Job 34-35 "Chipping Away at Character"

The story of St. Patrick is really remarkable. A lot of Christians, adult Christians, don't know the history and just the story that's behind this individual that we call Patrick. Today, we're going to be looking at the story, continuing on with the story of Job.

We're going to be in chapters 34 to 35 today. This is a long chapter, followed by a relatively short chapter that we're looking at, But this will be the second of the three messages that we are considering in the one dialogue that Elihu gives to Job.

Next Sunday, we'll finish out in the words of what Elihu says. And brothers and sisters, I'm excited to go through this text, but I will be just honest with us on this. Elihu, it's a challenging text that we have here.

It's a very challenging text. So before we make any more mention on anything, before we read anything, let's go ahead and pray as we consider and make our minds ready to hear these words that Elihu has to offer for Job.

Let's go ahead and pray. Lord, we would ask today, God, that we would glorify You, that we would be thankful for You, that we would approach Your throne today in an attitude of wanting to give You glory and praise.

Lord, I would ask that You would open our eyes to recognize You, even in this text, Lord, that we would be ready to drink from that spring of everlasting water, Lord. God, we are thankful for our salvation that we have in You, Lord.

And even as Rick has said, Lord, may we be convicted today to want to go to a world that hates You, that has other gods before You, and that we would want to tell them about the freedom that is in Jesus Christ and the salvation of Him, His kingship, Lord, of how You are sitting upon Your throne, and that You are worthy of worship, Lord.

God, let us do that boldly, as Patrick did. Let us do that adamantly, as Job so rested his own head in, Lord. And God, may we just be encouraged from the text today. We ask this in Your name, Jesus our Lord.

Amen. So, brothers and sisters, like I said, this is a very challenging text that we are going through. And the reason that this is is the commentaries contradict one another in this text. Like we've already made mention of in the prior chapters, there's a lot of different thinking about how Job works, how the book functions.

And I'll be honest with you, on chapter 34 and chapter 35, actually chapter 32 all the way through chapter 37, so to chapter 8, I have come to a conclusion that is different than the majority of the commentaries.

And you can look at Chelsea's dad, Pastor Woody, and I can tell you right now, every time a pastor sees something that's a little bit different than the majority of commentaries, there's a little bit of scaredness in there, right?

I bet your dad would be a little bit, if he ever has had that experience, there's a little bit of frightening to it. There's a little bit more of deeper studying to want to make sure you are correct on that.

And so the idea is that most commentaries look at Elihu, this new character that we saw last week, and they say that everything that Elihu says is correct. They say that everything is 100 correct in what Elihu says.

And the reason I think that is is because Elihu says some really, really, really good things. He gives a lot of great honor to God in the ways that he talks. However, as I think we're going to see today, and I hope, again, as we look at this, the way that I'm disagreeing with these commentaries is there are some commentaries that would say Elihu is 100 wrong.

I don't think that's necessarily right either. I'm saying that I think Elihu gets a lot of things right, but he gets a lot of things wrong as well. And I think we can start to see how he does this in these chapters.

So just understand that. Come to this text, understanding these things. And I think it's also helpful if we understand some of the story, an overarching understanding of the book of Job, something that I have not mentioned yet when we look at these things.

But in Old Testament and Hebrew literature and Hebrew genre, when it talks, this is a historical book. So let me put that up front for us right now. This is a real story of Job, but it is told to us in a very poetic structure.

And what I mean by that is it's called a chiasm. It's this Hebrew way of talking in the Old Testament. And so at the beginning chapter, what is a chiasm? Maybe that's what we should start as. What is a chiasm?

A chiasm is a poem structure that starts with the theme A, B, C, D. D is usually then the most highlighted thing, and then it works its way backwards and reflects what was said before. C, B, A. And so what I mean by that is in Job, you start out with God taking things from Job.

God bringing this trial to Job. So that's A, followed by this discourse of friends. That's B, followed by Job's final main theme of the book, which is in chapter 28. At the final verse, he says, The fear of Yahweh, that is wisdom.

