In this chapter, Elihu mentions some solid truths. Some commentators tell us because of what he says here, he isn’t condemned by God in Job 42. However, there are still some doctrinal problems with this section and it is pure speculation as to why Elihu isn’t mentioned in Job 42.
It appears that Elihu has more to say on God’s behalf, thinking God needs him to take up His defence against Job, Job 36:1-2. He says he gets his knowledge from afar and he will ascribe justice to his Maker, Job 36:3. This was a bold assertion and one that manifested the arrogance of Elihu. God is more merciful than Job thinks, even for the wicked, God doesn’t have favourites. God doesn’t ignore the acts of the wicked nor the pains of any sufferer.
Notice that Elihu is so self-confident he even claims to be perfect in knowledge, Job 36:4. How does this apply to Job? He cautions him at this point against thinking that simply crying out to God for his own strength will deliver him and so he should give up his death wish.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘Throughout this chapter, Elihu’s logic is false. In the first part of it, he would prove God is just because he is Powerful, ‘But power does not necessarily go with justice’, and then in the latter part of this chapter and throughout Job 37, he appeals to nature. But how does the natural world support any conception whatever either of mercy or justice? ‘Nature is red in tooth, and fang and claw.’ One cannot prove from nature that God is either just, or loving or merciful. It is only by divine revelation that such things concerning God may be known.’
It appears that Job had the opportunity to respond but doesn’t respond. Job’s silence is due to the fact that Elihu has struck a chord, a new cord to which at last Job’s heartstrings vibrate. One thing is for sure by his method and message Elihu has prepared the scene for God to enter the picture.
Elihu openly defies Job’s position, while maintaining God does allow the righteous to suffer for a short time. In doing so, he reiterates what he has said previously. God is mighty but despises no one, He is mighty, and firm in His purpose, Job 36:5. He says God doesn’t keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights, Job 36:6. God doesn’t take His eyes off the righteous, he enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever, Job 36:7 / Psalms 34:15. Yet this suffering is only to instruct them further in the ways of God.
Branes, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Job 36:8.
‘That is, if the righteous are thrown into prison, and are subjected to oppressions and trials, or if they are chained down, as it were, on a bed of pain, or crushed by heavy calamities, the eye of God is still upon them. Their sufferings should not be regarded either as proof that they are hypocrites, or that God is regardless of them, and is indifferent whether people are good or evil. The true solution of the difficulty was, that God was then accomplishing purposes of discipline, and that happy results would follow if they would receive affliction in a proper manner.’
He says if the righteous person submits to the circumstance which involved their suffering, Job 36:8-9, God can use them to teach the righteous especially to arrest pride, Job 36:10.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘He gives them to understand the reason why they are thus corrected, and commands them to return from those iniquities which have induced him to visit them with afflictions and distresses.’
If they obey and serve God, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment, Job 36:11. He notes what happens if people don’t hear, they will die in their ignorance, Job 36:12. Elihu was accusing Job of becoming angry at God’s discipline, and so, being rebellious against God by not repenting.
He then challenges Job with several perplexing theories designed to inspire reverential fear of God. He makes an appeal to Job and says, God will deliver him if he will just open his ear to God’s instruction, Job 36:13, that is, if he repents. Job’s problem, according to Elihu, is that he isn’t listening to God’s teaching.
Often it is only by hardship that God gets our attention and leads us away from sin but the godless don’t learn from divine discipline, Job 36:13, they simply become resentful and refuse to move, Job 36:13, and so they die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines, Job 36:14 / Psalms 55:23.
He says those who suffer God delivers in their suffering and speaks to them in their affliction, Job 36:15. He accuses Job of judging the wicked, Job 36:16, while being wicked himself, and so, now he is paying for his hypocrisy, Job 36:17-21.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following, concerning Job 36:16-21.
‘Elihu applies these remarks to Job, urging him to humble himself instead of remaining rebellious.’
Instead of receiving instruction from God through discipline, Elihu says that Job had a rebellious spirit by seeking to teach God, rather than learning submission from his suffering. Who can teach God, who can accuse Him of anything? Job 36:22-23. The heart of what Elihu has to say is that God is exalted because of God’s power, Job 36:22, and the purpose of His operation is to teach the mind and mend it, Job 36:23.
Dummelow, in his commentary, says the following.
‘This is Elihu’s great point, that afflictions are intended to teach, to discipline, and to purify even the good.’
Elihu reminds him to magnify God, as others have done in songs of praise and look in awe at His majesty, Job 36:24. Elihu is now going to introduce the remainder of his speech with an appeal to listen to God’s instruction. He maintains that God has been trying to teach Job but Job has been a poor student. Job needs to free himself, Elihu claims, from any thought that God has done wrong.
Elihu says all humanity has seen God’s work and mortals gaze on it from afar. How great is God, beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out, Job 36:25-26. He more or less tells Job to stand still and consider the wonderful works of God. He tries to tell Job that God can manage without his help, he teases ‘what would you say if you were invited into the presence of God yourself?’
He refers to how Job doesn’t know anything about the pressure systems that cause warm air of the equatorial system to rise and flow towards the poles and then return to lower altitudes, Job 36:27-28. Elihu considers the water cycle as an example of God’s greatness, Job 36:27-28. By the laws of nature that God has already laid down, He is said to draw up water and through a cycle returns it to earth, Ecclesiastes 1:7 / Amos 9:6 / Psalm 135:7 / Jeremiah 10:13.
God takes up where Elihu leaves off, he continues to talk about his majesty and His creation. Elihu asks who understands how God does that or how he has caused the thunder or lightning, Job 36:29-32. The behaviour of cattle in the field changes when a storm approaches, and so, their behaviour is a warning concerning an approaching storm Job 36:33 / Job 38:1. His descriptions of God’s presence in the raging elements of nature, pave the way for God to talk out of the whirlwind. These elements are used in God’s providential plans, He uses them as judgement, Psalm 18:4, or in the terms of blessing.
Clarke, in his commentary, says the following.
‘And it is worthy of remark that every wicked man trembles at the noise of thunder and the flash of lightning, and considers this a treasury of Divine wrath, emphatically called among us the artillery of the skies; and whenever the noise is heard, it is considered the voice of God.’