Job 37 Summary - 5 Minute Bible Study

Job 37 Short Summary:

Elihu wraps up his discourse in Job chapter 37. It appears a thunderstorm was rolling in, and Elihu used it to teach Job. Elihu felt like Job needed another dose of recognition of God’s greatness, so he continued describing God’s mystery and power using the elements of the storm. He rejected the idea that Job was in a position to question God. Job couldn’t even understand the natural processes of the storm, how could he understand the God who created the storm?

Job 37 Bible Study

SHORT OUTLINE OF THE BOOK OF JOB

• Job 1-2 – Job is Persecuted by Satan

• Job 3-37 – Job and His Friends Discuss the Reason He is Experiencing Persecution

• Job 38-41 – God Speaks with Job and Reveals His Greatness to Him.

• Job 42 – God Restores What Job Lost

WHEN:

• The date of the writing of Job is unknown and still debated. Some believe it was written during the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) or even earlier, while others suspect it was written during the time of Judah’s Babylonian captivity (607-537 B.C.).

• I take the earlier date. The description of Job as the “greatest of all the people of the east” (1:3) and an absence of references to Israel, Jerusalem, and the Temple suggests to me that this book was written early.

KEY CHARACTERS:

• Job – A blameless and upright man who Satan persecuted in an attempt to turn his heart away from God.

• Elihu – Elihu had been listening to the conversation between Job and his friends. He speaks and shares his opinions in chapters 32-37. He was the youngest of the group. His father was Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram (32:2).

WHERE:

• Job lived in the land of Uz. Most scholars surmise the land of Uz was in northern Saudi Arabia, either immediately south of the Dead Sea, I the land that would become known as Edom, or immediately east of the Dead Sea, which is today the country of Jordan.

OUTLINE:

• ELIHU CONCLUDES HIS DISCOURSE (37:1-22):

  • At the end of Job 36, Elihu began talking about a thunderstorm as an example of the mysterious power of God.

  • Elihu may have chosen this example because a thunderstorm was really rolling in as he was concluding his multichapter speech. This assumption is supported by the presence of a whirlwind at the beginning of Job 38. 

  • Elihu felt like Job needed another dose of recognition of God’s greatness, so he continued describing God’s mystery and power using the thunderstorm.

  • He described God’s voice as the roar of thunder.

  • Elihu reminded Job that he did not know how storms produced downpours, snow, ice, whirlwinds and cold fronts.

  • He did not know how God made lightning flash in the sky. He did not know how God balanced the clouds above the earth.

  • Nor did he know God’s purpose in sending each storm, whether for “correction or for His land or for love” (37:13).

  • Job knew very little about how the world worked, so what position was he in to question the one who created the heavens and stretched out the sky above the earth.

  • In what may have been Elihu’s wisest statement, he said, “We cannot draw up our case because of darkness” (37:19).

  • He was right to suggest they were speaking from a place of darkness, a place of ignorance, and it was difficult for any man to speak about God’s work because of how little humans know. He was right that Job had drawn some wrong conclusions due to ignorance.

  • But Elihu should have also applied this advice to himself, because many of the things he had concluded about God’s actions towards Job were wrong.  

  • Elihu concluded his discourse with these words, “The Almighty – we cannot find Him; He is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness He will not violate. Therefore men fear Him; He does not regard any who are wise in their own conceit” (37:23-24).

  • Thus ends Elihu’s speech and the full discussion between Job and his friends. In the next chapter, God will finally descend to speak with Job and give His final word on the matter. God’s answer will span Job 38-42.

APPLICATION

• If Elihu had stuck to the points he made in this chapter, we might declare him to be the wise man he claimed to be in Job 33:33 and 36:4.

• Elihu’s problem was that he spoke too much. He could have been thought wise, but instead we put him in the company of Job’s other 3 friends because his abundance of words revealed his ignorance.

• Elihu needed to embrace some of the principles in Book of Proverbs.

• Proverbs 10:19 – “When words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent.”

• A wise man/woman speaks carefully and only speaks confidently about things they know.

• Proverbs 12:18 – “There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”

• Elihu’s wrong conclusions about God’s justice pierced Job with the sword of accusations. A proper understanding of God’s nature would have helped Job heal.

• Proverbs 15:28 – “The heart of the righteous ponders how to answer, but the mouth of the wicked pours out evil things.”

• Do you remember how Elihu said he was bursting like a wineskin to speak in Job 32:19-20? His words came bursting out of him when he should have taken more time to ponder his answer.

• Elihu wasn’t the only person who needed to learn these proverbs. We all make similar mistakes with our tongues, and it would do us all good to endeavor to check our speech with these proverbial filters.