Read Job 31—32:1
So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was
righteous in his own eyes.
Job 32:1
Job was silent. He had ended his defense and given oath that he was
not guilty of the sins he had been accused of by his friends. Job had
challenged God either to vindicate him or pass sentence on him.
Job’s three friends were silent, appalled that Job had dared to
speak so boldly to God and about God.
God was silent. The silence was God’s eloquent witness to the
three friends that they were wrong.
However, in the crowd around the ash heap, one person was not
silent. It was Elihu, a man so unknown that his full pedigree had to be
given so people could identify him (Job 32:2). While Elihu said some
of the same things as the other speakers, his purpose was different. He
was not trying to prove that Job was a sinner but that Job’s view of
God was wrong. Elihu introduced a new truth into the debate: that
God sends suffering, not necessarily to punish us for our sins, but to
keep us from sinning (33:15–18, 19–24) and to make us better persons (36:1–15). Paul would have agreed with the first point (2 Cor.
12:7–10) and the writer of Hebrews with the second (Heb. 12:1–11).
Something to Ponder
Have you sensed God’s “silence” in the midst of your own trials? How
did you interpret that silence?