Continuing a Bible study on Job, Elihu is still speaking:
(Job 36:1) Elihu also proceeded and said, (2) "Bear with me a little, and I will show you that I have yet to speak on God's behalf."
Aha! Apparently Elihu has not been exactly speaking words from the Holy Spirit. He pretty much admits it was he himself who thinks Job is stupid! Not a good way to get someone to want to listen any further, Elihu!
(3) "I will fetch my knowledge from afar, and will ascribe righteousness to my Maker. (4) For truly my words are not false; he who is perfect in knowledge is with you."
Elihu says he will reach to the higher ways of God to show that God is always righteous. He believes his words will be absolute truth because he claims to speak from the Spirit of God.
(5) "Behold, God is mighty, and despises no one; He is mighty in strength and wisdom. (6) He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the poor. (7) He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous, but they are on the throne with kings; yes, He does establish them forever, and they are exalted."
God constantly watches over the righteous and exalts them to the level of kings.
(8) "And if they are bound in fetters, and held in cords of affliction, (9) Then He shows them their work, and their transgressions, that they have exceeded."
If the righteous are afflicted, then God reveals their exceedingly sinful transgressions to them.
(10) "He also opens their ear to discipline, and commands that they return from iniquity. (11) If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. (12) But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge."
Elihu obviously thinks he knows this is the reason for Job's affliction; Job was righteous, but when he strayed, he did not respond to God's chastisement.
(13) "But the hypocrites in heart store up wrath; they do not cry when He binds them."
Those who are hypocrites in their hearts are not broken and return to the Lord, but instead rebel. Elihu undoubtedly must see Job as a hypocrite, that he is afflicted because he will not humble himself before the Lord.
(14) "They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean."
A hypocrite will die before his time and his life will be among those who are the most vile and impure. Interestingly, the word translated as "unclean" means more completely "sodomite" or "male temple prostitute". In every other place in the Bible it is used, it is translated as "sodomite". It also didn't escape my attention that it might be concluded that "they die in youth...among the unclean", meaning the unclean die before their time, as well. It is a fact that homosexuals do die on the average at an alarmingly younger age than do heterosexuals. I did a study on this several years ago, and if statistics haven't changed, it's a death age of between 40 and 45, and that is excluding AIDS related deaths!
(15) "He delivers the poor in their affliction, and opens their ears in oppression."
Elihu returns to his point that God will deliver the afflicted if they will call upon Him. "Depressed" or "lowly" are better meanings of "poor" in this case. God will open their ears and cause them to understand their iniquity and the reason for their affliction.
(16) "Even so He would have removed you out of the (narrow) strait into a broad place, where there is no constraint, and that which should be set on your table would be full of abundance."
Likewise, God would have delivered Job if he had returned to God with a broken heart. I took a little liberty with some of the translations in the scripture above. My intention here is not to make a new translation of a scripture, but to fully understand the original meanings of the words, and sometimes I use what I consider to be a better word in order for me to better understand a passage. The original KJV used only "strait", but originally there were two words used, "peh" meaning "mouth" or "opening", and "tsar" meaning "narrow" or "tight". "Constraint" was my word, but it is one of the meanings of the original word "mutsaq" which KJV translators translated as "straitness". The KJV used "fatness" instead of "abundance", but again, I did use one of the original meanings of the word.
(17) "But you have fulfilled the judgment of the wicked; judgment and justice take hold of you."
Some of the old commentaries take this to mean that Job had acted like the wicked, therefore he was chastised as they were. Others take it to mean that he had reacted as the wicked do when they are chastised. The word translated as "fulfilled" means also "to be full", so the meaning may be simply that Job is full of what would have been the chastisement for the wicked, and then a reiteration of that fact, judgment and justice have taken hold of Job.
(18) "Because there is wrath, beware lest He take you away with His stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver you. (19) Will He esteem your riches? No, not gold, nor all the forces of strength."
I believe rather than the wrath of God, Elihu means Job's anger against God. Because Job has received the chastisement of the wicked, he has acted in anger. Elihu warns Job he could be taken away with one stroke of God, and then nothing could deliver him, not gold nor all the strength in the world.
(20) "Do not desire the night, when people are cut off in their place. (21) Take heed, regard not iniquity, for this have you chosen rather than affliction."
