Job 32-42 - Elihu Speaks and God Speaks

Welcome to Through the Bible with Pastor Paul from Life Bible Ministry. Journey from Genesis to Revelation as Pastor Paul guides you through every verse, leading you to a deeper understanding of the Scriptures that will strengthen your faith and transform your life. Now, let's get started with today's teaching as we open God's Word together.

The book of Job is a challenging one. It begins by telling us about a man named Job who was incredibly blessed, meaning incredibly wealthy and had many, many wonderful material blessings. He was also given great wisdom. He was honored among the people. The Bible says most of all he was blameless. We're told that Satan came before the Lord to challenge him on the person of Job, telling him that Job... was the way he was simply because he was so blessed. So Satan brought a challenge.

He said if you take away all the things that make him happy, he'll curse you. And the Lord allowed Satan to remove all of the things that Job had. All of his earthly possessions. And even his children. They were taken in a tragic situation, tragic circumstances. And we found out that Job did not curse God. Satan appeared a second time before the Lord saying, if you simply touch the man himself, if he's suffering in his own flesh, then he will curse you. The Lord allowed Satan to touch Job physically so that he had boils on his entire body. Top of his head, soles of his feet. Somebody was telling me just this last week about having like one boil and practically going crazy, you know. I can't imagine boils over the entire body. I'm

surprised he could even talk. And we're told that his suffering was so great when his three friends came to visit him that All they could do was just sit for the first seven days in silence. There were no words. Nothing they could say. Until Job began to speak up, and Job began to curse the day of his birth, and he began to speak in a very, very negative way about eventually about the Lord. Even questioning God's justice.

Even questioning... the Lord's fairness, to the point where Job's friends began to speak up, and they began to accuse him of wrongdoing. And they told him, the reason you're in the situation you're in, Job, is because you've sinned. And this conversation went back and forth, and Job continued to hold fast to his innocence related to these things, his blamelessness, and his friends continued to... to charge Him with wrongdoing.

Well, that conversation has been something we've looked at for the last two weeks here on Wednesday night, and we've finally come to the end of that. And now we come to Job chapter 32, and this is the time when a young man by the name of Elihu begins to speak. And it tells us in verse 1, So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. Then Elihu, the son of Barakal, the Buzite of the family of Ram, burned with anger. And then we're told here why he burned with anger. It says that he burned with anger at Job, first of all, because he justified himself rather than God. And this was the first reason that Elihu was angry. because Job continued to justify himself and say, I didn't

deserve this, rather than justifying God. In fact, Job was accusing God. And then it tells us in verse 3 that he burned with anger also at Job's three friends, because they had found no answer, although they had declared Job to be in the wrong. And so Elihu was actually angry that all of his these three friends who spoke up, who were all elder to him, they had really had no ability to answer Job as it related to what he was saying to God. All they did was just continually attack Job. That's all they really got accomplished. They really didn't do what Elihu thought that they should do, and that is to defend God. Elihu was a man who felt the need to defend God. And I don't know if you know the type. And you know, I think that the heart of

this sort of an individual is not all wrong necessarily. But you know, there's really nothing in the scripture that tells us to defend God. We're told to defend the gospel. That we're supposed to defend. We're defending the gospel all the time against all kinds of attacks. But defending God, that's a different sort of a scenario altogether. Now that doesn't mean you can't answer somebody's lame statement necessarily. But to defend God, if you take that to the ultimate end, how are you going to defend Him ultimately? Essentially, that's what Muslims do. In the Islamic religion, they feel a very strong urge to defend Allah.

And so if anyone says a word against their God, they are going to defend Him to the point of, you know, I'll kill you. You speak against my God, you know. I'll actually do you harm. Well, the fact of the matter is, God doesn't need defending. He is quite capable of defending Himself. And He has never called us to that place of defense, you know? Again, defending the gospel, that's a different sort of a situation, but defending God, I just don't see it in the Scriptures, and it takes away something, you know, kind of from God's ability to Defend himself, but anyway Ella Hugh is the kind of man who? Feels very much the need to defend God and man is he worthy about it He this goes on six chapters this man is insufferably

long -winded and so once again we're not going to read everything that Ella Hugh has to say because he goes on and on and on and he just continues to to defend God and and you know ultimately what he's saying is isn't bad, necessarily. But it, you know, kind of misses the point. But anyway, it goes on here in verse 4 to tell us that now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because they were older than he. And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, he burned with anger. And Elihu the son of Baruchal of the Buzite answered and said, I am a million years, and you are aged. Therefore I was timid and afraid to declare my opinion to you this was a very common Eastern way of thinking it

continues to this day the idea that the aged Should speak first because there is greater wisdom and young people should wait to talk They should hear out their elders first those who have been around the block right sort of a thing We completely have gotten rid of this idea here in the United States of America where youth is considered to be what we strive for. Isn't that crazy? How can you be old and strive for youth? It's called plastic surgery, and we've all seen where that leads, right? I mean scary type sort of stuff.

