Job 37:18 (ESV)
Can you, like him, spread out the skies,
hard as a cast metal mirror?
One of the complaints Job has had throughout this ordeal is that he wants to talk to God and defend himself against God. This forth friend, Elihu, has now arrived and is showing Job that even if he could talk with God and defend himself, does he really think he is a match for God. (One piece of irony is that Elihu is trying to tell Job that he not only can’t match God in argument but that God is not going to come and defend himself. Yet, the very next chapter God shows up to talk with Job. In one sense, Elihu, by his argument, prepares Job for what he wants: An audience with God. But, he also prepares Job to get him to understand he won’t be able to defend himself and match God’s wisdom and power. Which is probably why, Job didn’t respond to God but to say, “I am lowly and can’t respond.)
In the above verse Job is ask if he could, like God did, set the heavens, made of air, firm like a “cast iron mirror?” The point Elihu is trying to make is that in the heavens, Job, you have the sun, the moon, the stars, the clouds, all hanging in space. They do not fall. They are as firm as “cast iron,” yet simply hanging in space. Elihu continues his approach to alert Job to the ludicrous mindset he has that he wants to confront God face-to-face. Job has not thought this through, based upon Elihu’s argument.
In verse 15, Elihu starts an argument with:
Job 37:15 (ESV)
Do you know how God lays his command upon them
and causes the lightning of his cloud to shine?
In verse 16, he does the same thing:
Job 37:16 (ESV)
Do you know the balancings of the clouds,
the wondrous works of him who is perfect in knowledge,
That leads to verse 18, which in essence says, “Can you do all that, Job?” Elihu, unlike Job’s other three friends, is not trying to demean Job or tell his pain and loss are a result of his unrighteous life. Elihu is trying to get Job’s eyes to quit looking at the boils on his body and the loss of his past and rather look up to the majesty of God. The other three friends tried to get Job to look at his heart. Elihu is trying to get Job to look up at the greatness of God. In the last five chapters of the book, God will enter the seen and talk with Job and do the same thing Elihu is doing. God will say, “Look at me and my power.” One of the greatest approaches we can take when working with those who are in suffering and pain is to point them to the power of God and His mighty works. Beholding and believing in His majesty should turn us away from staring into and at our misery.
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