Elihu – The
Seminarian
Job 31-33
Elihu is the fourth friend of Job who appears on stage
toward the end of the drama. Many scholars see the speeches of Elihu as added
late in the evolution of the book of Job. In this section of the text, notice
that Job does not engage Elihu in conversation like he does with Bildad,
Zophar and Eliphaz, nor does God rebuke him like He does the others in the end.
Those who believe that the book was a ‘work in progress’ taking generations to
come to its’ current form, see Elihu as a narrative bridge which was added
later that leads up to the climatic appearance of God. Literarily, the speeches
of Elihu give us a good summation of the doctrine of depravity, the concept of
divine retribution and the Deuteronomic Formula just before God intervenes.
Despite authorship issues, in this monologue with Elihu, we
learn that he has remained silent and speaks last out of respect for his
elders, since he is much younger than the other three friends. He says that
age, however, should not make a difference when it comes to wisdom and
understanding (Job 32:6-10), implying that they should pay attention and give
heed to what he is about to say. With much boldness, this brash, opinionated
and eager young man reminds me of pastors who start ministry straight out of
seminary, full of naive visions of what caring for people should be like. One
of my favorite quotes I have heard while counseling people was, “You just need
to get over it!”
There are three qualities of Elihu that are quite obvious:
He is young (Job 32:6), angry (32:2-5) and full of words (32:18). The last two
qualities are very poor characteristics for a counselor. You may have heard the
saying, “It could be that the purpose of your life is not to be an example for
others to follow, but to be a warning for others to avoid.” That could be why
Elihu appears here at the end just before God shows up. He serves as an extreme
case of someone who has a great deal of knowledge in the head, but is deficient
in compassion from the heart.
In his speeches, we find that there are some redeemable
qualities in Elihu. The first is that he quotes what Job had to say to the
other three, meaning that he was actually listening. This is a good quality for
a counselor. Secondly, the main point Elihu tries to make is that God is trying
to get Job’s attention. He states that God communicates with His creation in
three ways – visions, physical pain and through a mediator (Job 33:14-25). In
many ways, Elihu clears the stage for the Lord to enter and prepares the
audience to see things from a different perspective.
