He is younger than the other three “friends” of Job, this man named “Elihu.”
Yet he seems to be the most arrogant, in some ways.
As in Job 33:6, where Elihu claims to be the very “mouthpiece” of God to Job! “Behold, I am according to thy wish in God’s stead.” Wow! (Remember, back in chapter 9, verse 33, Job longed for a “daysman,” a “mediator,” a “go-between” who could be a liaison for his cause before God.)
Well, “Here I am,” blurts Elihu!
Then in Job 33:9 he claims: “I am clean without transgression, I am innocent; neither is there iniquity in me.” Wow! (Job had made such statements … with God agreeing with his assessment … only to be viciously attacked by Eliphaz and Bildad and Zophar!) Look at Elihu’s pronouns in that one short verses, a single sentence! “I” and “I” again immediately followed by “me!”
Then to Job a few verses later, “Old man, shut up!” Here: “Mark well, O Job, hearken unto me: HOLD THY PEACE, and I will speak.” Job 33:31, a young man talking to an old man that way, nearly unprecedented in those ancient days!
Then chapter 33 ends with Elihu saying, “Hearken unto me: hold thy peace, and I SHALL TEACH THEE wisdom.” This goes on and on, throughout chapters 34 and 35 and 36 and 37 in fact! (It is presumed the teacher knows a lot more than the student!)
Announcement: Proud men cannot have the mind of God! Only the humble truly walk with our Lord! Conceited men and women disqualify themselves from the tutelage of the Holy Spirit, Who is Meekness Personified!
Sorry, Elihu.
I cannot treat you as many other Bible teachers do, giving you a “free pass” and setting you on a “pedestal,” admiring your “superior” advice to Job!
“When PRIDE cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom.” Proverbs 11:2
“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: PRIDE, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.” Proverbs 8:13
Then: “PRIDE goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16:18, Elihu is not mentioned again in the whole book of Job, after he finally hushes!
One more verse: “A man’s PRIDE shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.” Proverbs 29:23
I write this lesson believing I have rightly evaluated this young man Elihu. But I really want to have an humble spirit as I do so. Pray for me please as we soon conclude these studies in the book of Job. Thanks!
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Any comments on the Job Lessons? If so, text me at 770-844-7627.