We have been inundated with recycling campaigns for
things like aluminum, paper, compost which many Bay Area counties force upon
consumers. But there are also other
items that can be recycled which have some type of reward attached to it: appliances, athletic shoes, batteries, clothes,
compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), computers and electronics, eyeglasses, foam
packing: ink/toner cartridges, phones, clothes hangers (your local dry
cleaners is generally happy to re-purpose wire hangers and/or safety pins). You can even receive a reward for recycling arguments. Huh?
Yes, you heard me. Arguments can
be recycled but the reward varies from things as small as silence for the rest
of the evening by the person who was dumped on to as much as a full blown beat
down or even worse an extra hole or opening in your body that you weren’t born
with. Recycled arguments seem to have
been the Three Amigo’s strategy, but it didn’t work.
Let’s
pick up at Chapter 32: The Three Amigos,
Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, had finally run empty on words, the well of
accusation was finally all dried up.
Frustrated to no end and feelin like utter fools I am sure, because with
all of their “wisdom” and eloquence of speech Job wouldn’t budge an inch
towards admitting his guilt so they fell silent to defeat.
However,
there was a fourth man, Elihu, who it seems had witnessed the entire accusation
campaign, silently cheering for the Three Amigos only to become more frustrated
as the days wore on because the elders had made no progress. They talked a good game about how they were
gonna wear Job down and convince him that he must admit his wrong, but they
didn’t even come close. That was it, he
couldn’t take any more of this nonsense.
He
finally decides to speak but when he does, he starts off on “10”. Why is he so angry? He was highly offended by the ineffectiveness
of the Amigos, his elders. I also believe
he sees their “humanness” which may have scared him or burst his bubble, like
OMG, they aren’t infallible. When he realized
the Amigos had exhausted their arguments, he exploded with pent-up anger.
He
was frustrated because he had remained silent all this time out of respect to
their custom hoping they would say something great and philosophical that would
bring Job to repentance and none of that happened. He was also frustrated that Job justified
himself rather than God and that Job was more concerned about being right
himself than God being right. But Elihu
wasn’t just angry with Job, he was angry with the Three Amigo’s dismal failure at
neither coming up with an answer (to the question as to why Job was in this
predicament) nor had they proved Job wrong.
He hoped against hope that behind all their rhetoric they would actually
say something convincing but it never happened.
He goes on to say that he had believed that the longer you live the wise
you become and that getting older doesn’t guarantee good sense but now he
realizes his thinking was wrong. In
other words, you are all a bunch of old fools.
He goes on to say how intently he listened to them use just the right
words in their arguments but nothing they said even penetrated Job and he
wouldn’t let them off the hook by using the excuse ‘they
did their best’. In other words, “excuses
only satisfy those who make them.” This
last piece right here though was absolutely classic when he asks he rhetorical
question: Do you three have nothing else
to say? Of course you don’t! Because you’re all fakes! Wow! Talk about a tongue lashing.
Chapter
33: In my sanctified imagination this is
how I imagine Elihu finally speaks to Job:
“Hey Job, Bruh, I need to holla
at ya about something. I been had this
on my mind and I gotta keep it one hunid.
If you think you can prove me wrong, I won’t have no problem with it,
lay it out there Bruh, stand up for yourself.
I’m not trying to say I’m no bigger than you. We both made out of the same kind of mud. I put my robes on one sleeve at a time just
like you. Let’s work through this
together Bruh and don’t be offended by my passion, it’s just how I flow. Is that cool?”
Elihu
seemed to believe he was just as, if not as good, spiritual and wise as Job and
the Three Amigos, and he also believed he could be an effective spokesman
before Job and God. As I read Chapter 32
and the first few verses of Chapter 33, Elihu’s character flaws jumped off the
page at me and I frowned immediately. 1)
he talks too much; 2) he repeats himself; 3) he seems conceited, 4) he believes
God is using him to correct Job and 5) he does the exact same thing as the
Amigos, . He misreads Job’s predicament
and accuses him without even asking if he sinned. Can somebody say “recycling in progress?” But not everything about Elihu is wrong. He makes some valid points, he exemplifies
some compassion in his speech and he still has youth on his side. If he was alive today he would be a perfect candidate
for someone to snatch his “Kool-Aid” out of his hand so he won’t overdose and
then mentor him.
Verses
8-11: Elihu’s interpretation of Job’s
comments were wrong just as the Amigos.
They claim he said he was pure when in fact Job said on more than one
occasion that he was a sinner which is one of the reasons he offered sacrifices
to God, duh!!! Elihu accuses Job of
being self-righteous just like the Three Amigos – sounds like the same recycled
argument to me.
Verses
12-30: Young Bruh, Elihu, begins his speech with a well-known fact which is
that God is greater than me. That’s not
even a discussion on the table, it’s not up for debate, it goes without
saying. What is the point young
Bruh? Then he goes on and on about the
way God works. Well, first of all, God
does amazing customized things all the time, it’s really kind of hard to put
him in a box and say he does X Y Z and 1 2 3 because if there is one thing that
I know about God, as soon as you think you’ve got him figured out, he’ll put a
spin on that thing and leave you there scratchin your head, “down hem”. I know I have to stop, but you’ve gotta hear
the summation of these last two verses:
Verses
31-33: In my sanctified imagination, I’m
thinking that perhaps Elihu gets the sense or maybe even sees Job’s face all
bunched up trying to figure out what in the world this young Bruh is talking
about. And then he asks himself: “Does the boy just like to hear himself talk
or what?” By now Job can’t tell whether
he’d rather hear the old school rhetoric from the Amigos or have someone take a
pin and pop open his boils. As he
continues the conversation in his head: “This kid won’t shut up!!! Wait; Did he
just tell me to shut up because he’s not finished and that he’s going to teach
me about the basics of wisdom?” Job bit
his tongue to keep from saying anything out loud and then he had another crazy
thought: “OK, God, am I being punked? Is that what it is?” Job stood up.
He looked behind himself to see if anyone was there. He didn’t see a
camera crew or Ashton. “Oh snap, cameras
haven’t been invented yet. I know, maybe
I’ll pinch myself to make sure I’m dreaming.
This just has to be one long continuous nightmare.” Meanwhile everyone is looking at Job like he’s
crazy because it is apparent that he has completely tuned Elihu out, he’s
mumbling and pinching himself. Cognizant
of their stares, he returns to the reality of the noise coming out of Elihu’s
mouth, and tries to refocus and it is then when he hears him say: “If you think of anything I should know, tell
me. Otherwise keep listening, don’t
distract me with interruptions.” Job
thought to himself again: “so is that a trick statement? How can I tell him anything unless I
interrupt him if he won’t shut up?” I’m
confused, I think I’ll just sit here and tune him completely out.
I’m
out of time, we’ll have to pick it up next time.
In
His New Excellence,
Tania
Not Tanya
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