in the face of injustice. He bears it...though he'd like an explanation. And God shows through Christ that there is no design flaw, but that man's free will indeed CAN be used to avoid all sin. This capacity to remain sinless was built into man, and this very capacity that Satan tries to bend to his own justification is what God uses in the fully human Christ to reconcile all sinners to himself. That's the answer to Bill Burr. God didn't create us flawed. We choose this way. Job didn't fail. Jesus didn't fail. The rest of us fail. Proof of perfect creation - proof that there is no flaw in creation - is found in the exceptions to the proposed rule, NOT in the prevalence of the rule.
2025 - Looking ahead I see that Job does not directly address Elihu's comments. Elihu talks and talks, but he gets no reply. Because he was right? Or because he is not really different than the three friends he just hasn't learned to distill his comments to a reasonable length?