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00:00 Welcome Back Pastor PJ to the Daily Bible Podcast!

01:22 Pastor's Vacation and Return

02:31 Introduction to Elihu in Job

04:59 Elihu's Perspective on Wisdom and Age

06:35 Elihu's Defense of God's Actions

07:42 God's Communication Through Suffering

10:32 Normative vs. Extraordinary Communication

11:58 Elihu's Final Arguments

15:44 Conclusion and Prayer

Audio Only - All Participants:

Everybody, welcome back to another

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edition of the Daily Bible Podcast.

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Look at that.

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We are back to normal.

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Everything is the way it should be.

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The sun is shining.

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The snow is melting.

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This is the way the podcast

was supposed to work.

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Everybody wants to know

why you weren't showing up.

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Well, because you were doing a great job.

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In fact, I noticed the time

of the podcast was very brief.

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And it was like, I think yesterday's

was 11 minutes from start to finish.

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That's, that's record breaking.

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I kept the googly at a minimum.

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And part of it is because there's

no one to work off of and it's

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really hard to play off of yourself.

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I don't think I was designed

to do radio by myself.

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After this experience, I think I'm happy.

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It's good when it's short.

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But if you start going too

long by yourself, I just

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feel like you're rambling.

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So I noticed, because of the weather

situation here, we're still on Zoom.

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Uh, to record this podcast and

normally pass around, you throw

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a timer up there that counts up.

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Uh, and I, I don't, don't think I missed

the fact that you put a timer up there.

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That's counting down.

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I thought I'd try something new.

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See what happens.

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See if I get the process

here a little bit.

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Okay.

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So there's, that's, that's

our limit right there.

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It's, it's the count.

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We'll see.

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All right.

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And you know, honestly, honestly,

you, you missed so much of job that

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I expect you to cover so much of the

territory that we've covered before.

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Because you haven't had a chance to

say it yet So I would not be surprised

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if you got really excited about the

things that we're talking about and

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just started going on You know I

didn't I didn't take that approach.

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I was doing my my Bible reading

I was gone on vacation by the way

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in case you're like, where was he?

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I was on vacation I think you've covered

that on the podcast but glad to be back.

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It was good to get away It was probably

the best break that I've had Just as

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far as disengaging and resting and

spending time with family We spent some

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time in california And then when I got

back, I didn't jump straight back to

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the office Which I think was the best

decision that i've made in recent memory

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because it gave me a little bit extra

time just to be at home and and uh Just,

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just getting ready to jump back in.

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So all that to say, thank you guys for,

uh, for bearing with me while I was gone.

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And thanks Pastor Rod for holding

down not only the podcast, but

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also preaching this last weekend.

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Uh, so that was, uh, that was

encouraging to know that, that

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the ship was in good hands.

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Um, but yeah, as I've been reading through

Job, I, I've been really just kind of

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looking for concise, short summaries of

the chapters as I've been going through.

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And so that's been kind of where I'm at.

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So I'm not coming in.

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I don't have my guns.

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Yeah.

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Fully loaded and ready to just blow

away everybody with all my insights to

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this, which is a relief to everybody.

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We will see, because what I know about

preachers is that all you have to do

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is scratch just below the surface.

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And the dam is unleashed.

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So we'll see about that.

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Well, don't scratch them.

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I'm not trying to the bible's

gonna do it for me All right.

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Well, let's jump in jope 32 33 and 34

Uh, we have somebody new that ellie who

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has entered the chat and ellie who is the

burning man He is, uh, you'll notice there

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in verse two, verse three, verse five,

burning with anger, which is interesting.

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I mean, he's been sitting back

listening to everybody and it's been

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just causing him to become angry.

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And I think what we see as his,

uh, words unfold in this section is

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that Elihu is a man who's not really

interested in reaching back to the past.

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He wants to deal with what he's heard.

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And what he's heard is he's heard a

lot of people justifying themselves,

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um, and a lot of speculation from Job's

friends, but he hasn't heard a lot of,

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uh, defense and justification of God.

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So, um, I think Elihu is, is

commendable among those that speak

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to Job because Elihu's passion and

desire seems to be that he wants

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to vindicate God and hold God high.

