IN THIS chapter Elihu appeals to Job again, and calls on all the wise men (the three friends evidently) to hear him. “Give ear unto me, ye that have knowledge,” says he. “For the ear trieth words, as the mouth tasteth meal. Let us choose for ourselves what is right; let us know among ourselves what is good.” Then he takes up some of the statements Job had made. “Job hath said, I am righteous,” declares Elihu. So he was before men, but he was not righteous in finding fault with God. Again Job had said, “God hath taken away my judgment ... my wound is incurable without transgression"; in other words, he had been afflicted when he had not transgressed.
Then Elihu asks: “What man is like Job, who drinketh up scorning like water?”
In effect he was saying that in spite of all the abuse that had been heaped on Job, he could not he made to feel that there was something in him that called for it. The truth was that there was in Job a good deal of pride of heart and this came out in the testing God passed him through.
Elihu reminds Job that he had said, “It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself in God,” and he declares that some of Job’s remarks had put him “in company with the workers of iniquity, and wicked men.” It was bad enough for them to say such things but how much worse for a child of God, To this Elihu answers: “Far be wickedness from God, and wrong from the Almighty!... Yea, surely, God acteth not wickedly, and the Almighty perverteth not judgment” Then he appeals to Job again and asks: “Who hath entrusted to Him the earth? and who hath disposed the whole world?” Who has done that for God? Then comes a remarkable statement: “If He [God] only thought of Himself, and gathered Him His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would expire together and man would return unto the dust.” In Acts 17:2828For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. (Acts 17:28) the Apostle makes a similar statement: “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Man is dependent upon God for the every breath he draws, and yet how little regard is given to the truth of Scripture by man himself with regard to these things. Scripture also say that our life is but a vapor, “that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” How much attention then a man ought to pay to what God has to say to him in His Word.
Elihu goes on with his appeal to Job: “Shall even he that hateth right govern and wilt thou condemn Him that is most Just?” It was a terrible thing to find fault with God. Why, says he, “Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked?” A king may have his faults but his position demands reverence. The Word exhorts us to fear God and honor the king. (1 Pet. 2:1717Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king. (1 Peter 2:17)).
Elihu in his discourse speaks of the restless wickedness in this world, ha then he shows that God is above ma and the power of evil. “When He giveth quietness, who then can make trouble?” “Surely it is meet to be said unto God, I have borne chastisement. I will not offend any more. That which I see not teach Thou me: if I have done iniquity, I will do no more.” But Job had refused His judgment, Elihu says so that men of understanding would say, “Job hath spoken without knowledge, and his words were without wisdom.”
ML-07/24/1960