"The night" here seems to imply death, "when people are cut off". Job had said he desired death. Elihu tells him to take care and not wish for death. He says to entertain such wishes is to be sinful, and Job has chosen to be sinful rather than accept God's chastisement.
(22) "Behold, God exalts by His power; who teaches like Him? (23) Who has assigned Him His way, or who can say, 'You have done evil'?"
In a sense, Elihu is reiterating his point that God's ways are higher than man's. There is no one who can teach like Him; no one knows the whole picture as God does. God answers to no man, nor should he, as God obviously knows best.
(24) "Remember that you magnify His work, which men behold. (25) Every man may see it; man may behold it from afar."
Another meaning of the word translated as "magnify" is "laud", and synonyms of that are "praise" and "glorify". I believe Elihu is reminding Job to praise the Lord and His magnificent works. While it may be the works of God that men may behold from far and wide, I think perhaps the meaning here might be that Job should openly praise and glorify God where every man may behold it.
(26) "Behold, God is great, and we do not know Him, neither can the number of His years be searched out."
We cannot truly know God or fully comprehend Him. God is eternal; there is no researching Him from His beginning.
(27) "For He makes small the drops of water; they pour down rain according to their vapor, (28) Which the clouds do drip and drop upon man abundantly. (29) Also can anyone understand the spreading of clouds, or the noise of His tabernacle? (30) Behold, He spreads His light upon it, and covers the bottom of the sea."
Elihu gives examples of common and seemingly simple works of God that are too wondrous for man to fully understand. The noise of God's tabernacle is obviously thunder. The light is lightning spread upon the cloud or perhaps His tabernacle. The lightning spreads far and wide over all the earth, reaching even to the bottom of the seas.
(31) "For by them He judges the people; He gives food in abundance. (32) With clouds He covers the light, and commands it not to shine by the cloud that comes between. (33) The thunder declares it; the cattle also, concerning the vapor."
Wow! Think about it; God judges the people with a rainstorm. Rain can be a blessing or it can be a curse. The same storm could actually bless some people while it destroyed others. The KJV's translation of 33a is "The noise thereof sheweth concerning it". He's talking about the noise of the storm, so for my study notes, "The thunder declares it" was much more succinct and to the point. This translation suggests that an approaching storm is announced with thunder and cattle's instincts.
Interestingly, an old commentary of Adam Clarke states this is a "very unhappy" translation. I will have to quote him on this, because it was not plain to me. He says the original text read, "Yaggid alaiv reo Mikneh aph al oleh". "Yaggid" or "nagad" as read by KJV translators means "to make known, declare". "Alaiv" or "al" is a preposition or a conjunction that can mean almost anything! Not literally, but it can have various meanings, "upon, on the ground of, according to, on account of, on behalf of, concerning, beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against, because that, because, notwithstanding, although" and more. "Reo" or "rea" means "crash, noise, shout, or roar". So "the noise declares concerning it" seems to be an appropriate translation, however, Adam Clarke suggests it is, "Its loud noise shall proclaim concerning HIM".
Examining the second part of the verse, "mikneh" or "miqneh" generally means "cattle or livestock", but it also can mean "something bought, property, acquisition, possession, purchase, substance". "Aph" means "also, yea, furthermore, moreover". Then there's that little word "al" again with various possible meanings. Finally, and here's the kicker, "oleh" or "alah" means "to ascend, be high, mount up, arise, break [the day], carry up, cast up, cut off, dawn, depart, exalt, excel, fall, fetch up, get up, go (away, up), grow (over), increase, lay, leap, levy, lift (self) up, light, offer, make to pay, prefer, put (on), raise, recover, restore, (make to) rise (up), scale, set (up), shoot forth (up), spring (up), stir up, take away (up), work". Whew! What the KJV translators may have considered "going up" to be "vapor", may not have been vapor at all. It's still a stretch for me to grasp Mr. Clarke's translation, "A magazine of wrath against iniquity", but I could see perhaps, "His possessions exalt Him", or all of nature exalts Him. Wow! My current "in-depth" Bible study only scratches the surface! But that is why Bible study can be a life-long endeavor, and the Holy Spirit can show you something new every time you read the Bible! It's very exciting!
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