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And one of our distinctives

that comes to Bible Church is

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that we have a high view of God.

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And I think we see that in Elihu

and in Elihu's words to Job

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and to these, these friends.

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Some believe that this is, is a

later edition, that they actually

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look at Elihu as some of the first

commentary on the book of Job.

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I I don't particularly hold that position.

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I think this is original to the text.

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I think it's right to hold it

as, as part of the original text.

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Um, but Elihu is the last voice to

speak before God shows up and addresses

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Job and Elihu has a lot to say that

really sets the table for God, because

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uh, God is going to, as we're going to

see in tomorrow's episode and the next

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couple, God is going to really take

Job and say, Hey, Job, um, don't forget

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who you're talking to this whole time.

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And that's kind of Elihu's focus here.

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So, uh, Elihu is, is angry, and uh,

it's interesting, um, we don't often,

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In our anger, want to respond in a

form of text, uh, email, text messages.

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That's not a good way for us to

respond when we're dealing with

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conflict because you can't read tone.

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Uh, the, the author here

tells us Ellie, who was angry.

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And so it'd be interesting to have

been a fly on the wall to hear how.

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Uh, he approaches because even though he's

angry, he still was aware of his, his age.

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In fact, that's one of the reasons why

he gives for not speaking up earlier

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in Job 32, uh, six through nine.

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He says, look, I, I'm the young one here.

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So I didn't speak up.

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So there's a measure of, of respect.

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Uh, Pastor Rod, you were talking

about the honor shame culture.

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I think Elihu recognized

that and understood that and,

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and knew his place in that.

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So it would have been interesting to

hear how his anger was expressed, but

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his anger is really, uh, it seems to

be a righteous indignation because he's

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jealous for God's character in this.

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Pastor Rod, your thoughts on, on

kind of the character of Elihu.

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Yeah, I'm with you on the fact that

I think this is original, but I

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do have questions about why he's

not mentioned in the beginning,

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why he's not mentioned in the end.

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There's no rebuttal from Job.

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There's no response from God.

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It is interesting.

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But I do think he's original, and

I do think because of his age,

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he probably has to stay quiet.

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It's the appropriate thing to do.

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And, another factor to consider

is that Elihu's name suggests that

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he has some connection to Abraham.

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His name itself means something

like, he is my God, Elihu.

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Um, Eli, Eli, Elihu is another way to

talk about his affiliation with God.

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And he, he might be a descendant of

Abraham through his nephew, Booz.

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Uh, or buzz, depending on

how you pronounce that.

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So there's lots of interesting information

here about Elihu, and we're not quite sure

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where he comes from or why he just shows

up in the middle of Job, and then has no

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reference to him either before or after.

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But one thing that's interesting that

I appreciate at the very beginning

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of his speech is that he acknowledges

something that I think a lot of people

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forget, verse 8 here, but it is the

spirit in man, the breath of the

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Almighty, that makes him understand.

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It's not the old who are wise, nor

the aged who understand what is right.

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It's Therefore, I say, listen to me.

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Let me also declare my opinion.

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He's making the case that age is not

necessarily an indicator of wisdom.

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I think that's really

helpful and powerful.

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Scripture makes one wise.

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God makes one wise.

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It's not necessarily one's age.

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Chapter 33, he, uh, he's pretty bold here.

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He basically prepares Job to hear words

from God in these first seven verses.

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Um, he, uh, verses three through five,

uh, addresses Job and says, my words

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declare the uprightness of my heart.

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My lips know what they speak sincerely.

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The spirit of God has made me in the

breath of the almighty gives me life.

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Answer me if you can't

set your words in order.

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And so really he's saying, uh, you know,

Job, I'm, I'm speaking, uh, from God.

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a place of authority.

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I'm speaking of a place

from a place of integrity.

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Um, and so listen to me because when I'm

speaking, I'm speaking on behalf of, of

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The character of God, as he continues

here, uh, in verses eight through 11,

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he, he summarizes Job's defense here.

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Um, it doesn't refute Job's innocence

or accuse him of, of closeted wrongdoing

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or, or saying, Job, yeah, you've

got something that God has done.

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Instead, what he's doing is

he's again, appealing to God.