That's the main theme of the entire book, I would argue, is the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. That's what I think we see throughout the entire book. And so that's the main theme. That's C, and then working its way back to B.

We had the friends giving bad advice. Now we have a new character, Elihu. He's trying to give advice to Job, followed by the A theme, which is God restoring Job's fortune back to him. So it's this chiastic structure.

But I think Elihu, the way that he differs from the friends that we've seen in the other B structure, is that Elihu is a supposed believer in God. He approaches Job angrily in the last chapters that we saw.

But he says, I too fear Yahweh. I too am a fear of God. I too am like you, Job, in this way. So he has connected himself to the individual Job way more in a better, positive way than what the other three friends have done.

But I think what we would see in this is that Elihu has been negatively influenced by the three other friends. And I think all the rumors that Bildad has said that the entire country knows about, and the slander that has been spread about Job, I think it has started to tear away at Elihu and his considerations of who Job is.

So I want to ask us here in this text, who are we to believe? Are we to believe God, or are we to believe Elihu when it comes to the character of both God and Job, even, in this text? Here we're going to see Elihu claim that even though he's a brother of Job in the faith, Elihu gets very close, very dangerously close, of being in the same camp as the three friends that we've previously seen.

Now, again, as I mentioned last week, when we come to chapter 38 -42, the final chapters of God and talking with Job out of a whirlwind, Elihu is never rebuked. And so that's where this contention comes.

What does Elihu write, or anything along those lines? I want you to turn with me, go to chapter 37, just the last verses of chapter 37, and then look at the beginning of chapter 38. There's a reason I want to do this before we read the words.

This is some reasoning of what is going on here with Elihu. We would look, if you have headings in your Bible, some of us do, some of us don't, but we understand chapter 37 is Elihu continuing his dialogue.

He continues to talk, and then between 37 -38, Job doesn't respond, right? There's no response from Job. We see, then, God say this, Then Yahweh answered Job out of a whirlwind and said, Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

The question I want to ask us is, what is the nearest antecedent to the who that God is talking to Job about? It's Elihu. So is all the words of Elihu true? They can't be, because God says, Who is this that darkens counsel?

Who is this that is actually giving words without knowledge? So even though the response of God to Job in 38 -42, though it is given to Job, it would appear that the means of God encouraging Job through his holy and wise purpose is also about rebuking this mysterious friend, Elihu, in what we're going to see.

So let's look now back at chapter 34 -35. Now that we know this, understand this, again, who are we going to trust, Elihu or God? Because Elihu is going to say in this text, Job, you are not righteous.

Job, I've heard these things from the friends, and you were wrong in this. What did God tell about Job that we know as the reader, the narrator has told us in the very first chapter? God says about Job that he is blameless, upright, and fears Yahweh.

Trust God in that. When you read this text and you see Elihu accusing Job, who are we going to trust? How God views Job or how the friend views Job? How God views Job. Amen. So let's look here at chapter 34, verse 1 -4 to begin this.

Then Elihu answered and said, Hear my speech, you wise men, and give ear to me, you who know. For the ear tests words as the palate tastes food. Let us choose for ourselves what is just. Let us know among ourselves what is good.

And I would pause here. This is the introduction to these chapters of Elihu talking now again. He's continuing his discourse. And Elihu has quite a way of grabbing our attention, right? I don't know if we've ever gone into an argument with somebody and had as eloquent words as Elihu does right here.

He has a way of really grabbing our attention in this text. So what we're going to see here in these following verses is Elihu is going to tell us some words that supposedly Job has said. Okay? And so he's going to be quoting Job.

So this would mean in some sense, in some way, either Elihu has heard from gossip or slander some of the words that Job has said, or Elihu has heard the words of Job in that text that we've seen prior to now.

