The Book of Job Sean Roman

The Lord presents images of the glory of life in relation to Job’s appeal for death.  He asks Job if has mastery over the mountain goat, who thrives at heights which confound our sense of logic.   He then queries if Job knows the mountain
goat’s gestation or “calving” of the gazelles who sprint across the plains.  The point is that the animal kingdom is an immaculate wonder!   

The Lord puts aside the complexities of mankind, which highlights how even his lesser kingdoms are infinite in their majesty.  Job is led to recognize the extent of man’s knowledge as he has just one lifetime to take in lessons.  

In somewhat violent poetic imagery, the Lord describes how mothers crouch down, split open, and through
them bursts forth life.  They bring their young into a harsh world, many of which will grow and become strong.    This is
symbolic in multiple ways.   There comes a time, where it is right to leave one’s parents and chart one’s own course –
but we must keep in mind to do it in God’s way.  Animals do not have this ability.  Instead, they go forth by a virtue of a
biological imperative.  Further, those who chose to live without God are metaphorically thrown to animalistic chaos.  

Canst Thou Bind the Unicorn?, reads the King James in a controversial translation.  The term translated (re’em) is
not technically correct.  However, the Church of England scholars who approved said term, make the point quite
well.  The mythical Unicorn appears to be a docile creature, but if approached, will NOT be tamed.

God has imbued some animals with a spirit no man can break.  Such mysteries can be appreciated, if not understood.  If you corral, say a rhinoceros, man quickly
learns a harsh lesson.   Each creature has been accorded a nature and habitat. Some are made for the jungles others the steppes.   Some dwell in barren areas.   None of us have power to control the animals God has placed beyond man’s control.

One can ponder: what world would you create if given the chance?  Could you imagine starting from scratch and coming up with the balance of the world we have?  An author who pursued this concept is Robert Coover, in his novel from 1968 -- the Universal Baseball Association.

The Lord turns to the World of Birds to further make His point.  Behold, the Ostrich, who flaps her wings so joyously! 
She beats them as if she expects to take off like the peacock, an odd bird you might not expect to see fly.  Who knows why God allowed the Peacock to fly but not the Ostrich? Perhaps by reason of a sense of humor passed to all of us -- made in His image. 

Continuing with the Ostrich, the Lord remarks how mothers of this species often leave their eggs  unprotected. 
She allows the eggs to be warmed by the sun, instead of her
feathers.   She forgets about the danger of predators and accidents.   God’s nature has hardened her to the possibility. 
She has not been imbued with the wisdom we have.  Without fear, all her labor can be rendered
in vain.  But how she races free when unencumbered and scoffs at animals that allow riders!

God then turns to the horse.  The Lord asks if Job clothed his neck with thunder and made his snort a majestic strike of terror.   Think of the great clamor a horse makes as he churns up the valley, swallowing the ground with every gallop.   The Lord has made it so the horse will run into
death before an enemy.   He will meet the clash of arms,  scoffing at fear.  He ignores any trumpet or meant to distract
him.   

The Lord then turns to the air.  He asks, Does the Hawk soar by Your wisdom and spread her wings? By Your command does the Eagle set her nest on the Heights and seeks her pray, and feed her babes. What Wondrous masters of the air His creature are!

 It is a lesson to appreciate the majesties and glory of God and to be humble to recognize how little authority we have over the natural world.

And the Lord Answered Job from the Whirlwind.  While the Almighty speaks over the next four chapters, He provides a response to the themes Job has been lamenting over.   It is grand poetry that express the majesty of the ineffable.

The Lord queries, Who is this who, in words without wisdom, darkens counsel?  He could be addressing Job or all who have appeared in this Book, including: Job, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar.  The Almighty continues, Gird up Thy Lions like a man and ready yourself for My
Word, so you can inform me.

Where were you when I founded the Earth?  The Lord has existed for an infinite period, while we are fortunate if we near the century mark.   Each of us is like a grain of sand in the Cosmic order.  Since we have an infinitesimal fraction of His perspective, Job is not fit to question God nor
to claim to be as righteous as Him. 

Tell me, if you have understanding,  Who fixed the World's
measures.  The Lord is asking, who, like an Architect and Engineer, designed and constructed this World, with the
proper angles and adjustments.

 At the Dawn of Creation, who moved the Angelic Beings in the Heavens to rejoice and sing together?  This references a celebration of celestial beings.   

