Elihu, a young man, seeing that the other 3 friends have decided to keep quiet and given up because Job is convinced he is “righteous in his own eyes”, could take it no longer and decided to speak (and speak and speak). He does all this not really to give Job advice, but more for his own benefit – “he is like bottled-up wine and ready to burst, and must speak and find relief”.
Elihu continues to tell Job that he is wrong to speak against God, that he is resisting God when he is defending himself. In a way, he feels that Job’s problem (and the reason why he is suffering now) is that he is complaining too much, and that he should just confess and move on.
He also twists Job’s words in several instances – claiming that Job hangs out with wicked people when he pointed out that wicked people do prosper, and that he said “it profits a man nothing when he tries to please God” although Job has said no such thing.And in the rest of the chapter, he gave the same advice as all the other 3 friends – that Job should just confess and move on.
Lesson to be learnt = make sure our motivations are correct when we are counseling someone – that it is not for selfish reasons (e.g. trying to vent what is stored inside you) – but instead to help the person come closer to God.
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