So let's look at verse 5 first. For Job has said, I am righteous, but God has removed my justice. I want to pause here and think about this. According to a lot of our cross-reference Bibles that give us some insight to where these texts might be pulling from, it's thought that Job 13 .18 is what Elihu is referring to of the words of Job.

And this is a misquote of what Job has said. Job 13 .18 is simply where Job says he knows that he will be vindicated, which is a promise to saints that are in the book of Revelation to those who sit on the throne of God because of their testimonies in him.

Does Job have a testimony of God? He fears Yahweh. Yes, he does. He knows he will be vindicated. This is true. Also, there's a misquote from the words of Job in 27 .2 that Elihu says Job says. And again, this is simply where Job is arguing that God is sovereign, and God echoes this theme in chapters 38 and 41.

Again, why is Elihu misquoting Job? I don't know. Let's continue to think through these. Verse 6, it says, Should I lie concerning my justice? My wounds are incurable, though I am without transgression.

Elihu is saying, this is what you've said, Job. Another misquote. Job 6 .4 is where he's trying to point Job to. And this is where Job admits that his suffering is ultimately from God. And this chapter, Job 6, is one of the most severe chapters describing the feelings of the loss that Job has suffered about his children.

Could you imagine the very same day, seven days later, after losing your children, you being persecuted by your friends, now in that exact same day, when you've been uttering your mournings and your grief, the emotion that's grappled your heart, that's tore you down, and you're telling these friends, I am suffering, and now they're misquoting you to even hurt you more.

That's what we have here with Job. A misquote to the words of what he said. In the very same day that he said these things. Now let's look here at verse 7. Verse 7 says this, What man is like Job, who drinks up mocking like water?

Who is Elihu quoting in this text? And brothers and sisters, this is not a misquote. This is word for word quoted for us earlier in the text. Job doesn't say these words though. This is a quotation from Eliaphus who is rebuking Job.

Elihu and Eliaphus is saying that Job did not merely commit sin, but that he was drinking it. And that is why he is currently suffering. Right here in this text, brothers and sisters, this should for us sure our mind at who the character of Elihu is, if he's right or wrong in this.

Does Eliaphus get a rebuke at the end of the book of Job? Yes he does. Why is Elihu quoting Eliaphus? And he's quoting him correctly. I don't think it's coincidence that we have Elihu misquoting Job, but then when he quotes Eliaphus, he actually gets it word for word correct.

Let's see now again, because guess what? Elihu quotes Eliaphus again in verse 8. He says, but he travels in company with the workers of iniquity and walks with wicked men. Again, a correct quotation from the words of Eliaphus.

And that's found in Job 22 .15, where Eliaphus is persistent that Job was in the band of wicked men and followed after their example prior to the loss of his children. Who are we going to trust? Eliaphus, Elihu, or God when it comes to the character of who Job is?

We're going to trust God. Job is upright, blameless, and fears Yahweh. Did he walk in the company of wicked men? Did he follow after their example? No, he didn't. Again, why is Elihu quoting correctly the friends of Job that have only seeked his demise, who ultimately get a rebuke, but yet when he quotes Job, it's misquotes that are taken out of context.

I think this gives us a little bit of insight to who we're dealing with here in this text. Verse 9 now, Elihu now misquotes Job again. It says, For he said, It is of no use to a man when he is pleased with God.

And now this quotation from Elihu that he's quoting Job is from Job 22 .15, and this is pretty dang close to what Job has said here. But the issue with this is that it is taken out of context. When Job says these words, what he's trying to say in that text of Job 21 .15 is that God is so much greater than men.

Amen? Do we agree with this? God is greater than men. Why is Elihu misquoting Job here in this text? Again, Elihu, a supposed brother in the faith of Job. Brothers and sisters, maybe you were a Christian.

Maybe you know a Christian who has done this in your life. Somebody who last week said, I am a believer in Yahweh like you, and then this week they're now misquoting you and seemingly attacking you. Maybe you know somebody like this.

