Job 32

Job 32:1

III. THE INTERVENTION OF ELIHU (Chaps. 3237)A. Elihu’s Speech to Job’s Three Friends (Chap. 32)32:1-6 Here the conversation between Job and his three friends ceases. Normally, as we noted above, it would have been Zophar’s turn to speak, but for some reason he chooses not to do so. A young man named Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, had been listening to the heated debate between Job and his three critics. Many Bible students see him as a picture of Christ, our Mediator. He seems the perfect bridge between Job’s friends’ analysis of his situation and the solution of Jehovah. In short, he is a middleman between men and God, a mediator to prepare for the Lord’s coming on the scene. Other commentators have less favorable views of him, viewing him as a conceited young upstart! At any rate, Elihu (his name means my God is He) became incensed with Job for justifying himself rather than God. He was also angry with his three friends for failing to answer Job adequately. In the following verses, he summarizes twenty-nine chapters of discussions. 32:7-22 In deference to their age, he had kept quiet and paid close attention to their words, but now he can restrain himself no longer. He says that great men (or men of many years, NKJV marg.) are not always wise, and that God can give insight to a younger man like himself. He blames Job’s critics for not coming up with convincing arguments. Because of their failure, he is compelled from within to speak and he will do so without partiality or flattery.