The Anger of the Young

That is on purpose, so that we can see the foolishness of our common arguments, and so we can understand that our anger and frustration are part of our relationship with God.

Today, we are going to go through six chapters, one long, continuous speech of the youngest of the group.

And, like most young people, he makes some arguments that are weak...

And he makes some arguments that are clothed in beautiful poetry.

And, if you are paying attention, you will notice that I am jumping ahead a bit.

There are Hebrew bible scholars that believe the text of Job is out of order a bit towards the end.

This SHOULD NOT BOTHER YOU!

The order of the texts that you and I have today are not the same order of the texts in the Hebrew bible.

Last week I started to change up the order of the text a bit and assign some of the speeches to others.

I don’t want you to be concerned about that.

But WHY...

Well, when you look at the original text, you will notice there are changes in the dialect.

You will notice a return to previous arguments.

It is like reading a book where someone has written the words in a “southern” dialect.

As an english reader, you would immediately know the dialect has changed, the speaker has changed.

Hebrew is like that too!

Here is a visual aid to help...

SLIDE

This is taken from Dr. David Cline’s work in the Word Biblical Commentary

He just passed away ten days ago.

He was an expert in the Hebrew Bible and is responsible for nearly 1800 pages of commentary on Job.

But more than that, he was the lead author of the Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (6 of 8 volumes), which is THE MOST RECENT work to create a dictionary of the Hebrew language. (4157 of 5653)

His Job commentary was published over a period of more than twenty years.

I am inclined to trust his insight on this.

So, this morning, I will simply read Elihu’s response to Job.

Then we will discuss a couple of things to consider.

Job 32-37 a

Job 32:1–5 NET 2nd ed.

So these three men refused to answer Job further, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry. He was angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. With Job’s three friends he was also angry, because they could not find an answer, and so declared Job guilty. Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job, because the others were older than he was. But when Elihu saw that the three men had no further reply, he became very angry.

Wow, Elihu is very ANGRY!

The Hebrew idiom here is “Hot in the Nose”

But why is he angry? Likely, he has been waiting patiently to see the outcome of the show.

Yes, this is a show.

And it has not gone as he expected.

These “wise men” should have put Job in his place, but they have not.

And Job, he has not “ceded” to the wise men.

****Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job...

He is a well mannered young man, who is keeping to the tradition of waiting to speak.

But, they are unable to convince Job, and when the scene does not play out like it should (in his mind) he becomes angry, again!

This SHOULD NOT SURPRISE US...

Many young people today look out at their “elders” and are frustrated.

How often, when you were young, did you see the “elders” around you (like in government) making decisions you did not agree with, and you said,

“We need some YOUNG people in there!”

And now we have young people in places of power and influence, and what marks them?

ANGER

Here is how the author of Job describes the young...

Job 32:18–19 NET 2nd ed.

For I am full of words, and the spirit within me constrains me. Inside I am like wine that has no outlet, like new wineskins ready to burst!

You get this sense that he just cannot sit still.

He is ready to burst out, with what? Angry words.

He will go on to make an interesting argument: That God is speaking to Job through his circumstances

God speaks through dreams and visions, and terrifies you to correct your way

Sometimes people have radical changes in their belief (healed from addiction)

God speaks through sickness and pain

And then God rescues them once they admit their fault

And Elihu’s arrogance comes through, just like it does when we are young.

Job 33:31–33 NET 2nd ed.

Pay attention, Job—listen to me; be silent, and I will speak. If you have any words, reply to me; speak, for I want to justify you. If not, you listen to me; be silent, and I will teach you wisdom.”

But he also addresses the three wise men...

Job 34:10–11 NET 2nd ed.

“Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God to do wickedness, from the Almighty to do evil. For he repays a person for his work, and according to the conduct of a person, he causes the consequences to find him.

This is where we are going to camp out, because it has been a consistent theme throughout

We will have to wait a couple of weeks to find out how Job responds.

But, here is the crux of the matter.

What happens to you is your fault.

Whatever situation you find yourself in, it is because of the work of your hands.

There is some truth in that…But not always.

And this has Elihu ANGRY...

There is no discussion about intelligent evil and its affect on humans.

No where does intelligent evil get the blame for any of this.

Job is a meditation on our judgement of life without any blame going to our cosmic enemies.

Job is a meditation on life

without any cosmic enemies.

This is why it is difficult to square.

Because what hope do we have against an enemy that can stand in the council of God?

We have a hope because there was a human who did stand in the face of evil and was not tempted.

Jesus went through the temptation to give in to the satan.

But he did not give in.

Elihu’s anger is MISDIRECTED towards the three men and Job.

His anger should be directed towards the evil that inflicted this upon Job to begin with.

That is what the author wants us to see.

While this may sound strange, God, in his response to Job, is going to spend an extensive amount of time on this very subject.

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