Job 32:1-33:22

Today we meet Elihu, a young, until-now silent bystander.  He was not mentioned with Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar when they first arrived, so we can't exactly be sure when he came on the scene.  But he has definitely been privy to the conversation, and it's made him angry.  He held his silence through three rounds of speeches until Job's friends had been silenced, and now he will respond with his opinion. 

I can remember reading through Job as part of my first Bible-in-one-year reading plan.  I remember rolling my eyes and Job's friends, but when Elihu came on the scene I began cheering that he stood up to God.  I thought Elihu was a hero in the book.  However, when I went to Bible college and took Old Testament, I was aghast to find out that my professor, who certainly knew more than I did, stated that Elihu was just as wrong as the other three friends, and that his arguments were the worst because they were sounded deceptively true.  I can't remember all his arguments (maybe I should dig out my OT notes?), but I remember thinking that his points made sense.  Had I been wrong about Elihu?

The next two days we'll be reading Elihu's speeches.  I intend to look deeper into this because even now I read his arguments and think, "Yeah, that sounds about right."  Am I still gullible to Elihu's wily ways?  What if Elihu actually has something worthy to say?  It's time I found out for myself.  I'll let you know what I think when I get the reading done tomorrow.  Until then, I think I'll hold comment.

Tomorrow's Reading: Job 33:23-37:24