Elihu’s Vindication (1/2): Job 32-34

Call to Worship

Blessed is the Kingdom of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, now and forever and to the ages. Χριστός Ανέστη! Christus Victor! Christ is Risen from Death! Christ is Victorious over Death! We remember this especially in the words of the Prophet Hosea through the reference of Saint Paul, a reading from the First Epistle to the Corinthians

1 Cor. 15:51, 53-57 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep [i.e., die], but we will all be changed… For this perishable body must out on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory, O Death, where is your victory? O Death, where is your sting?” The string of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Lord’s Prayer and Absolution

Therefore, let us pray, dearest brothers, just as God the master has taught us. Imploring God in his own words, sending up to his ears the prayer of Christ, is a friendly and familiar manner of praying. When we make our prayer let the Father recognize the words of his own Son. May he who lives inside our heart be also in our voice, and since, when as sinners we ask forgiveness of our failings we have him as an advocate for our sins in the presence of the Father, let us set forth the words of our advocate by our minds, our words, and our hearts:

Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. 

Almighty God have mercy on us, forgive us all your sins through our Lord Jesus Christ, strengthen us in all goodness, and by the power of the Holy Spirit keep us in eternal life.

For yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. In the name of the Father, who creates, and of the Son, who redeems, and of the Holy Spirit, who sanctifies and purifies us before You, Amen.

Sermon

Throughout the last 5 weeks, we’ve been juggling with the human dialogue of Job and his three interlocutors (Eliphaz, Bildad, and Job). Remember, none of them are familiar with the divine drama that set up Job’s suffering (i.e., Satan infliction of disease, death, and destruction in Job’s life, with the intent to prove Job’s faith is unconditional) and are only aware of what they can perceive. And throughout the three cycles we’ve dealt with, and Job’s final soliloquy, we find different explanations of God through each man’s perception of what God should be like, condemning themselves in the process. Job has mostly remained true in his faith, whether that be in countering the “friends’” arguments or in his hopeful cry out to God, yet this is not enough to satisfy one onlooker, who is quick to recognize and catch Job potentially missing the mark (i.e., pertaining towards sin).

So far, we’ve been mostly unfamiliar with an audience, yet many of the best progresses in thought have been through these methods; whether it be Plato’s Academy, with a limited number of speakers but a large number of onlookers, or political debates, where, e.g., every four years we all watch our country’s “greatest minds” stumble through a presidential “debate.” In all seriousness, revolutionary thought, new paradigms, emerge when two factors coalesce, i.e., seeds of dissenting thought continually questioned, and, an audience to comprehend and spread such ideas. As an example, it was not until Copernicus formulated his model of the Earth circling the Sun (rather than the reverse), and it was investigated and spread by Osiander, that the idea that we might not be the “center of the universe” eventually became accepted.

Elihu, who speaks from chapters 32 through 37 , occupies this type—described as a young man turned restless by the circular argumentation of the three and the insufficient answer of Job—who speaks up, offers a fresh perspective, and ends up speaking, for he proclaims,

Job 33:2-3 My words are from the uprightness of my heart, / And my lips speak knowledge sincerely. The Spirit of God has made me, / And the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

We find both in Jewish and Church history figures who count Elihu’s speech as the most crucial and attribute to Elihu an authoritative voice. Gregory the Great, in the 6th Century, spoke of Elihu as preaching orthodoxy (“correct teaching”), yet still suffering some pride. Maimonides, a 12th Century Jew, spoke of Elihu’s speech, compared to the “friends’,” as “less absurd … and nearer than they to intellectual reasoning.” Finally, the most exuberant advocate for Elihu in the church was John Calvin, attributing to Elihu an endorsement of his view of God’s providence. And we, as we have so far throughout this series, can learn a lot from multiple viewpoints. From the allegorical reading of the aforementioned Gregory, who read this text as displaying the beneficial nature of suffering (like Philippians); to Thomas Aquinas’ literal reading that treats the text as solely an inquiry into divine providence. Both can be, and have been true. However, we will return to all these ideas later.

