Reading: Job 32-24, Psalm 143
When I was in my late teens and early twenties, I spent a great deal of time paying attention to politics. This is a generally unhealthy situation and counsel against it. At the time the most prevalent forms of political dialogue were the public speech and the public debate, both of which have been replaced today by snarky tweets. But that isn’t the point. During the three years that I was a political science major in college, me and my fellow aspiring politicos would listen to the positions published and proclaimed by various candidates for office, then sit around and talk about how these were all bad ideas and we would do so much better if only given the chance.
One memory from that part of my life was sitting around discussing the presidential election. It was very late 1999 or early 2000, which back then meant the election was just beginning. My cabal of up and coming policy nerds engaged in frequent disparaging commentary about not only George Bush and Al Gore, but the whole political structure of the United States. We all campaigned for Ralph Nader, not so much because we agreed with Green party policies as because he was a little bit weird and symbolized change. Now, don’t get me wrong: we used all kinds of nice sounding language to make it sound like we knew what we were about and were giving anyone other than ourselves the time of day. Looking back, though, I can see the reality: we were a bunch of arrogant 20 year olds playing at being grown up. Thank God none of us were in charge of anything important, because we had no idea how complex the world actually was.
Today we meet Elihu, a younger man who has been watching and listening to the exchanges between Job and his three friends, all of whom are Elihu’s elders. While we don’t know everyone’s age, the indication is that there is a significant gap here. Elihu is not a little younger that the others, he is much younger. And he is hopping mad. Elihu says he has been listening to Job and his three friends ramble on without reaching a conclusion, but now that they are done he will speak. This is, in and of itself, quite offensive. Today we might (if we are highly traditional) admire the young person who listens to their elders before giving their opinion. This is not the situation with Elihu. Remember where the dialogue of Job and his friends landed: Job appealed to God for judgment. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar fall into silence as they tacitly agree that the only being capable of passing true judgment is God, the creator. After Job’s closing statement yesterday, the only character invited to speak was God.
Apparently Elihu doesn’t get that, so he decides to pass judgment himself. His elders have failed to reach a conclusion, so he will do it for them. He begins his speech with a long self-inflating introduction. Elihu claims to be unbiased, filled with the wisdom of the Spirit, and unable to keep silent. Then he makes claims startlingly similar to those made by Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. Humans suffer because of their wickedness, but if they repent God forgives. Elihu insults Job’s friends, accuses them of failing to make a good argument, and then declares exactly the same argument they did. His reasoning then continues: God is always fully just. This is what Job has been saying all along. Job said it with conviction that is at odds with his present experience. He believes it, but is trying to understand how it is true considering his present state. Elihu says it as an accusation. He says the sinful suffer in chapter 33. Then he says God is always just but will forgive if one repents in chapter 34. Finally, in chapter 35 he passes judgment on Job and his friends in the place of God.
More than any of the other characters, Elihu is out of place. He speaks out of turn. He speaks as only God should. He claims to have better arguments but recycles the one he just railed against. He is the classic angry young person, turning against authority figures but quickly revealing he has no better ideas. His speeches in today’s reading are a reduction of the dialogue between Job and his friends. Tomorrow we will read his take on Job’s final plea: to hear judgment before God himself.