But that's the culture we live in. How in the world can you get older and strive for being younger? Well, but that's where our culture is just constantly drawing us. to the beauty of youth and stuff. You know what though? I can tell you, I won't say anything about your youth, but I'll tell you about mine. I was stupid. I was just flat out dumb. And the younger I was, the dumber I was. And I tell you, you know, everybody wants to go back and be young. I'll joke about it, but you know what? Some of those years, I wouldn't go back and live for anything. I mean, I shudder to think about the things I said, I shudder to think about the things I did. Violating God's Word without knowing it, living my life

like I knew best, giving my opinion when it hadn't even been asked for, thinking I had something to contribute to the conversation. Might have nothing to do with you But I'll tell you that's exactly what my youth was all about it was about abject stupidity and I just thank God that he got me through it. I really I really do but here's a here's a man who is raised in a culture where the younger people wait to speak and now that these men are finished and he sees that they're no longer in a place of of making any sort of a Comment about this he is going to begin to speak about this. Now, the rest of chapter 32 is Elihu defending his right to speak now that they're done. And that's all he gets said in

the rest of that chapter. He's kind of like, all right, now it's my turn, and I'm going to speak. So here we go. And are you ready? OK, here we go. This is me talking now, sort of a thing. That's pretty much the rest of the chapter. Chapter 33. If you'll skip down to verse 13, he's concerned and he's talking to Job. He says, why do you contend against him? Saying, contend against God. Saying, he will answer none of man's words. You know, Job had been complaining along those lines. He said, at one point he said, you know, I'd really like to have an audience with God. And then later on he said, you know, but if I did get an audience with God, number one, I don't think he would even listen to me. And

number two, I really wouldn't be able to speak, you know, because, I mean, who can speak against God? Who can bring their case before the Almighty? So, it's a ridiculous sort of a prospect, but I've got things to say. That's the point that he was saying. And so, Elihu heard that and that really incensed him and he asked the question, so, you know, why do you contend against God saying these kinds of things that God doesn't answer any of man's words? Skip down to verse 14, or I guess you're not skipping, it's just the next verse. Verse 14 says, For God speaks.

In other words, Elihu's saying, God does speak in one way and in two, though man does not perceive it. Sometimes in a dream, maybe in a vision of the night when deep sleep falls on men while they slumber on their beds. Then He opens up the ears of men and terrifies them with warnings that He may turn man aside from his deed and conceal pride from a man. He keeps back his soul from the pit, his life from perishing by the sword. Man is also rebuked with pain on his bed and continual strife in his bones." So what is Elihu saying here? He's saying, Joe, you're saying that God doesn't speak. I'm telling you, God speaks a lot. And that's really the only thing he's saying. He's saying God talks. Sometimes

God speaks to people, you know, in the dark watches of the night. Sometimes through dreams and vision. And he said, but primarily the reason God speaks... Now remember something. This is written at a time when there is no Bible. There is no codified Word of God, okay? We think that the time of Job was probably similar to or just before the time of Abraham. So there's no Jewish nation yet, all right? For God to reveal Himself to.

Now that's not to say God hasn't revealed Himself to man because He has. We know that God's revealed Himself through nature first. And we know that God will also reveal Himself in a very specific sort of a way to individuals as they seek to know Him. But they don't have the Scriptures like you and I do. Nothing's been written down in that sense. And yet, so Elihu is saying, you're saying here that God never talks. Well, sure He talks. But He mostly talks to keep men from making foolish decisions in their life. He does it in a sense of warning them. Don't do that.

