Audio Access Available Above
“EliWHO!?” • 5.9.21 • Calvary Christian Fellowship, Sunday Morning Service
Intro.
- Job's dialogue with his friends has come to an end, but the dialogue section is far from over. Somewhere along the way, a young man arrived in the background.
- The conversation caught his interest and before long, he committed himself to the topic. For the first time since the end of chapter 2, our main characters are sitting in silence.
- Before any of them can break in, this young man decides that it is time for him to make his mark and to enter into this fiery debate. Let's get acquainted with Elihu. Verse 1.
Text
• Job 32:1-5 : "So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God. Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. Now because they were years older than he, Elihu had waited to speak to Job. When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was aroused." : Eliphaz and company have fully expressed their case to their friend. They have failed in their initial purpose to comfort Job and they have failed to convince him of his personal guilt.
- Out of nowhere comes this man named "Elihu." His name means "Whose God is he" or "He is my God." This man's name helps to explain his zeal and passion.
- In fact, this is his dominant feature. Elihu's wrath is mentioned four times in five verses!
- The word is tied to a visual of a person whose nostrils are flaring. Elihu is barely able to contain himself! He is livid with everyone present!
- The author lets us know what family Elihu comes from. This is significant, as he is the only character in the book of Job that has a geneology. This grounds him in history.
- Some have even gone so far as to ascribe authorship to him. We'll see in some verses that the writing style seems to wander into first person narration.
- He may be the author, but he's definitely a "Buzite," a member of the family of Ram, which is a close relative to Abraham's brother Nahor. (Genesis 22:21) He could be Abraham's nephew!
- Whether this is the same family grouping or not, Elihu leads with his wrath, which was stirred up in anger against everyone there, but began it's expression toward Job. Why?
- Note the end of verse 2: Job justified himself rather than God. The NASB adds that he justified himself "more than" God.
- The NLT offers this note: "Job refused to admit that he had sinned and that God was right in punishing him." Before we move on, it's helpful to understand the nuance here.
- Both Eliphaz and Elihu assume Job's guilt. The difference is that Eliphaz believes that Job's sin CAUSED his calamity. Elihu believes that Job's calamity caused him to sin. In this, he is correct!
- Job had moved away from the fear of God that defined him at the beginning of this book. In an attempt to defend himself, Job necessarily defrauded the Name, reputation of God!
- We all understand the necessity of releasing our pain through words. As Christians, we know that our words must steer clear of the boundary line which crosses into accusing God of wrong!
- For those that know of this sin, to them it is sin when they cross that threshold and Job had!
- Elihu's beef wasn't only with Job. It was with his friends as well! They missed the point and failed to make the case! They tried to convince Job of a sin history that wasn't his!
- Their arguments were so shallow, that even he, as a bystander, could tell their folly!
- As was the custom, Elihu waited until they had expended their energy. He charges forth in his anger to set everyone straight! He'll spend the rest of this chapter berating Job's friends! Verse 6.
• Job 32:6-14 : "So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said: 'I am young in years, and you are very old; Therefore I was afraid, and dared not declare my opinion to you. I said, ‘Age should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom.’ But there is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives him understanding. Great men are not always wise, nor do the aged always understand justice. Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me, I also will declare my opinion.’ Indeed I waited for your words, I listened to your reasonings, while you searched out what to say. I paid close attention to you; And surely not one of you convinced Job, or answered his words—Lest you say, 'We have found wisdom’; God will vanquish him, not man. Now he has not directed his words against me; so I will not answer him with your words." : Elihu begins poorly. "I am young and you are VERY OLD!" This is important information though. This explains his fear and hesitance to speak.
- It was better for a young man to listen to an old man in these days. Frankly, this is the way it should be today, though our society foolishly worships and values the unformed opinings of youth.
- Elihu honored tradition, but also recognized that in this case, the men in question had failed in their pursuit. They had not spouted wisdom. Great age does not guarantee great wisdom!
- Certainly, aged men and women are endowed with great experience, but that doesn't qualify necessarily, as godly wisdom! The road to honor is found in Proverbs 16:31.
• Proverbs 16:31 : "The silver-haired head is a crown of glory, if it is found in the way of righteousness." Thankfully, when God gives wisdom, it's not reserved for the aged.
