| Passage: Job 32-34 On Friday, November 15, 2013, Fernando wrote, Job 34 Wow what a great argument: For Job has said, ‘I am in the right, and God has taken away my right; in spite of my right I am counted a liar; my wound is incurable, though I am without transgression.’ What man is like Job, who drinks up scoffing like water, who travels in company with evildoers and walks with wicked men? For he has said, ‘It profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God.’ Elihu further says, Who gave him (God) charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world? If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust… Would that Job were tried to the end, because he answers like wicked men. For he adds rebellion to his sin; he claps his hands among us and multiplies his words against God Job argues that he is being mistreated and approaches blaspheming God – yet stops short of actually saying anything yet implies so much. Elihu, points this out by “Job speaks without knowledge; his words are without insight.” Granted Elihu is ‘quoting’ what others would say of him, but Elihu reinforces these sayings in chapter 35:16, Job opens his mouth in empty talk; Sinfully Job does not trust in God, wholly. He does not utter anything blasphemous, not even heretical, Jobs words are not grounds for judgment, but his attitude reeks of a subtle statement of "I doubt you are good like u say you are, I doubt you know it all like u say u do....” the sin of doubt. God’s response is to build an impassible mountain before Job, leaving Job to say, I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, Job reaches the sublime state. Elihu makes a wonderful point, If you sin, how does that affect God? Your good deeds are nothing to God, they are like filthy rags, they are for the people around you. The sublime that Job reaches is express by David, Pslam 51, For I recognize my rebellion; You do not desire a sacrifice, or I would offer one. You do not want a burnt offering. |
| Passage: Job 32-34 On Wednesday, November 13, 2013, Fernando wrote, Job 32 So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Normally “righteous in his own eyes” is a bad thing. Proverbs points to this kind of folly. It is folly since you cannot penetrate pas this pride. They are closed off. But to hold too tightly to this is as good as saying ‘all discrimination is bad’ or ‘all prejudices are bad.’ – it is not. We are to separate good from evil and shake out the chaff from the wheat, we are to be discerning, we are to discriminate. We are to be filled with the knowledge of God, deciding today who your house will serve, zealously turning away any other offers – or offers to offer- we are to be holy, we are to be prejudice. Similarly, Job refused to allowed an external idea be introduced. “I am righteous,” and the Lord agrees with him. It is difficult to and often futile when you speak to someone and they are ‘arrogant’ or full of pride so that you cannot counsel them, but they are arrogant or prideful, only if they are wrong. The Biblical judicial system yields requiring proof, witnesses and strong argument before you can judge. Here Job’s friends used the best knowledge of God they had to counsel Job, but he was righteous in his own eyes – they saw it as evil and wrong but the Eternal Judge would soon overturn their judgment. Jesus suffered such a thing before the supreme court of his day. The Sanhedrin ruled him to be evil, likely guilty that he too was guilty in his own eyes, blasphemous in making himself equal to God. But, like Job, even their best was not able to discern appropriately, and God overturned their judgment, raising him from the dead, and giving the Sanhedrin the door to salvation which it appears at least some took. Elihu, was the only one who was able to rebuke Job and not be scorned by God. While Job was correct in his own assessment, he was not in his manner. He was righteous, and righteous in his own eyes duly rebuffed the three. But: But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He did not perform perfectly. The righteous are so by faith not their own actions, Job justified himself rather than being justified by God. Job 34 Job speaks without knowledge; In contrast to Jesus, Jesus essentially, said “you will see my Father justify me:” Mark 14 59 Yet even about this their testimony did not agree. 60 And the high priest stood up in the midst and asked Jesus, “Have you no answer to make? What is it that these men testify against you?”[g] 61 But he remained silent and made no answer. Again the high priest asked him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” 62 And Jesus said, “I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.” |
| Passage: Job 32-34 On Wednesday, June 20, 2012, Fernando wrote, Job32:4�Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. There is always a respect for your elders that the righteous should have. Even in delaying to correct the elders; delaying long enough that another elder can step in, as if the trickle of responsibility to give reproach ultimately lands on youth. 'Because one came first' is enough to require respect, since this is reflective of honoring God who was before all. This follows to men over women (cf 1 Timothy 2:13� For Adam was formed first, then Eve), elder to younger (cf 1 Timothy 5:1-2 Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father,�older women as mothers) This does not say 'do not correct them' but rather gives a method to do this. One translation expresses the approach through Exhorting, another Appealing, or by Entreating; and all as if to your loving parent. Elihu, the only one omitted from God's rebuke, further expresses the authority to reproach to Truth: Job 32:8-9�But it is the spirit in man, the breath of the Almighty, that makes him understand. It is not the old who are wise,�nor the aged who understand what is right. Specifically, 'what is right' there is great value in the knowledge of those 'of days' (the elders). |