Don't go there. Giving them a dream. Giving them a vision. Saying, You're on a reckless path or whatever the thing might be. And then Elihu says, and sometimes God will even use physical infirmity to speak to a man, to rebuke him in a sense. And that's the word that is actually used in this verse, verse 19. Elihu is not suggesting, he's not coming out and saying specifically, like the other three did, that you are being rebuked because you're an evil man, like they came out and basically slandered Job with. He's simply saying that's one of the ways that God speaks. There you go. Skip to chapter 34. Verse 2, Elihu continues, and give ear to Me, you who know. For the ear tests words as the palate tastes

food. Let us choose what is right. Let us know among ourselves what is good. For Job has said, I am in the right, and God has taken away my right. In spite of my right, I am counted a liar. My wound is incurable. though I am without transgression." So Elihu is here summarizing the complaint of Job during the course of this discussion process.

And essentially he's got Job pretty well dialed in. That's essentially what Job was saying during this time. Skip down to verse 9. For he said, or has said, it profits a man nothing that he should take delight in God. In other words, he's saying Job has said there's no good that comes out of trying to live a good life. Loving God, serving God, knowing God, trying to please God.

There's nothing that comes out of that. And you know, Job did kind of say that. That's sort of what he said. I sought to be good, you know, do good things, but it didn't make any difference to God. He didn't notice or he didn't seem to care. And so he goes on in verse 10 to say, therefore hear me, you men of understanding. Far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. And again, this is the gist of Elihu's argument. He spends all of his time defending God's honor. Far be it from God, far be it from him to do these things.

Verse 12, he says, of a truth God will not do wickedly. and the Almighty will not pervert justice." So again, here's our Elihu, the defender of God, chapter 35. Skip down to verse 13. He says, "...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.

And you know, Elahew is essentially correct here. He's essentially correct in what he's saying. He's saying that Job is speaking empty words. Yeah, so he's not telling us anything that we don't know he's not even telling job necessarily anything that he doesn't know but one thing he's not doing is he's not accusing job of being an evil man and reaping what he sowed chapter 36 and Ella Hugh continued verse 1 and said bear with me a little a little and I will show you for I have yet something to say, look at this, on God's behalf. I'm here to talk on God's behalf.

Skip down to verse 22. He says, behold, God is exalted in His power. Who is a teacher like Him? Who has prescribed for Him His way? Or who can say, you have done wrong? Well, Job has been saying that, actually. But again, Elihu is the defender of God, and he says, What man can say that? How is that even possible to say to God, you've done wrong? Have you ever met anybody who told God they did wrong? Maybe you said to God at some point in your life, you accused God of doing wrong. Well, Elihu would have been equally incensed because he's the defender of God. Chapter 37. In this chapter, Elihu is going to spend Well, and this is the last chapter in which he speaks, but he basically spends the entire chapter

talking about creation. And he uses it to kind of speak of how magnified God is. How great God is. So, skip down to verse 14. He says, hear this, O Job. Stop and consider the wondrous works of God. know how God lays His command upon them and causes the lightning of the clouds to shine? Do you know the balanceings of the clouds? The wondrous works of Him who is perfect in knowledge?

Now, the statements that Elihu makes right here are going to be very similar. to some questions that God is going to ask Job. But of course, when a man asks those questions, it doesn't have the same punch as when God begins to ask them of you. And God is going to ask Job a lot of questions coming up here in the following chapters about his own works of greatness and so forth.

And we'll see the point of what is going on here. But obviously, coming from Elihu, this is just kind of a man who's saying, are you like God? So, all right. We come to chapter 38. And you'll notice that in verse 1 it begins by saying, then the Lord answered Job. And so this is now where God begins to speak. And there's a couple of brief little discussions or comments here by Job. But for the most part, except for the epilogue at the end, this is mostly the Lord speaking.

So we're not going to skip anything here. We're going to go through these verses. We're going to look at them and see what God is saying here to Job. And I don't know if Job was surprised that the Lord finally answered him for all of his talking. But it says the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind. Your Bible may say out of the storm. And said, and I love this first question, who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? Boy, you know, when God starts off a conversation with you, with something like that, you kind of know you're in for the woodshed, if you know what I mean.