- "God has given me understanding! The great are not always wise and age doesn't necessarily bring wisdom." These words are true, but his conclusion doesn't neccesarily follow!
- "I will also declare my opinion!" No, please no! His conclusion should have been to stand silent and realize that their best attempt at wisdom had been completely inadequate to the task!
- What drives a person to add an opinion to a dilemma that is already proven insoluble?
- They couldn't figure out what had happened with Job, so why would a young man believe he could make a dent? It's not that he hadn't seen this. He had!
- He listened closely and saw that Job wasn't convinced or rebuffed. It won't be sufficient to take their presumed course, which was to simply allow God to deal with Job!
- Elihu would rather find an answer for Job, but he won't use their arguments. Verse 15.
• Job 32:15-22 : "They are dismayed and answer no more; Words escape them. And I have waited, because they did not speak, because they stood still and answered no more. I also will answer my part, I too will declare my opinion. For I am full of words; The spirit within me compels me. Indeed my belly is like wine that has no vent; It is ready to burst like new wineskins. I will speak, that I may find relief; I must open my lips and answer. Let me not, I pray, show partiality to anyone; Nor let me flatter any man. For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away." : If you wondered about Job's friend's mental condition, look no further. They are shattered! They are amazed at what they have seen.
- Their friend has apparently lost his mind and has even had the gall to legally level a challenge against God Almighty! Nothing good can come from this! Indeed, nothing has!
- Elihu waited for them to resume their assault, but they have chosen silence. Lucky for them he is full of words! He has to speak just to relieve the pressure that is building up!
- He says, "I will speak that I may find relief!" That is a very poor motivation for sharing in a counseling situation and I'd advise us to steer clear.
- Don't speak because you have something to get off your chest! Speak because you believe what you have to say will relieve them of the pressure they are feeling in their chest!
- He rightly blames his own spirit for this. He wants to talk and find a vent for his own feelings. Otherwise, he would burst. Just look at where his motivation comes from.
- "I am full of words." "I will speak." "I may find relief." "I must open my lips!" "I, I, I."
- If anyone ever had an "I" problem, it was Elihu! When we are compelled to speak from our "I" position, we should expect to do more harm than good!
- As a young man, he has a hard time seeing beyond himself and he has no concern for speaking with some level of charity! He's not going to hold anything back!
- If he had learned to do that, he feels as though he would be unfaithful to God. As Christians, we are to speak the truth in love (Eph. 4:15) and season it with salt so that grace leads! (Col. 4:6)
- Speaking the truth in love is an art form that takes a lifetime to learn. The problem here is that Elihu loves the truth more than he loves these men!
- Elihu, as his name suggests, is zealous to defend God, but is not very concerned with how he represents Him! If a person will honor the Lord, they will diligently seek that balance.
- Elihu has dressed down Job's friends. He turns his attention to Job in chapter 33.
• Job 33:1-11 : "But please, Job, hear my speech, and listen to all my words. Now, I open my mouth; My tongue speaks in my mouth. My words come from my upright heart; My lips utter pure knowledge. The Spirit of God has made me, and the breath of the Almighty gives me life. If you can answer me, set your words in order before me; Take your stand. Truly I am as your spokesman before God; I also have been formed out of clay. Surely no fear of me will terrify you, nor will my hand be heavy on you. Surely you have spoken in my hearing, and I have heard the sound of your words, saying, ‘I am pure, without transgression; I am innocent, and there is no iniquity in me. Yet He finds occasions against me, He counts me as His enemy; He puts my feet in the stocks, He watches all my paths." : Elihu wants Job to trust him. He's not like Eliphaz and the others. He assures Job that his motives are pure.
- He's rather enamored with himself and can't seem to stop telling them that he's going to get started! It makes sense if he is a stranger. He speaks as one who is trying to earn a place of trust.
- He wants Job to know that he is sincere and will speak the truth because God has made him for this moment and has given him life for this purpose.
- He really does believe himself to be God's spokesman, even though he acknowledges the frailty of his own person. "Don't worry Job! You have nothing to fear from me!"
- He sets out to prove that he had listened to Job and is up to date on the case at hand. He summarizes what he thinks he understood in verses 9-11. They reveal that he's still uninformed!
