Most likely, we’ve all met and spoke with folks, who listen to us up to a point but draw their conclusions, before we’ve come to our own point in a debate. These are the folks who take what we say out of context and put their words into our mouths (compare John 2:18-22 with Matthew 26:60-61 and Mark 14:58) in order to establish their own point of view. Truth, while important to them to a degree, isn’t as important as preserving their perceived status and power. In the context of Elihu’s perception of Job’s calamities and the righteousness of God, it was more important to Elihu to defend his own worldview, than it was for him to understand the truth, vis-à-vis contrasting Job’s integrity with the integrity of God. Had he done that, he would have been forced to conclude something was wrong with how he had come to understand truth.
During the age in which Job and the friends lived, all righteous folks (or the vast majority) believed they served a righteous God, who punishes evildoers and rewards folks who behaved righteously. This was the then current and dominant worldview. A problem occurred, when God destroyed Job’s family, wealth and position in the community. In the context of that worldview, Job had to have been unrighteous. Therefore, both the friends and Elihu argued that point. Job, on the other hand, knew he wasn’t unrighteous. He wasn’t defending the perceived righteousness of someone else; he was defending his own integrity. In other words, he didn’t merely think he was righteous or believe he might be righteous, as might be the case, if he were defending someone else. This was personal! Job knew he was righteous. So, how should that affect his worldview? Where do truth and understanding begin, when the righteous suffer instead of being rewarded, according to their works?
Job still believed God was righteous, and declared that, if he was granted an audience with him and presented his case, as one would in a court of law, God’s verdict would be that Job was righteous (Job 23:3-10). So, how is God righteous, if he judged Job unjustly? This is what confused Job. Job admitted that his worldview was in the state of chaos.[1] He was unable to understand what God was doing by destroying him. For all intents and purposes this made God out to be unrighteous, but Job rejected that logic. Therefore, the then current worldview had to be flawed in some manner, but how? That’s Job’s dilemma and, hence, his question: “Why, God, why?”
According to Elihu’s accusations against Job, he says: “Indeed, I’ve heard you say: ‘I am pure and without transgression. There is no iniquity in me!’” (Job 33:8-9; paraphrased), but Elihu isn’t paraphrasing correctly. Rather, it is in his interest to make Job out to be wicked, and his paraphrase seems to be a reference to Job saying God looks for iniquity in Job, when he knows there wasn’t any to be found (Job 10:6-7). Yet, how could this understanding be correct, when Job had already admitted to his sins (Job 7:20), saying he couldn’t make himself clean (Job 9:30)? Moreover, Elihu didn’t mention that Job asked God to reveal his sin and show him why he contended with him (Job 10:2). Job wondered why God would nit-pick as a man would do (Job 10:4-7). In other words, Job was confused. Why was God making an example of Job by judging him so harshly over sins and imperfections found in all righteous folks?
Elihu continued to paraphrase Job’s remarks, saying God has treated him as his enemy, placing his feet in stocks and marking everything he did (Job 33:10-11; cp. Job 13:24, 27; 16:9; 19:8, 11). We’ve all had feelings like this over sitting at the Lord’s table, vis-à-vis experiencing what he has given us to endure, whether pleasant or unpleasant. We often feel like God is punishing us for something, whether or not we believe we can identify our wrongdoing, but the fact is, God doesn’t do that. He has set a time for judgment, and he doesn’t nit-pick our every activity or thought. Many of us have even had feelings like God has imprisoned us in a cage and forced us endure events we simply couldn’t avoid. Moreover, the heavens seem like iron, while our prayers go unanswered. This doesn’t mean we accuse God of wrongdoing or of behaving unrighteously. It simply means we are confused and don’t know why God is putting us through the events we must experience. Elihu heard Job’s complaints, but missed his cries to God for help. Was it deliberate?
Then, Elihu accused Job of being unrighteous for questioning God, when the Lord doesn’t owe man an explanation for what he does (Job 33:12-13). Technically, this is true. The Lord doesn’t have to give anyone an account for what he does. Why would the potter need to explain to the pot why he has made him as he is (Isaiah 45:9)? Nevertheless, it isn’t wrong to ask: “Why, Lord?” It isn’t wrong to wrestle with God (cp. Genesis 32:24-29). Wrestling with the Lord often brings a blessing. There is a difference between complaining over the Lord’s table and searching for an explanation about matters that are difficult to swallow. It is a greater wrong to worship and praise God for things he doesn’t do, than it is to admit to one’s confusion and ask God for an explanation. If one praised God, while he is still confused, one’s praise and worship wouldn’t be pure and true (cp. Job 1:20-21; 42:1-6).
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[1] See Job chapter 3, and my previous study: The Cursing: Let the Day Perish!
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