The American 2020 Presidential election was probably the most controversial election in American history. It even resulted in an insurrection on January 6, 2021, just two weeks prior to the new President being sworn into office! Whatever one believes about the election results, the point is, about half of American voters believe the election results were good and fair, while the other half believes they were not. So, what is meant by good, and just as importantly, who gets to say? Certainly, about half of the folks who voted in the American presidential race are divided on what they would call good and fair. Some of the folks who believed the election was stolen took matters into their own hands and used violence in an effort to overthrow the election results. Certainly, what those folks considered good was very different from what the other side considered fair and good. So, who gets to say what good is?[1]
At this point in our study of the Book of Job, Elihu seems to be speaking ironically, as he addresses Job and the three friends. He describes them as wise and asks them to hear him (Job 34:1-2), because the ear is for words as the mouth is for meat (Job 34:3). Remember, Elihu began speaking by saying he wouldn’t speak in a manner that could be construed to say he accepted a man’s person (Job 32:21). Therefore, by addressing Job and the friends as wise men who know knowledge, he must be speaking out of sarcasm, because he had already expressed his impatience with the friends, saying they weren’t ‘wise’ enough to rebuke what Elihu perceives to be Job’s folly (Job 32:7-12). So, because they failed to silence Job, Elihu decided to speak out and offer his testimony against both the friends and Job (Job 32:10).
He is also of the opinion that Job needs to be taught wisdom (Job 33:33), so, once again it doesn’t seem like the scripture (Job 34:2) should be taken literally. Elihu believes Job has sought to justify himself at the Lord’s expense, making God out to be an unjust and wicked judge, which, if true, would mean Job is foolish in the context of the then current worldview.
Therefore, Elihu addresses the group, at least as their equal, but more than likely he sees himself as their teacher. After all, he’s not satisfied with how the debate was conducted by either party. Therefore, Elihu says he wants the friends to agree on what righteous judgment is. In other words, what, exactly, is good (Job 34:4). Let’s agree on what good is, so we can arrive at a workable conclusion, concerning the matter of Job’s calamities, and how they pertain to what Job has claimed. Moreover, because he wants the group to agree upon a workable theology, Elihu wants to be on the side who gets to say what good is.
This argument is the same foundational argument that has moved generation upon generation from the very beginning of time, even to our own day in the modern era. Adam wanted to be able to say what good was and what it wasn’t, and lying to Eve was a ‘justifiable’ means to arrive at the desired end (Genesis 3:2-3; cp. 2:16-17). Elihu wanted the friends to come to an agreement upon what good is and what it is not. Even today Christian evangelists and other religious groups seek to move the powers that be to agree with them upon what good is and what evil is (or what isn’t good). The end result, however, is often the persecution of those who do not agree. Consider the Jews reaction to the Gospel during the first century AD, or the Inquisition of the late 12th and into the 13th centuries, which was intended to suppress heresy within Christianity. Consider the Crusades of the late 11th century and into the 13th to deter the spread of Islamic rule. One may also add to these, the spread of evolutionary philosophy, which ends in the suppression of Blacks, Jews and so-called minority groups. What is good and who gets to say is a powerful and intimidating way to understand truth. It solves nothing, and it invariably ends in division, injustice, persecution and even warfare between nations.
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[1] I don’t mean to imply that truth is relative. I believe the word of God is true. This, however, doesn’t mean I believe what is taught in churches about the Bible is necessarily true. Certainly, so many different denominations prove that organized Christianity doesn’t know the truth well enough to stop arguing with one another and judging one another, sometimes to the point of denying the other group’s Christian heritage. Examples of modern controversy would be the abortion issue (is it murder?), male/female relationships (is the husband really the head of the wife?) and women preachers (does the Bible really say women should be quiet in the church?). What’s the real truth about these issues, and who gets to say?
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