So far, we have introduced Elihu, the final one to speak before God’s voice is heard in chapter 38. And, in the fact that he is heard right before God’s voice offers us two theological perspectives/traditions on divine revelation (how God reveals himself). The latter, of God’s speech from heaven (chs. 38–42), pre-types Christ’s incarnation in that God communicates directly. The first, however, happens on earth, of divine revelation by indirect means through a chosen intermediary. In this case, Elihu fits into this mold with three descriptions/titles offered at the front of his speech—מֵלִיץ mēlîs (Interpreter, Mediator), מַלְאָךְ mal’āk (Messenger [same word for Angel]), and מוֹכִיחַ môkiâḥ (Rebuker, Corrector, Righteous Adjudicator). Now, the general theme of his speech is as follows: ch. 32, Rebuke of Job’s Friends; ch. 33, Rebuke of Job I; ch. 34, Doctrine of God I; ch. 35, Rebuke of Job II; chs. 36-37 Doctrine of God II. But, rather than analyzing each chapter (as has made it easier for us to understand the back-and-forth discourses so far), let us exegete Elihu with his described parameters to get the full story, as it’s one long speech in the end. Today we focus on the first 3 of the 6 chapters of Elihu (Elihu’s Refutation of Job’s “friends” and Job [briefly], and justification of God [beginning]), where these identities are best presented:

mēlîs מֵלִיץ (Mediator)

While it might be best to start with Job as “Rebuker,” for continuity, I think beginning with his character as “Mediator” can subsist in the latter definition. For example, take the explicit reference to Mediator in ch. 33,

Job 33:23–24 If there is an angel as mediator for him, / One out of a thousand, / To remind a man what is right for him, / Then let him be gracious to him, and say, / ‘Deliver him from going down to the pit, / I have found a ransom’

The role of the mediator is then is one who protects from further downfall. In the New Testament context, this term (in the Greek), is almost exclusively used to refer to Christ (or at the very least Christ’s relationship between God and man [Creator and Creature]). As an example, we read in the First Epistle to Timothy,

1 Tim. 2:5 … there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.

Now what this does not mean is that Elihu is speaking for God, but inspired by God’s spirit (Holy Spirit). We know this, because, in relation to Job he describes himself, as previously mentioned, as a young man not worthy to interrupt their earlier quarrels. But, in describing his relationship to God, he says,

Job 33:6 Behold, I belong to God like you; / I too have been formed out of the clay.

Or, better phrased in its Hebrew context, ‘I am toward (in relation to) God as you are’ or ‘I am, like you, (a creature) of God.’ This is important to recognize Elihu’s pedigree. Now whether he maintains this attitude is up to debate, but certainly this verse steers us away from a false impression that Elihu as mediator means he speaks to God as he does to man, or, speaks from God as he does to man. The best analogy I could provide is one of a translator (in which this term is used in that sense in the story of Joseph in Genesis) where rather than having a translator speak both languages, each side has their own translator, or two intermediators. In this sense, we can designate Elihu as the earthly intermediator and the forthcoming Messiah (Christ Jesus) as the heavenly. This inhabits Elihu’s tradition of the divine revealed through hiddenness, while Christ embodies the visible. I think we should be encouraged by Elihu’s role as the proponent of the normative theological method, i.e., knowledge of God by revelation alone and without an inclination towards “finding God” elsewhere. For, in special epochs, God’s knowledge is found in nature, i.e., Christ Jesus, but our expectation should not to be to expect these in our life. ‘Blessed is he who does not see but still believes,’ our Savior says at the end of John’s Gospel. I think Elihu portrays this role as a mediator well in that he represents the furthest extent one can mediate as humans before God, and Christ represents the extent one can mediate as God before God (i.e., infinitely).

