Job 36 · a question people ask
"He delivers the afflicted by their affliction" (36:15). Is Elihu giving the reason Job suffered?
These are Elihu's words. He says them first of people in general: when they are "taken in the cords of afflictions" (36:8), God "shows them their work, and their transgressions" (36:9) and "opens their ears to instruction" (36:10). Then he turns to Job: "Yes, he would have allured you out of distress" (36:16). Other Scripture speaks of affliction that teaches (see go deeper), such as "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes" (Psalm 119:71). The book of Job tells what happened to Job in its first two chapters. The LORD called Job "a blameless and an upright man" (1:8), and said to Satan, "you incited me against him, to ruin him without cause" (2:3). None of the LORD's words in the book (1:7, 1:8, 1:12, 2:2, 2:3, 2:6, 38:2-40:2, 40:7-41:34, 42:7-8) speaks of what Job suffered as correcting him or teaching him. Nor does the book say that Elihu's words are wrong: it doesn't name him after 36:1, or in 42:7-9, and gives no verdict on his speeches. Christians read differently how words like these fit Job's story; chapter 5's honest question sets out the readings, on Eliphaz's "happy is the man whom God corrects" (5:17). These notes add no verdict on Elihu's words, for them or against them.
The verses
“If they are bound in fetters, and are taken in the cords of afflictions, then he shows them their work, and their transgressions, that they have behaved themselves proudly. He also opens their ears to instruction, and commands that they return from iniquity.”
“He delivers the afflicted by their affliction, and opens their ear in oppression. Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.”
“It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn your statutes.”
“The LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant, Job? For there is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil.””