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Presenting an apologetic for

God, a positive view of the

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benefits of, of suffering even.

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And, uh, he responds to, to, to

Job's defense as he's summarized

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Job's defense in the rest of chapter

33, um, talking about just how God

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deals with people in different ways.

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He says initially there

verses 12 through 14.

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God is not silent.

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He speaks to people in dreams.

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He speaks to people versus

19 through 22 in suffering.

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Uh, he speaks to people in 23 through 30.

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There's there's exceptions.

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Sometimes there's an angelic intervention.

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Uh speaks to people even in acts of

repentance on their their part there

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and and basically he calls job and

says, okay What do you have to say to

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these things job is are you going to?

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Speak up if not, then continue to

hold your tongue and i'm going to

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keep going here But job is is or

Elihu rather is talking about how

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God deals with us and how God deals

with us and communicates to us.

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Uh, and, and it's in a lot of ways, the

same way, uh, today, God is not silent.

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Now, the primary way that he's going

to talk to us today is through what

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this podcast is all about, the Bible.

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That's the main way that God is going

to deal with us and speak to us.

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But he still will bring

discipline in our life.

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He still will bring

affliction into our life.

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He still will communicate

to us in those ways.

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Um, and there are some things that,

that take place in other parts

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of the, the world that, that, uh,

God, I think has, has done that.

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Don't fit our clean, neat

categories of how God communicates.

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But, but God is not silent.

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I think that's what Elihu is saying here.

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Job, you've been wondering, where is God?

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God, why don't you speak?

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And Elihu, I think he's trying

to say, Hey, God has been

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speaking this whole time.

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Yeah, he is there and he is not

silent as Francis Schaefer wrote.

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I mean, I really appreciate this.

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And as I was reading

through it, I felt like.

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I felt empathy, number one, because

I thought, well, these men, this

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is all they had to work with.

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They had to trust God's dreams and

His visions, and they had to trust,

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uh, different ways that God would

speak through general revelation

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and some special revelation.

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Because when this was taking

place, they didn't have a Bible.

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And I'm thankful that now, God has spoken

in a variety of ways, but in these last

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days, He has spoken to us by His Son.

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This is the Word of God made

flesh, and then we also have

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the Word of God on paper.

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What an amazing thing to have.

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And I'm, I'm, man, I'm glad

they had what they had.

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But I think, like Peter, I

would prefer the more sure

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word that we have in Scripture.

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The visions and the dreams, awesome.

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I'm sure that was an experience to behold.

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But I, I love the fact that I have

Scripture in my hand, and I don't

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have to wait for God to talk to me

through the clouds, or through a,

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a June bug flying through the sky.

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I'd rather have His Word.

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Amen.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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In fact, today in church, we're

talking about being a Christ exalting

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church and what that looks like.

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And, and, um, a lot of it's going to be

talking about Christ's first place in

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our life and, uh, and making sure that

our life is, is geared towards that.

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And, and I think when that's the case, the

more subtle ways that God does communicate

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to us are more readily noticed by us.

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We're attentive.

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We're in tune with those things.

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Um, and.

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The more we are in the Word of God, the

more that we are praying, the more that

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we are doing these things, the more

that we're going to see different things

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happen in our lives as, for example,

in the answer to prayer, we're going

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to be not just thinking, Oh, well, I

get what a coincidence this happened.

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We're going to say, Oh, no, God is

responding to the prayer that I prayed.

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And so we're going to see more of God's

hand and be more sensitive to what God

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is trying to communicate to us, even

outside the pages of scripture, though.

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I'm with you, Pastor, having the

Bible and having that authority to

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be able to say, this is God's Word.

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And there are limits to.

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God's word as far as it being

inerrant and authoritative, and

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that is Genesis to Revelation.

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That's a blessing that we

get to enjoy today for sure.

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Does God still speak with impressions

and you know, that sense of I

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need to go left versus right.

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I heard a story recently and by recent,

probably the last 10 years or so, I forget

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when exactly I heard it, but there was a

little girl that was missing and there was

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this Christian guy who joined the hunt.

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And he just felt like the spirit was

leading him this way, that way, the other

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way, and lo and behold, he finds the girl.