So, how does Elihu “mediate” then in terms of practicality. We find a brief apologetic of Elihu’s role before his poetic speech—by this I mean that after Job’s final speech and before Elihu’s, we catch a small glimpse of prose,

Job 32:1–3 Then these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram burned; against Job his anger burned because he justified himself before God. And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

One can only count these as truths, no? If not, how can we rely on prose at the start or end of the book? By what merit can we say Job has not attempted to justify himself? Certainly the friends preached a self-righteousness (which could also be called justifying oneself), one which encumbers an unbiased view of God. Job’s self-justification is not as dangerous, as it is not used to portray one as better than another, and he even explicitly denies any ability to pronounce judgment on God, in what appears to be more of an affirmation in oneself,

Job 27:5–6 Far be it from me that I should declare you right; / Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. / I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. / My heart does not reproach any of my days.

mal’āk מַלְאָךְ (Messenger)

On the same note, Elihu can also be referred to as a messenger of sorts. Fun fact, this word, both in the Hebrew and Greek, are the same word for “angel,” which gives us a lot to think about the role of angels and exegesis of said angels throughout Scripture. But, it is still a general designation for messenger, in which is its denotation here. In the New Testament, Christ is also occasionally credited as a “messenger” of sorts, implying both his active and physical role in salvation history and his literal gospel message. And in the Old, which points to the New, the repeated trope of the “angel/messenger of God[LORD]” is rightly understood as a reference to Christ participating in his divine nature before his incarnation (becoming man).

Why this reference for Elihu can be considered as complementary to mediator is in the fact that it’s explicitly referred as so in ch. 33,

Job 33:23 If there is an angel as mediator for him, One out of a thousand, To remind a man what is right for him,

Not only does this again prove the point that this mediator need not be a direct voice of God, and that it being a messenger (angel) is its intent, but we also get an idea of God’s providence. Like Gregory, who claims that while Elihu speaks true teachings but within the sin of pride, God works through sinful people (that we all are granted) or sins for His plan. He’s using Elihu not as a voice but as that tradition of God’s revelation through hiddenness via these “intermediaries.” King Daniel, referred to as a/the Messenger of God, is not without sin, yet reveals, through Scripture, many truths about God’s nature. And if you look throughout Scripture, not a single human character is without any fault (minus Christ).

môkiâḥ מוֹכִיחַ (Rebuker)

But now we turn to the final designation of Elihu as “Rebuker” or “Corrector.” Notice how we can understand Elihu as mediator in his equal stance with Job, preaching a “message” from outside their discursive paradigm, and finally Elihu as the one who “corrects” to orient Job back on the straight path before he meets God. Thus, all three roles are complementary. In correction, Job begins first to the “friends,”

Job 32:22-23 I even paid close attention to you; / Indeed, there was no one who refuted Job, / Not one of you who answered his words. / Do not say, / We have found wisdom; / God will drive him away, not man.

In one sense, Elihu’s message carries a critique of Job’s actions, but far different from the critique of Job’s “friends,” who even Elihu critiques here as having not “refuted” Job. Hence, this is the role where Elihu steps in. And we’ve seen this character be hoped for by Job earlier in his speeches, when he argues that there is no arbiter between God and man,

Job 9:33 There is no [rebuker] between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both.

