Job 34 – Wrong way of correcting a wrong is equally wrong

Earlier we saw how conflicted Job’s emotion was. On the one hand he was certain that he had not done anything to warrant such a severe affliction. Yet on the other hand, he was suffering an inconceivable affliction. He could not understand why God would want to wipe out all that he had and inflicted him with seemingly incurable skin lesions without any justifiable cause. He was puzzled. For a close scrutiny of his life did not yield any answer to why he was afflicted. Of course, he did not know that he was the subject of a wager between God and Satan. Hence, his was an innocent puzzlement over his condition. And in trying to make sense of his suffering he had unwittingly accused God of injustice. So, in Job 34 Elihu was seen repudiating his idea of the injustice of God, or that the Almighty God would bring infliction on a person without a justifiable reason.

Job’s claim had incited Elihu’s indignation, who then began by addressing the wise men among them. Whether he was referring to Job’s three friends or to the people that could have gathered to hear the debate is uncertain. To indirectly address Job in the presence of the crowd was obviously not showing any respect for him. Considering the fact that Elihu was a younger man and so brutally frank, we must conclude that he was not being considerate toward Job. Perceiving that the patriarch as showing disdain for God and alleging Him for not being just, prompted Elihu to set out to vindicate the Almighty in verses 10-30.  He showed how ridiculous and impious it was to make the claim about God being unjust. It is unconceivable for God to be unjust. He argued that God had no motive to be unjust. Then in verses 31-33 he felt that Job ought to have responded with contrition, before he appealed to those hearing him to endorse his indictment of Job as a rebel and sinner. He felt that Job in his defiance and showing impiety to God, had added to his other sins and so deserved more severe affliction

The way Elihu had condescendingly went about telling Job, shows us what not to do to a person in his or her dilemma. We must proceed cautiously knowing that we do not have all there is to know of the situation. We must not cast an aspersion on others and leave wrong impression about them. It is needful for us to ensure that our words be few and economical. Knowing God and seeking to defend His good name is honorable but we must not do so by putting others down condescendingly. We must learn to build up and not to tear down.