“He is insightful one moment, and insipid the next.” That’s Swindoll’s pointed summary of this young man by the name of Elihu. Filled with perception at one turn, and then shortly thereafter overflowing with blandness. One moment the sermon’s a stem winder, the next it’s a real yawner (a count-the-number-of-ceiling-tiles-during-the-sermon type of yawner). Elihu's a real enigma.
32:11 “Behold, I waited for your words, I listened to your reasonings, while you pondered what to say. 12 I even paid close attention to you; indeed, there was no one who refuted Job, not one of you who answered his words.”
After each of Job’s speeches the Comforters probably huddled up and said something like, “Ok guys, let’s figure out how to respond to this line of reasoning.” Note the word “pondered” in verse 11. It means “to weigh mentally, to consider something deeply and thoroughly” (“ponder” and “pound” come from the same root word and both connote “giving weight to”). The Comforters didn't respond immediately; they took time to think about what Job had said and how to refute his arguments.
But even though Eliphaz, Bildad and Elihu were deliberate in their response, Trapp’s synopsis of their line of reasoning is not too flattering, “…for the which you have eviscerated your brains, and well nigh cracked your sconces, but all to no purpose; since you hover in generals…you brought only such reasons as were not cogent (coherent), and used such discourses as did never come at the business; which was no better than a laborious loss of time.”
Eviscerated brains, cracked sconces and a big waste of time. Wow.
Note these phrases of Elihu, “I waited for your words…I listened to your reasonings…I paid close attention…” Even though Elihu was young (and brash), he had developed the trait of being a good listener and had given the most sincere attention to the Comforter’s reasonings. But when it was all said and done, he looked around with incredulity and wondered aloud, “That’s it? That’s all you’ve got???”
More on the “lost art of listening” at the conclusion.
32:13 “Do not say, ’We have found wisdom; God will rout him, not man.’”
This is a difficult verse to interpret; but perhaps Barnes hits the correct note in his commentary, “That is, this (Job’s trial) has been permitted and ordered in such a manner that it might be manifest that the truths which are to convince Job come from God and not from man. You were not permitted to refute or convince him, for if you had been you would have been lifted up with pride, and would have attributed to yourselves what belongs to God. This is in accordance with the entire drift of the book, which is to introduce the Almighty Himself to settle the controversy when human wisdom failed.”
32:14 “For he has not arranged his words against me, nor will I reply to him with your arguments.”
To use a well-worn phrase, Elihu doesn’t have a dog in this fight – he is not speaking out of a desire for revenge. At times the Comforters had become sarcastic in their approach, even going so far as to say that Job’s kids got what they deserved. Elihu wisely abandoned that line of attack.
32:15 “They are dismayed, they no longer answer; Words have failed them.”
The New Living Translation puts it, “You sit there baffled, with nothing more to say.”
“Words have failed them…” All of their arguments and all of their reasonings have become not unlike the ash heap around them.
Note especially the word “dismayed.” It means “demoralization stemming from frustration” and was used of the panic of the Israeli army before the giant Goliath in I Samuel 17:11 (“When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid”).
The word is also used in Jeremiah 48:1 “Against Moab thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; ‘Woe unto Nebo! for it is spoiled: Kiriathaim is confounded and taken: Misgab is confounded and dismayed.’” Misgab means “strong or high fortress, an inaccessible place.”
As the fortress of Misgab was “dismayed” (demoralized and destroyed), so the fortress arguments of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar collapsed. The Comforters had begun so confidently and their theology had seemed so unassailable. But now their systematic theology was no more than, as Trapp colorfully puts it, incoherent discourse from cracked sconces.
Job’s life may have crumbled to ashes, but so has the Comforters’ cherished theology. Job sat on the ash heap of his former life; the Comforters sat on the ash heap of their former collapsed theology.
32:16 “Shall I wait, because they do not speak, because they stop and no longer answer?”
The law firm of Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar had never lost a case. But this time there is no rebuttal, there are no closing arguments; just a look of bewilderment on the face of Elihu at the sight of a “dismayed” theology.
32:17 “I too will answer my share, I also will tell my opinion.”
