Job chapter 36

Elihu is very arrogant. He says he is “perfect” in knowledge. He repeats the same old theologies we know to be false.

 


 

ELIHU SPEAKS ARROGANTLY

 

VERSE 1. Elihu also continued, and said,

Elihu … continued. This is his fourth and final speech.

 

VERSE 2. “Bear with me a little, and I will show you; for I still have something to say on God’s behalf.

 

VERSE 3. I will get my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker.

 

VERSE 4. For truly my words are not false. One who is perfect in knowledge is with you.

my words are not false. Elihu is supremely confident about his own insights.

There is no basis for his confidence. He is merely an arrogant, ego-centric man.

perfect in knowledge. This is a dangerously arrogant thing to say about yourself.

 

VERSE 5. “Behold, God is mighty, and doesn’t despise anyone. He is mighty in strength of understanding.

 

VERSE 6. He doesn’t preserve the life of the wicked, but gives to the afflicted their right.

doesn’t preserve the life of the wicked. Elihu says God prevents wicked people from living to a ripe old age.

However, this is not true. We observe that all people have a more-or-less equal lifespan. For example, devout Christians do not have a longer expected lifespan than murderers.

 

VERSE 7. He doesn’t withdraw his eyes from the righteous, but with kings on the throne, he sets them forever, and they are exalted.

 

VERSE 8. If they are bound in fetters, and are taken in the cords of afflictions,

 

VERSE 9. then he shows them their work, and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly.

 

VERSE 10. He also opens their ears to instruction, and commands that they return from iniquity.

 

VERSE 11. If they listen and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

they shall spend their days in prosperity. Elihu repeats the same old dictum:

If you walk with God, he WILL reward you in this life, and you WILL be rich.

We know this to be false.

In our day, many church leaders have fine homes and are paid a decent income. But in the Bible, some of our greatest heroes were poor and sometimes homeless. Read more »

 

VERSE 12. But if they don’t listen, they shall perish by the sword; they shall die without knowledge.

 

VERSE 13. “But those who are godless in heart lay up anger. They don’t cry for help when he binds them.

godless. The Hebrew word is khaneif. It means irreligious.

 

VERSE 14. They die in youth. Their life perishes among the unclean.

among the unclean. That is, “among male prostitutes in pagan shrines.”

 

VERSE 15. He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear in oppression.

 

VERSE 16. Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.

a wide place. That is, a spacious place.

 

VERSE 17. “But you are full of the judgment of the wicked. Judgment and justice take hold of you.

 

VERSE 18. Don’t let riches entice you to wrath, neither let the great size of a bribe turn you aside.

 

VERSE 19. Would your wealth sustain you in distress, or all the might of your strength?

 

VERSE 20. Don’t desire the night, when people are cut off in their place.

cut off in their place. That is, when they sin.

 

VERSE 21. Take heed, don’t regard iniquity; for you have chosen this rather than affliction.

 

VERSE 22. Behold, God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?

 

VERSE 23. Who has prescribed his way for him? Or who can say, ‘You have committed unrighteousness?’

 

VERSE 24. “Remember that you magnify his work, whereof men have sung.

 

VERSE 25. All men have looked on it. Man sees it afar off.

 

VERSE 26. Behold, God is great, and we don’t know him. The number of his years is unsearchable.

 

VERSE 27. For he draws up the drops of water, which distill in rain from his vapor,

 

VERSE 28. Which the skies pour down and which drop on man abundantly.

 

VERSE 29. Yes, can any understand the spreading of the clouds, and the thunderings of his pavilion?

 

VERSE 30. Behold, he spreads his light around him. He covers the bottom of the sea.

 

VERSE 31. For by these he judges the people. He gives food in abundance.

 

VERSE 32. He covers his hands with the lightning, and commands it to strike the mark.

 

VERSE 33. Its noise tells about him, and the livestock also concerning the storm that comes up.

 


next chapter »

« previous chapter


JOB

CHAPTERS: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 0708, 09, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 1819, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42

RESOURCES: Summary, Outline, MemorizeJob’s Dark Night

Unless otherwise noted, all Bible quotations on this page are from the World English Bible and the World Messianic Edition. These translations have no copyright restrictions. They are in the Public Domain.