Job 34: When God Is Silent

​Then Elihu answered and said:
2     “Hear my words, you wise men,
and give ear to me, you who know;
3     for the ear tests words
as the palate tastes food.
4     Let us choose what is right;
let us know among ourselves what is good.
5     For Job has said, ‘I am in the right,
and God has taken away my right;
6     in spite of my right I am counted a liar;
my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’
7     What man is like Job,
who drinks up scoffing like water,
8     who travels in company with evildoers
and walks with wicked men?
9     For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing
that he should take delight in God.’
10    “Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding:
far be it from God that he should do wickedness,
and from the Almighty that he should do wrong.
11    For according to the work of a man he will repay him,
and according to his ways he will make it befall him.
12    Of a truth, God will not do wickedly,
and the Almighty will not pervert justice.
13    Who gave him charge over the earth,
and who laid on him the whole world?
14    If he should set his heart to it
and gather to himself his spirit and his breath,
15    all flesh would perish together,
and man would return to dust.
16    “If you have understanding, hear this;
listen to what I say.
17    Shall one who hates justice govern?
Will you condemn him who is righteous and mighty,
18    who says to a king, ‘Worthless one,’
and to nobles, ‘Wicked man,’
19    who shows no partiality to princes,
nor regards the rich more than the poor,
for they are all the work of his hands?
20    In a moment they die;
at midnight the people are shaken and pass away,
and the mighty are taken away by no human hand.
21    “For his eyes are on the ways of a man,
and he sees all his steps.
22    There is no gloom or deep darkness
where evildoers may hide themselves.
23    For God has no need to consider a man further,
that he should go before God in judgment.
24    He shatters the mighty without investigation
and sets others in their place.
25    Thus, knowing their works,
he overturns them in the night, and they are crushed.
26    He strikes them for their wickedness
in a place for all to see,
27    because they turned aside from following him
and had no regard for any of his ways,
28    so that they caused the cry of the poor to come to him,
and he heard the cry of the afflicted--
29    When he is quiet, who can condemn?
When he hides his face, who can behold him,
whether it be a nation or a man?--
30    that a godless man should not reign,
that he should not ensnare the people.
31    “For has anyone said to God,
‘I have borne punishment; I will not offend any more;
32    teach me what I do not see;
if I have done iniquity, I will do it no more’?
33    Will he then make repayment to suit you,
because you reject it?
       For you must choose, and not I;
therefore declare what you know.
34    Men of understanding will say to me,
and the wise man who hears me will say:
35    ‘Job speaks without knowledge;
his words are without insight.’
36    Would that Job were tried to the end,
because he answers like wicked men.
37    For he adds rebellion to his sin;
he claps his hands among us
and multiplies his words against God.”
 
 
Meditation
God’s inaction and seeming silence in the face of suffering does not contradict His justice. God is just and will execute His justice. To live by faith is to wait in trust of God and His sovereign timing (Habakkuk 2:2-3).
 
Elihu is the prosecutor in Job’s trial, speaking to a crowd of elders and then to Job directly. Job has questioned God’s silence during his suffering. Elihu addresses what Job said, defending God and teaching that God’s silence and delay in response to our prayers and suffering does not negate His justice or sovereignty.
 
Job is silent as Elihu speaks, not defending himself. But Job has said plenty. Elihu points out Job’s questioning of God’s righteousness (10:15; 13:18) and his accusation that God had taken Job’s rights (27:2). Job accused God of guilt for inflicting suffering on him as a false witness against him, in so many words calling God a liar (16:8). Elihu sums up Job’s sharing in suffering as something on par with the lies of Satan, questioning God’s goodness by casting an image of God as an evil tormenter. God is good, all the time. And His justice will prevail in His time.
 
God’s silence does not justify human condemnation or accusation that God is unjust. Christians know God broke Himself in suffering as our Savior, that He is both just and sovereign, and yet we identify with Job’s accusations. Wisdom compels us to join Job in silence, realizing our fault in not trusting God’s sovereign timing in our seasons of suffering.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you about Elihu’s intense defense of God?
 
-Where do you identify with Job, accusing God when He seems silent or slow in the face of suffering in your life and the world?
 
-How does the suffering of our Savior speak of God’s goodness, sovereignty, justice, AND mercy? Be specific, and allow this deep thinking about the work of God to inform your perspective on the present struggling and suffering in our world.
 
Key Verse
29    When he is quiet, who can condemn? When he hides his face, who can behold him, whether it be a nation or a man?—