Job 36:5

GOD'S PURPOSE SEEN IN SUFFERING

"Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any:

He is mighty in strength of understanding.

He preserveth not the life of the wicked,

But giveth to the afflicted their right.

He withdraweth not his eyes from the righteous:

But with kings upon the throne

He setteth them forever, and they are exalted.

And if they be bound in fetters,

And be taken in the cords of affliction;

Then he showeth them their work,

And their transgression, that they have behaved themselves proudly.

He openeth also their ear to instruction,

And commandeth that they return from iniquity.

If they hearken and serve him,

They shall spend their days in prosperity,

And their years in pleasure.

But if they hearken not, they shall perish by the sword,

And they shall die without knowledge.

But they that are godless in heart lay up anger:

They cry not for help when he bindeth them.

They die in youth,

And their life perisheth among the unclean."

Many of the scholars are complimentary toward what Elihu says here, pointing out that his approach is a little different from that of the three friends who had spoken earlier. The alleged difference is that Elihu views Job's sufferings and misfortunes as disciplinary, rather than punitive. That is a distinction without a difference. Elihu clearly states and often implies that Job's pride is the cause of God's punishment. The strategy of the devil is here slightly changed. Having given up altogether on his allegation that Job is a carnal reprobate and a grossly wicked man, the new approach is to make him guilty of such a thing as pride - anything, absolutely anything, to induce him to renounce his integrity. Note what Elihu promises here, IF Job will admit his sins. He will spend his days in prosperity and pleasure (Job 36:11); but if not, he will perish.

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";[7] 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."[8] It is only by divine revelation that such things concerning God may be known.

"He preserveth not the life of the wicked" (Job 36:6). "This is the same old position advocated by the three friends."[9]

"Then he showeth them their work and their transgression, that they have behaved themselves proudly" (Job 36:9). The lying persuasion of this is that Elihu, pretending to be inspired of God, promising mercy, prosperity and pleasure if Job will admit his sins, lays down the proposition here that Elihu himself, as God's representative, is present to help Job remember those sins he surely has committed but which he may have forgotten. This was Satan's trump card; and when Job refused to believe it, ignored and rejected it, God's judgment of Job was gloriously vindicated.

"He openeth their ear to instruction, and commandeth them that they return from iniquity" (Job 36:10). It is amazing that Rawlinson, while admitting that what Elihu said in these verses, "Is not exactly the truth,"[10] he still finds merit in Elihu's theory of suffering as disciplinary and restorative, rather than punitive. Every word of this verse is a subtle, skillful and lying inducement for Job to renounce his integrity.

"If they hearken and serve him" (Job 36:11). In context, Elihu means, Job, if you will listen to what I say, confess your sins, repent, and turn to God, "You will receive prosperity; if you do not listen, you will perish."[11]

"They die in youth, and their life perisheth among the unclean" (Job 36:14). The word unclean here is the rendition of a word that actually means sodomites, as indicated in the American Standard Version margin. Pope rendered the passage, "Their soul dies in youth, their life among the sodomites."[12] James Moffatt's Translation of the Bible (1929) rendered it, "They die in youth like men debased by vice." Driver made it, "Their soul dieth in youth, and their life among the temple prostitutes."[13] This is of interest, because it indicates the customary brevity of life among the cult prostitutes of the old Canaanite fertility worship.

Elihu no doubt mentioned this because it fitted his theory that God punishes wickedness in this present life; and of course, it many instances he does, as was the case with the cult-prostitutes; but that in no manner bolstered their evil theory that all misfortunes were directly due to the sins of the unfortunate.