Sunday, April 25, 2010

Elihu, Is a Master of Convincing People.


Picture from: http://oneyearbibleimages.com/elihu.jpg


For this reading response, let me try to analyze the roles of the characters in Job. All of them are organized in a way to persuade the readers about the absolute authority of God. First of all, Job. His character tells us that pretending to be “perfect and upright” (Job 1:1), is not enough to gain wisdom from God. Showing all the process of questioning, doubting and complaining towards God prepares the setting for one of the most important character, Elihu. The three friends of Job also help set up the stage for Elihu. By giving variation to the reaction towards the punishment of Job, the author succeeds to evoke many types of readers.
Finally, Elihu, the character that is so young but knows so much about God. He is the key character, I believe. By listing only the great things God has done to humans, like mentioned in Job 32:8, “But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.” Elihu proves how God is so different from us, humans, who are ignorant. (However, this line is not precisely correct. God didn’t give us the understanding. Humans have stolen it from God against his will.) Also Elihu only mentions the terrible consequences when one is “ignorant”. He also uses pathos, for example in Job 33:13, “Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.” He makes the actions of Job as the most terrible and mean thing you can do. He makes Job seem that he is the most annoying person who lacks the gracefulness towards God. Even if he was just punished because he was randomly chosen by Satan to prove his point.

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