Who are you going to trust? The words of God or the words of this supposed brother in the faith? Maybe you are the one. This is a fear, brothers and sisters. Maybe you are the one that's misquoting a dear brother in the faith.

Stop it. Stop seeking the demise of your brothers and sisters in Christ. Elihu is inappropriately coming to this conversation, and he's seeking to continue to hurt Job. Again, I think Elihu, when it comes to a ratio of good things he says versus the three friends and the good and bad that they say, I think Elihu says a lot more good than what these other three friends do.

But he is misquoting a saint of the faith. This is dangerous territory. This is something that all of us should try to avoid in our lives. Verse 11 says this. Now, we're going to read verse 10, and listen to me on this.

The following chapter, the rest of this chapter, Elihu says some really remarkable good things. And again, that's why I'm saying the ratio of this. Elihu seems to still be a brother in the faith. Let's read verse 10.

Therefore, listen to Me, you men with heart of wisdom, far be it from God to do injustice, and from the Almighty to do wrong. Amen? Amen. Does God ever do injustice? No. Is it okay for the Almighty to do wrong?

No, He doesn't do wrong. This is true. Amen. For He pays a man according to his worth, and makes him find it according to his ways. I would pause here, and I would say it depends on what Elihu means in this text, right?

What is Elihu getting at in this? For He pays man according to his worth. So if Elihu is saying, in general, all men fall short of the glory of God, and God will repay them according to their wages, which is eternal wrath that abides upon the sinner.

If they don't have faith in Christ, I say amen to that. But if Elihu is saying something like Eliaphus has been saying, that God rewards man based off of the good He does, I would take potential issue with that.

It just depends on what he means by this. But then verse 12 -15, again, I think this is great things that Elihu says. Truly God will not act wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. Who appointed Him with authority over the earth?

And who has laid on Him the whole world? If He should set His heart on it, if He should gather to Himself His Spirit and His breath, all flesh would breathe its last together, and man would return to dust.

This is so true. The only reason you and I are alive today, the only reason that you and I are able to worship God today is because the Lord Himself sustains us. If God was to for a moment take His breath, the air of His, away from us, we would die and return to dust immediately.

This is true. God is superior than man. I would quote a dear brother in the faith again, Claude Ramsey. He says, up, up, up with God, and down, down, down with man. We have to have that kind of theology in our lives that seeks to elevate God appropriately to His throne and understand how low man is compared to Him.

Amen to the words of Elihu in this text. Let's look at verse 16 all the way to verse 34 as we continue to think through this. But if you have understanding, hear this. Give ear to the sound of my speech.

Shall one who hates justice rule? And will you condemn the righteous, mighty one? Who says to a king, vile one, to nobles, wicked ones? Who shows no partiality to princes, nor recognizes the rich above the poor?

For they are all the work of His hands. In a moment they die, and at midnight people are shaken and pass away. And the mighty are taken away without a hint. For His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He sees all his steps.

There is no darkness or shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. For He does not need to consider a man further that he should go before God in judgment. He breaks in pieces mighty men without searching anything out and setting others in their places.

Therefore He recognizes their labors, and He overthrows them in the night, and they are crushed. He strikes them like the wicked in a public place because they turn aside from following Him and have no insight from any of His ways so that they cause the cry of the poor to come to Him and that He might hear the cry of the afflicted.

So if He keeps quiet, who then can condemn? So if He hides His face, who then can perceive Him? If He is above both nation and man altogether so that godless men would not rule nor be snares of the people.

For has anyone said to God, I have borne chastisement, I will not work destructively anymore? Instruct me what I do not behold. If I have done injustice, I will not do it again. Shall He repay on your terms because you have rejected it?

For you must choose and not I. Therefore say what you know. Men with a heart of wisdom will say to me and a wise man who hears me.". Again, I look at the majority of what Elihu has just said, and this sounds like really good theology.

I don't think it would be wrong for us to assume that when Elihu does say the things earlier in chapter 32, that Job, you and I have the same God. Job, you and I have faith in the same God. I don't think it's wrong of us to assume that Elihu is a saved individual.