You know, this is kind of like God coming into the picture and saying, all right, who's blowing hot air about things you know nothing about? Now, that is a very important statement that you understand the very first thing God says here. When He says, Words without knowledge. He's telling, he's accusing Job of speaking of things of which he has no understanding, no insight, no knowledge, no wisdom, right? He's saying, you're talking, but you don't know what you're talking about. Now this is, remember, Job is a very wise man. Incredibly wise man. And yet God makes this statement. It's one thing to make that statement. It's another thing to go on to do what God is about to do. And He's about to prove to Job that He knows nothing. Now, God

is not doing this to humiliate Job. We're going to see this. We'll make the point when we get to it what God is up to. But what He says to him in verse 3 is, dress for action like a man. And that means gird up yourself like a man, you know. When men would go into battle back in those days, they wore usually a fairly long garment that stretched down toward the ground. But when a man was going to run or a man was going to fight, he would gather up his garment and tuck it into his belt so he had free movement. And he would be girding himself for action. And so the idea here is kind of like, hey, Joe, buddy, put on the gloves. We're getting into the ring.

Right? Gird yourself for action. God basically says to him, I'm going to question you. That's what he goes on to say in verse 3. And you make it known to me. That's a poetic way of saying, and you're going to answer me, pal. He says, I'm going to ask you some questions, and you're going to answer me. You're ready? Here we go.

Verse 4. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Now, that's enough to knock you out right there. There's your... There's your knockout punch, right? Just from the very get go. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Did you, Job?

Surely you know. Or who stretched the line upon it? And it means like the measuring line. Or on what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone? When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy. So we know that the angels were there. Verse 8. Or who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb? When I made clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed limits for it, and set bars and doors, and said, thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed. God is saying, I'm the one who set the boundaries for the waters, for the oceans. Have you ever thought about the boundaries for the oceans? It's made

up of sand. I probably wouldn't have made it out of sand. But then again, good thing for you, I'm not God. But, you know, you think to yourself, God set a barrier there and it's made out of sand. And He said to the waves, thus far shall you go and no farther. And that's pretty much the way it goes. He says in verse 12, have you commanded the morning since your days began?

And caused the dawn to know its place? I'll tell you a couple of times I've wanted to command the morning. I found, however, it doesn't obey me. Verse 13, that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth and the wicked be shaken out of it. It is changed like clay under the seal and its features stand out like a garment.

From the wicked their light is withheld and their uplifted arm is broken. Have you entered into the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness? Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare it if you know all this. Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And where is the place of darkness that you may take it to its territory and that you may discern the path to its home? You know, there's a lot of things even about light that we don't... Still no. I mean, with all of our scientific discovery and stuff, light is one of those interesting things that still boggles us in some respects. Like the speed

of light, for example. We know that light travels at the speed of light. Write that one down. That will be worth something someday. And we also know that when it hits something, for which it might take some time to get through, it will hit that barrier, and it will slow down when it hits that barrier, and then once it passes through that barrier, it will speed back up to the speed of light. But we don't know why. It's just one of those things. It's craziness. He says, declare these things if you know. Where's the dwelling of light? and so forth. Verse 21, it says, you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great. Now, okay, stop here for just a moment. So what is God doing?

It kind of sounds almost a little bit like God is trying to humiliate Job. But that is not what He's trying to do. Just remember that all this time, Job has been saying over and over, I want to talk to God. I want to discuss what I've been through with the Almighty, because I lost everything I owned, and I've lost my children, and I have lost my health, and I want to discuss this with God. And no doubt, Job wanted to ask the question that many of us have wanted to ask God on many occasions, and that is the simple question, why?

Why? Why is this happening? Why are you doing this? Why did you allow this? Why is this happening to me? Why is it happening to me now? Why is it happening to them? Why did this thing have to happen in just this way? Why did these events have to happen in such rapid succession? Couldn't you have given me a break between tragedies?

Why? Why? Why? And we've all wanted to ask it, and many of us have. But you see, there's something interesting about that question. The question, why? It assumes that you and God are equally matched as it relates to understanding the answer. It's an assumption. We ask the question because we assume we're going to be able to understand the answer. People have said to me many times during times of difficulty, I just want God to show me why. I just want God to tell me why this is happening. Again, it assumes on their part, they'll understand. Why is it we make that assumption as human beings? Why? Why do we do that? Because we're arrogant? Probably. I mean, you could just say, well, it's because we're curious. No. I'm

saying, why do we make the assumption we can understand the answer? Because we're full of pride. and we just don't get it sometimes. And so God begins to take Job through a series of questions to simply bring him to the conclusion, Job, you don't know. You don't know. You're asking questions when you don't even understand the question, let alone the answer. You want the answer and you don't get the question. You're not even asking the right questions. Where were you? When the foundations of the earth were laid, you know, if you can answer these other questions I'm throwing at you, maybe we can sit down and have a discussion. But if you're gonna come up empty on all these other things, what makes you