Barnes comments, “There is a delicate expression of modesty in the Hebrew which does not appear in our translation. In all this we may discern a degree of courtesy, and a delicate sense of propriety (on the part of Elihu).”
32:18 “For I am full of words; the spirit within me constrains me.”
Note the contrast between verse 15 (“…words have failed them”) and this verse (“I am full of words…”). Elihu seems to be a rich storehouse of words. On the phrase “I am full of words…” Francis I Anderson, quoting Rowley, states tersely, “None would dispute that!” It seems that some commentators have a favorable view of Elihu (e.g. Barnes), while others have a more critical view (e.g. Anderson). And it also seems that commentators are divided as to whether Elihu was just filled with himself or whether he was truly filled with the Spirit of God. But perhaps it was a little of both (not unlike some of our prophetic messages heard in churches today).
32:19 “Behold, my belly is like unvented wine, Like new wineskins it is about to burst.”
Elihu is Uz’s version of a “YouTube-Mentos-in-Diet-Coke.” He is without a doubt ready to blow, and ready to blow big-time!
32:20 “Let me speak that I may get relief; let me open my lips and answer.”
Wine makers normally would put a tiny hole in the wineskin or in the cask to prevent the cask or wineskin from bursting. Unless Elihu speaks, he is going to explode. And when he does speak he comes at the baffling predicament of Job from a completely different angle. So perhaps what we have here is sort of the new wine in the new wineskin (Elihu) versus the old wine in the old wineskins (Eliphaz/Bildad/Zophar).
32:21 “Let me now be partial to no one, nor flatter any man. 22 For I do not know how to flatter, else my Maker would soon take me away.”
The word “flatter” comes from an old French word meaning “to lick” or “to stroke.” To flatter is to praise insincerely – especially in order to win favor.
Barnes writes, “The conviction that we are soon to appear before God, where all are on a level, and where every mask will be stripped off, and everything appear as it is, would prevent us from ascribing to others qualities which we know they do not possess, and from giving them titles which will only exalt them in their own estimation, and hide the truth from their minds.”
Note these verses from Proverbs on the subject of flattery:
Proverbs 28:23 “He that rebuketh a man afterwards shall find more favour than he that flattereth with the tongue.” The Message puts it, “In the end, serious reprimand is appreciated far more than bootlicking flattery.”
Proverbs 29:5 “A man that flattereth his neighbour spreadeth a net for his feet.” The Message puts it this way, “A flattering neighbor is up to no good; he’s probably planning to take advantage of you.”
Back to the “lost art of listening.” Someone has penned, “I know that you believe that you understood what you think I said, but I am not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.” Did you catch that? If not let me put it this way, “I know you think you thought you knew what you thought I said, but I’m not sure you understood what you thought I meant!”
I am not sure who penned those but they certainly are a little humorous (and more than a little hard to follow).
Do we communicate well, and are we good listeners? For all of Elihu’s faults, he did seem to really listen well.
Gill writes this in his commentary, “Elihu waited for them (the words of the Comforters), as for the rain, and the latter rain, to be revived, refreshed, and edified therewith…he endeavored to get into the sense and meaning of their words; not only attended to what they did say, but to what he thought they meant to say: some are not so happy in their expressions; and yet, by what they do say, with close attention it may be understood what they aim at, what is their drift and design; this Elihu was careful to attain unto, not barely to hear their words, but penetrate, if possible, into their meaning.”
Do we fail when it comes to the art of listening? We would do well to emulate Elihu.
Friday, September 30, 2011
Monday, September 5, 2011
Wisdom From An Uneducated Toy Maker (Job 32:1-11)
It is not an exaggeration to say that, while an unnerving silence hung over the ash heap, at any moment the Comforters expected something horrific to happen to Job – perhaps even an event along the lines of a chapter-one calamity. Hartley writes, “Job's avowal of innocence is so audacious and final that it leaves the Comforters speechless. All are terrified, waiting for an answer from the heavens. But God remains silent.”
32:1 “Then these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.”
Whenever there was a debate in the Land of Uz, whoever failed to make a reply was declared the loser. So to everyone in AshHeapville it seemed that Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar (and by extension God Himself) have lost.