| Passage: Job 32-34 On Tuesday, June 19, 2012, Yujin wrote, But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him (Job 32:2-3). We should consider Elihu's words because he is neither rebuked by God nor answered by Job, his words immediately precede God's response, and his response in many ways parallels God's response. He is just a youth by his own admission, but his words seem wiser than that of any of the older friends and perhaps even that of Job. He assesses the situation perfectly. He sees the three friends at fault because they condemned Job without a valid reason. He also sees Job at fault because he seemed more concerned with justifying himself rather than God. What these friends and Job failed to fully appreciate was that God is the Potter and they are the clay. As Elihu also says of himself: "I am the same as you in God's sight; I too am a piece of clay" (Job 33:6). But he would explore the implications of this. He reminds Job that God is not bound to answer him in the way he wants, for "God is greater than any mortal" (Job 33:12). Elihu answers Job's claim that God has denied him justice by pointing out that God is not like an appointed official (Job 34:12-13), such that He has to answer. He is answerable to no one. He is the essence of all life, so that all life would perish by the simple intention of his will (Job 34:14-15). Elihu challenges Job's claim against God's justice by pointing out that God is not merely a just and mighty ruler, but He epitomizes justice and might (Job 34:18-20), such that kings are worthless and nobles are wicked, the poor and rich are the same, and all the mighty are as nothing to Him (Job 34:17-20). God defines what is just and right, such that people are just when they follow Him and unjust when they don't (Job 34:27). If then God's justice is in His very nature, for Job to contest God's justice would be to challenge God's very nature. Elihu confronts Job not with a particular sin but Job's very approach. He challenges Job for trying to get an answer from God on his terms: "Should God then reward you on your terms, when you refuse to repent?" (Job 34:33). Rather than humbling himself, Job is coming to God almost as to challenge Him. This is why Elihu gives this strong rebuke: Job speaks without knowledge; his words lack insight; Even though Job is an upright man, he is answering "like a wicked man," because he is challenging God's right to do as He pleases. Thus, we might even say that righteousness is not simply following God's rules, as we understand them, but it is ultimately following God Himself. I can think of no human justification for what God put Job through. Even though we could say that Job probably grew in his understanding and appreciation of God, the intense suffering and shame he endured, as well as the irretrievable loss of his original family, do not agree with any "enlightened" justice system in our modern world. But let us understand that the message of Job is not about our trying to fit what God did into our worldview but rather that we should acknowledge that God is indeed God, who does just as He pleases. What if a master had a servant, and the master took everything away from him and had his children murdered, and then sent an evil henchman to torture the servant with the full force of his skills short of death? What if he also allowed his friends to come to him and taunt him. And what if he did this to show this evil henchman that the servant would remain true to him no matter what. Who among us would say that this is just? Wouldn't we all say that this is barbaric? Even if everything was restored in the end, would our opinion change? There is no human justiification for God's actions in Job, even with the curtains of heaven pulled aside for the reader. However, if we can understand Job, we will understand God's command for the Jews to kill the Amalekite men, women, children and animals in the conquest of the land of Canaan. If we can understand Job, we will understand God's raising up of Pharaoh only to destroy him with a mighty hand, and we will understand God's raising up of Judas Iscariot so that he might betray Jesus and become the "son of hell" itself. If we can understand Job, we will understand how God will forever condemn in eternal torment every person not chosen for eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ. Yet, since God is God, and there is no other, we must not try to mold him into a figure that is more acceptable to us. So we embrace the hard truths about God as well as the wonderful and delightful. And in a spirit of humble repentance we come to Him with unceasing gratitude for His grace toward us, to whom He has promised eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. |