40 Minutes In The Old Testament - Job 35:1-37:24 (Episode 415)

Episode Date: May 10, 2024

Elihu continues his speech. He believes Job is both full of wickedness and fully unrepentant. He gives many warnings as he declares that everything happening to Job is just. Elihu concludes his argument by talking about the greatness of God. Have a listen. Show Notes: Support 1517 1517 Podcasts 1517 on Youtube 1517 Podcast Network on Apple Podcasts 1517 Academy - Free Theological Education What's New from 1517: Available Now: Encouragement for Motherhood Edited by Katie Koplin Pre-order: Hitchhiking with Prophets: A Ride Through the Salvation Story of the Old Testament by Chad Bird 30 Minutes in the NT on Youtube Remembering Rod Rosenbladt Available Now: Be Thou My Song by Kerri Tom  More from the hosts: Daniel Emery Price Chad Bird

Welcome to another episode of 40 Minutes in the Old Testament. 40 Minutes in the Old Testament is a 1517 podcast network podcast. You can go to 1517.org slash podcast and check out all the other podcasts that are living over there. And while you're over there, make sure you look at everything else that 1517 is doing, the academies, the articles, the videos, hey, the events. Go to the speaking schedule, man, and check out where all the different podcast hosts and 1517 writers and speakers are going to be. Might be right in your backyard, but you don't know if you don't look. I mean, Chad could have been this last weekend right down the street from you, but you would have never known it if you didn't go check the speaking schedule. So make sure you check those out and see if somebody's going to be somewhere near you.

You can go hang out with them. Chad, we are in Job 35, and we are, you know, in the throes of Elihu's discourse. And we're going to see what else he has to say. I mean, he promised some new arguments. He's not made a lot of new arguments. He has rehashed, rephrased, served up the same arguments just a little bit differently. And we ended with him sort of saying that, listen, Job has a problem. And the problem with Job is that he answers like a wicked man would answer.

And by saying that, what he means is he's being accused of sin and denying that that sin is there. He's acting like a wicked man does. In fact, Job's so wicked, in fact, that he probably just doesn't even realize. like, that what is sin and what's not sin anymore, and this, maybe this is the reason, and so he has added sin on top of sin, he has multiplied his sin by his refusal, not only his refusal to repent, but these words of saying, I have, I've done nothing to deserve this. yeah it's kind of ironic uh the end of chapter 34 says that job this is the accusation job multiplies his words against god it's kind of yeah if there's anybody who's multiplying any

words here it's eli who he's yeah you ever been in one of those uh services where the sermon is going on and on and on and just to just the moment you think it's going to end another topic comes up yeah that's yeah yeah that's uh that's Elihu so he he concludes chapter 34 by as you pointed out claiming that Job adds rebellion to his sin he multiplies these words against God so we're going to pick it up at 35 where we have once more division you have these occasional divisions here where the speech is broken up by things like Elihu answered and said so this is just a indicative of fact that here we have inserted something that's going to differentiate what he said before with what is now coming up, even though most of the arguments are not that different. So Elihu answered

and said, do you think this to be just? Do you say it is my right before God that you ask, what advantage have I? How am I better off than if I had sinned? I'll answer you and your friends with you, look at the heavens and see, and behold the clouds, which are higher than you. If you had sinned, what do you accomplish against him that is against God? And if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to him? If you are righteous, what do you give to him? And what does he receive from your hand? Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself and your righteousness, a son of man so i think it's easy to understand if you kind of flip verses one and two in their order so he's saying that job this is eli who's saying that job says what advantage do i have how am i

better off than if i had sinned and he goes on or precedes that but this is the this is the first verse do you think that's just do you do you say it's my right before god so he's basically putting these words in Job's mouth, where he has Job saying that he's no better off than if he'd sinned. There's no advantage to his current predicament. And then he goes on from there to say, I'm going to give you the answer that you're looking for. And the first thing I need you to do, I want you to look up at the heavens, gaze up there at the sky, gaze up at God's habitation. All of that's higher than you. And the implication is, of course, that God is higher than Job. And then he has a discusses sinners. So if you sin, he's more or less saying that doesn't do anything to God.

