It’s almost a certainty that, as someone struggles in vain to defend his worldview, vis-à-vis his understanding of truth, he will eventually let his audience know he is defending God! Exactly how much of the partial truth (1Corinthians 13:9) that is possible to be known by anyone is known to him, who claims he is defending God, is a matter of conjecture. Nevertheless, it appears that something undefined occurred at this point in the Book of Job, and it may be that Job and the friends made a gesture to adjourn without addressing Elihu’s remarks. However, Elihu asked, if they would bear with him a little longer (Job 36:1-2), saying he had yet something to say on the Lord’s behalf, as though he were sent by God. Out of respect for the Lord, therefore, the righteous might be expected to continue to listen to someone who claims to act on behalf of God.
Clearly, however, not all who make the claim that they speak for God are sincere. At least some of them, in fact, speak for themselves, and I believe this is also the case for Elihu. He claims a higher view of his own opinion than I believe his audience embraces, and, probably, they have been more patient with him than he deserves. Nevertheless, out respect for his claim that he is God’s advocate, they seem to indicate they’ll listen a little longer.
In an earlier study I made mention of Job’s attitude toward the friends, who had taken the same stand that Elihu does here. Namely, both they and Elihu had played the God is on our side card. In chapter 13 of the book, Job rebuked the friends for doing so, saying they were forgers of lies (Job 13:4). At that time the friends had been condemning Job by taking his words out of context, which is also true of Elihu, and, I’ve pointed this out a number of times, while studying Elihu’s discourses. In chapter 13 we can see that Job told the friends to be silent (Job 13:5), saying silence, not their words, would be accounted as their wisdom. Here, on the other hand, Job seems to grant Elihu space to continue rebuking him, just as the friends had done earlier, and he does so, presumably, out of respect for his claim to be the Lord’s advocate.
One has to ask, however, is the Lord so weak that he needs someone to defend him (cp. Judges 6:31)? To take the I-am-on-God’s-side or God-is-on-my-side approach to an argument is to place oneself in a very precarious position, and Elihu does so by saying, “Truly, my words shall not be false. He that is perfect in knowledge is here!” (Job 36:4). In other words, Elihu claims to understand Job’s situation perfectly, and, as an unbiased contributor to the debate, he will wisely represent and defend God. No doubt Elihu had Job’s previous rebuke of the friends in mind (Job 13:7-8), because at this point, he says, “I will fetch my knowledge from afar, ascribing righteousness to my Maker!” (Job 36:3). In other words, Elihu claims perfect knowledge in the matter at hand, and is not referring to the Lord’s perfect understanding, as some may claim (cp. Job 37:16). Thus, by saying he has a complete and unimpaired grasp of Job’s situation, he assumes God would stand by every word he says.
Truly, it would be a grave error on the part of anyone to claim his own words are as the sayings of God. Even if one claims his desire is to honor God, the Lord will not receive him, if his words are false, or he secretly speaks for and honors men’s persons/traditions (Job 13:9-10). Defending God (who needs no defense) is not necessarily the same as defending one’s worldview. How one understands truth may be flawed, and what one believes is true may not be as correct as one assumes. Therefore, it would be impossible for anyone to defend falsehood and honor God in the process, no matter how sincere he claims to be (cp. Mark 7:13; 1Corinthians 1:17).
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