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Elihu Is Upset with
1Finally, these three men stopped arguing with Job, because he refused to admit he was guilty.
2Elihu from Buz was there, and he had become upset with Job for blaming God instead of himself. 3He was also angry with Job's three friends for not being able to prove that Job was wrong. 4Elihu was younger than these three, and he let them speak first. 5But he became irritated when they could not answer Job, 6and he said to them:
I am much younger than you,
so I have shown respect
by keeping silent.
7I once believed age
was the source of wisdom;
8now I truly realize
wisdom comes from God.
9Age is no guarantee of wisdom
and understanding.
10That's why I ask you
to listen to me.
I Eagerly Listened
* 11I eagerly listened
to each of your arguments,
12but not one of you proved
Job to be wrong.
13You shouldn't say,
“We know what's right!
Let God punish him.”
14Job hasn't spoken against me,
and so I won't answer him
with your arguments.
15All of you are shocked;
you don't know what to say.
16But am I to remain silent,
just because you
have stopped speaking?
17No! I will give my opinion,
18because I have so much to say,
that I can't keep quiet.
19I am like a swollen wineskin,
and I will burst
20if I don't speak.
* 21I don't know how to be unfair
or to flatter anyone—
22if I did, my Creator
would quickly destroy me!
Reflect
Job has finished. He has laid his case, like a defendant in a lawsuit, before God. He now waits for God to answer.
But still there is no answer.
The three friends have nothing more to say. At this point another speaker appears on the stage. Elihu, younger than the three “friends,” is bursting with something to say, but has held back out of deference to the older men. Elihu is not one of the esteemed “wise” (i.e. literate) men but he is more nuanced than the three “friends.” Watch out for this in the next few chapters. But he turns out to be no more helpful than the others.
What Elihu’s speech serves to do in the telling of the story is to delay God’s answer. Otherwise, when Job challenged God, it would have appeared that he got an answer right away, and that God was conceding to Job’s agenda.
But Job has to wait. Sometimes God answers our prayers in the same way. “Wait.”I think waiting is one of the most difficult challenges, whether it’s waiting for medical test results, waiting to hear the results of an exam or job application, or whatever. It’s even more difficult when, like Job, you don’t know how long you will have to wait, and can’t count the “sleeps.” We can get impatient and cross, or become resigned and apathetic, or sour and cynical.
In the New Testament James held up Job as an example of someone who knew how to wait (James 5:7-11). He was not deterred by the unhelpful platitudes of his friends or the lack of answers from God. He could protest “God may kill me, but still I will trust him.” Sometimes that is all we can say.
Respond
Father God, you know how hard I find it to wait. Sometimes you seem far away when I need you the most. Teach me patience, and faith, and hope. Amen.
Annabel Robinson
Annabel was born in Kew, near London, England. She committed her life to Jesus Christ at a Scripture Union camp when she was 16, and immediately found joy and peace. At Oxford she was active in the Oxford Inter-Collegiate Christian Union, where she met her husband, Reid. They emigrated to Canada in 1965, where she taught Classics at the University of Regina until 2007. She has two children, Heather in Oslo and Alasdair in Calgary.