think you're gonna be able to keep up with me on the question of why? You see? That's what's going on. Meanwhile, the Lord continues, verse 22. Have you entered the storehouses of the snow? That'd be kind of fun. Or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war? You know, we think hail is just something to dent our car. I don't know if your car has ever been dented by hail, but in Minnesota, where I'm from, it is a very common thing for car dealerships to have hail damage sails. We'd see the sign, you know. And so we just think it's a big, fat nuisance. God says, no, I reserve that for war.

We know from the book of Revelation that such large hail is going to fall from the sky during that time of tribulation, that people are going to run and hide in caves to get away from it. It's going to destroy just about everything else. Anyway, verse 24. What is the way to the place where the light is distributed or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth? Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain and a way for the thunderbolt to bring rain on a land where no man is, on the desert in which there is no man, to satisfy the waste and desolate land and to make the ground sprout with grass? Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew. From whose womb did the ice come from?

Who has given birth to the frost of heaven? The waters become hard like stone. If you've ever been hit by hail, you know that. And the face of the deep is frozen. Then he begins to ask some interesting questions. Verse 31, he says, Can you bind the chains of Pleiades or loose the cords? of Orion. These are the constellations of the heaven. We know more about the constellations of the heaven today, I suppose, with our big, huge telescopes and vehicles we've sent out into space to take some pretty amazing photographs and so forth. But they knew of the constellations and that sort of thing back in Job's day, but not that much about them. But he's basically saying, can you bind the chains of these constellations

are loose the cords of Orion. Interestingly enough, those two constellations from what I have learned are so close they are actually caught in one another's gravitational fields. So the idea of loosing the cords is an interesting sort of a concept. It says in verse 32, can you lead forth the Maseroth in their season or can you guide the bear with its children? That's not talking about an animal there, he's still talking about constellations. So he's basically, you know, saying, you know, do you have understanding of the stars? Can you control them? Can you lead them? Can you separate them? If you can't understand those things, what makes you think you can understand my ways. What makes you think that we can sit

down and have a conversation about what's going on in your life? He goes on, verse 33. Do you know the ordinances or laws of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth, or rather their control, or how they affect the earth that means? Such as, you know, the gravitational pulls of planetary objects, the moon, so forth. Can you lift up your voice to the clouds? that a flood of waters may cover you. By the way, you know who could lift his voice to the weather and clouds and make a difference. We saw Jesus do that in the Gospels, didn't we? Kind of tells you something about Jesus. Verse 35, can you send forth lightnings that they may go and say to you, here we are? Who has put wisdom in the

inward parts or given understanding to the mind. Have you ever thought about that? Who has put wisdom in the inward parts or given understanding to the mind? We don't understand this even on some of the most basic levels. We know that with animals, there's a thing called instinct. We can't even begin to explain it. Can't even begin to. We have no idea why some fish go back to where they were hatched. We have no idea. We have no idea why birds can find their way incredible distances from where they are back to their original place of their birth. We have absolutely no idea.

We have no idea but the instinct of certain animals to do certain things. Even to the point some animals can use tools. There are certain birds that know how to use tools. to open things and eat what's inside and so forth. Where does that come from? Where does that understanding come from? Well, it comes from God. God gives it.

But He's asking Job, who's done this? Who has put wisdom? Who's given understanding? Verse 37, who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can tilt the water skins of the heavens when the dust runs into a mass and the clods stick fast? In other words, can you make it rain? Can you hunt the prey for the lion? Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions when they crouch in their dens or lion wait in their thicket?

Who provides for the raven its prey when its young ones cry to God for help and wander about for lack of food? Chapter 39. Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? Can you number the months? that they fulfill? Do you know the time when they give birth, when they crouch, bring forth their offspring and are delivered of their young?

Their young ones become strong and they grow up in the open. They go out and do not return to them. Who has let the wild donkey go free? That's an interesting statement, isn't it? In other words, who made the donkey wild? Put him out in the pastures just to... open ranges to be free and wild. Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place? He scorns the tumult of the city.