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Does God do that?

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Um, if so, when would he do that?

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If not, what do we do with, with

stuff like this in the scriptures?

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Yeah.

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I think an important word for

us with all of this is the word

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normative, um, or expected.

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Uh, can God do that?

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Yeah, sure.

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Yeah, he can do that.

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The situations I was referring to just

a moment ago in the Middle East, where

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you hear stories of Muslims in closed

countries having visions of a man

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dressed in white, and they're saying,

hey, I learned that that was Jesus,

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and I got saved as a result of this.

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I mean, my, my, my current

theological compartments don't, I

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struggle with that, to, to fit that.

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And yet, um, I, I believe that God

is big enough to do things that are

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beyond what I'm comfortable with.

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But the question needs

to be, what is normative?

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What should we expect to, to happen?

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When you come up to a stoplight, uh,

what's normative is that if you don't

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know where you're going, God has given

you a phone with a GPS on it that is

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going to tell you, Hey, turn left here,

or pull a U turn and go backwards.

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You shouldn't pull up to this stoplight

and go, okay, God, which way should I go?

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Uh, that that's not what's normative

or expected, but can God operate

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outside the bounds of what's

normative normative and expected?

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Sure.

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He can he's absolutely able to do that.

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And I think he does do that.

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Um, but we, I think walking by faith

is, is trusting in the things that he's

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given us and trusting in the normative

Principles that the in in as far as

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worship and Sunday mornings go, we call

it the regulative principle, which is

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we're going to do what the Bible calls

us to do that applies to life too.

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I think that's what we should

be focused on and understand.

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At the same time, we hold things open

handedly and say, yeah, God can do things

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that are beyond what we can explain.

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Chapter 34, um, then as we, we conclude

today's episode, uh, Elihu turns to Job

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and again, summarizes Job's arguments

in verses 5 through 9 and kind of

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picks and chooses what, uh, what Job

has said and what he wants to address.

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And yet, I think he's still

more even handed towards Job

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than the other friends are.

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Verses 10 through 30, he, he defends God.

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He just says, look, verse

10, God does no wrong.

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Verse 11.

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He repays men according to their deeds.

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Verse 12, he never perverts justice.

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Verses 21 through 23, he needs

no court to render a verdict.

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He is God essentially.

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And then he turns to job and, and brings

the hammer, uh, though again, more,

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uh, even handedly than, than the other

friends when he says in verses 31 through

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32, Hey, job have, have you acknowledged

yet the, the lesson that God might

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be trying to teach you through this?

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Um, and then.

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In verses 36 through 37, probably the,

the, the strongest, uh, words, he says,

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were that Job were tried at the end

because he answers like wicked men,

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uh, he had adds rebellion to his sin.

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And so, again, he's not

dealing with Job's past.

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He's not like the other friends

saying, Job, surely you've

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done something in the past.

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He's saying, look, what I've

heard from you, Job, this is what

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I'm going to confront you on.

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And I think you're wrong.

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And I think that you, Jerry,

Elihu has even said, you've been

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wicked in what you've done in your

pushing back of what God might

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be trying to teach you right now.

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It seems like a pretty noble and

worthy posture to defend God.

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And I think, I agree

with Elihu in chapter 34.

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It was like, God needs to have

somebody say in a helpful and

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balanced way that he's doing good.

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He's, he's accomplishing his purposes,

but, or maybe, and how do we make sense of

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the fact that nothing is said about this?

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God does not affirm it, doesn't deny it.

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What do we, how do we know how

to interpret Elihu's words?

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With, at very least, the end of

the book of Job, you have God

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affirming Job was in the right,

these three men were in the wrong.

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But what about Elihu?

326

How do we know how to interpret his words?

327

Yeah, and that's again, like you

said, that's one of the reasons why

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some have questioned It's inclusion.

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This, uh, this section's inclusion

in, in the canon, uh, I, I do

330

think it's supposed to be there.

331

All I can think is, like I

referenced earlier, I think Elihu

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really sets the table for God.

333

Um, I think, you know, sometimes you

get an MC intro a speaker, uh, at

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a conference or a, or an event, and

that MC kind of sets the stage for

335

what that speaker is about to say.