But perhaps “stalemate” would be a better way to describe the tense atmosphere at the ash heap. No one can see how both God AND Job can be right. To paraphrase Trapp, Job is viewed as stubborn, contentious, self-conceited and opinionated. But from Job’s point of view Job is merely resolute and tenacious and true to himself.
But it is now that the story takes an unexpected twist. Standing just offstage an unannounced fifth man suddenly appears…the long-winded young gun by the name of Elihu.
More than one commentator characterizes Elihu as “comic relief” – someone who would pierce the tense atmosphere. Youthful and bombastic is how Hartley characterizes him. There is a fair amount of speculation as to his identity: perhaps a relative of Abraham, perhaps the writer of the book of Job, or even perhaps the prophet Balaam in his youth. Whoever he is, he certainly does seem to provide a theological bridge leading up to the appearance of God in chapter 38.
32:2 "But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram burned; against Job his anger burned because he justified himself before God."
One thing is for sure: Elihu may have been young and pompous and bombastic, but he was really MAD. So mad that his nose caught on fire! Four times in vs. 2-5 it is stated that “his anger burned.” Trapp translates it literally, “Then burnt the nose of Elihu...” It wasn’t the smell of burnt toast at the ash heap, it was the smell of burning and flaring nostrils! His anger had been simmering for a long, long time, and when the opportunity finally came, it boiled over.
Swindoll tells us that these four speeches of Elihu in the Biblical text (chapters 32-37) are longer than 12 of the Old Testament books and 17 of the New Testament books! This bombastic, long-winded bystander was mad and he decided to get it all out.
His nose-on-fire anger was directed first toward Job. Why? Because “he justified himself before God.” Or as Barnes puts it, “He understood Job…as being more willing that aspersions should be cast on the character and government of God, than to confess his own sin.” Poole writes, “He took more care to maintain his own innocence than God’s glory.”
32:3 "And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job."
What an incredible summation of the Comforters stance in the Book of Job, “They had found no answer and yet had condemned Job!”
The Graybeards have utterly failed to comfort Bag-O-Bones.
32:4 “Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were years older than he. 5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men his anger burned. 6 So Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite spoke out and said, ‘I am young in years and you are old; therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you what I think.’”
In his commentary, Adam Clarke wrote, “How young he was, or how old they were, we cannot tell; but there was no doubt a great disparity in their ages; and among the Asiatics the youth never spoke in the presence of the elders, especially on any subject of controversy.”
The word “young” means “small of days” or “insignificant”; “old” comes from a root word meaning “stooped for age.” There is apparently a wide gulf in their ages. The Comforters were the ancients and conceivably had a widespread reputation for being sages or men whose wisdom was renowned. They were men of great experience and great wisdom.
32:7 “I thought age should speak, and increased years should teach wisdom. 8 But it is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. 9 The abundant in years may not be wise, nor may elders understand justice. 10 So I say, ’Listen to me, I too will tell what I think.’ 11 Behold, I waited for your words, I listened to your reasonings, while you pondered what to say.”
One of the former church members at Hawthorne Assembly of God, the most learned professor Grant Gonyo used to say, “We are too soon old and too late smart.” Trapp writes, “There are beardless sages and grey headed children.”
Note the words “wisdom” or “wise” and “understanding” or “understand” in these verses. Although synonymous, here is how the Theological Wordbook of the OT defines each:
Old Testament “wisdom” (hakam) is quite distinct from that of other ancient world views. It was practical as distinguished from the ivory tower theoretical wisdom of the Greeks. In the non-Hebrew cultures the energy or power to become and remain moral was seen to reside in the intellect. Knowledge was virtue, and according to Plato, if a person had perfect knowledge he could live the good life. However, the emphasis of OT wisdom was that the human will was to be subject to God. Therefore, Hebrew wisdom was not theoretical and speculative -- it was practical, based on revealed principles of right and wrong and was to be lived out in daily life. The source of all wisdom is a relationship with a personal God who is holy, righteous, and just. That wisdom lead to a fear of the Lord (which in actuality is just the beginning of wisdom). Wisdom could then be defined as a simple trust in God and the avoidance of sin.