He hears not the shouts of the driver. He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes? Or will he harrow the valleys after you? Certainly we've domesticated some oxen, but he's talking about a wild ox here. He says will you depend on him because his strength is great? And will you leave to him your labor? Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain? and gather it to your threshing floor." I love this next one. The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them

be warmed on the ground, forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. He's basically talking about the ostrich and how dumb the ostrich is. The ostrich will lay their eggs and then forget they're there. Really. Or trample them herself. And then if she finds another bird's egg, she'll sit down and just warm those, you know, on top of the, and it's just, ostriches are just really dumb.

And he goes on to explain why. Look at verse 16. It says, she deals cruelly with her young as if they were not hers, though her labor. be in vain, yet she has no fear, because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding. That's a very nice way of saying she's dumb. Right? Yeah. I mean, let's just call it what it is. The ostrich is brainless. Big bird, small brain. Verse 18. But when she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse. and his rider. I've given to understand that an ostrich, when it's at full bore, it can run up to nearly 40 miles an hour, which is amazing. Verse 19.

Did you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? Did you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying. He paws in the valley and exults in his strength. He goes out to meet the weapons. He laughs at fear and is not dismayed, his foes do not turn back from the sword. Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear and the javelin. With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground." And that means as he gallops along, he just swallows up the ground. You know, he moves along the ground, you know, quickly and just, you know, that's sort of a poetic statement. It says that he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. When the trumpet sounds, he says, aha! He smells the

battle from afar, the thunder of the captains and the shouting. Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? the rocky dwells and makes his home on the rocky crag and stronghold. From there he spies out the prey.

His eyes behold it from far away. His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there he is." You know, as glorious and majestic as eagles are, they're scavengers. And that's exactly what the Lord is saying here, chapter 40. And the Lord said to Job, Shall a fault finder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it." In other words, let him answer for all these things. Then Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am of small account. What shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

I have spoken once, and I will not answer twice, but I will proceed no further. So this is really all Job pretty much has to say to the Lord at this point. It's like, okay, that was dumb. I won't ever do that again. I'm done." And it's really, you know, that's his response to God in the face of all of these things. Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said, no, no, no, partner, get up dressed for action like a man. I'm going to question you some more and you're going to tell me. You're going to talk to me. You'll make it known to me if you're as smart as you say. And then he asks the real question in verse 8. Look at verse 8. Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me

that you may be in the right? Or your Bible may say that you may be justified. That's the question, isn't it? Because that's what people still do today when they criticize God for what He's doing. They're putting Him in the wrong so as to justify themselves. When people talk about God, they're casting a dim light on Him so that they might appear more righteous, even more righteous than God Himself. We have to remember that. And when we go through a difficult season, and we all do, and somebody says, I don't deserve... what I'm getting. What that implies is I deserve better.

And that tells you right away what kind of a relationship that person has with God. They have a judicial relationship. Here's my relationship with God if I have a judicial one. God, here's the deal, alright? I do good, you do good to me. When I do bad, You are justified in, you know, punishing, I suppose. But don't think that I'm not going to question whether I really deserve it. Because I will. And when people have a judicial relationship with God, and they're going through a hard time, you can always tell what they're thinking because they come and they say, what did I do to deserve this? Okay? that reveals their thinking, just puts it right out there for everybody to see. What did I do to deserve

this? In other words, that's the relationship I have with God. I do good, He does good. I do bad, well, now I better know. You better tell me, God, what I did here. And we are so wired that way, people, you and I, that we don't even realize it. Even those of us who have uncovered grace. Which is God's unmerited favor favor that comes our way not for what we've earned or merited But simply because God is good even we who have have tasted of grace and even you know relished in it we can still fall back into that same old trap of what did I do what did I do to deserve this and Yeah, it's just We're trying to justify ourselves. Verse 9. God's still talking here.

