Job 35:1

The wording of the first verse of chapters 34, 35, and 36 divides Elihu's address for us. That leaves only the opening address to the friends and Job (chapters 32 and 33:1-7) to be separated from his first main argument (Job 33:8-33), and we have the five divisions of his address. (1) The emptiness and failure of the controversy (Job 32 — 33:7). (2) God's purpose in chastening (Job 33:8-33). (3) His character vindicated (Job 34). (4) His testing of men (Job 35). (5) His working among men and in nature (Job 36, 37).

This chapter is so closely connected with the previous one that some have taken it as part of the same division. But verse 1 clearly makes a fresh start, and the contents point the same way, so it seems better to give it a place of its own. As the fourth part of Elihu's address, its subject is a test of man, not a vindication of God as in the previous chapter... And how true it is that what shows His character in perfection also uncovers the nature and ways of man as he is.

There is something marked and striking about Elihu's ministry. He stands in sharp contrast with the three friends. His name means "God is he," and we may surely view him as a type of our Lord Jesus Christ. He brings God into the scene, and puts a complete stop to the weary strife and arguing between Job and his friends. Elihu does not argue from experience. He does not appeal to tradition. He does not speak in the tone of law. He brings in God.

Elihu is a name with a meaning, given to us as "God Himself." Keep that in mind, then read verse 6 of Job 33. We shall see that he stepped in to play the part of a mediator. So he became a type — though a faint one — of the true Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God Himself. Elihu was a real man, formed out of clay, and he stood before Job on God's behalf, just as Job had asked in Job 9:33.

Job kept silent, so Elihu continues. He asks Job whether what he had said was sound judgment: "My righteousness is greater than God's righteousness." That was the logical conclusion Elihu drew from some of Job's words.

"Elihu spoke further, and said, Do you think this is right, that you said, My righteousness" — he was not only speaking against God, he also thought a great deal of himself — "My righteousness is more than God's." That is what he really meant, although he would not have said it outright. But Elihu put his finger on the spot... So whether it was running God down or pushing himself forward, Job was wrong on both counts.

We notice again the gracious tone of Elihu. He appeals to Job's reason and conscience. He wants to win him away from his hard and sinful thoughts of God, and back to simple trust in One who may hide Himself in the darkness, but who must be good in everything He does. We have already seen flashes of this in Job. But he must still come to judge everything that does not fit the noble words he spoke at the beginning: "The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."