- Job hasn't ever said that he was without transgression or sin. This is a continual misunderstanding between Job and his friends. The rest one could concede to Elihu.
- Job had spoken this way. He believed that God had counted him as an enemy and that He had put him in prison to watch his every move. Therein is Elihu's main complaint. Verse 12.
• Job 33:12-16 : "Look, in this you are not righteous. I will answer you, for God is greater than man. Why do you contend with Him? For He does not give an accounting of any of His words. For God may speak in one way, or in another, yet man does not perceive it. In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction." : This is where Job had gone wrong in Elihu's book: Blaming God or inferring His guilt is alone a rank unrighteousness!
- Job could have rebuffed his friend's arguments without resorting to rebuking God! That is high treason to Elihu who will presume to answer for God and many of his answers are perceptive!
- He begins with what has to be considered the bedrock of theological assertions: "Our God dwells in heaven and He does whatever He pleases!" (Psalm 115:3)
- God is greater than man and He doesn't give an accounting of His activities to anyone! If He chose to remain unknown for all of eternity, He would have the freedom to do that.
- As His creatures, we have no right, nor the understanding of His being, to call Him to account. Job was out of line with his legal challenge!
- Job's contention was based upon God's failure to answer him. Elihu's contention is that Job may have missed the answer that God had already given!
- God has repeatedly spoken to men in various ways through various means. The Old Testament is filled with such stories! We also see the same kind of stories in the New Testament.
- At the same time, we must be careful to note that our belief in God's present voice does not constitute an affirmation to an open canon of scripture.
- When we say that "God spoke to us," we are generally affirming a confirmation that God used His Word, either through what we have read or what has been practiced before us.
- When our path or direction becomes clear, we use the terminology, "God spoke," but we should do so carefully, not in a cavalier fashion.
- Elihu asserts that when men think they are going to sleep, God meets them in the stillness! Sometimes, I believe that He meets us there because we are finally away from all other distractions!
- "He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction." In other translations, the word seems to refer to terrifiying one with warning. For some, this will be especially true.
- Those that are rebellious against the Lord may be frightened by what He has to say, but to the reverent, their only fear is related to pleasing the Lord! These listen respectfully and dutifully!
- When God opens a person's spiritual ears, their instruction is sealed. The word refers to affixing a seal to denote authenticity. When you have this experience, you know it was from Him!
- Why does God do this? Why does He operate in this way toward people? Verse 17.
• Job 33:17,18 : "In order to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man, He keeps back his soul from the Pit, and his life from perishing by the sword." : God speaks this way in order to turn men from their deeds. They are convinced of a certain action but God sees the end!
- For the rebel that is troubled or the righteous one that is confused, God's warnings are welcomed when they later issue in blessing! A second purpose is the revelation of a person's pride.
- This verse is widely translated. The ASV renders it, "to hide pride," the RSV, "to cut off pride," and the CSB, "to conceal pride."
- The idea is that God is protecting men from letting their pride come to the surface! I've been grateful to sense the Lord keeping me from sending the occasional email or private message.
- In many of those instances, had my pride surfaced, the result would have been ugly! God's final purpose in communicating this way is a protection from a premature death.
- There are people who would have gone headlong into hell had God not put a stop to their steps! There are some who would have perished by the sword of execution had God not intervened!
- Elihu wonders if Job hadn't missed God's warnings. He believes that God had spoken or that He would be speaking soon, if Job would simply trust the process! Verse 19.
• Job 33:19-21 : "Man is also chastened with pain on his bed, and with strong pain in many of his bones, so that his life abhors bread, and his soul succulent food. His flesh wastes away from sight, and his bones stick out which once were not seen." : God speaks to men in dreams and visions, but He also uses strong pain to chasten us! "Chastening" carries the meaning of bringing something into the light. He makes things clear to us.
• "God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." C.S. Lewis
- The reason for our suffering generally falls into 3 categories. There is suffering that is punitive. We have blown off God's commandment and expected good things. Wrong!
- God allows us to experience consequences that are difficult to endure, but those spankings remind us not to stray again! When our suffering is not punitive, it may be instructive.
- I'm reminded of the storm that rose on the sea of Galilee that taught the Lord's disciples about the true nature of their Teacher when He stilled the storm. (Matthew 8:23-27)
- They learned more about Jesus in that night on the sea than they could've on the land!
