Reflections on Job 36

 Job 36 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Elihu said:
   
2. Be patient a while longer; I have something else to say in God's defense.
   
3. God always does right-- and this knowledge comes straight from God.
   
4. You can rest assured that what I say is true.
   
5. Although God is mighty, he cares about everyone and makes fair decisions.
   
6. The wicked are cut down, and those who are wronged receive justice.
   
7. God watches over good people and places them in positions of power and honor forever.
   
8. But when people are prisoners of suffering and pain,
   
9. God points out their sin and their pride,
   
10. then he warns them to turn back to him.
    
11. And if they obey, they will be successful and happy from then on.
    
12. But if they foolishly refuse, they will be rewarded with a violent death.
    
13. Godless people are too angry to ask God for help when he punishes them.
    
14. So they die young in shameful disgrace.
    
15. Hard times and trouble are God's way of getting our attention!
    
16. And at this very moment, God deeply desires to lead you from trouble and to spread your table with your favorite food.
    
17. Now that the judgment for your sins has fallen upon you,
    
18. don't let your anger and the pain you endured make you sneer at God.
    
19. Your reputation and riches cannot protect you from distress,
    
20. nor can you find safety in the dark world below.
    
21. Be on guard! Don't turn to evil as a way of escape.
    
22. God's power is unlimited. He needs no teachers
    
23. to guide or correct him.
    
24. Others have praised God for what he has done, so join with them.
    
25. From down here on earth, everyone has looked up and seen
    
26. how great God is-- God is more than we imagine; no one can count the years he has lived.
    
27. God gathers moisture into the clouds
    
28. and supplies us with rain.
    
29. Who can understand how God scatters the clouds and speaks from his home in the thunderstorm?
    
30. And when God sends lightning, it can be seen at the bottom of the sea.
    
31. By producing such rainstorms, God rules the world and provides us with food.
    
32. Each flash of lightning is one of his arrows striking its target,
    
33. and the thunder tells of his anger against sin.

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Elihu began his last speech claiming broad knowledge and flawless arguments with which to defend God's justice and sovereignty. He proceeded, then, to claim that God gives justice to those who are afflicted but does not keep the wicked alive, using affliction as a teaching tool. In this argument Elihu demonstrated his thinking to be little different from the other three friends. The presence of affliction, according to him, is due to iniquity or sin. However, he was arguing that God uses affliction to turn one to repentance and back to God, whereas the other three argued that affliction was judgment for sin.

Therefore, Elihu argued that God uses affliction to tell people "what they have done and how arrogantly they have transgressed." Thus, opening their ears to correction so they will repent of their iniquity. Here is his bold assertion that affliction is a direct result of one's iniquity. The remedy of the afflicted is to be repentant and serve God obediently, bringing an end to the affliction and leading to years of prosperity. If, on the other hand, a person does not obey, they will cross the "river of death." This is his instruction to Job as to why he remains in his affliction. Job, he is saying, remains in his suffering because he has been complaining about God's injustice rather than repenting and serving God. If Job does not cry out for God's help, Elihu says, he will be like those who have a godless heart and die in their youth.

Elihu continued his argument saying that, "God rescues the afflicted by afflicting them; He instructs them by means of their torment." (36:15) He implies that Job was not letting the affliction teach him. He had instead become "obsessed with the judgment due the wicked," and remained mired in his affliction. Elihu warned Job that he should be careful not to be lured by his former riches thinking they could deliver him from his affliction. And, Job should be careful not to give in to iniquity thinking righteousness is no better. After all, iniquity is why Job was afflicted in the first place.

Instead of complaining, Job should be praising God for the wonders of His creation. God uses nature, that He has created and controls, both to bless and to judge. Through the rain and the lightning He gives food but also destroys. Elihu has condensed his understanding of God into a neat package that should be understandable to all. There is no reason, in his thinking, to tax one's brain to figure out why a person suffers. It is simple. The person has sinned, leaving only the question of what they are going to do about it? Will they repent and obey God leading to renewed prosperity or will they refuse to call out to God and die as a result of their sin?

Elihu's simplistic argument will soon fall apart when God gives His reply to this group of friends.