336

Um, And then the speaker

comes in and drives it home.

337

The speaker hits the ball

out of the park after that.

338

At least that's the idea.

339

I think that's what's going on here.

340

I think Elihu is, is zoomed in on

defending God and God's character

341

and really kind of reminding Job

of his smallness in his finitude

342

in light of God's infinitude

and his majesty, his greatness.

343

And then what we're about to see

in the coming chapters is, is God's

344

going to pick up the microphone.

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So to speak from Elihu and God doesn't

need to say thank you to Elihu because

346

he's not But, but God is going to

say, okay, I've got it from here.

347

And he's going to turn to job

and continue this idea of job.

348

Where were you when I've done all

of these things, job, remember

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your place, remember who you are.

350

So I think perhaps.

351

Elihu's not condemned in the way the

other three friends are, uh, by God,

352

because Elihu, though not perfectly, does

a better job at communicating ultimately

353

what God communicates to Job in the end.

354

Yeah, there are some repeated phrases that

God seems to borrow from Elihu, although

355

God's the originator of all things, so

it's not like he's technically borrowing.

356

Uh, so there are some repeated phrases

that would give us a sense of maybe,

357

maybe God affirms what Elihu is saying.

358

Elihu is saying because he's using

some of the same actual words.

359

Um, but in all things, as you read all

the guys, Zophar, Eliphaz, Bildad, Elihu,

360

Job, even as you read all of these guys,

really good to cross reference what

361

they're saying with what scripture says

so that you can say, yes, this is true

362

or no, that's almost true, but not quite.

363

Yeah, I agree a hundred percent.

364

Yeah.

365

I think one of our takeaways from, from

Elihu in this section can be just his

366

passion for God's, Um, you know, in our

culture and our society, we, we see a

367

lot of, uh, people treating God fluently.

368

Again, I referenced, uh, as a

church, one of our distinctives being

369

that we have a high view of God.

370

Elihu is a man with a high view of God.

371

And I think that's something for us to

take away and say, we want to be like him.

372

In that we want to make sure that that

we maintain that high view of God that

373

we're jealous for him Jealous for his

character his goodness his reputation in

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the world around us and so again, this

is what we're talking about a little bit

375

this morning at church being a christ

exalting church and That involves more

376

than sunday mornings In fact that the

point of this morning's message is if

377

we're going to be a christ exalting church

We have to be christ exalting christians.

378

And so that's part of though ellie

who didn't know the name christ

379

Um, but We need to be as passionate

and zealous for Christ as Elihu

380

is for the character of God.

381

And if we do that, then I think God's

going to do great things through our

382

church, even this next year and beyond.

383

Amen.

384

Well, let me pray.

385

And then we'll be done with this episode.

386

Look at that, Pastor Rod.

387

I even beat the timer.

388

Almost.

389

But we're not done yet.

390

We're not done yet.

391

We're not done yet.

392

Let me pray.

393

God, thanks for this, uh, this time.

394

Thanks for being back

in, uh, in this routine.

395

Thanks for, again, Pastor

Rod's faithfulness to, uh,

396

the word and in carrying on.

397

And again, we are grateful

for the book of Job.

398

We're thankful for a man like Elihu,

who we can learn from and say, you know

399

what, we want to have the same passion

for your name, your character, your, uh,

400

your, your, uh, reputation as Elihu had.

401

So make us a church like that, a

church, passionate, zealous for,

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uh, the reputation of, of the Lord

and do great things through us.

403

We pray in Jesus name.

404

Amen.

405

Amen.

406

All right, you guys keep reading

your Bibles and tune in again

407

tomorrow for another edition

of the Daily Bible Podcast.

408

See ya.

409

Speaker: Hey, thanks for

joining us for another episode

410

of the daily Bible podcast.

411

We hope and pray this has been a blessing

to you and your time in the word.

412

If it has, if you would subscribe to this

podcast, leave a like, leave a comment

413

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414

That would be awesome.

415

If you need more information about

Compass Bible Church here in North

416

Texas, you can go to compassntx.

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org.

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Again, that's compassntx.

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org.

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And we'll be back with you

tomorrow for another episode

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of the daily Bible podcast.