- When our suffering is neither punitive or instructive, it may serve as a preventative! Look at how Elihu puts this. The person in question has no appetite and can hardly think past his pain!
- I wonder how many troubles I would have gotten into had God not put me into a sick bed! How many accidents have I missed by having to spend extra time at a light or in dense traffic?
- Now, while all of this is generally true about suffering, NONE OF IT APPLIED TO JOB! He was suffering because of a contest between Satan and God! Verse 22.
• Job 33:22-30 : "Yes, his soul draws near the Pit, and his life to the executioners. If there is a messenger for him, a mediator, one among a thousand, to show man His uprightness, then He is gracious to him, and says, ‘Deliver him from going down to the Pit; I have found a ransom’; His flesh shall be young like a child’s, he shall return to the days of his youth. He shall pray to God, and He will delight in him, He shall see His face with joy, for He restores to man His righteousness. Then he looks at men and says, ‘I have sinned, and perverted what was right, and it did not profit me.’ He will redeem his soul from going down to the Pit, and his life shall see the light. Behold, God works all these things, twice, in fact, three times with a man, to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life." : If you are taking notes, recall that God speaks to men through messages in the night, dreams and vision. He speaks through medical trials and troubles.
- Finally, Elihu notes that God employs messengers to minister His Word! This picture before us is quite stunning. Here is a man that is being drawn toward hell. Soon, his life will be extinquished.
- Perhaps there is a messenger for him, a mediator, that will visit him and reveal to the person God's uprightness, a way of expressing what ought to be done. "This is what God wants of you."
- When that person receives that message and acts upon it, God responds by being gracious and saving Him from the way that He would have gone! Why can God act this way?
- "I have found a ransom!" This same word will later be used to speak about substitutionary atonement. This word is related to the Hebrew word "kophar!"
- This is remarkable as that concept will not be revealed to God's people for hundreds of years, yet, here it is in the mouth of Elihu! When this person receives this message, his whole life changes!
- He has the energy of a little child and an open channel of communication between he and God. His life is marked with joy and righteousness and willingness to testify against his past!
- He is transparent about his sin, honest about his past and wise about what he had gained. "That life didn't profit me in any way!" What a picture!
- "Job, this is how God works, not once, not twice, but three times!" God doesn't want anyone to perish! He wants all men to come to the light and live as He intends!
- Of course, to Elihu, the inference is that Job merely needs to repent to access this life. Does that sound familiar? Verse 31.
• Job 33:31-33 : "Give ear, Job, listen to me; Hold your peace, and I will speak. If you have anything to say, answer me; Speak, for I desire to justify you. If not, listen to me; Hold your peace, and I will teach you wisdom." : Elihu believes that he has Job's ear. He wants to see Job made right and he has wisdom to teach.
- Elihu may not be entirely right about Job or his case, but believe it or not, he serves a purpose that prepares Job for what he will have to deal with next!
- When a man is godly, he'll be able to pick out the chicken from the bones in any message! We'll get to the rest of Elihu's speech next week, the Lord permitting.
Conclusion
- For now, let us concentrate our hearts on this reality: God never
wastes our suffering or allows our pain to be meaningless. He redeems it all
for His purposes if we are patient.
- Our heart is to never allow our pain to move our hearts from loyalty to Him. May that never be our sin! Instead, may we glorify the God of our salvation with our lips, even as we suffer!
- He is the One who wrestles with man repeatedly, warning him on his bed, in the still of the night. He calls him to repent, to believe in Jesus, the Only Righteous One!
- He may even send YOU, His messenger, to speak forth His gospel and His will for them!
- To the person who hears the gospel call, repents and believes, God is gracious to him and delivers him from the death that hovers over him! God says, "I have found a ransom!"
- The ransom for any believer's soul will always and forever be the blood of Christ applied by grace through faith! And that man will be born again! "His flesh shall be young like a childs!"
- The lines of communication between he and God will be opened and the Lord will look upon this one with great joy as He views one who has been restored!
- The person in such a position then testifies to his previous condition, letting other men know the depth of his sin and depravity. He will have sinned greatly, but will also have been saved greatly!
- These are things that God does and He is worth trusting even when we can't trace Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment