Job - chapters 32-37

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Overview

• Elihu is the only one to speak for 6 chapters !
• He brings another perspective to bear here...
• He says - friends of Job - you are wrong - - and Job...... you are wrong - - Job is wrong in saying that he has accused God of being his enemy, is arbitrary, without understanding.......and the friends are wrong saying suffering is in correlation with unrighteousness.
• Should we assume Elihu is just another bad theology guy? just like the 3???.......
• Piper believes Elihu is brought on the scene to share truth....to advance the arguement b4 God speaks and gives the final word.....
• God will build on what Elihu has laid.......
• However, Elihu says alot of hard things to understand......at times, he's very tough on Job

• 5 reasons Piper believes Elihu is brought on the scene to share truth
• 1. the words of Elihu are not as a continuation of what the 3 men were saying (see vv1-2 ch 32) or with Job (v14 - Job has not directed his words against me, and I will not answer him with your speeches)......(v8 - he claims to be speaking by the spirit !)
• 2. the writer gives him 6 chapters to talk ! why? It doesnt fit the cycle concept, that were shorter and shorter as the cycle continued........
• 3. Job does not even try to argue against Elihu. If Elihu was giving bad theology, wouldnt Job respond? he argued forcefully and successfully with the other 3........ (ch 33v32 - if you have anything to say - answer me).......Job must agree with what he's saying!
• 4. God - in ch42v7 - looks back over the scene of the dialogue, and criticizes the 3 and not Elihu (see ch 42v7 - to Eliphaz- my wrath is kindled against you and your 2 friends and you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has....) no criticizing about Elihu -- - and he went for 6 chapters.......
• 5. You find new things in Elihu's response - you find answers to Jobs questions - he doesnt take the theology of retribution as a model.......

Analysis

• Job is wrong - the root problem with Job is there's a sediment of pride in the bottom of the beaker of his life and when he's upset by the 3....the sediment stirs up with his life of righteousness......and thats a problem
• ch 33v8-12 - "But you have said in my hearing-- I heard the very words-- 9 `I am pure and without sin; I am clean and free from guilt. 10 Yet God has found fault with me; he considers me his enemy. 11 He fastens my feet in shackles; he keeps close watch on all my paths.' 12 "But I tell you, in this you are not right, for God is greater than man
• elihu doesnt like the statement - "I am pure and without sin" and "he considers me his enemy" - and he says you are not right.......
• elihu's understanding as to why the righteous suffer is this residue of pride........ in the life of the righteous.....
• ch 33v14-19 - For God does speak--now one way, now another-- though man may not perceive it. 15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men as they slumber in their beds, 16 he may speak in their ears and terrify them with warnings, 17 to turn man from wrongdoing and keep him from pride, 18 to preserve his soul from the pit, [1] his life from perishing by the sword. [2] 19 Or a man may be chastened on a bed of pain with constant distress in his bones
• 2 ways God speaks to man is 1-dreams (verse 14) and 2-pain (verse 19)..........(we don't know when this book is dated - is it pre-Moses??? because obviously he speaks in other ways...........)
• why???? - v17 - to turn man from his pride.............why???? v18 - to preserve his soul from the pit.....why???? v18 - to preserve his life from perishing by the sword......
• elihu does not picture God as an angry judge when he contemplates the pain of the righteous- - but as redeemer, savior, rescuer....the pain he causes for a reason.........like a surgeon's knife causes pain but the purpose is to cure.......not like an executioner's sword..........
• you didnt hear a word of that from the 3 !!!!!!!!!!!!
• eliphaz actually gave us a whiff of this when he first spoke - he spoke of chastisement in love - - but he quickly left that idea.....
• for us - - - God may not be your enemy - - he may be your surgeon.........
• not because your a wicked person - - but in every fallen human being there is remnant of corruption, pride that lies at the bottom and if stirred up, may contaminate and bring reproach upon the Lord
• 33v12 - he says youre not right - and explains why in vv 17-19........
• his 2nd explanation is in 36v6-15.............
• ch 36v6-15 - He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights. 7 He does not take his eyes off the righteous; he enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever. 8 But if men are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction, 9 he tells them what they have done-- that they have sinned arrogantly. 10 He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil. 11 If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment. 12 But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword and die without knowledge. 13 "The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help. 14 They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines. 15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction. .......
• v6-7 - the righteous are exalted and the wicked are put to death.......sounds like retribution !!!!
• v8 - the righteous can be bound in chains !!!!! held fast by affliction - -- the righteous !!! it can happen.......it does happen to christians.......
• v9 - pride - - - but Job could consider God his surgeon here........
• v10 - he opens their ears.......so, they're righteous but not sinless..........(psalm 199:71 - It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees. ) (Luther said - there are 3 methods of interpreting the bible and all are necessary - 1. meditation 2. prayer 3. testing/trial/suffering)....God has many ways for us to grow - - - one way is affliction.......
• v13 - godless respond in anger...they dont cry out for help to God........
• v15 - the affliction stirs up and the affliction that delivers him from it........if he will be thrown onto God.....(consider fasting - when we fast from food- it creates physical hunger - so u can transform it to spiritual hunger.......so we can say "this much I want you God- this much I need you" - - - - -if you do this - you will discover sin in your life........why do we get so testy at these times - - snipping at a very little problem - a short fuse - - - at the kids, your wife - - complaining - - why? because we are so dependent on food for our holiness !!!! when we feel good - we treat people better.........thats not real holiness....fasting helps u discern where you are with God........and God may have u fast from certain things - - lose your sight, a child...whatever - - then you will see where your treasure is.....where your joy is
• v15 - is the bottom line of his theology.......Job - God is not your enemy - - -he wants you to be pure, holy......and he's pointing out that you're not as good as you think you are by pointing out pride in your life....
• the lesson - - - those who suffer as believers should trust God and trust in Christ today - that your sins are forgiven - - and that what we are receiving is not punishment - God is not punitive toward his blood brought children - he does chastise for our good - - if my sins are on the cross - - the bad things that happened to me are not more cross - - the bad things that happen to me are the loving hand of a father, or the loving scalpel of a surgeon and God is mercifully weaning me off a remnant of corruption that exist in all of us
• heb 12:10 - Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.
• its not that we were'nt holy before - but he wants more.....
• were all wired that when something goes wrong - we say - what did I do? ........thats not how Elihu looks at it........
• 1 peter 1:6-7- In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7 These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.
• 2 cor 1:8-9 - We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about the hardships we suffered in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. 9 Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
• james 1:2-4 - Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4 Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.
• threatened faith produces more faith..........everything always falls apart when we try to do a mighty work for God -- this is by design - we must trust him - - - he's preparing us to do the mighty work.......

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