He's the one that actually does have fear in Yahweh. There's not enough information in the text to go one way or the other, but I think it would be safe to assume that. But these kind of words from Elihu is the reason that most commentaries, most theologians, would say Elihu gets it all correct.

He gets everything right because look how good these words are from Elihu. Look at what he claims to be speaking on behalf in the earlier chapters. But that doesn't negate him quoting a friend who gets clearly rebuked at the end of the book.

That does not negate the wrong mishandling of the words of Job when he misquotes him to try to even hurt his character even more. Again, I would pause here and think through this with us, brothers and sisters.

We can have really, really good theology, but when we participate in gossip and slander, when we participate in the opinions of the world, can it even affect our theology? It can't. Can it affect the way we treat our fellow Christians?

It assuredly does. If Elihu had maybe not heard some of those rumors and gossip that Bildad even says, maybe if he hadn't heard the words from Eliaphus and let those bad seeds of wrong karma-type theology infiltrate his mind, maybe Elihu would have said some better things in these texts.

Maybe it would have been more consistent to what we just read right here. But let's look here at verse 35 and 37. Job speaks without knowledge, and his words are without insight. Job ought to be tested to the limit, because he answers like wicked men.

For he adds transgressions to his sin, he strikes his hand together among us, and he multiplies his words against God. Job is a man that has no children, because they died. Job is a man who has adamantly been saying, this is God's plan.

This is a man who says, the beginning of wisdom is fear in Yahweh. And Elihu is bold enough to say Job is speaking without knowledge, that he's only added to his transgression, and he's multiplied his words against God.

Turn with me to chapter 42, verse 7. We've read this in prior Sundays, but this is important to remind us when we hear these things. Job 42, verse 7. Again, I think the commentaries are a testament to what we're going to be talking about here in a moment.

But let's look at what verse 7 says about the character of Job. Now, it happened after Yahweh had spoken these words to Job, that Yahweh said to Eliaphus, the very one that Elihu has been quoting from, correctly quoting from, and trying to cast judgment to Job, Eliaphus, the Temanite, my anger burns against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.

Turn back now to 34. Is Elihu wrong when he says that Job's theology is erred? He is. Elihu is undoubtedly wrong. Why? Because God says that Job has spoken correctly about him. The words of Job that has professed the sovereignty of God has accurately described that attribute of God's proudness among men.

It's accurately done it. Elihu, though you have said great things, Elihu, even though you profess faith in Yahweh, Elihu, you are wrong when it comes to this supposed brother in the faith, Job, that you so clearly have misquoted from.

Let's read verses 1 -4 of chapter 35 here. Then Elihu answered and said, Do you think that this is according to justice? Do you say my righteousness is more than God's? For you say, what use will it be to you?

What profit will I have more than if I have sinned? When has Job said such things? When has Job ever said that to Elihu or to the three friends? Again, misquote and misquote and misquote. Job has never said this to any of them.

We're going to read the rest of this chapter, 5 -16. Look at the heavens. Actually, before we read this, again, that is incorrect what Elihu has just said about what Job has said. Job has never said those words that Elihu has just made mention of.

And in verses 5 -16, again, this is that mingling of good theology with bad accusations against Job. That what Elihu is going to say here is both good and bad in these verses. And I think as stewards and students of God's word like we all ought to be, I think we can understand how to separate these things.

But let's read verses 5 -16. Look at the heavens and see and perceive the clouds. They are higher than you. Look outside now. I don't see clouds that way. I don't see clouds that way. But you know what a cloud and how high it is.

They are higher than us. And Elihu is saying, look at them. They are higher than you. If you have sinned, what do you accomplish against him? And if your transgressions are many, what do you do to him?

If you are righteous, what do you give to him? Or what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness is for a man like yourself, and your righteousness is for a son of man. Meaning that what you have come to Job is owed because of your wickedness.

