Job 32:1-22 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is Job 32:1-22. Let’s go!
Job 32:1 (NIV)
1 So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.
On verse 1: Job refuses to budge from his belief that his suffering is not the result of his sin, so Job’s friends finally give up trying to convince Job otherwise (v1). What can we learn from this? The best way, and sometimes the only way, to beat your critics is to outlast them. If you stand your ground long enough, they will eventually go away and stop bothering you.
Job 32:2 (NIV)
2 But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God.
On verse 2: A young man called Elihu begins to speak. According to some scholars, the fact that the author of Job has to explain Elihu’s family background in verse 2 suggests that Elihu was not nearly as well known as Job and his three companions.
Notice there is a lot of anger going on in this scene: Job’s friends are mad at Job. Job is mad at his friends and at God. Job believes that God is mad at him. And now Elihu is mad at Job’s friends and at Job for being mad in their own ways!
Why was Elihu angry at Job? Elihu was angry and disappointed with Job because Job kept trying to justify himself before God (v2b). As the Bible Knowledge Commentary says about this verse, Elihu was angry at Job because Job seemed “more willing to cast aspersions on God’s character than to admit to any sin”.
However, as we will see, Elihu’s perspective is not the same as Job’s three friends. As Elihu says in verse 14, “I will not answer him [that is, Job] with your arguments [that is, the points made by Job’s friends].” Though younger and less experienced than Job and Job’s three friends, Elihu will in some ways demonstrate more insight into Job’s situation than Job’s three friends and even Job himself.
What can we learn from this? Be open to God speaking to you through people. Notice that Job was waiting for God to speak directly to Job, but instead of God speaking, along comes a young man with a word for Job. Do not limit God’s voice to personal epiphanies, dreams, visions and unusual circumstances. If you refuse to believe that God can speak to you through the people in your life who know and love Him, you will miss much of what God is trying to tell you.
Job 32:3 (NIV)
3 He was also angry with the three friends, because they had found no way to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.
On verse 3: I like how the English Standard Version translates this verse – “He burned with anger also at Job’s three friends because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong.” In other words, it is possible to condemn a person without helping them in any way, without advancing the argument or without giving a helpful answer to the person you are talking to. The easiest role to play – one that takes no effort, intelligence or maturity at all – is to be a critic who condemns others. Don’t just be someone who criticizes and condemns. If you’re going to speak into an unhappy situation, suggest a real, practical and thoughtful solution to the situation.
Job 32:4-22 (NIV)
4 Now Elihu had waited before speaking to Job because they were older than he.
5 But when he saw that the three men had nothing more to say, his anger was aroused.
6 So Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite said: “I am young in years, and you are old; that is why I was fearful, not daring to tell you what I know.
7 I thought, ‘Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.’
8 But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
9 It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.
10 “Therefore I say: Listen to me; I too will tell you what I know.
11 I waited while you spoke, I listened to your reasoning; while you were searching for words,
12 I gave you my full attention. But not one of you has proved Job wrong; none of you has answered his arguments.
13 Do not say, ‘We have found wisdom; let God refute him, not man.’
14 But Job has not marshaled his words against me, and I will not answer him with your arguments.
15 “They are dismayed and have no more to say; words have failed them.
16 Must I wait, now that they are silent, now that they stand there with no reply?
17 I too will have my say; I too will tell what I know.
18 For I am full of words, and the spirit within me compels me;
19 inside I am like bottled-up wine, like new wineskins ready to burst.
20 I must speak and find relief; I must open my lips and reply.
21 I will show partiality to no one, nor will I flatter any man;
22 for if I were skilled in flattery, my Maker would soon take me away.
On verses 4-22: I appreciate Elihu’s approach to this discussion. As passionate as Elihu was about the situation, as much as he had things he wanted to say, Elihu waited for his elders to finish speaking first.
What can we learn from this?
