Job 36:5-12, “Behold, God is mighty, but despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the oppressed. He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; but they are on the throne with kings, for He has seated them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters, held in the cords of affliction, then He tells them their work and their transgressions – that they have acted defiantly. He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn from iniquity. If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.”
There is who God
is, then there’s what men would like Him to be. There are undeniable attributes
that God possesses, clearly defined in His word; then there are attributes that
those who refuse to submit to His sovereignty project on Him as a way to excuse
their rebellion and disobedience.
It is obvious
Elihu wasn’t speaking about God from a position of having known Him personally
and intimately, but rather from a position of assigning attributes to God that
he would have liked Him to possess. He wasn’t saying anything new. One of Job’s
three friends had already brought up the notion of karmic justice, wherein if
you do good, only good will be visited upon you, and if you do wicked, evil.
I get the feeling
Elihu would have made a spectacular modern-day prosperity preacher since he
reduces everything to a give-and-take, tit-for-tat approach of God, not
allowing for the possibility of refinement, correction, chastening, or testing.
If you have no
worries, then you’re living right. If you’re obeying and serving God, then you’ll
spend your days in prosperity and your years in pleasure. If you have trials
and tribulations, you’re obviously doing evil, because everyone knows that
status, wealth, and opulence are the surefire ways to know if God looks
favorably on someone.
For a man who boasted
that wisdom flowed from his lips and insisted that he was perfect in knowledge,
Elihu said some ignorant things, showcasing his lack of understanding both of God
and Job’s situation.
Because they
refuse to consider context or weigh what a fragment of a verse says to the
overall message of the gospel, some disreputable individuals could take Elihu’s
words and make an entire doctrine out of it, not because it was true and in
harmony with Scripture, but because his words confirmed their bias and spoke to
the desire of their heart.
Look, it’s right
there in black and white: you are on the throne with kings, exalted, seated
forever, destined to spend your days in prosperity and your years in pleasure. Never
mind that these words came from the lips of a man who had no true knowledge or understanding
of God, and who proceeded to speak on God’s behalf words God never told him to
speak.
Never mind that Jesus
Himself said we would be hated for His name’s sake, and that in this world we
would have tribulation. Elihu said we’re going to prosper and spend our years in
pleasure!
Who said it
matters. The context in which they said what they said matters as well. Some
things are said with a negative connotation, but because we’re so focused on getting
scripture to say what we want it to say rather than submit to what it says, we’ll
flip it on its ear and pretend as though God Himself spoke the words that men took
upon themselves to speak.
One of the most
surreal moments that occurred not long ago was when none other than good ole’
Jesse had his wife on his program, and in an attempt to justify his excess, he
went to the 49th Psalm. The context of the latter part of the psalm
has nothing to do with God prospering His own, but rather instruction not to be
dismayed when the wicked prosper. Jesse, being Jesse, just took the first few
words of the sixteenth verse and ran with it like his hair was on fire until
his own wife called him out and pointed to the context, insisting that the
verse didn’t say what he thought it said.
Psalm 49:16-20, “Do
not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses
increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will
not descend with them. Though while they live they count themselves blessed –
and people praise you when you prosper – they will join those who have gone
before them, who will never again see the light of life. People who have wealth
but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.”
When read in
context, the meaning of the text is very different than not being overawed when
others grow rich, and when the splendor of their houses increases, as though
warning against jealousy and envy, which is what Jesse was attempting to
convey. What the Psalm conveys is that all the wealth in the world is
meaningless if one lacks understanding, because eventually the grave will
beckon, as it has to all those who have gone before them, and if they didn’t
know God, it would be for naught.
Elihu’s words
might be appealing to the flesh, so much so that men would dismiss everything else
the Bible says and cling to them as to a piece of driftwood on a roiling sea,
but all they’re doing is clinging to the words of a self-important man who
neither knew God nor His presence in his life. I’ve heard enough preachers
insist on some variation thereof often enough over the years, but when
considering what Jesus said to those who would follow Him, what they should
expect while they walk the earth, and how the world would treat them, I have no
expectation of being exalted or being seated on the throne with kings.
Sure, suffering
persecution is far less appealing than sitting on a throne with kings, as is
being hated for His name’s sake when the alternative is to be exalted, but
between Elihu and Jesus, I believe Jesus, even if my flesh would rather I
believed Elihu.
Who said the
thing you’re clinging to with greater fervor than you would the Word of God?
Touchy subject, I know, but one that must be confronted head-on, because many
are coming in His name, speaking demonstrable falsehoods, and the household of
faith is lapping it up and asking for seconds without once considering that
Jesus said the opposite.
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea, Jr.
Posted on 6 July 2026 | 11:27 am
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