Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 166:664 (Oct 2009)
Article: Elihu’s Categories of Suffering from Job 32-37
Author: Larry J. Waters

BibSac 166:664 (Oct 2009) p. 405

Elihu’s Categories of Suffering from Job 32-37

Larry J. Waters

Larry J. Waters is Associate Professor of Bible Exposition, Dallas Theological Seminary, Dallas, Texas.

Many people turn from Christianity because they sense it has no answers to the problem of suffering. Even in evangelical circles the disillusion and defection are staggering.1 The challenge is to give answers that make sense to the inquiring mind and troubled heart of the sufferer or observer. This article examines explanations for suffering found in the Elihu speeches in Job 32-37.2 This is not to imply that Elihu was offering ultimate and final answers to suffering. Instead he was suggesting alternatives to the one reason for suffering offered by the three antagonists, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar, namely, sin.3 Elihu made a unique contribution to the study of suffering that serves as preparation for understanding the Yahweh speeches in Job 38-41.4

BibSac 166:664 (Oct 2009) p. 406

The core of Elihu’s polemic may be seen in two passages, 33:12-13 and 34:10, and summarized in 37:23, “The Almighty—we cannot find Him; He is exalted in power and He will not do violence to justice and abundant righteousness.” Job and his three counselors had unwittingly accepted the common view of “compensation” theology, in which God is obligated always to bless the good and punish the bad. But Elihu challenged this false belief system, pointing out that God justly administers retribution, and that His righteousness was maintained even when Job was suffering.

Elihu showed compassion for Job by insisting that God was actively involved in his life and that God’s control of creation is purposeful. Unlike the three friends, Elihu avoided completely the futile search for some mysterious sin that Job supposedly had committed as the cause of his suffering. While Job’s initial suffering was undeserved, Elihu pointed out that Job’s continued struggle was because of wrong attitudes toward God. Within these perimeters Elihu offered explanations for suffering that were applicable to Job’s situation and by inference to believers throughout history. In the process Elihu showed Job that God and His justice were working for Job, not against him. For Elihu suffering is not an adversar...