Day 28

Today we hear from a new voice. A younger man named Elihu finally speaks. It is likely he has been sitting there silently all along giving deference to those older than he. As D.A. Carson wrote “Elihu comes across as a rather bumptious individual who up to this point has only just barely restrained himself from speaking.” (It’s ok - I had to look up bumptious too - it means presumptuous, noisily self-assertive).

Yet, even though Elihu may come across a bit arrogant, his arguments take a different tact than those of the previous three “comforters” of Job. In chapter 33 he states that he believes Job has gone too far in insisting so fully on his own innocence that he in essence is charging God with wrong (33:8-12). He also does not believe that God is as distant as Job asserts. But instead of drawing hard and fast lines with regard to human suffering, Elihu actually leaves some mystery. And in the end, Elihu desires to see Job justified (33:32).

Then in chapter 34 you can hear his attitude a bit more. Yet, the arguments he makes, though strikingly close to those of the other men, are a bit different. And at the end of the book when God speaks, Elihu is not rebuked. The ‘comforters’ are, as is Job, but Elihu has no charge against him. His basic approach seems to be in the right, even if he is a bit less than winsome.

This was a memory verse I reviewed this morning (and reminded of as well by Carson): 29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law (Deut. 29:29).