Job Needs to Defend God And Not Himself
August 22, 2019
Commentary
Wicked rulers will not succeed because it is not God’s purpose for the people to be led to ruin by their leaders (v. 30). Elihu pointed out the way the guilty claim to be innocent and promise to sin no more if only someone would point out their sin to them (v. 31-32). Obviously he mentions this with Job in mind, and says that he doesn’t want to have any part in it. He calls upon Job to suggest a more equitable method than the one God uses, and as a result to choose his own punishment. As far as he is concerned he is content with the method God is using (v. 33). Since Job hasn’t made any response to this, Elihu follows with what he believes the reaction of wise men would be to Job’s arguments (v. 34). They would say that he spoke without knowledge and without wisdom (v. 35).
Elihu concludes his second speech by expressing the hope that Job be tried or afflicted until he ceases giving answers such as those usually given by guilty men (v. 36). He goes on to state that Job has added rebellion and contempt, which is shown by the “clapping of hands” to his other sins (v. 37). Elihu has been more severe in his reproach than Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar because, in addition to calling upon Job to confess his sins, he has charged him with adding to them by refusing to respond.
What is said of Job could be said of most of us. We may do a lot of talking, but a great deal of it is “without knowledge“ and “without wisdom.” A lot of people today speak without knowledge, and some of them may even have a graduate degree. But a degree is not a guarantee of knowledge or wisdom and is not a requirement for ministry. When it is valued for its own importance it can become a god and be out of balance.
Application
God has a concern for me. If He chastens me I ought to learn my lesson and not continue in my old way. He won’t let anything happen unless it accomplishes His purpose. I must always remember that godly wisdom is much more important than what the world has to offer me through its educational program.
Job 34:30– 37 (NET)
30 so that the godless man should not rule, and not lay snares for the people.
31 “Has anyone said to God, ‘I have endured chastisement, but I will not act wrongly any more;
32 teach me what I cannot see; if I have done evil, I will do so no more’?
33 Is it your opinion that God should recompense it, because you reject this? But you must choose, and not I, so tell us what you know.
34 Men of understanding say to me— any wise man listening to me says—
35 that Job speaks without knowledge and his words are without understanding.
36 But Job will be tested to the end, because his answers are like those of wicked men.
37 For he adds transgression to his sin; in our midst he claps his hands, and multiplies his words against God.”
Illustration: Education Should Be in Process For Life
For every man, education should be a process which continues all his life. We have to abandon, as swiftly as possible, the idea that schooling is something restricted to youth. How can it be, in a world where half the things a man knows at 20 are no longer true at 40-and half the things he knows at 40 hadn’t been discovered when he was 20? (Arthur C. Clarke in The View From Serendipity).