Why Knowledge Does Not Yield Righteousness
Reading Elihu’s speech in Job 37, it struck me that it was immediately followed by Job 38, which contains one of the Creation stories in the Bible that is consistent with both the ancient pagan creation myths, and paradoxically modern science. You can read more about The Creation Account in Job.
What struck me is the contrast between how Elihu attempts to challenge Job with Creation, versus how God does, and how that applies to today.
Job 37Â
 14 “Listen to this, Job;
      stop and consider God’s wonders. 15 Do you know how God controls the clouds
      and makes his lightning flash? 16 Do you know how the clouds hang poised,
      those wonders of him who is perfect in knowledge? 17 You who swelter in your clothes
      when the land lies hushed under the south wind, 18 can you join him in spreading out the skies,
      hard as a mirror of cast bronze?
Apparently, Elihu doesn’t have access to wikipedia 
. But through science, we’ve figured out what makes lightening flash, how the clouds hang, how the land stays still while the wind blows, and we understand now that the sky is not hard as cast bronze. Elihu of course did not know these things at the time, but he is guilty of what many of us scientific and non-scientific Christian types are today: arguing for a God of the Gaps when we do not understand something, and then using it as evidence for how to live. I’ve done it, and frankly it isn’t a persuasive argument… even when it is the correct explanation. But in this case, Elihu’s argument is not even a correct explanation of things, because clearly it does not require divinity to understand, explain, or duplicate the features of nature Elihu points out. This does not mean that Elihu seemed foolish to Job for arguing it though, given that Job was not a modern scientist either… Elihu was surely preying on a view of nature surely held by Job as well. However, to our modern mind, the foolishness of Elihu’s examples and overall argument are obvious.
Well, as it turns out, God was there listening to Elihu’s speech, and God knows everything we know about the natural processes, more even, and so He saw Elihu’s foolishness, even if Job did not. See God’s immediate response following the conclusion of Elihu’s speech:
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the storm. He said:
 2 “Who is this that darkens my counsel
      with words without knowledge?
If Elihu wasn’t gone already, this would surely have chased him away. If Job was starting to feel persuaded by Elihu’s argument at all, surely this would have put a stop to it!
 3 Brace yourself like a man;
      I will question you,
      and you shall answer me.
Yikes. I hope God never approaches me like this… even though He’s loving an all, this is just plain scary. He goes on…
 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
      Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
      Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set,
      or who laid its cornerstone-
God knew there were no footings when asks this, but turns it to the same point as verses 4 and 5… that Job is questioning the knowledge and power of the very God whose processes are making Job doubt! He goes on…
 7 while the morning stars sang together
      and all the angels [a] shouted for joy? 8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
      when it burst forth from the womb, 9 when I made the clouds its garment
      and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 when I fixed limits for it
      and set its doors and bars in place, 11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
      here is where your proud waves halt’? 12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
      or shown the dawn its place, 13 that it might take the earth by the edges
      and shake the wicked out of it?
This strikes such a sharp contrast to Elihu! For Elihu, it would seem that knowing scientifically how all of these processes work would be enough to put oneself at the same level as God. What utter ignorance! And God basically says so. He calls Elihu’s speech “words without knowledge” because Elihu didn’t know how the world works, and even if he did, it would not put Him any closer to God’s stature, and would not even bring him closer to God, contrary what Elihu implies. God however takes it one step further. I mean, let’s suppose they did know how all this stuff works, God doesn’t ask what they understand about the mechanics of the universe… he challenges whether Job understands how it was all put in place. Now, I find that quite awesome! To me, it shows the true divine nature of the inspiration behind writing the book of Job, and divine inspiration involved in choosing it for inclusion in the Bible. God knew that we eventually understand how the world works… He also knew that our understanding would make us blind to Him… and so He presented a challenge to Job (i.e., “Were you there?”) that still rings true today. When God triggered the big bang, who watched it. When God created the universe from without, why are we surprised at our difficulty in physically discerning Him from within? Apparently, even in our collective knowledge, it hasn’t resulted in collective wisdom… or righteousness, because if science is part of God’s testimony to us, well it appears that we just don’t believe him!