Or verse seven, if you're righteous, that doesn't do anything to God either. If you're wicked or if you're righteous, all of that just concerned, all of that just on a horizontal level. That's the import of verse eight. Your wickedness concerns a man like yourself and your righteousness a son of man. Now it seems to me that a couple of different things could be going on here with Elihu. It kind of depends on how you take the whole tenor of his argument. He could be simply saying, listen, Job, it doesn't affect God if you're righteous. It doesn't affect God if you're a sinner. He is so much higher than you. He's so much different than you. He's so much more everything than you are that it really doesn't matter in the sense that it's not going

to somehow detract from God if you sin, nor is it going to amplify God if you're righteous. He's so other than you are that nothing that you do good or bad is going to somehow affect him. And I think if that's what Elihu is arguing, then basically this is his way of belittling Job by exalting God. I think the other way this could be read, and this is kind of more of a positive spin on his words, is that Elihu's main point is that, listen, when it comes to sin or righteousness, doing good or doing wrong, the people that we should really be worried about are our neighbors. Because he says your wickedness concerns a man like yourself. In other words, if you act wickedly, then you're going to be harming your neighbor. Maybe you're stealing or maybe you're committing adultery or

murdering or whatever you're doing against your neighbor. Your wickedness concerns him, affects him in this negative sort of way and then he also says your righteousness concerns a son of man so if you're righteous that is if you're doing that which is right and good then you're actually helping your neighbor you're you're serving you're serving your neighbor so i don't know those are i think a couple different ways that you could take that i because of the whole tenor of elihu's argument i lean toward the former of those this is simply elihu's way of exalting god to such an extent, kind of putting him so far out there that he is detached from any kind of good or bad human behavior, that Job should just realize what a tiny speck of nothing that

he himself is. Yeah, I mean, it's not altogether untrue what he's saying, in the sense that, of course, your sin doesn't take anything away from God, and your righteousness certainly doesn't add anything to God. And it does seem that what he's saying here is that as Job, like, pleads for God to, like, hear him out, like, Elihu believes that Job believes that God is overly concerned with him. All right, so, like, Job's argument has been, like, oh, God's got his archers pointed at me, he's doing all this stuff, and Elihu's like, eh, I think that you think that God takes more note of you than he does.

Now, what's interesting about that, while Elihu is right about your sin not taking away from God and your righteousness not added to God, we know from the opening chapters of this book that God actually does pay attention to Job and actually does notice him, and that is actually why this is happening to him. In fact, if Elihu was completely right about God being unconcerned with Job, nah, this would not be happening to Job. So that he's right and he's wrong, which of course is how most of these things are going. Yeah, it doesn't add or take away, but like the psalmist would say, and you hear all over the place, God is very concerned about what is going on with his creation. And so it seems that also the way the argument is going to go is that a lot of you are trying to say, listen, your sin really just affects people, and your righteousness really just affects people. And God only gets involved when you're such a bad sinner that those people cry out to them, and then he turns his head and pays attention.

Yeah. You know, what popped into my head when I was looking at verse 8 about your wickedness and your righteousness only affecting other people? is uh i don't know what the verse is but psalm 51 where david says against you you only have i said and done what is evil in your sight well that doesn't fit very well with elihu's theology here because i mean david sinned against a whole lot of people of course he sinned against bathsheba and uriah and his servants and a lot of people were involved in this but david is taking things the other direction he's he's focusing so much upon the fact that god is the lawgiver so it's against god and god only high of sin that he's pointing to the fact that yeah i mean our our sin

doesn't take away from god but certainly it is directly uh connected to god because of course god is the one who created the laws to begin with yeah well if there if sin is only a thing because god says it is like i mean uh sin is a breaking of a standard imposed by god right so there's no god there is no sin no no yeah it's an impossibility yeah there is no objective standard by which to evaluate human behavior if there is no god yeah yeah so yeah he you uh you gave us a segue into the section that's coming up here about when god pays attention and to whom god pays attention. And so I'll read these verses, but the general argument here is that God uses the difficulties, the trials, the chastisements, we might say, of life in order to open people's

