How can I have “the tongue of the learned” (Isa 50:4)? I’ll need first “to hear as the learned” from the Lord.
The ability to form abstract thoughts into words and transfer them to other minds is a gift entrusted on earth only to humans. Thus, it’s a stewardship for which we will someday answer. In fact, “for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment” (Mt 12:36). The word “idle,” also translated “careless” or “thoughtless,” refers to words spoken to no purpose. Elihu, unlike the other three, carefully assessed what Job said. In this section (Job 35:9-16), he addresses the content of Job’s words. “Surely God will not listen to empty talk” (v 13). Ouch! Elihu believes their conversation has been unhelpful because it is uninformed, and uninformed because it is uninspired by God. It makes sense, he says, that people “cry out for help” as a result “of the multitude of oppressions” (v 9). But if those who respond to sufferers fail to bring God into the conversation, they ignore the One who can best help. “But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night…?’” (v 10). He put you together and understands you better than anyone. And even in dark times He can give “songs in the night.” Also, while we may learn from creation, how much better to learn from the Creator Himself, “who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven” (v 11). Don’t follow Job’s example who “multiplies words without knowledge” (v 16). I’m reminded that, when he was afraid, “Peter…said…because he did not know what to say…and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!’” (Mk 9:5-7). We might précis Job’s speeches with the words, “I don’t know what to say.” In that case, opines Elihu, don’t say anything! Instead, “wait for Him” (Job 35:14).