Now, Job here, before he finds himself worn down too much by his friends’ futile opinions, is correct that the one who “lays his hand” has not become man, pre-figuring Christ who would lay his hand over the world when he declared his Kingdom. But he is incorrect in that one who corrects or judges may not come by to humble him. And situating Elihu’s speech right before God’s can seem to represent a purifying process before becoming one with God. Or, in New Testament thought, baptism before sanctification and participation in Christ. Elihu acts as a preparation, then. He cannot fulfill that ultimate intermediary state, only what God permits. Then when God, through Christ, empties Himself and takes the form of human nature, is that intermediary gap filled in. That gap between Creator and Creature. Elihu, who’s opinions on God’s Providence seem to give the most lenience to God and make no sense to the mathematical and perceptual minds of the onlookers, speaks truth. Similarly, the Rabbis in the 1st Century denied Christ over and over again, not by ignoring Scripture, but being so blinded by what they wanted the Messiah to appear as that they could not see it was right in front of them. You see, this is often the plight of those who attempt to create a full systematic theology without discipline. Elihu is disgusted with the lack of justification of God by the “friends” and by Job. These men condemn Job before his suffering for claimed but falsified sin, Elihu rebukes/corrects Job for questioning God’s justice during his suffering. This isn’t to say Job didn’t stay faithful, but that even the faithful fall short. Hence why sometimes I have said Job is not perfect, nor is Elihu. Pure and blameless before man and God’s system of justice, fallen in terms of his nature and being before God’s nature and being. To Job’s friends they cannot allow a justified God that would not allow Job’s current condition; and Job because he finds no justification for God necessary in his time of despair. Job has been too focused on himself, and as Elihu rightly points out, a justification not proven by God. So, then, Elihu must counter this, claiming that Job is “pure and blameless” as we have found in action, but not “pure and blameless” in being. Elihu proclaims,

Job 33:12 ““Behold, let me tell you, you are not right in this, / For God is greater than man.”

Indeed, the wisest men proclaim both. First, that, as Solomon would claim in Ecclesiastes, “There is not a righteous man on earth who continually does good and who never sins,” and in Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, “There is none righteous, not even one.” While sounding like cynical statements, they’re ones to rejoice at through redemptive history. Not only is there no such thing as a man who has not sinned (hence we cannot be saved by our works alone), but there is no man too sinful to be forgiven by God’s grace. For God is greater than man. Hence, here, Elihu is rebuking, correcting Job, in the idea that Job could be “pure and blameless.” Yet, he argues with humility. Again, he begins by appealing that he is at the same level to Job in God’s eyes, and does not try to lessen Job’s faith nor overemphasize it. He’s been watching the discourses patiently, reflecting, meditating, and finally offering corrections.

Then Elihu, who begins by demonstrating his knowledge despite being younger, uses this metaphor of youth,

Job 33:25 “Let his flesh become fresher than in youth, / Let him return to the days of his youthful vigor;”

There are two instances before where youth and old-age are mentioned in regards to wisdom. In Job’s reflection on his present state in ch. 30, where he asks what the use was in taking influence from the younger people who now mock him. And Elihu, who claims as well, similar to Oscar Wilde, that, “with age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.” He’s both demonstrating his pedigree and portraying a spiritual reality. Think now to the New Testament and Christ’s teachings where a common theme is to be like children, to be born again, to live anew, in Him (Christ). The point is to have ears ready to learn, wisdom ready to be dispensed, and to have clean consciences in baptism and the living of the Spirit. As aforementioned, Elihu’s speech is sort of like a cleansing before God comes to speak to Job. Elihu’s response then is to declare Job, through conviction, to come to God like a man in his youth, with that vigor for God. Most of Christ’s disciples/apostles were unmarried, most under 30, yet they were chosen, as many of you are regardless of age, to fulfill God’s purpose, God’s plan. What plan? We get a hint of this in the next chapter, which turns the focus from Job to God,

Job 34:10–13 Therefore, listen to me, you men of understanding. / Far be it from God to do wickedness, / And from the Almighty to do wrong. / For He pays a man according to his work, / And makes him find it according to his way. / Surely, God will not act wickedly, / And the Almighty will not pervert justice. / Who gave Him authority over the earth? / And who has laid on Him the whole world?

