Job 32: Speaking In Suffering

So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2 Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God. 3 He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. 4 Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. 5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger.
6 And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said:
       “I am young in years,
and you are aged;
       therefore I was timid and afraid
to declare my opinion to you.
7     I said, ‘Let days speak,
and many years teach wisdom.’
8     But it is the spirit in man,
the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand.
9     It is not the old who are wise,
nor the aged who understand what is right.
10    Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me;
let me also declare my opinion.’
11    “Behold, I waited for your words,
I listened for your wise sayings,
while you searched out what to say.
12    I gave you my attention,
and, behold, there was none among you who refuted Job
or who answered his words.
13    Beware lest you say, ‘We have found wisdom;
God may vanquish him, not a man.’
14    He has not directed his words against me,
and I will not answer him with your speeches.
15    “They are dismayed; they answer no more;
they have not a word to say.
16    And shall I wait, because they do not speak,
because they stand there, and answer no more?
17    I also will answer with my share;
I also will declare my opinion.
18    For I am full of words;
the spirit within me constrains me.
19    Behold, my belly is like wine that has no vent;
like new wineskins ready to burst.
20    I must speak, that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.
21    I will not show partiality to any man
or use flattery toward any person.
22    For I do not know how to flatter,
else my Maker would soon take me away.
 
Meditation
Human hearts seek to justify ourselves before God and others. BUT GOD is both just and the justifier of those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 3:26).
 
Job has rested his final defense, celebrating God’s covenant truths as the conclusion of his self-justification. Job’s self-righteous “friends” have concluded their self-appointed roles as Job’s judge and jury.  Enter Elihu, the final character in Job’s difficult drama. Elihu is distinct from Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar because he speaks on behalf of God like a prophet. Elihu’s bold words emphasize God seeing and speaking into human suffering.
 
Elihu “burns with anger” (2, 3, 5) because Job was righteous in his own eyes (1) and justified himself (2- he is also angry with the three friends!). Elihu turns the tables to accuse Job of using language we are familiar hearing associated with Pharisees (Luke 18:9-14). God later affirms Job’s godliness (42:7) yet Elihu is right in his anger. Job was not suffering in his sin, but Job was not sinless in his suffering, either.
 
Elihu does not speak by the cultural authority of age or the historic authority of tradition, but by “the breath of the almighty” (6-10). God’s word is necessary (11-16) as it is urgent (17-22). Job (along with all of us) must realize it is God alone who justifies.
 
Jesus not only suffered unjustly but He endured without sin (Hebrews 4:15). Christ’s death was a pure and innocent sacrifice to atone for our sin, the only place where sinful humanity can find justification before a holy God.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you about Elihu’s anger and claims of authority?
 
-Where do you seek to justify yourself before God and others?
 
-How does the finished work of Jesus, justifying believers through HIS suffering, free us to trust God’s sovereignty in our own suffering?

Key Verse
2 Then Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, burned with anger. He burned with anger at Job because he justified himself rather than God.

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