But Elihu son of Barakel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, became very angry with Job for justifying himself rather than God. – Job 32:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (May 17, 2015): Job 32

I recently watched a first season episode of the Beverly Hillbillies (intact with the original opening sequence) and was caught off guard by the advertising in the opening credits. In this case the sponsor was Winston Cigarette’s. In the opening credits, after the portion of the credits that we are used to from watching old reruns of the show, we see Jed Clampett point and then the singer continues the saga of Jed Clampett as the loaded up Hillbilly Mobile passes a truck with an advertisement on its side.

            Now come along and visit with the Clampett family

            As they take you to their mansion in the hills of Beverly

            And when they do you’ll run into a friend of theirs you’ve met

            That good old friend with filter blend, Winston Cigarette’s

            Winston tastes good like a cigarette should.

Beyond the fact that cigarette advertising on television has been against the law since the mid to late eighties in North America, it shocked me to see how closely a brand could be linked to a product – like the Beverly Hillbillies. Winston cigarettes also sponsored the Flintstones including advertisements shown during the show that would feature different characters relaxing and enjoying a Winston cigarette. The tie between the product and the show was intimate. The danger that we seem to have missed was that the brand of the show could then be tarnished by the product to which it was linked – in the case of the Beverly Hillbillies and the Flintstones suffering from the health problems produced by Winston Cigarettes.

In a digital world, defending the Brand has become more important than ever. We have become very careful to whom we might lend our name or our brand. Rock bands are careful to manage who uses their songs to sell product. Actors carefully consider the cause before they do an advertising spot. Even in the bloggerverse, bloggers carefully manage their brand knowing that a misstep could quickly destroy everything that they are trying to build. The recent fight between Brian Williams and NBC is really over a question of brand protection. The big question is simply can a popular reporter who now has been shown to have lied be brought back on at the Nightly News without tarnishing the NBC brand? There is no doubt that damage has already been done to the brand, but what happens next if Williams resumes his career at NBC? And right now I am not sure that anyone really knows the answer.

Elihu makes his appearance in the Job saga. There is much controversy over the historicity of Elihu. He appears and then leaves and is never heard from again. Supporters of Elihu’s historicity point to the lineage as proof that Elihu was a real person. Elihu is the only person in the whole saga that comes complete with a genealogy. But critics wonder if that might be the problem. It is almost like someone at a later date appended the book adding the Elihu chapters and giving him a genealogy to make him appear historical. I lean toward the historicity of Elihu, but also recognize the problems.

But Elihu’s complaint against Job is a brand complaint. Elihu is disturbed that Job clearly states that he is a servant of God, but spends his time protecting his own brand instead of God’s. As far as Elihu was concerned, Job’s first responsibility should have been to protect the image of God that was being projected in the argument.

Job is not given a chance to respond to the charge, but my guess is that Job would agree with Elihu. Job has been attacked and backed into a corner by his friends, and he has fought his way back out, but in the conversation Job has unwittingly questioned the integrity of God. He has essentially created a Brand problem for God. The problem which everyone in the story seems to miss is that there is an understanding in the argument that has been accepted by all parties involved that either Job or God are wrong. As Job maintains his own innocence, he casts question with regard to the integrity of God. What the reader of the story understands is that both Job and God are right. There is no need for one of them to be wrong. And this is maybe one of the things that we begin to learn from the questioning of Elihu.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Job 33