This is that justification of God the “friends” never provided, that Job never continued in his thought to bring to fruition. The seeds were there in Job’s thought, but Job’s belief in his righteousness outside God (I mean this in the extent Job claims). There are seeds of this concept of original sin, in Hebrew the yetz’er hara. We will constantly be in need of God, but rejoice in that. For the Almighty can do no wrong. I mentioned a discourse by Kierkegaard one week, where there’s a story of a man who tries every excuse to justify his unfaithful lover. For he would be embarrased by the truth, and refuses to accept someone he cared for so deeply betrayed him. There is no need for this in relation to God, Kierkegaard says, we are all fallen, all sinful, there is not one righteous in God’s eyes. Only in God can we be assured he will not wrong us. Elihu has been that wake-up call to Job, that “look at oneself through a new paradigm.” It’s not a coincidence this is after Job’s reflections, Elihu asks him to reflect again, no matter if it was painful the first time, this time with a new paradigm on divine providence. Elihu is that mediator, that messenger, and finally, that rebuker, who corrects Job and prepares him to meet God.

Gregory the Great has this to say about Elihu’s view of God’s providence, i.e, this corrected view now established in part in our Scripture readings today, “The Lord said to the devil, ‘You have moved me against him to afflict him without cause.’ But Elihu says, ‘That the Lord will not condemn without cause.’ A statement that is believed to be at variance with the words of Truth, unless weighed with careful consideration. To condemn is one thing, to afflict another. He afflicts therefore in some respect without cause but does not condemn without cause. Had he not afflicted Job in some respect without cause; since sin was not blotted out, how could his merit be increased by it? For he cannot condemn without reason, inasmuch as condemnation cannot partly take place for a certain purpose, since it punishes at the end all the ungodliness that anyone has here committed. Nor does almighty God subvert judgment, because, although our sufferings seem to be unjust, yet they are rightly inflicted in his secret judgment.” The Lord will not condemn without cause, for he cannot condemn without reason. This has been the ultimate take-away week by week, even if it’s been calling too much to the end, for Job is a hard book to read, both in terms of difficulty and emotion. But we must always read it in its context in Scripture and the canon, always read it with its conclusions in mind. There is so much to gain from these characters, unknowing of God’s plan for Job, as they quarrel. Job for particular providence, as we saw Medieval theologians argue for whenever a disaster struck. And Elihu and Gregory in universal providence. God is particular in his dealings, but universal in His plan for our salvation.

Imagine the God that punishes everyone according to their doing, we’d all be condemned. Moreso, it would mean God acting according to our will, being an alien judge rather than a loving being. This is Elihu’s mission as a messenger, mediator, and rebuker, put God in his place, pull him out of the box, let God be God. Elihu reminds us, however, that the just persevere, and that should give us assurance. God is not condemning you in your state nor raising you up, unless that be by the calling of the Lord who came in our form in order to redeem us.

As we close today, let us remember that Elihu’s role is not to replace God’s voice but to prepare the heart to receive it. His speech reminds us that revelation often comes not through thunderous miracles but through earnest correction, Spirit-filled words, and a challenge to the assumptions we hold about God and ourselves. He does not pretend to hold divine authority—but speaks from clay to clay, as one shaped by the same Creator. Again, Elihu offers no claim he is perfect, and perfects Job’s claims to be.

Elihu, then, becomes a mirror. He reflects what it looks like to speak truth with humility, to hold others accountable without claiming superiority, and to point beyond himself to the One who will come. He foreshadows Christ not in divinity, but in function—mediating, proclaiming, and correcting—always preparing the way.

So as we sit with Elihu this week, let us do what Job is being asked to do: reflect again. Revisit our own assumptions about God’s justice, about our righteousness, and about where we place our hope. Next week, we will continue next week on the latter half of Job’s speeches (and look how a 4-week series becomes 7).

Benediction

I hope you all had a good Easter, let us now close in prayer before our benediction.

But as you depart tonight, as the Lord wills, count yourself blessed now before Him,

The Lord bless you, and keep you;

The Lord make His face shine on you,

And be gracious to you;

The Lord lift up His countenance on you,

And give you peace.’ Num. 6:24-26