eyes to their transgressions so that they realize how they've gone astray. And then this gives God a chance to kind of shake them back to to reality and to repentance verse nine so i'll read nine through uh i'll just read nine through the end of the chapter so it's nine through sixteen because of the multitude of oppressions people cry out they call for help because the arm of the mighty but none says where is god my maker who gives songs in the night who teaches us more than the beast of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens there they cry out but he does not answer because of the pride of evil men surely god does not hear an empty cry nor does the almighty regard it how much less when you say that you do not see him that the case is

before him and you are waiting for him and now because his anger does not punish and he does not take much note of transgression. Job opens his mouth in empty talk. He multiplies words without knowledge. So yeah, he's kind of working his way into an argument. He's going to advance much more in the next chapter, but he's beginning to talk here about people crying out to God for help, right? The multitude of oppressions cause people to cry out. They call for they call for help uh but there's a there's a in in elijah's perspective if if someone is is calling out for the wrong reasons then god is not going to answer them so verse 12 says they cry out but god isn't going to answer why because of the pride of evil men so surely god

does not hear an empty cry nor does the almighty regard it well i mean you could you can find passages like that in the scriptures to be sure um but here's the reality when you when you kind of step back from these kind of you know 100 declarations like this you got to realize there is no person there is no sinner who ever cries out to god from completely pure motives right just never happens i mean if if you were crying out to god from a completely pure motive you would be jesus because he's the only one who ever had completely pure motives for for crying out and so there's always mixed motives you know it's the same with repentance why do we pray why do we confess why do we repent well for a whole lot of reasons is it because we did wrong yes is

it because we got caught probably is it because there's repercussions we're suffering in life yes because we love god yes because we're afraid of god yes i mean it it's a lot of different motivations here for our our prayers for our whatever reason that we are prying out to god so to kind of make this you know black and white hard and fast rule that god is not going to answer because you're you have pride or not going to answer because you're not doing this for the right reasons then that's going that's going beyond human ability and it's going beyond the scriptures also well it does seem like what he's saying is that uh again he's like listen god doesn't hear these certain things he's not concerned about people who cry out if they're

prideful or certainly unrepentant or whatever and it seems like ultimately more than just making sort of like big huge statements about god he's making these statements about god in order to tell Job, like, that God doesn't hear his prayers, because certainly Job, he views as a man full of pride and arrogance. So Job has done a lot of crying out to God, which we've seen, and Elihu's coming out and be like, God's not hearing any of that, Job. Yeah, it's kind of a—I think we've seen this elsewhere, too, especially in Elihu's argument. It's like an argument from lesser to greater. He's saying, listen, Job, if God doesn't hear people who cry out to him because they're prideful or because they have an empty cry, then, as he says here, how much less, that's your

argument, of course, from one to the other, how much less when you, Job, say that you don't see him, that the case is before him and you're waiting for him. So if he doesn't listen to those kind of people, then he's definitely not going to listen to you because you're worse than they are, Not only are you speaking in kind of an empty vein pride, but you're multiplying words against him. You're clapping your hands together. You're doing all the things that Elihu's been accusing him of. Job opens his mouth in empty talk and multiplies words without knowledge. So, yeah, I mean, even though he seems to be speaking kind of generally here, his general argument is in the service of the argument he's really directing against Job.

So Elihu isn't just kind of waxing theological here to impress people with his general knowledge of how God deals with us. Rather, he's using all of that specifically to direct it against Job. Yeah. Even though coming up here in chapter 36 now, I think this is where Elihu, like, he gets real brazen. because he opens up saying, hey, I'm going to basically speak for God here now. Yeah, I think this is the point where Elihu, out Elihu's himself.