Have you an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like His? Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity. Clothe yourself with glory and splendor. Pour out the overflowing of your anger and look on everyone who is proud and abase Him or humble them. Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand hide them all in the dust together Bind their faces in the world below then will I also acknowledge to you? That you that your own right hand can save you Going to talk now about some of his creatures See if you can figure out what he's talking about behold behemoth Which I made as I made you He eats grass like an ox. That tells you something interesting. By the way,

the word for behemoth is used here and here alone in the Bible. It occurs nowhere else in the Bible. It is believed or considered to be of Egyptian derivation. And it simply means large beast. So consider the large beast, right? Now, as we go through and look at the description of this animal, You tell me what you think, because I find it somewhat funny to listen or read commentators who come up with their guesses and they vary wildly from, you know, everything from an elephant to an alligator to a hippo to a rhino. Anyway, let's read the description. You tell me what you think, it seems like. He says in verse 16, behold his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles. of his belly, he makes his tail

stiff like a cedar. Did you catch that? A cedar means like a tree. Okay? So his tail becomes stiff like a tree. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure that description gets the elephant out of the running. Right? I think the hippo too is a goner, as is the rhino. I don't think any of them have a tail like a trunk. A tree trunk, right? So, here we go. It says that the sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are tubes of bronze. His limbs like bars of iron. It's, you know, he's saying he's really strong. And this is an interesting statement.

He is the first of the works of God. I don't even know what that means, except that it's just one of the first animals, potentially, that God created. And it says, let him who made him bring near his sword. In other words, God's the only one who can approach him. For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play.

Under the lotus plants he lies, in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh. So there's some watery kind of surroundings for this animal. For his shade, the lotus trees cover him. The willows of the brook surround him. And it even goes on to say, behold, if the river is turbulent, he is not frightened. He's confident, though Jordan rushes against his mouth. So this animal is so strong that if the Jordan is at flood stage or moving rapidly, he's not moved. He's not bothered by it at all. It's a big deal. I don't care.

He can wander out into the water and he doesn't care. He can go out and get a drink whenever he wants. You got him figured out? All right. Verse 24. Can one take him by his eyes or pierce his nose with a snare? In other words, can you capture? Can you capture him? So... What do you think? Alligator? I don't think so. Actually, Christian scientists who listen to this description of behemoth are pretty much convinced that this is describing some kind of a creature that is now extinct. It just doesn't fit anything that we have today, at least not perfectly. There are a few things that here and there might attach itself to a known creature, but for the most part we're looking at something for which we

do not see today. Chapter 41. Now we're going to look at another creature, and this one is just as crazy. Can you draw Leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord? Obviously a different creature here. It says, can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? Will he make many pleas to you?

Will He speak to you soft words? Will He make a covenant with you to take Him for your servant forever? Oh, please don't hurt me. I'll come serve you on your farm. God is almost kind of like joking here a little bit with Job, in a sense, concerning this Leviathan. He says, I love this in verse 5, will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you put him on a leash for your girls? Isn't that great? Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? These are all things to say that he can't be controlled. Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

Lay your hands on him. Remember the battle. You will not do it again. Behold, the hope of a man is false. What's the hope of a man? The hope of a man is to subdue him. to domesticate him. That's what man loves to do with animals, you know. But so he says, the hope of a man is false in this situation. Can't be tamed. He goes on to say, he, man, is laid low even at the sight of him, Leviathan. Alright, verse 10. No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me? Who was first given to me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heavens is Mine. I will not keep silence concerning His limbs or His mighty strength or His goodly frame. Who can strip off

His outer garment? Who would come near Him with a bridle? Who can open the doors of His face? Around His teeth is terror. If you think you've seen one of these creatures in the Smithsonian, you might be right. Verse 15, His back is made of rows of shields shut up closely as with a seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them. They are joined one to another.

They clasp each other and cannot be separated. That's why this creature is impervious to any of the weapons of warfare that might be leveled against it known at the time. He's got this impenetrable armor that God gave him. It gets even more amazing. Verse 18. His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. Out of his mouth go flaming torches, sparks of fire leap forth. Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot burning rushes. His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth. Have you ever seen one of those? Yeah.

So, is this literal? Is this poetic hyperbole? Seems that we're talking about a creature that is no longer in existence, but what you might be thinking to yourself is, well, how could God even speak to Job about such a creature when they lived so long before man? That's a guess. that's a guess on our part and I've shared this with you before but when I lived up in Seattle I was reading through the Seattle Times one day buried in the middle of it little article out of Israel believe it or not and it and it said that the bones of dinosaurs had been discovered on the same rock strata as man Modern man. As the skeletal remains of what you and I would consider to be modern man. And then the article

ended with this. And I remember this statement very clearly. It said, with this finding, everything we ever believed about the origin of species is now up in the air. Now, that article never found the light of day. You know? I don't know why it showed up in the Seattle Times that year. maybe just for me to find. But there it was, you know. So are we absolutely 100 % positive, you know, that dinosaurs lived at a time period before man existed? Well, obviously secular scientists, they believe that they know for absolutely certain.

