80. Breaking Impasse (2)
Hymns: RHC 559 Near the Cross, 385 May the Mind of Christ, My Savior, 379 O for a Faith that Will Not Shrink
Job 32:1-6
1So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. 2Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. 3Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 4Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. 5When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled. 6And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion.
Breaking Impasse (2)
OUTLINE
- Speech of Elihu (32:1-37:24)
- Elihu joins debate breaking impasse (32:1-22)
i. Anger with Job (32:2)
- Justifying himself (32:2)
ii. Anger with 3 friends (32:3-5)
- Condemning Job unjustly (32:3-6)
iii. Profile of Elihu (32:6)
- Plea for Audience (32:6-33:3)
i. The reason for his initial silence (32:6-16)
ii. The reason for his speaking (32:17-22)
iii. The desire for Job’s attention (33:1-3)[1]
- Justice of God (33:4-34:37)
- Sovereignty of God (35:1-16)
- Justice and Power of God with man and His Sovereignty and Benevolence with Nature (36:1-37:24)
Continue…
(1) Elihu joins debate breaking impasse (32:1-22)
a) Anger with Job (32:2)
- Justifying himself (32:2)
b) Anger with 3 friends (32:3-5)
- Condemning Job unjustly (32:3-5)
- Profile of Elihu (32:6)
2Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God.3Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. 4Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he. 5When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled.
Matthew Henry observed well here, “Elihu spoke because he was angry and thought he had good cause to be so. When he had made his observations upon the dispute he did not go away and calumniate the disputants, striking them secretly with a malicious censorious tongue, but what he had to say he would say before their faces, that they might vindicate themselves if they could.
He was angry at Job, because he thought he did not speak so reverently of God as he ought to have done; and that was too true (v2):He justified himself more than God,that is, took more care and pains to clear himself from the imputation of unrighteousness in being thus afflicted than to clear God from the imputation of unrighteousness in afflicting him, as if he were more concerned for his own honour than for God’s;whereas he should, in the first place, have justified God and cleared his glory, and then he might well enough have left his own reputation to shift for itself.
A gracious heart is jealous for the honour of God, and cannot but be angry when that is neglected or postponed, or when any injury is done it.
Nor is it any breach of the law of meekness to be angry at our friends when they are offensive to God. Get thee behind me, Satan,says Christ to Simon. Elihu owned Job to be a good man, and yet would not say as he said when he thought he said amiss: it is too great a compliment to our friends not to tell them of their faults.”
He was angry at his friends because he thought they had not conducted themselves so charitably towards Job as they ought to have done (v3): They had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.They had adjudged him to be a hypocrite, a wicked man, and would not recede from that sentence concerning him; and yet they could not prove him so, nor disprove the evidences he produced of his integrity. They could not make good the premises, and yet held fast the conclusion.
They had no reply to make to his arguments, and yet they would not yield, but, right or wrong, would run him down; and this was not fair. Seldom is a quarrel begun, and more seldom is a quarrel carried on to the length that this was, in which there is not a fault on both sides. Elihu, as became a moderator, took part with neither, but was equally displeased with the mistakes and mismanagement of both. Those that in good earnest seek for truth must thus be impartial in their judgments concerning the contenders, and not reject what is true and good on either side for the sake of what is amiss, nor approve or defend what is amiss for the sake of what is true and good, but must learn to separate between the precious and the vile. [Matthew Henry]
Inadvertently, through life, we will meet with individuals like the three friends of Job – because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.
They held Job to be guilty, and yet they were unable to adduce the proof of it, and to reply to what he had said. They still maintained their opinion, though silenced in the argument. They were in that state of mind, not uncommon, in which they obstinately held on to an opinion which they could not vindicate, and believed another to be guilty, though they could not prove it. [Barnes]
For one to be innocent and yet suffer wrongful accusations, with the assusers stubbornly insisting on the wrongs is indeed hard to bear.
The Apostle Peter has this word of consolation and encouragement for the Job’s of today when he said in 1 Peter 2:19-24 For this isthankworthy, if a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye take it patiently, this isacceptable with God.
1 Peter 2:18 Servants, besubject to yourmasters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward.
This was given in the context of a servant working for his master and has suffered abuse. The servant is unable to utter a word. But here Robert Leighton said well, “There is a way for him in the meanest condition to glorify God, and to adorn the profession of religion; no estate so low as to be shut from that; and a rightly-informed and rightly-affected conscience towards God, shows a man that way, and causes him to walk in it.”
And the greatest example is our Lord Jesus Christ Himself – For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himselfto him that judgeth righteously: Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.
Robert Leighton further observed, “The master’s mind is often more toiled than the servant’s body. But if our condition be appointed us, at least we would have a voice in some qualification and circumstances of it; as in this, if a man must serve, he would wish willingly that God would allot him a meek, gentle master… In this conscience, there is a religious and observant respect to the rule which God hath set men to walk by in that condition; so that their obedience depends not upon any external inducement, failing when that fails, but flows from an inward impression of the law of God upon the heart. Thus, a servant’s obedience and patience will not be pinned to the goodness and equity of his master, but when that fails, will subsist upon its own inward ground; and so, generally, in all other estates. This is the thing that makes a man step even in the ways of God. When a man’s obedience springs upon that unfailing, unchanging reason, the command of God, it is a natural motion, and therefore keeps on, and rather grows than abates; but they who are moved by things outward, must often fail, because those things are not constant in their moving: as, for instance, when a people are much acted on the spirit of their rulers, as the Jews when they had good kings.”[2]
Elihu acted as a judge, impartially meting out a just judgment concerning unjust treatment upon Job by his three friends. He was at hand listening to the exchange amongst them and therefore waited his time to vindicate Job.
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
6And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, I am young, and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion.
Elihu was filled with a spirit of meekness when he confronted both Job and his three friends. He humbly acknowledged that they were senior to him and his own weakness. He was not overboard in his reprisal but was able to help Job and his friends see that faults.
God Himself will finally speak to set the matter straight concerning the unjust treatment of Job. But for Job, he is being led to simmer down as righteous judgement and righteous assessment is being meted out culminating in God Himself speaking to allay all the uncertain emotions when went through him during the time of his trial to help us to learn to keep faith and patiently endure the trials of life as Jesus did – For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himselfto him that judgeth righteously:
Amen.
[1] Hannah’s Bible Outlines.
[2] Robert Leighton, An Obedient and Patient Faith – An Exposition of 1 Peter, Calvary Press, 1995, 211-214.