Because of many oppressions, they cry out. They cry for help because of the arm of many oppressors. But no one says, where is God, my maker? Who gives songs of praise in the night? Who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven?

There they cry out, but he does not answer. Because of the pride of an evil man, surely God will not listen to an empty cry, nor will the Almighty perceive it. How much less when you say you do not perceive him.

The case is before him, and you must wait for him. And now because he has not visited in his anger, nor has he acknowledged the transgressions well, so Job opens his mouth vainly. He multiplies words without knowledge.

These are the final words that we are looking at here. Brothers and sisters, if the majority of commentaries are saying Elihu gets everything right, what can we assuredly walk out of this room and say?

They're wrong on several occasions. Elihu gets a lot incorrect about the character of Job. I think this is the reason why we would see the commentaries even potentially messing these things up. Though Elihu is a real character in history, I think all of us could look at Elihu and maybe think of ourselves somewhat similar to himself, even when we're reading this text now.

And what I mean by that is, do we not see here in the book of Job, as we read through these things, don't we start to question this character Job? How could it be that this justice God, this just God that we have, how could it be that he brings this against this servant Job?

If Job had not sinned against him, if Job had not been this morally corrupt man? We want to have that idea of Job in the back of our mind that's even infiltrated what Elihu has done here. I want to ask us this, do we let the opinions of others sway our theology?

Do we let them influence our behavior? Do we let them sneak into our thoughts and change our thinking regarding others? Even within this own household, the household of God. Maybe you too today, like the commentaries, can look at the life of Job and say, well, I know that God spoke about Job in such a way, but there is no way that a moral man could suffer like Job has.

Brothers and sisters, I think that's the whole point of the book of Job. That God's ways are higher than our own and that there is purpose in all things and in all matters no matter how big nor small that they are.

God knows, God sees, and God will bring it to pass. But be assured of this, the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom. Just as I asked you to consider the words of Elihu and compare them to the words of God regarding Job, I want to ask us to also consider this today.

Do we hold the words of Jesus higher than the words of man in this world? The God-man who while bearing our sins upon the cross said this. He said it is finished. Tell us that. Today, do you listen to the words of Christ knowing that your redemption has been purchased by your Savior?

Or do you think that you can stand before a holy God with your supposed good thinking and good behavior and think that maybe you have added to the finished work of Christ? For such of us that think it is Christ plus your works, I assure you, you only have damnation awaiting you.

Trust today in the words of Christ for He said it is finished and He has won. Do not listen to the bad friends with bad theology. Do not listen to the Christians' words who seem to err and go away from God's Word and what He has revealed to us about how we stand before a holy and just God.

If you are outside of Christ, you will stand condemned before Him assuredly as we have seen in God's Word. But if you are in Christ, brothers and sisters, He sees you with the life of Christ covering you.

The perfect act of obedience of Christ covers us. Have faith in Christ and take assurity in those words. Let us pray. Lord, I thank you again just for the privilege it is to go through the book of Job.

And Lord, even in the ways and the tensions and the areas that it seems to be challenging for us to understand what is here in the life of Job and these four individuals that are talking to him. Lord, I would ask that today if myself or anyone in this room or anyone that might hear this message, if we have gone to our Christian brothers and sisters and we have behaved like Elihu, Lord, call us to repent, Lord.

God, let us not utter a word beyond what You have revealed Yourself as. Let us not lessen the severity of what You have declared Yourself as, Lord. God, let us look out to the sky and look to the heavens and see that they are higher than us and know that You are greater than us.

Lord, help us rest our heads upon Your Word and Your Word alone and trust in them fully and assuredly that You have spoken and what You have spoken is true, Lord. God, I thank You for this Lord's Day and may we have, again, that same spirit that Patrick possessed and go unto the world that hates us and hates You, Lord.

God, may many come to know who You are through the preaching and the teaching of the gospel from this wonderful Church Valley Baptist. I say this in Your name, Jesus our Lord and our God, Amen.