Hebrew-English Text
I. Summary
Elihu continues his hymn from the previous chapter. He praises God’s control of nature, and tells Job that God is too great to be understood.
II. Photo
Elihu praises God’s control of nature in v. 6: “He commands the snow, ‘Fall to the ground!’”
III. Important Verses
v. 5: God thunders marvelously with His voice; He works wonders that we cannot understand.
v. 14: Give ear to this, Job; Stop to consider the marvels of God.
vv. 23-24: Shaddai — we cannot attain to Him; He is great in power and justice And abundant in righteousness; He does not torment. Therefore, men are in awe of Him Whom none of the wise can perceive.
IV. Outline
1-13. Hymn (continued from previous chapter)
14-24. Lesson: Job does not understand
V. Comment
Today’s comment will be brief. I hope to revisit this chapter after completing the cycle.
Hakham gives an excellent summary of Elihu’s speeches. He writes (pp. 287-288, translation my own): “What did Elihu come to teach us? Did he add anything that the friends did not say? Is there a good answer in his words to Job’s questions? The commentators to the book of Job deal with these questions, and their opinions are split from one extreme to the other… In this commentary we said that Elihu takes a balanced approach between the two opposite positions of Job and the friends. He disagrees with both Job and the friends, and he also partially agrees to both. Unlike the friends, Elihu doesn’t think that Job’s suffering is an indication of sin… But, he disagrees with Job about the claim that God treated Job immorally. Elihu claims that even if Job isn’t wicked, it isn’t immoral for God to punish him.”
VI. Works Used
(see “Commentaries” page)
Clines, Job 21-37 (Word Biblical Commentary)
Hakham, Sefer Iyov (Daat Mikra [Hebrew])