I mean, he's been pretty pompous so far, and he goes beyond all bounds, and he's opening four verses. In fact, it's kind of funny. It starts out, Elihu continued and said, all right, we've seen that plenty. but it's something like this bear with me a little and I will show you I get the kind of the impression that Job and his three friends are sitting around and the non-verbal communication

is pretty clear that they are sick and tired of bearing with Elihu yeah you know they're maybe they're yawning maybe they're just looking at him in exasperation maybe they want to get up and walk away and he keeps like listen stay bear with me I got a little bit more to say I'm really gonna I'm gonna let you know for sure what you need to hear in my next speech one of the worst things ever I imagine you're in like a group setting and uh there's a conversation going on and then you say uh tell you what I think and then you talk for a couple minutes about like this thing and then you finish and uh nobody says anything awkward it's very awkward it's very you and you very much think like okay um nobody liked that uh nobody nobody thought that was brilliant or

insightful or interesting uh they're just like okay tell the joke nobody laughs yes yes so uh it seems like maybe there's a pause there and then i was like okay let me try this again like bear with me a little while and then and then makes a statement uh maybe to try to pique their interest here by saying uh hey bear with me a little while i'm going to show you uh for i have something to say on god's behalf whoa whoa oh yeah yeah putting that prophetic mantle on right yeah but this is the for me this is the best part so three and four so after he says i have something to say on god's behalf i will get my knowledge from afar and ascribe righteousness to my maker this is the this is the best this is this is eli who's epitaph here for truly my words

are not false one one who is perfect in knowledge is with you that is a wild thing to say man if he could if he could only have added and also one who excels in humility yeah that's a good line though i mean i think i need to figure out a way to use that in jest around someone who would know where it came from i guess that would just probably be you chad as we're pointing this out uh next time uh i don't know we maybe we'll be at a restaurant together that i've been to before and you're looking at the menu and uh and i'll say don't worry chad i'll order for you i've been here before one who is perfect in knowledge is with you yeah you could you could only use that line appropriately in a humorous situation yeah

yeah yeah anyone who tries to anyone who attempts to use this in a serious fashion should get laughed out of the room. Do you think even Zophar at this point, he says this and his eyes roll completely back into his head? He's like, oh my gosh. And Zophar's eyes rolleth back into his head. I mean...

Because, yeah, even the friends have got to be like, dude. Because he's talking to them, too. It's like... Yeah, this would... I don't know how many friends this guy has, but this guy seems like he'd be real fun to be around.

Yeah, he needs more socializing. He needs more people to let him know when he's stepped out of bounds. So that's all, of course, the introduction. I got this knowledge. I got it from a long way off. And I got some true words that I'm about to speak because I got perfect knowledge. And I'm about to let you know what this is.

He's basically arguing that he plucked this speech right out of heaven. Yeah, it really is. I mean, it's the closest we get to this claim for divine inspiration on Elihu's part. I'm going to speak for God. Well, if you can do that, you better be quoting scripture. But these are Elihu's words, verse 5. Behold, God is mighty and does not despise any. Actually, just a little footnote here.

Hebrew does not have the word any. it's kind of a just a phrase that just ends elliptically but whatever is implied there behold god is mighty and does not despise dot dot dot he is mighty in strength of understanding he does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their right he does not withdraw his eyes from the righteous but with kings on the throne he sets them that is he sets the righteous forever with kings on the throne, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in chains and caught in the cords of affliction, then he declares to them their work and their transgressions, that they are behaving arrogantly. He opens their ears to instruction and commands that they return

from iniquity. Now, if they listen and serve him, they complete their days in prosperity and their years in pleasantness but if they don't listen they perish by the sword and die without knowledge i like that he says that all right so god is mighty and he doesn't despise people and then goes on to tell you exactly what kind of person you might have to be for god to despise you and end up killing you like i mean this whole thing is like okay he doesn't despise anyone but but but the wicked he definitely despises

but he's not gonna keep the wicked alive okay yeah if you don't listen I mean you are gonna perish by the sword

okay and this whole thing I mean this is like the biggest letdown ever alright alright listen up I'm about to speak

for God and then you say this mess that like just doesn't have anything to do with any I mean

we can go through this and be like hey is some of this true or not but like in the context that it's spoken in the situation like this is this has little to do with anything going on here and if you're speaking to a person who has just gone through what job has gone through i don't understand how this is the thing you got to perk your ears up and take note of where it's like, God is mighty, and you know, if you're bad people, they're going to get it. That's it. That's been said a million times at this point. Yeah, you know, this is an important section for people who defend Elihu. So I think when we began this section, we talked about differing viewpoints on Elihu.