But you know, we've seen things in the last 40 years that have caused us to question like the eruption of Mount St. Helens and the rock layers that that single eruption laid down in minutes Which previously scientists told us would have taken millions of years? to accomplish so you know it's Forgive me if I am a little dubious of some of the conclusions that have come out of modern scientific thought, I think there's a great deal of bias there, and I think there is a very real possibility that God is describing in these verses a creature that is no longer living today, but would have been known to someone like this man, Job, who lived some 4 ,000 years ago. Call me crazy. I've been called worse. Verse

22. The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable. His heart is stone, heart is the lower millstone. I'm kind of running out of time. He goes through and just kind of describes his claws, his under parts. Verse 33 he ends. He says, on earth there is not his like, a creature without fear. sees everything that is high. He's king over all the sons of pride."

And on it goes chapter 42. Then Job answered the Lord and said, I know that you can do all things and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? That's the question you asked? Therefore, I have uttered what I do not know. Things too wonderful for me which I did not know. Do you see what Job has been brought to? He's been brought to a place of saying, you're right. I don't understand anything about you or what you do. And I don't get it. And what he's saying here is something very similar to what David said. Let me show you a passage from Psalm 139, where David wrote and said, oh Lord, you have searched me. And you know me. You know when I sit down. You know

when I rise up. You discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down. You're acquainted with all my ways. Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O Lord, you know it all together. You hem me in behind and before and lay your hand upon me." And then he goes on to say this, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain it. And this is the attitude that David had, which Job had to be brought to by all of these penetrating questions. Back to Job here. Job again recounts what the Lord said, here and I will speak, I will question you and you'll make it known to me. And he says, I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see you. Therefore

I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes. And then we're told after the Lord had spoken these words to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaz the Temanite, my anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bowls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has." Remember what they were saying to Job?

God is punishing you. They were interpreting his events. You're going through all this stuff, Job, because God's mad at you. You're a wicked, wicked, evil man. And that's why you're going through all these things. And this is what God is doing to you. And they presumed to speak for God. And God said, you did not speak correctly.

And so listen, I'll forgive you when Job prays for you. So Eliphaz the Temanite, and Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the Lord had told them, and the Lord accepted Job's prayer. And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends, and the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before and ate bread with him in his house and they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him and each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold so that's how God used to restore his fortune and the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning and he had 14

,000 sheep 6 ,000 camels a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand female donkeys He also had seven sons and three daughters. And then he lists their names in verse 14. In verse 15 it says, And in the land there was no women so beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. And after this Job lived 140 years. Wow! And saw his sons and his sons' sons four generations. And Job died an old man and full of days. So what's the lesson of Job?

We're comforted. We're comforted by the fact that God gave him back his stuff. And we're kind of like, oh, thank you God. I think maybe Job might have been right about you after all if you hadn't given him back his stuff. Listen, the restoration of his material wealth was not the blessing. It was not the richness. that Job received from this experience. I found an incredible quote that says it better than I can say it.

And here's how it goes. Misfortune does not mean God has forsaken His own. Or I'll even make that personal. It doesn't mean God has forsaken you, His children. It does mean He has plans that the sufferer may know nothing of. A believer's unmerited tragedy may never be fully understood, yet he can realize that God is in charge, that God still loves him and cares for him. That is the important lesson that Job learned. It wasn't getting all the stuff back. It was knowing that no matter what, God has a plan. God has a purpose.

And I can trust Him with my life. I can give Him my life. And there will be things He will give, and there will be things He will take away. But God is still God who loves me, will never leave me, nor forsake me. And God has a plan in one day, Christians, one day, we will stand before Him in glory. And not one single person will say, that wasn't a good plan. In fact, I believe we will say just the opposite. We will thank Him for the wonders of His love, which we couldn't even begin at the time to understand.

But I trust there will come a day when the Lord will give us a greater sense of understanding. And we will praise Him for the wisdom with which He guided our lives. You've been listening to Through the Bible with Pastor Paul from Life Bible Ministry. For the complete library of Pastor Paul's teaching and full transcripts, visit LifeBibleMinistry .com. We hope today's teaching has encouraged and inspired you. We look forward to you joining us again as we continue our journey through the Scriptures.

Job 32-42 - Elihu Speaks and God Speaks

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