The word “understanding” (bîn) could also be seen as “insight.” The verb refers to knowledge which is superior to the mere gathering of data. “Bîn” is a power of perceptive insight. While understanding is a gift of God, it does not come automatically. The possession of it requires a persistent diligence. It is more than IQ; it connotes character. One is at fault if he doesn’t have it and in fact, not to pursue it will incur God’s punishment.
Job did not need someone to spew theories and speculations about the reasons for his suffering. He definitely needed someone to provide some practical, perceptive insight. It would surprisingly come from this young man named Elihu.
We’ve come a long way since chapter 2 and verse 13, “Then they (the Comforters) sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that {his} pain was very great.”
They would have been much farther ahead had they simply continued to say nothing, and instead helped to scratch his itching mass of sores with a broken piece of pottery.
In his book “When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough,” Harold Kushner relates a touching story of how one uneducated elderly man could bring comfort when the educated professionals could not:
“Many years ago, when I was young, a business associate of my father’s died under particularly tragic circumstances, and I accompanied my father to the funeral. The man’s widow and children were surrounded by clergy and psychiatrists trying to ease their grief and make them feel better. They knew all the right words, but nothing helped. They were beyond being comforted. The widow kept saying, “You’re right, I know you’re right, but it doesn’t make any difference.” Then a man walked in, a big burly man in his eighties who was a legend in the toy and game industry. He had escaped from Russia as a youth after having been arrested and tortured by the czar’s secret police. He had come to this country illiterate and penniless and had built up an immensely successful company. He was known as a hard bargainer and a ruthless competitor. Despite his success, he had never learned to read or write. He hired people to read his mail to him. The joke in the industry was that he could write a check for a million dollars, and the hardest part would be signing his name to it at the bottom. He had been sick recently, and his face and his walking showed it. But he walked over to the widow and stared to cry, and she cried with him, and you could feel the atmosphere in the room change. This man who had never read a book in his life spoke the language of the heart and held the key that opened the gates of solace where learned doctors and clergy could not.” (When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough” pg. 109-110)
32:1 “Then these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.”
Whenever there was a debate in the Land of Uz, whoever failed to make a reply was declared the loser. So to everyone in AshHeapville it seemed that Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar (and by extension God Himself) have lost.
But perhaps “stalemate” would be a better way to describe the tense atmosphere at the ash heap. No one can see how both God AND Job can be right. To paraphrase Trapp, Job is viewed as stubborn, contentious, self-conceited and opinionated. But from Job’s point of view Job is merely resolute and tenacious and true to himself.
But it is now that the story takes an unexpected twist. Standing just offstage an unannounced fifth man suddenly appears…the long-winded young gun by the name of Elihu.
More than one commentator characterizes Elihu as “comic relief” – someone who would pierce the tense atmosphere. Youthful and bombastic is how Hartley characterizes him. There is a fair amount of speculation as to his identity: perhaps a relative of Abraham, perhaps the writer of the book of Job, or even perhaps the prophet Balaam in his youth. Whoever he is, he certainly does seem to provide a theological bridge leading up to the appearance of God in chapter 38.
32:2 "But the anger of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram burned; against Job his anger burned because he justified himself before God."
One thing is for sure: Elihu may have been young and pompous and bombastic, but he was really MAD. So mad that his nose caught on fire! Four times in vs. 2-5 it is stated that “his anger burned.” Trapp translates it literally, “Then burnt the nose of Elihu...” It wasn’t the smell of burnt toast at the ash heap, it was the smell of burning and flaring nostrils! His anger had been simmering for a long, long time, and when the opportunity finally came, it boiled over.
Swindoll tells us that these four speeches of Elihu in the Biblical text (chapters 32-37) are longer than 12 of the Old Testament books and 17 of the New Testament books! This bombastic, long-winded bystander was mad and he decided to get it all out.
His nose-on-fire anger was directed first toward Job. Why? Because “he justified himself before God.” Or as Barnes puts it, “He understood Job…as being more willing that aspersions should be cast on the character and government of God, than to confess his own sin.” Poole writes, “He took more care to maintain his own innocence than God’s glory.”
32:3 "And his anger burned against his three friends because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job."
What an incredible summation of the Comforters stance in the Book of Job, “They had found no answer and yet had condemned Job!”
The Graybeards have utterly failed to comfort Bag-O-Bones.