Who hedged the sea with doors and  releases waters as if they break forth from a womb?  Have you been able to explore the majesty of the seas and the depths? When there is a torrent of rain; who devises how it runs off?  It is folly to think there is no Master behind this.

The Lord continues and expresses: Have you brought Light to the void, ushering in the Spring of Day, to shake out the filters of wicked darkness? 

Have you an understanding of the gates of death?  What do you really know about the mysteries of this earth, those which are all around you?   And when a discovery is made, does it not open door to new unknowns?

You surely have answers to all this; for weren’t you around when I brought forth this World through the
Introduction of my Word. Since you were around, please offer advice. The number of Your days is great – just as mine are.

The Almighty continues: Have you controlled the storehouses of power – of rains, snow and hail,  which I keep in reserve for times of strife?   Do you send the Lightening Bolts on Their Way?

So tell me, how does one send the wind where it goes?  How does that East Wind scatter and whip all over the Earth?   Declare it if you Know— How
is it that you may embrace the Light; and take it with you; to avoid the darkness.  God is stressing that He created the rhythm of light and darkness. 

And who decides that in uninhabitable areas, like jungles and desserts, that it rains to feed the earth? And from whose Womb does Ice Come Forth?

Then the Lord points to Outer Space –
Can you show us each of the Constellations in their proper season. Could you have tied together the Band of Pleiades. 
Or create Orion the Hunter. Could you lead, bring forth, create, the Great Bear & Her Cubs (Arcturus)?

And Who hath put wisdom in the mind, or understanding to the Heart.

Who made it so the Lion hunts for it’s prey?  I set who is the leader of the food chain?  Who made it so the predators lie
in wait for their prey?  And who
provides a means for the Raven to get his Food?  This is likely a source of Jesus’s lesson in Matthew 6:26 of the Lord providing for all, emphasizing that man is given what he needs by God’s care.

Elihu demands Job Hearken attentively to the grandeur of Lord’s Voice, which Elihu characterizes as raging Thunder and Lightning.    Elihu signifies that the power of God is on the horizon. Scholars see a reference to the approaching Whirlwind, the form in which God will soon reveal himself. As this glorious storm approaches, Elihu’s heart trembles.

Elihu observes how God controls all beneath the Heavens with magnificent works. They are manifestly awesome yet much of His nature is beyond our comprehension.  

Elihu preaches The Lord causeth it all. For example, God establishes the seasons as well as weather and water cycles. His Voice commands rain and snow to fall.  He orchestrates the flow of rivers and ice formation. The world spins around us by reason of his wisdom.  

Natural weather cycles speak to the need to set aside time for devotion.  When frigid or stormy, man is often separated from
his toil.  This provides occasion to pursue spiritual wisdom.  During nightly reprieves, we are afforded a chance to look up and observe the constellations.   A level of deference and awe is due. We must ask ourselves, where has our focus been?

Elihu demands Job take in the wonders of God. Then Elihu the mocks Job, asking Have you spread out the sky and planets?    Elihu asks whether Job has any idea how God does His work, particularly referencing having
Light shine.  Elihu brings attention to how God warms us, with a wind from the South.  How He handles it all demonstrates the workings of a perfect knowledge.

In our lives, His lessons can be for correction or mercy. Elihu suggests that instead of Job continuing to murmur and complain, it would be better to be repentant.

Elihu then tells Job (mockingly) to teach what man should say if granted a forum before God. This is an accusation of Job being too prideful. Elihu feels that if Job actually was granted what he asks, Job wouldn’t be able to articulate anything sensible.   

Elihu stresses that many are stuck in darkness and have not seen His brightness burst through the darkness. From the Lord comes a glorious golden splendor. 

Elihu preaches that the Lord will not answer us overtly.  In other words, he does not expect God to commune, face-to-face, with His subjects. This is because God holds a terrible majesty and awesome glory.  We cannot be too close to Him as He is transcendent and Holy.

Elihu closes his speech by noting the Lord does not regard the overly intellectual. He looks at each person's effort to reach him in accord with their abilities.

As Elihu finishes, God is approaching in the form of a Whirlwind. Get Ready to Hear His Voice.

Elihu continues:  There are still words left for me to say on God’s behalf.  He announces that a perfect knowledge stands before Job ready to impart the lessons of life.  These are bold statements and amount to Elihu contending he speaks with the authority of a prophet.