You know, some people think he's a type of Christ, or some people think— think in fact i've even read people who think he's well maybe they wouldn't say he's like a uh you know pre-incarnate appearance of christ but they draw this analogy between him and and the son of god and you have people who uh think yeah he has some good some good bad to say some bad to say and you have people who have kind of taken the tack that we have that yeah most of what he says is just a a uh you know he's serving left theological leftovers from what his three friends, the other three friends have already said. And yeah, he says a few true things, but for the most part, he's just kind of arrogant and verbose. Uh, but for those who

defend Elihu, so they'll point to sections like this and say, well, look, look how Elihu has advanced the argument because he's not, he's not saying he's not dealing here just with black and white. He's saying, he's not saying there's just righteous and there's just wicked, but he's also saying listen there's times when the righteous go astray and are afflicted bound in chains cords of affliction and then god declares to them their transgressions how they behaved arrogantly and his goal is to open their ears to his instruction to his divine discipline so that they return from their iniquity okay uh but first of all that has been said by one of the three friends earlier in the book i think it was eliphaz uh the same point has been made before so

again he's just kind of regurgitating what has been what has been said before and like you pointed out dan even what he says here which is true has no application to job no it's not as if your job went astray and so because of his transgressions and because of him behaving arrogantly god bound them in chains and put them in these cords of affliction. He's whispering in his ear now, Elihu would probably add through me, that he should go away from his iniquity, and once more God will exalt him and sit him with kings and give him all these great things. The problem with it is that—let's just be real frank here—if God has something to say to Job, knowing what we know

this can't be it no it cannot be it even if it's true in reference to somebody else it can't be what God's going to say Job no it cannot be because if it was you'd be like what

I got real questions man about what's going on here yeah I wouldn't even talk about the first two chapters of the book again if that's the case because you were like bragging basically over job's piety and his devotion and his from what i can what i can gather from the for reading job is that this may very well apply to every other person on earth except job yeah he's like if there is an exception he's it yeah yeah yeah so uh elihu uh says some things which are true some things which are basically echoes of

other biblical passages but in their application to the current situation it is entirely false and not just false but misleading so take that for you know maybe application to yourself yeah there's times i who has not experienced this when god disciplines us right it's not pleasant like hebrews says it's terrible in fact most of the time it's painful nobody enjoys it it's most of the time in my life it's been extremely not just humbling but humiliating you know it's it's it's not any fun whatsoever to be disciplined because you've gone astray but of course it also bears fruit much later on and kind of once you get to that point you're like okay i needed that i'm glad it happened because it got me from where i was to to where i am and now i mean everyone

we've all experienced these kinds of things multiple times in our lives okay that's good so we can take these and apply them to ourselves but elihu cannot apply them to to joe so uh that that was what through verse 12 yeah yeah there was 12 so picking up 13 the godless in heart cherish anger they do not cry for help when he binds them they die in youth and their life ends among the well esv has cult prostitutes uh some translations might have male cult prostitutes uh there's a lot of debate about exact meaning of that term but anyway that's what esv has they die in youth and their life ends among the cult or male prostitutes He delivers the afflicted by their affliction and opens their ears by adversity.

He also allured you out of distress into a broad place where there was no cramping and what was set on your table was full of fatness. So this is finishing up that section we were looking at earlier by contrasting the godless in heart with those who by the affliction they have experienced that god's hands through his discipline are delivered out of that because god uses i mean elijah has a great phrase here that god opens their ear by adversity yeah again with what we've already talked about in reference to most other people that is that is true so their ears are open they begin to actually hear the word of god again and this gives them a chance to bring them to

repentance and bring them out of their adversity but the other fate the other end for those who are godless in heart who cherish anger who don't cry for help when he binds them it's a picture of uh kind of a you know dying in youth uh whatever it means their life ends among the cult prostitutes or the male cult prostitutes, of course, this is kind of an image of shame and depravity. And this is Elihu basically saying, if you don't repent, if you don't listen to God, if his adversity doesn't open your ears, then you're going to go to an untimely and terrible end. But if you listen, if you believe, if you repent, then God is going to make everything great. He's going to bring you out of your distress.

He's going to fill your table with plates full of all kinds of rich and fat foods for you to consume. Not a lot to add to that. I mean, this is one of those things you're like, okay. Yeah, right. And? True. Okay. And?

