Job CCCXVII

 Job 36:5-12, “Behold, God is mighty, but despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding. He does not preserve the life of the wicked, but gives justice to the oppressed. He does not withdraw His eyes from the righteous; but they are on the throne with kings, for He has seated them forever, and they are exalted. And if they are bound in fetters, held in the cords of affliction, then He tells them their work and their transgressions – that they have acted defiantly. He also opens their ear to instruction, and commands that they turn from iniquity. If they obey and serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures. But if they do not obey, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.”

There is who God is, then there’s what men would like Him to be. There are undeniable attributes that God possesses, clearly defined in His word; then there are attributes that those who refuse to submit to His sovereignty project on Him as a way to excuse their rebellion and disobedience.

It is obvious Elihu wasn’t speaking about God from a position of having known Him personally and intimately, but rather from a position of assigning attributes to God that he would have liked Him to possess. He wasn’t saying anything new. One of Job’s three friends had already brought up the notion of karmic justice, wherein if you do good, only good will be visited upon you, and if you do wicked, evil.

I get the feeling Elihu would have made a spectacular modern-day prosperity preacher since he reduces everything to a give-and-take, tit-for-tat approach of God, not allowing for the possibility of refinement, correction, chastening, or testing.

If you have no worries, then you’re living right. If you’re obeying and serving God, then you’ll spend your days in prosperity and your years in pleasure. If you have trials and tribulations, you’re obviously doing evil, because everyone knows that status, wealth, and opulence are the surefire ways to know if God looks favorably on someone.

For a man who boasted that wisdom flowed from his lips and insisted that he was perfect in knowledge, Elihu said some ignorant things, showcasing his lack of understanding both of God and Job’s situation.

Because they refuse to consider context or weigh what a fragment of a verse says to the overall message of the gospel, some disreputable individuals could take Elihu’s words and make an entire doctrine out of it, not because it was true and in harmony with Scripture, but because his words confirmed their bias and spoke to the desire of their heart.

Look, it’s right there in black and white: you are on the throne with kings, exalted, seated forever, destined to spend your days in prosperity and your years in pleasure. Never mind that these words came from the lips of a man who had no true knowledge or understanding of God, and who proceeded to speak on God’s behalf words God never told him to speak.

Never mind that Jesus Himself said we would be hated for His name’s sake, and that in this world we would have tribulation. Elihu said we’re going to prosper and spend our years in pleasure!

Who said it matters. The context in which they said what they said matters as well. Some things are said with a negative connotation, but because we’re so focused on getting scripture to say what we want it to say rather than submit to what it says, we’ll flip it on its ear and pretend as though God Himself spoke the words that men took upon themselves to speak.

One of the most surreal moments that occurred not long ago was when none other than good ole’ Jesse had his wife on his program, and in an attempt to justify his excess, he went to the 49^th Psalm. The context of the latter part of the psalm has nothing to do with God prospering His own, but rather instruction not to be dismayed when the wicked prosper. Jesse, being Jesse, just took the first few words of the sixteenth verse and ran with it like his hair was on fire until his own wife called him out and pointed to the context, insisting that the verse didn’t say what he thought it said.

Psalm 49:16-20, “Do not be overawed when others grow rich, when the splendor of their houses increases; for they will take nothing with them when they die, their splendor will not descend with them. Though while they live they count themselves blessed – and people praise you when you prosper – they will join those who have gone before them, who will never again see the light of life. People who have wealth but lack understanding are like the beasts that perish.”

When read in context, the meaning of the text is very different than not being overawed when others grow rich, and when the splendor of their houses increases, as though warning against jealousy and envy, which is what Jesse was attempting to convey. What the Psalm conveys is that all the wealth in the world is meaningless if one lacks understanding, because eventually the grave will beckon, as it has to all those who have gone before them, and if they didn’t know God, it would be for naught.

Elihu’s words might be appealing to the flesh, so much so that men would dismiss everything else the Bible says and cling to them as to a piece of driftwood on a roiling sea, but all they’re doing is clinging to the words of a self-important man who neither knew God nor His presence in his life. I’ve heard enough preachers insist on some variation thereof often enough over the years, but when considering what Jesus said to those who would follow Him, what they should expect while they walk the earth, and how the world would treat them, I have no expectation of being exalted or being seated on the throne with kings.

Sure, suffering persecution is far less appealing than sitting on a throne with kings, as is being hated for His name’s sake when the alternative is to be exalted, but between Elihu and Jesus, I believe Jesus, even if my flesh would rather I believed Elihu.

Who said the thing you’re clinging to with greater fervor than you would the Word of God? Touchy subject, I know, but one that must be confronted head-on, because many are coming in His name, speaking demonstrable falsehoods, and the household of faith is lapping it up and asking for seconds without once considering that Jesus said the opposite.         

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Posted on 6 July 2026 | 11:27 am