Elihu proclaims how God is mighty as well as great in understanding. The Lord does not hold enmity against anyone, meaning he does not view us as an overpowering monster does
a gnat.  Instead, He is merciful towards His subjects.  When it appears God is unfair – the situation should be viewed differently as God’s justness and wisdom is always at hand.  He saves the righteous a place on his throne and establishes their legacy.  The Lord ultimately grants justice to the afflicted and does not let the wicked thrive.   

For those who find themselves bound in cords of affliction,  God will impart their follies and transgressions – if they open their ears.    Therefore, if someone suffers, the reason can
be learned. 

The Lord commands we return from inequity.  When
there is repentance; God will bring one from dire straights to the broad plane, where there are no further oppressions and one’s table will be heaped with rich fare for many days.    

With the proper relationship with God; a man will cross the Current (the mythological dividing line between this world and the next)  into a welcoming afterlife.   Those without the proper closeness will perish by the sword.   Many will cry out to God in the approach to death bound in a punishment of their own making and find themselves among profane souls.  The unfortunate meet their end without spiritual wisdom.  They spent their short time on earth struggling for the wrong things.   

The implication is that Job remains at fault for denying his guilt. Elihu turns to Job and admonishes that he shares the heart of the wicked.  God’s wrath has been kindled and Job is a proper
and obvious target. Further, no ransom can save Job; just as wealthy men cannot redeem themselves with earthly treasure. There will be no hope for an overturning of fortunes, unexpectedly in the middle of the night. 


Elihu instructs:  Take heed;  for you have chosen iniquity rather than to receive the lessons  affliction  can impart. In other words, Job has chosen continued wrongdoing; rather than learning from his plight.   

Job is told to behold how God is exalted all over the world. Elihu asks these questions: Who teaches life lessons like him?, Who teaches God?, Who challenges God?.  We all observe his work. We behold the majesties of nature even if we can only appreciate a tinge of the greatness.

We may demand answers; but God is too Glorious and his wonders overwhelming to comprehend.   One example is how he provides the water needed to sustain us – a relatively constant amount of water, whether in the form of ice, liquid (rain); or vapor rising form the ocean -- the hydraulic cycle. 

Demanding answers from God is declaring to be on same level as Him and represents an arrogance.

Elihu asks, Can one grasp the spread of the sky above? There is a roar from His pavilions which speaks to his power.  For He spreads his Thunder and Lighting from his hands.

His power is such, good men naturally exalt him.  Even those who don't acknowledge Him react like animals who know a great power is on the horizon.  

Elihu is angry Job believes himself on a plane where he thinks he can complain of God’s decisions. He accuses Job of contending he is more right or righteous than God and even asking What use is God?  Elihu stresses Job is NOT appreciating God’s majesty.  Nor is Job humble in the face of God.  Job is also accused of denying any moral order.  

Elihu then re-emphasizes that Job has sinned then rebelled for not acknowledging same and endlessly clamors.   Elihu instructs Job to look to the Heavens.  This is a Reminder to LOOK UP and behold that infinite majesty.  The fraction of the sky we perceive speaks to God’s omnipotence.   

Elihu uses this portion of his speech to take Job to task for questioning whether it even profits man to refrain from sin.

Elihu then discusses the subject of how sin affects God.  He implies there is an arrogance in Job  believing his actions impact the Lord.  Elihu notes: For even if Your crimes be many – what does it do to him?  This idea seemingly contradicts the Old Testament theme that sin profoundly wounds God. However, it can be reconciled.  We can come to appreciate the ways God is both unreachable and vey reachable.   Never lose sight, however, that the Lord is the ultimate King and none of us are “masters of the universe.”  Elihu posits that Job has lost his fear and reverence.

Elihu also takes up the corollary – that even if Job is in the right – what extra benefit does God receive?   Additionally, when we act in ways we regard as pleasing to God, we may find ourselves challenged by a test of faith.  Though difficult, just being tested can be looked at as a badge of honor in that we have been deemed worthy of such a challenge.


Elihu moves on to mentioning obvious human suffering.  Multitudes cry out to God on such occasions, including many who did not honor Him. Calling to the Lord, even in frustration, serves as an acknowledgment of his power. In our own troubles, we should ALWAYS look to him first. 
Elihu is speaking to the need to commune with God and recognize his wisdom, protection and road to salvation. 

