For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Job 36:1-12

1 Elihu continued:

2 ‘Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
    that there is more to be said on God’s behalf.
3 I get my knowledge from afar;
    I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Be assured that my words are not false;
    one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

5 ‘God is mighty, but despises no one;
    he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive
    but gives the afflicted their rights.
7 He does not take his eyes off the righteous;
    he enthrones them with kings
    and exalts them for ever.
8 But if people are bound in chains,
    held fast by cords of affliction,
9 he tells them what they have done –
    that they have sinned arrogantly.
10 He makes them listen to correction
    and commands them to repent of their evil.
11 If they obey and serve him,
    they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
    and their years in contentment.
12 But if they do not listen,
    they will perish by the sword
    and die without knowledge.

A. Find Out

1. List the things Elihu says about what he has to say. v.1-4
2. How does he describe the Lord? v.5
3. What does He do with the wicked and the righteous? v.6,7
4. What does He do with the afflicted? v.8-10
5. What two responses bring what outcomes? v.11,12

B. Think:

1. How does Elihu distinguish between the wicked and the afflicted?
2. How, according to Elihu, does God show fairness?

C. Comment:

In the previous chapter Elihu had picked up on Job saying that God doesn’t take note of the wicked (35:15) because the wicked do appear to ‘get away with it’. Elihu isn’t going to let that get by without comment. He has more to say on God’s behalf (v.2). Is he being real or is he being ironical when he goes on to claim that what he has to say comes from afar, from God (v.3) and that God is there with them (v.4b) so he is making sure his words are true (v.4a).

God may be great, he continues, but that doesn’t mean to say He despises and ignores (implied) us (v.5). He does intervene in the affairs of mankind, and He does bring the wicked to an end (v.6a). Then he mentions another group who he distinguishes from the wicked (v.6b) – the afflicted. The wicked, as he speaks of them, are those who appear to be set in their wickedness and who have hardened their hearts and so refuse to change and so God doesn’t deal with them but just takes them.

The ‘afflicted’, though, He deals with to bring them to repentance. That is why they are afflicted, he seems to be saying. The obviously righteous He just blesses (v.7) but there are those who, maybe, He can bring to repentance who He deals with by affliction (v.8), convicting them of what they have done (v.9) by way of a means to bring repentance (v.10). Those who do repent He blesses (v.11) but those who refuse will perish (v.12). In all of this Elihu is making the point that God doesn’t stand back disinterested but works to restore people through repentance.

D. Application:

1. If we stray, the Lord seeks to bring us back.
2. There is no guarantee of our return. It is up to us.

Passage: Job 36:13-19

13 ‘The godless in heart harbour resentment;
    even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth,
    among male prostitutes of the shrines.
15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;
    he speaks to them in their affliction. 16 ‘He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
    to a spacious place free from restriction,
    to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
17 But now you are laden with the judgment due to the wicked;
    judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
18 Be careful that no one entices you by riches;
    do not let a large bribe turn you aside.
19 Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts
    sustain you so you would not be in distress?

A. Find Out

1. How do the godless respond to correction? v.13,14
2. How do those who suffer differ? v.15
3. What is God doing? v.16
4. What appears to have happened to Job? v.17
5. How might he be tempted to try to get out of it? v.18
6. How might he think he could change things? v.19

B. Think:

1. How does Elihu distinguish between the godless & sufferers?
2. What category does he imply Job is in?
3. How does he counsel against trying to escape from this?

C. Comment:

Previously Elihu distinguished between the righteous, the wicked, and those afflicted (v.5-7). Now again he distinguishes between the ‘godless’ who are set in their ways (v.13) and so end up bringing destruction on themselves (v.14), and ‘those who suffer’ (v.15) who God seeks to deliver from their suffering. The implication is that suffering is a form of discipline and that through it God is seeking to lead the sufferer from the edge of destruction into a wide-open place of life and freedom and blessing (v.16).

You’ve just got to recognize, he continues, that for the moment it looks like you have been dumped with the judgment that the wicked suffer (v.17) as justice operates and so (implied) you have the choice of being ‘godless’ or ‘a sufferer’, for if it is the latter, there is hope for you.

Yet, he warns, the temptation is always there for you to try to take a short cut and instead of repenting (implied) you pay out money to get yourself out of this (v.18) in your desire to get back to your former place of riches and comfort. You can’t buy your way out of what is happening, because whatever you do and however much you spend you can’t change the cause of suffering and you can’t alleviate the pain that you are experiencing (v.19). Accept that you are helpless to escape this other than through repentance. Your riches count for nothing here!

D. Application:

1. When God disciplines, there is only one path through!
2. Don’t think you can escape by self-effort.

Passage: Job 36:20-33

20 Do not long for the night,
    to drag people away from their homes.
21 Beware of turning to evil,
    which you seem to prefer to affliction.

22 ‘God is exalted in his power.
    Who is a teacher like him?
23 Who has prescribed his ways for him,
    or said to him, “You have done wrong”?
24 Remember to extol his work,
    which people have praised in song.
25 All humanity has seen it;
    mortals gaze on it from afar.
26 How great is God – beyond our understanding!
    The number of his years is past finding out.

27 ‘He draws up the drops of water,
    which distil as rain to the streams;
28 the clouds pour down their moisture
    and abundant showers fall on mankind.
29 Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds,
    how he thunders from his pavilion?
30 See how he scatters his lightning about him,
    bathing the depths of the sea.
31 This is the way he governs the nations
    and provides food in abundance.
32 He fills his hands with lightning
    and commands it to strike its mark.
33 His thunder announces the coming storm;
    even the cattle make known its approach.

A. Find Out

1. What perverse ways must Job reject in his suffering? v.20,21
2. How does Elihu see God and what does he call Job to do? v.22-24
3. What further does he say about God? v.25,26
4. What does he attribute to the working of God? v.27-30
5. Why does He do that? v.31
6. What more does He do? v.32,32

B. Think:

1. How may verses 18-21 be bad reactions to suffering?
2. How would you summarize Elihu’s descriptions of the Lord?
3. What should our response be?

C. Comment:

A note in your Bible says that the meaning for the Hebrew in verses 18-20 is uncertain and so we will seek to interpret it as it stands in the NIV. Yesterday we suggested that verses 18 and 19 were a warning to Job not to try to buy himself out of God’s disciplinary suffering by money or self-effort. It won’t work. Now he seems to warn him against letting the bitterness (implied) he feels distort his thinking and turn him to violent oppression (v.20) and evil (v.21). His talk about God not caring has led Elihu to conclude that Job seems to be veering towards evil (v.21).

Look, he goes on, God is a mighty teacher and there is none like Him (v.22) and so no one can accuse Him of doing wrong (v.23). You should praise Him for His wonderful works (v.24) that you see, like the rest of mankind who look on (v.25). His greatness is beyond our understanding (v.26).

Then he starts to consider the ways He sees God providing for us through what otherwise we call ‘nature’. It is God who provides rain for us (v.27,28) which is beyond our understanding (v.29), even more so as we see the lightning He provides (v.30). This is how He provides food for us (v.31) and reveals His power through the storm (v.32,33). We may not understand Him, but we can praise Him for His power.

D. Application:

1. Never let pain create bad attitudes in you.
2. We don’t have to understand the Lord to praise and worship Him!