Prove Wrong?

Job 32:12 I gave you my full attention. But not one of you has proved Job wrong; none of you has answered his arguments.

I remember when I was growing up seeing fights and hearing the words “fight fair” being bandied about before the blows got started. And then in Junior High when I was ambushed on my first day in a new school, I thought to myself, “Next time I’m protecting myself no matter what happens.” And there was a next time, and I protected myself.

I’m not proud of myself for that moment. But I felt threatened and he had attacked me. I fought dirty! He had me and I went for his eye! No permanent damage, but he didn’t go after me again. In fact, I didn’t have any more fights at that school.

Now that was when I was a child. Certainly dirty fights don’t happen in the adult world, do they? Certainly people enter discussions with pure motives, to get the truth no matter which way it points, right? There would never be anything done with dirty political motives. Certainly not in our country!

Well, Job is still in his suffering. His three friends have finally shut up, having used up their arsenal of accusations and innuendo. And they have failed at making any dent in Job’s defenses. They threw everything they had at the proverbial wall, and nothing stuck. So they go silent.

Job has made his final reply to them in his own defense. He has outlined his previous actions to show that their accusations were false. He really was a godly, generous person. He lived a righteous life.

But there was another person who had come at some point, a younger man. He allowed his elders to speak, expecting their extra years of life to have brought them extra wisdom. He has listened intently, hoping they would do the job of defeating Job, proving him wrong.

I hope I never get in another argument where the person across from me has such impure motives. The friends had arrived to comfort and support. Somewhere along the line they had switched to trying to prove him wrong. We don’t really know when that switch took place. But somewhere it did.

So this younger man, Elihu, speaks up and he reveals their motive for their speaking with Job. They just wanted to prove him wrong. Ouch!

This would be like inviting a friend to go sailing with you on your new boat and their purpose for coming along is not to enjoy the hospitality and friendship, but instead to scuttle the boat. Here you think they are grateful for the invitation and they really just want to ruin your life.

Now maybe this really was only this younger man’s motive. Maybe Job’s three friends had better, purer motives than Elihu. But even having one person in the crowd that wants our destruction can be dangerous.

He has kept it “bottled-up” (v19) too long, so he lets it rip.

I hope I am never in this situation, either as the giver or the receiver of this kind of exchange. There can be no winners. And there were no winners in Job’s day.