Elihu implies that sinful people historically oppress others.  So, Your sin, even if it does not hypothetically reach God, has an impact.  In the same vein, acting wickedly can affect the transgressor without God’s interference based on some underlying law of nature, which we often try to explain through karma or cause-and-effect. 

Elihu asks Job where he gets the audacity to cry out in the manner he has.  He acknowledges Job’s plight but considers that others have had it equally bad.  In this world, if you look hard enough, we will always see worse suffering. It is a never-ending conundrum.

Elihu also points out that God is less likely to answer the proud.  He is much more likely to respond to those who have attempted to maintain the proper relationship.  Elihu expresses:  God does not answer from evil man’s haughtiness.

One way to look at Job’s conundrum is that Job was sent to suffer for reasons he could never understand.  His case is a lesson to humanity -- provided through the arrangement between the Almighty and Satan (or Ha-Satan – Accuser/Adversary).   We can never grasp the full meaning dynamic. The answers are multi-faced and multi-dimensional.  However, through the proper approach to analyzing Job’s plight we can get a tinge of the answers to man's most profound questions.  

Elihu directs himself to the sages of the world by announcing “Hearken to Me! O ye wise men!”

He then - mirroring Job’s prior appeals - desires to take Job to a forum where disputes will inevitably be decided in the favor of the one who called for it and thinks himself most right.  Elihu also announces the intention to engage in open discussion with Job, saying: Let us debate and agree among ourselves, who is good and right.

Elihu then summarizes Job’s argument in a mocking sense, noting how Job claims to be faultless.  Elihu proclaims sarcastically that God has diverted, wounded and lied about Job. Eilhu then asserts that Job erroneously argued that it profits a man little to delight in God. However, Job’s arguments can be better-characterized as complaining of the disproportionality of his punishment.  Job hasn’t declared himself perfect and has left room for occasions where he may have fallen short.  Even though the text says Job was upright and made the correct sacrifices, Job is not meant to symbolize divinity.  While he may be an ideal man, he is still a man nonetheless, with our limitations. 

Elihu continues, in poetic language, that Job drinketh up the waters that scorn  and consorts with the wicked.  Elihu argues that Job went from embracing God’s majesty to rejecting his sovereignty.

Elihu then moves on to exhorting God’s magnificence, somewhat resembling Job’s friends. He proclaims it is impossible for God to reign wickedly and that God will render to man based on his works.  For
a man’s acts he pays him back &  and by a person’s path – He provides.  After all, nobody gave the universe to God to govern. Rather the Almighty came up with the whole thing out of the primordial chaos.

Our world is His domain and His order reigns, even if we do not understand it.   Elihu takes it as a given that God rules with
a sense of justice.

 Relating to God’s power, if hypothetically, God set his eyes on man to destroy us -- he could do it in an instant.  To dust we would we return. 

As to the wicked, there is no darkness or shadow in which they can hide with respect to facing consequences - for His eyes are on the ways of Man.   The Lord knows our deeds and divine justice will become apparent to those who turn away from him. His justice is unquestioned by virtue of His status.

While the wicked may seem to prosper, they don’t escape consequences. The Lord also hears the pleas of the poor man as well as the call of the lonely.   He has no limits and can smash any barrier.  Ultimately, God’s grandeur is ineffable and many of His ways we simply can’t understand.

Elihu is scolding Job for blaming God for his problems rather than looking to within.  He notes that Job insults the Most High and has the audacity to call the Heavenly King a scoundrel.  Instead, what is due is awe and reverence.

Elihu then advices Job on what he should have done; namely to have approached God with a sense of reverence. He asks Job if he has ever asked, in prayer, what he did wrong – with an open heart trying to understand. He should have made such an exploration in repentance and demonstrated a willingness to bear his punishment.

This chapter teaches: You have to accept the Lord's discipline and come out saying “I have borne my punishment and will offend no more.”

Then Elihu ponders if Job thinks he can provide more Justice than God.  He is asking, in essence, if man could even fathom doing a fraction of the orchestrating that God does.  Men need to admit that we can’t see the whole picture; so for better vision we must ask for His help.

Elihu summarizes Jobs plight.  He finds that Job committed some undetermined sins, then compounded his mistakes. He finds Job’s defense as a clamor of empty rhetoric.  Elihu concludes that Job likely deserves even more punishment.