Whence wisdom?

This is my final post from my second week on the Valley Church Bible blog. I'll be pinch-hitting on the blog next Sunday-Wednesday, and I'll be back at it again the week of June 30. Enjoy, and make sure to check out the blog between now and then too!

Job 31-32

Elihu, alone of Job's four friends, is not condemned by God for his bad advice. We will have to read on to see the full measure of what he has to say, but he certainly gets off to a good start in Chapter 32. He decries the prevailing notion--to which he himself had subscribed--that age and wisdom go hand in hand. This is not to say that they cannot do so, but there is no automatic, direct correlation thus. Rather, "It is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding" (Job 32:8).

Elihu is upset with Job for what he sees as Job's self-justifying, and not God-justifying, ways. But he is also angry that Job's friends have not been able to show him the error of his ways. Elihu's premise is flawed--Job has not sinned against God and does not need to be rebuked--but he nevertheless raises some worthwhile points throughout his soliloquy. That you do not necessarily have to be aged in order to be wise, merely in relationship with God ... this is an encouraging thought!

"The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Psalm 111:10).