Wisdom Literature (13): Job – Elihu Speaks: God Is Gracious, Just and Great

After Job rested his case, everyone fell silent: Job, his three friends, and God Himself. Into that silence stepped Elihu, a young man who had listened respectfully to every round of the debate. This session covers his speech in Job 32–37. Elihu’s message can be summed up in three lines: God is gracious, God is just, and God is great. Use these notes with the recording: read each passage first, then the notes, then the questions at the end.

Reading Plan

1. The Silence Before Elihu Speaks

Job had ended his defence with an oath that he was not guilty, and had challenged God either to vindicate him or to pass sentence (Job 31:35–37). His friends were shocked that he dared to speak so boldly to God and about God, and they expected judgment. But God was silent to all four men. The God of the universe does not appear just because someone thinks it is time for a show. A speaker at Hyde Park in London once took out his watch and gave God five minutes to strike him dead; when nothing happened, he said this proved there is no God. A believer in the crowd answered: “Do you think you can exhaust the patience of Almighty God in five minutes?”

Many believers know a lot about God but do not walk in wisdom. We leave God inside the church on Sunday and live as if He stays there. Even Peter, who walked with Jesus daily, reached for his sword, forgetting that Jesus could call on more than twelve legions of angels (Matthew 26:51–54).

2. Why Elihu Waited, and Why He Spoke (Job 32)

Elihu was younger than Job and his friends. In the East, as in much of Africa, the young respect age and experience, and it would have been a serious breach of manners to interrupt his elders (Job 32:4–7). Some values belong to every generation and culture (Philippians 4:8). Elihu also waited to hear the whole debate before answering: “To answer before listening — that is folly and shame” (Proverbs 18:13). He listened, put the facts together, and understood Job’s real problem.

His purpose was different from the friends’. He was not trying to prove that Job was a sinner, but that Job’s view of God was wrong. He gave reasons for speaking:

• He was angry: with the friends for failing to answer Job, and with Job for justifying himself rather than God (Job 32:2–3).
• Age is no guarantee of wisdom: grey hair is a crown of splendour when it is gained in a righteous life (Proverbs 16:31), but there are old fools as well as young ones (Job 32:9).
• He was inspired: “it is the spirit in a person, the breath of the Almighty, that gives them understanding” (Job 32:8). The Holy Spirit gives boldness, as He did to the early church (Acts 4:29–31).
• He could not keep quiet: God’s character was being misrepresented in public, and that had to be corrected (Job 32:18–20).

He said some of the same things as the three friends, yet the spirit behind his words was different. The Holy Spirit helps us to discern the spirit behind what people say.

3. God Is Gracious: He Speaks (Job 33)

Elihu assured Job that he would not be heavy-handed and invited him to reply (Job 33:1–7). He then quoted Job accurately: Job had said that God was unjust and treated him like an enemy (Job 33:8–11). Elihu’s thesis: God is greater than any man, and He does speak, “now one way, now another — though no one perceives it” (Job 33:12–14). He gave three ways:

Dreams and visions (Job 33:15–18)

In Bible times God sometimes spoke through dreams and visions. Today His Spirit directs us primarily through His Word, in His Son (Hebrews 1:1–2), so every dream must be tested by Scripture, not by dream books or the internet. God may use a dream to stop someone from a sin they had planned and keep them from the pit. God does not give dreams so that we can accuse or harm others: when He shows us someone’s problem, it is so that we pray for them and help them. And not every dream carries a message; some come from tiredness, worry or a late heavy meal (Isaiah 29:8).

Suffering (Job 33:19–22)

Elihu described a sick man wasting away, whom God is using pain to turn from wrongdoing. Here Elihu brought a new truth into the debate: suffering is not only punishment for sin. It can be preventive rather than punitive, keeping us from sin, and it can make us better people (Romans 5:3–5; Hebrews 12:5–11). As C. S. Lewis put it, God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains. Do not wait for God to shout.

Keep the balance. It is a mistake to say all suffering comes from God: careless driving, poor eating and sin bring their own pain, and “the way of the unfaithful leads to their destruction” (Proverbs 13:15). It is equally a mistake to say all suffering is punishment for sin. God gave Paul a thorn in the flesh to keep him from becoming conceited, and Paul learned to thank God for it: “My grace is sufficient for you” (2 Corinthians 12:7–10). What might have torn him down became, by grace, a tool to build him up.

The mediating messenger (Job 33:23–30)

Elihu painted a picture of a sinner near the grave. Then a messenger, “one out of a thousand”, stands up to tell him what is right and to plead for him: “Spare them from going down to the pit; I have found a ransom for them” (Job 33:23–24). In class most of us saw here the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Lord, who is both our Mediator and our ransom (1 Timothy 2:5–6; Mark 10:45); one sister pointed to the Holy Spirit, who also intercedes for us (Romans 8:26). This is the mediator Job had cried out for. Jesus is not God’s “plan B”: He was chosen before the creation of the world (1 Peter 1:18–20). A ransom God accepts is not money or good works, but the shedding of blood (Hebrews 9:22).

Job did not reply. He was so worn out that he could no longer hear the messenger God had sent. The enemy can tire us with the wrong battles until we miss God’s visitation.

4. God Is Just (Job 34–35)

Elihu asked his hearers to test his words as the tongue tastes food (Job 34:3–4). He took up two of Job’s complaints.

“God is unjust” (Job 34:5–6). Elihu answered: if God were unjust He would not be God (Job 34:10–12); what looks like injustice to us is justice. God is sovereign: no one appointed Him to His throne (Job 34:13). He knows everything, so He does not need a court hearing to gather evidence (Job 34:21–23). If He is silent, who can condemn Him (Job 34:29)? And His delays are patience, giving people time to repent, as He waited before the flood (Genesis 6:3; 2 Peter 3:9). A caution: do not stress God’s justice alone. He is also loving and gracious, and at the cross He satisfied both His justice and His love (Romans 3:25–26).

“There is no profit in serving God” (Job 35:1–3). Our sins do not threaten God and our good deeds cannot bribe Him (Job 35:6–8). He cannot change for the better because He is perfect, nor for the worse because He is holy (Malachi 3:6). Job could not see God, but God saw Job and knew his case completely (Job 35:14). Job’s part was to wait and trust.

5. God Is Great (Job 36–37)

“God is mighty, but despises no one” (Job 36:5–6): He is firm in His purpose to deal with the wicked and help the afflicted. Elihu called Job to make a decision and warned him of dangers ahead (Job 36:16–21): looking for a shortcut out of trouble and missing God’s message, and giving up hope and turning to sin. Instead, Job should catch a new vision of God’s greatness and worship Him (Job 36:24–26). As our song says: “This time around I will no longer cry, but worship.” Praise changes things. Elihu’s great questions about God’s wonders in nature (Job 37:14–24) prepared Job for the questions the Lord Himself would ask in Job 38. We will come back to these closing chapters next week.

Lessons for Us

Knowledge is not wisdom: you can know a lot and still not be wise. Wisdom shows in how we live after the service ends.

Young and wise: Elihu shows the youth that they can be young and full of wisdom and the Holy Spirit. Respect your elders, listen fully, and wait for your time to speak.

Ask the right question: in suffering, instead of “Why me?” (which really means “Why not someone else?”), ask “What does God want me to get out of this?” When God reveals His ways to you, you enter His rest, and your life becomes a life of thanksgiving.

Next session: Elihu’s closing words, and the Lord answers Job out of the storm (Job 38–39). Read Job 38–41 before we meet. An exam on the whole book of Job is coming: keep reading.