Yes. Right. Right. So, verse 17 is going to switch things up a little bit. It's kind of a strange thing. So verse 16, you probably heard that when I was reading it, has you and your. It's like he turns specifically to Job and addresses him. But what he said in verse 16 about God alluring you out of distress and what was said on your table was full of fatness,

it seems a bit premature, even from Elihu's perspective, because according to Elihu's theology, Job has not yet done this. So maybe he's just kind of promising this is what would happen. if you were to listen to me and do what I say. But verse 17 and following then is going to be the accusation against Job. He says, but you, so Elihu says to Job, but you are full of the judgment on the wicked. Judgment and justice seize you. So in other words, the justice and the judgment that rightly fall on the wicked,

well, those have filled you up, Job. they have rightly fallen on you. Then verse 18, beware lest wrath entice you to scoffing and let not the greatness of the ransom, and that word could also be translated as bribes or bribery. That has to do with just material possessions, the ability to ransom or the ability to bribe. Let not the greatness, we might say, of your material wealth turn you aside will your cry for help avail to keep you from distress or all the force of your strength do not long for the night when people's vanish in their place take care do not turn to iniquity for this you have chosen rather than affliction now stop there because verse 22 is going to begin

a whole new section this one's a the section is a little bit it's a little bit strange um even the various commentaries that i always consult uh acknowledge that there's there's a lot of just difficult language here with the hebrew and difficulty of understanding but the basic thing that that elihu seems to be accusing jove of is first of all what has befallen him is right and just so the justice the judgment on the wicked has befallen you and then he says but beware lest what you're experiencing leads you to kind of a scoffing toward god and don't think that you can kind of buy yourself out of the situation so don't let the greatness of your material wealth turn you aside leads you leads you astray and then he says even your cry for help is not going to

it's not going to help you all the all of your strength is not going to avail you in this situation because you haven't done what needs to be done and don't don't think that you can like hide don't long for the night don't think that you can be like evildoers who use darkness night as a cloak for their for their for their whatever behavior they're engaged in because god can get you in the dark also that's when people's vanish in their place god takes care of them at at midnight as well for even the dark is not dark to him and then he wraps that up by saying take care do not turn to iniquity for this you have chosen rather than affliction so rather than rather than choosing affliction, rather than seeing that you are in the place that you are

because God saw your sin and then has been trying to open your ears and your eyes to your wrongdoing by letting all this happen to you, rather than choosing that, you've rather, you've chosen to rebel against Him and to remain impenitent, and not only that, but just rebellious against God. yeah i mean this is um i mean this is him just making uh it's the same argument that's the problem with it is i'm trying to come up with new ways uh to break down the same argument uh how many times can we turn this box around and look the same cardboard side right yeah i mean he's just saying look job could it be any more obvious that you are full of the judgment of the wicked, that judgment and justice has, like, laid its hands on you? Could it be more

obvious, Job? Look at what's happening here. You obviously haven't done what you need to do to turn this around. That's the whole argument, right? And not only that, but you're probably giving way to this temptation to, you know, to scoff at those who would give you sound advice, to justify yourself, to say that none of this is correct, to martyr yourself, Job. But it's very obvious

that the judgment has seized you. Yeah. And you know, I'm going to make a prediction here. We've got like five minutes left. I think we can actually finish Elihu's speech.

Okay. Go for it. because so so here's what comes up so we're at uh 36 22 and let me just kind of i'm not going to summarize what's coming up and then you can listen to it and pick this out as i'm reading through it so he's going to begin by saying behold god has exalted his power and who is a teacher like him who is prescribed for him his way or who can say to him you have done wrong right so Eli is kind of setting up what he's about to say by saying, listen, God is the greatest. He's all powerful. He's made all things. Nobody can contradict him. No one can question what he's

done. And he's our teacher, this kind of divine instructor in the heavens. And as a way of wrapping up his argument and as a way of exalting this greatness, this unquestionableness, to make up a word of God. Let me tell you about God as creator. And that's what he's going to begin in verse 26, which I'll read this in just a minute. But he's going to begin with 26 through 37.5 to describe one season of the year. And this is going to be kind of the autumn season. A lot of the images that are used here are connected with fall. And then it's going to switch in verse 6 through 13 to using images of ice and snow. So you kind of have the winter season and then didn't switch in verse 14 and following with kind of summer images. So he's going to go through three of

