Today, I am reading and commenting on Job 34-37.
I am somewhat confused with what to make of today’s passage. On the one hand, we have Elihu speaking, who is not mentioned at the end of the book among Job’s friends when God condemns them. On the other hand, he makes a strawman argument against Job: he says that Job made arguments which he did not make. Nevertheless, Elihu says some insightful things. Elihu tells us that our sins do not harm God, and He gains nothing from our acts of righteousness. The standards which God establishes are for the benefit of mankind, not Himself. This is one of the most important insights which we can have. When we sin, we harm ourselves and others. When we do good, we benefit ourselves and others. God’s Laws are not arbitrary. Let us follow them so that we can experience the joy God intends for us.
I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.
I was drawn to this comment because I happened to be reading Job yesterday It is not a book I return to as frequently as some others. I was reading the last chapter. The reference to Elihu in comment above, as not being one of the three friends mentioned at the end, helped me to think more about all of their responses to Job. My memory did not include all four, and I think I got Elihu and Eliphaz straightened out. Eluhu literally means “God Himself”. Eliphaz means “God is Dispenser”, one who gives out ( for example, justice). I agree with Elihu that the young people should have their turn in instructing others .They often have a lot to teach us. Also, a lot of our elders have wisdom which is sometimes overlooked. I believe that we can learn at all ages more about our own salvation, and how God takes care of things when we don’t know what to do or how to do it. In the book of Job there is more about the details of Job’s life and actual misfortunes, while we know mostly about his friends from what they say. Because the Bible is God’s Word, the Holy Spirit can instruct us through their words. They did a compassionate thing by sitting with Job for a long time without talking, expressing in that way theur sympathy. Much of what they said when they began speaking did not reveal specific trials from their own experience with the same kind of extreme suffering Job was under. They told mstly their own thoughts and beliefs about God. Even though what they said magnified God, and waswgood for our edifucation, we do not know how they would have reacted when tested by great tribulation. That is when we find out how much we have really learned, and how we can reach a level of patience and faith we never had before. Until we experience that, corrections from our friends can fall on deaf ears.
You make a good point. We often get distracted from the good which Job’s friends did by sitting with him in silence. On the other hand, I believe that we should recognize that, aside from Elihu, Job’s friends said things which we should take with a grain of salt. While some of it is very helpful for us, they take the things which they got correct too far.