Elihu and Job

One of the interesting follow-ups in the discussion on Penal Substitution is the definition of justice. This theme is woven throughout Job, which I have been reading for two and a half months or so. There's a lot of repetition in the arguments and speeches.

For example, Job's argument may be essentially encapsulated as: "I didn't do anything wrong. God is finding occasions against me. He has taken away my justice." (The last sentence is more or less a direct quote.)

The three friends say, "Bad people get theirs in the end. Bad things happen to bad people. Bad things have happened to Job. Therefore Job is a bad person." This syllogistic reasoning is wrong and fails to persuade Job.

We go through roughly 32 chapters of these sorts of arguments, with some variation (mostly on the side of the friends, who occasionally concede Job's points and set their own in a different context). Job concludes his defense by calling down a lengthy set of curses upon himself if he's not speaking the truth.


At this point, Elihu steps in. He sort of appears out of no where, like Job's initial answer (Job 3.1 says that Job answered, but there isn't anything for him to answer actually recorded) and the whirlwhind that evidently accompanies Elihu's final words. I've not finished all of Elihu's discussion, but he goes to some length to establish his relationship and Job's vis-a-vis God.

Job has styled himself throughout the book as a claimant against God. Elihu accepts that position, and will serve as the mediator between the two.

I can't help but see a type of Christ here. That's one of the reasons I found the following so poignant (Job 33):

6 Behold, I am according to thy wish in God's stead: I also am formed out of the clay. 7 Behold, my terror shall not make thee afraid, neither shall my hand be heavy upon thee.

There's a succinct comfort in this, and that is that when Christ stands between ourselves and God to mediate his wrath, he does so as a human. He is not remote, nor unconcerned with our weaknesses. He knows them intimately. He does not come to terrify, but to comfort. He is, in this respect, a peer and a confidant. He is our Advocate (1Jn 2.2).


This is a bit separate from the issues of justice, but we'll get there soon enough. Elihu will spend a bit of time dismantling Job's righteousness, and his argument differs fundamentally from that of the three friends.

This is going to provide, I think, a good and different perspective on the issues of righteousness and justice that are such a key part of penal substitution.