the seasons, talk about how God is active in each of these, and then end by basically making the point about the greatness of God whom we should fear. So this is beginning with verse 26. I'll us read through the very end of the speech. Behold, God is great and we know him not. The number of his years is unsearchable. He draws up the drops of water. They distill his mist and rain, which the skies pour down and drop on mankind abundantly. Can anyone understand the spreading of the clouds, the thundering of his pavilion? Behold, he scatters his lightning about him and covers the roots of the sea. For by these he judges peoples. He gives food in abundance. He covers his hands with the lightning commands it to strike the mark. Its crashing declares his presence. The cattle also

declare that he rises. At this, my heart trembles, leaps out of its place. Keep listening to the thunder of his voice and the rumbling that comes from his mouth. Under the whole heaven, he lets it go in his lightning to the corners of the earth. After it, his voice roars. He thunders with his majestic voice and does not restrain the lightnings when his voice is heard. God thunders wondrously with his voice he does great things that we cannot comprehend all right so that's kind of the first section a lot of storm images and rain and animals and lightning and thunder stuff going on he's not done now it's going to switch to winter images for six to the snow he says fall on the earth likewise to the downpour his mighty downpour he seals up the hand of every

man that all men whom he made may know it that the beasts go into their lairs and remain in their dens kind of got a hibernation theme going on there from its chamber comes the whirlwind and cold from the scattering winds by the breath of god ice is given and the broad waters are frozen fast he loads the thick clouds with moisture the clouds scatter his lightning they turn around and around by his guidance to accomplish all that he commands them on the face of the habitable world whether for correction or for his land or for love he causes it to happen okay and that's the end of the the winter section and now we're going to switch to this final section which is verse 14 and following where you have images that are more fitting summer hear this oh job stop and consider

the wondrous works of god do you know how god lays his command upon them and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine do you know the balancing of the clouds the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge you whose garments are hot when the earth is still because of the south wind can you like him spread out the skies hard as a cast metal mirror teach us what we shall say to him we cannot draw up our case because of darkness shall it be told him that i should speak did a man ever wish that he would be swallowed up and now no one looks on the light when it is bright in the skies when the wind has passed and cleared them out of the north comes golden splendor god is clothed with awesome majesty the almighty we cannot find him he is great in power justice and abundant

righteousness he will not violate here's the closing verse therefore men fear him he does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit it's kind of the capstone of his argument there that because god does all these wonderful things winter summer autumn because he's great in power therefore, Job, you should fear him, because he doesn't regard any who are wise in their own conceit. And, believe it or not, Dan, believe it or not, the words of Elihu are finally ended. Somehow, Elihu doesn't see the irony in his final statement, because, I mean, he's saying all these things to Job, like, as if Job disagrees with any of this stuff, that, like, God, like, oh, God, the ground in nature and know that God is so much bigger than you.

Who are you, Job? Did you do any of this stuff? I just feel like Job is sitting there just be like, no, I didn't know. I can't stretch out the head. What are you talking about? No, no. Yeah, I know. The whole reason I want to talk to God is because of all of these things.

It's the whole argument that I'm making is I need to go talk to God because of the exact things that you're saying, because that's who he is and because he's great and he's mighty and he's the only one that can do anything about any of this that's like my whole argument man and yeah then he's and he rattles off this like yeah but man people that are full of conceit with their words yeah they better watch out for them that's that is a a wild way to end that is a wild way to end but uh i don't know about you but i'm glad it's ended yeah i'm glad elihu is is done and uh man next time we we come to the crescendo right this is god is god is gonna interject it only took elihu to make god be like okay

uh enough of that uh he was listening to joe and his three friends and elihu just rattles on and on and on and god's like all right i gotta like put a stop to this i gotta i gotta step in here i gotta break the silence i gotta say something yeah well great we'll hear from the whirlwind next time. That's awesome. Yep. We will do that. I will see you then. See you then.