32:4 “Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were years older than he. 5 And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of the three men his anger burned. 6 So Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite spoke out and said, ‘I am young in years and you are old; therefore I was shy and afraid to tell you what I think.’”
In his commentary, Adam Clarke wrote, “How young he was, or how old they were, we cannot tell; but there was no doubt a great disparity in their ages; and among the Asiatics the youth never spoke in the presence of the elders, especially on any subject of controversy.”
The word “young” means “small of days” or “insignificant”; “old” comes from a root word meaning “stooped for age.” There is apparently a wide gulf in their ages. The Comforters were the ancients and conceivably had a widespread reputation for being sages or men whose wisdom was renowned. They were men of great experience and great wisdom.
32:7 “I thought age should speak, and increased years should teach wisdom. 8 But it is a spirit in man, and the breath of the Almighty gives them understanding. 9 The abundant in years may not be wise, nor may elders understand justice. 10 So I say, ’Listen to me, I too will tell what I think.’ 11 Behold, I waited for your words, I listened to your reasonings, while you pondered what to say.”
One of the former church members at Hawthorne Assembly of God, the most learned professor Grant Gonyo used to say, “We are too soon old and too late smart.” Trapp writes, “There are beardless sages and grey headed children.”
Note the words “wisdom” or “wise” and “understanding” or “understand” in these verses. Although synonymous, here is how the Theological Wordbook of the OT defines each:
Old Testament “wisdom” (hakam) is quite distinct from that of other ancient world views. It was practical as distinguished from the ivory tower theoretical wisdom of the Greeks. In the non-Hebrew cultures the energy or power to become and remain moral was seen to reside in the intellect. Knowledge was virtue, and according to Plato, if a person had perfect knowledge he could live the good life. However, the emphasis of OT wisdom was that the human will was to be subject to God. Therefore, Hebrew wisdom was not theoretical and speculative -- it was practical, based on revealed principles of right and wrong and was to be lived out in daily life. The source of all wisdom is a relationship with a personal God who is holy, righteous, and just. That wisdom lead to a fear of the Lord (which in actuality is just the beginning of wisdom). Wisdom could then be defined as a simple trust in God and the avoidance of sin.
The word “understanding” (bîn) could also be seen as “insight.” The verb refers to knowledge which is superior to the mere gathering of data. “Bîn” is a power of perceptive insight. While understanding is a gift of God, it does not come automatically. The possession of it requires a persistent diligence. It is more than IQ; it connotes character. One is at fault if he doesn’t have it and in fact, not to pursue it will incur God’s punishment.
Job did not need someone to spew theories and speculations about the reasons for his suffering. He definitely needed someone to provide some practical, perceptive insight. It would surprisingly come from this young man named Elihu.
We’ve come a long way since chapter 2 and verse 13, “Then they (the Comforters) sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that {his} pain was very great.”
They would have been much farther ahead had they simply continued to say nothing, and instead helped to scratch his itching mass of sores with a broken piece of pottery.
In his book “When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough,” Harold Kushner relates a touching story of how one uneducated elderly man could bring comfort when the educated professionals could not:
“Many years ago, when I was young, a business associate of my father’s died under particularly tragic circumstances, and I accompanied my father to the funeral. The man’s widow and children were surrounded by clergy and psychiatrists trying to ease their grief and make them feel better. They knew all the right words, but nothing helped. They were beyond being comforted. The widow kept saying, “You’re right, I know you’re right, but it doesn’t make any difference.” Then a man walked in, a big burly man in his eighties who was a legend in the toy and game industry. He had escaped from Russia as a youth after having been arrested and tortured by the czar’s secret police. He had come to this country illiterate and penniless and had built up an immensely successful company. He was known as a hard bargainer and a ruthless competitor. Despite his success, he had never learned to read or write. He hired people to read his mail to him. The joke in the industry was that he could write a check for a million dollars, and the hardest part would be signing his name to it at the bottom. He had been sick recently, and his face and his walking showed it. But he walked over to the widow and stared to cry, and she cried with him, and you could feel the atmosphere in the room change. This man who had never read a book in his life spoke the language of the heart and held the key that opened the gates of solace where learned doctors and clergy could not.” (When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough” pg. 109-110)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)