Job 32

TODAY’S ENGLISH VERSION

The Speeches of Elihu

1 The three men stopped trying to answer Job, because he was convinced of his own innocence.

2 Then a man named Elihu could not control his anger any longer, because Job justified himself and blamed God. (Elihu was the son of Barakel, a descendant of Buz, and belonged to the clan of Ram.) 3 He was also angry with Job’s three friends. They could not find any way to answer Job, and this made it appear that God was in the wrong.4 Because Elihu was the youngest one there, he had waited until everyone finished speaking.

5 But when he saw that the three men could not answer Job, he was angry 6 and began to speak.

Elihu

I am young, and you are old,

so I was afraid to tell you what I think.

7 1 told myself that you ought to speak,

that you older men should share your wisdom.

8 But it is the spirit of Almighty God

that comes to men and gives them wisdom.

9 It is not growing old that makes men wise,

or helps them know what is right.

10 So now I want you to listen to me;

let me tell you what I think.

11 I listened patiently while you were speaking

and waited while you searched for wise comments.

12 I paid close attention and heard you fail;

you have not disproved what Job has said.

13 How can you claim that you have discovered wisdom?

God must answer Job, for you have failed.

14 Job was speaking to you, not to me,

but I would never answer the way you did.

15 Words have failed them, Job; they have no answer for you. 16 Shall I go on waiting, when they are silent?

They stand there with nothing more to say.

17 No, I will give my own answer now,

and tell you what I think.

18 I can hardly wait to speak.

I can-’t hold back the words.

19 If I don-’t get a chance to speak,

I will burst like a wineskin full of new wine.

20 I can-’t stand it. I have to speak. 21 I will not take sides in this debate;

I am not going to flatter anyone.

22 I don-’t know how to flatter,

and God would quickly punish me if I did.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 32:1-22

Discuss the character of Elihu as reflected in this chapter and given in the introduction.

Discuss the outline and content of his speeches, i.e., in an overview.

Some critics reject the speeches of Elihu as a part of the book of Job. Discuss their reasons and your position.

We do not know the father of Job nor of any of his three friends, but we do know the father of Elihu. Who is he? Why included?

This man was not angry because the three friends condemned Jobbut for what reason?

Typical qualities of youth can be observed. What are they?

Was Elihu really timid? or humble? Discuss.

Elihu believes he has more wisdom than his elders. How so? Was he right? Discuss.

To whom is Elihu addressing his words. What is the meaning of the word opinion in Job 32:10?

Does Elihu say anything to the three friends he has not already said to Job?

Explain in your own words Job 32:13.

This young man is very confident that he has the answer to Job’s problem. What does he really offer?

Most of his energy is expended on what rather than answering Job?

In what way is Elihu’s conceit insufferable?

He is a bursting wineskin. Explain.

If Elihu opened his mouth, new wine would pour out. Is this the figure used? Was it true?

He takes himself too seriously. In what respect?

Elihu would not dare to flatter anyone. Why?

Job 32:1-6

TEXT 32:1-6a

**So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes. (2) Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God. (3) Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job. (4) Now Elihu had waited to speak unto Job, because they were elder than he. (5) And when Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was kindled.

(6) And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said,**

COMMENT 32:1-6a

**Job 32:1**Job is finished speaking. Enter Elihu, who makes four speeches[328] (Job 32:1, Job 37:24). He is described as a listener who has become too emotionally involved in Job’s defense and the inadequacies of his friends-’ arguments that he must break his silence. Theologically, his central theme is not suffering, as many assume, but rather the nature of God. Elihu disapproves of Job’s pride before God and his dogmatic insistence of his righteousness before his holy God.[329] He also rejects the traditional thesis of Job’s friends that suffering is exclusively retributory. Rather, he suggests that suffering may be God’s way of warning against human hybris. If a person would repent, God would restore him. After all of this is said, Elihu’s practical advice is no different from Job’s three friends. Elihu’s speeches contain approximately 150 lines compared with the ca. 220 lines allotted to all three consolers in the dialogue section of Job. Many critics reject the speeches as integral to the structure of the book. Though his speeches reveal a knowledge of the themes and content of the preceding dialogue, some of the reasons given for rejecting the speeches as an original part of the book are: (1) Elihu is not mentioned in either the Prologue or Epilogue; (2) Job does not respond to his speeches; (3) God’s Shattering of His Silence in chapter 38 follows naturally from chapter 31, and ignores Elihu’s speeches; (4) God’s rebuke is addressed only to Job’s three friends, completely ignoring Elihu; (5) Perhaps the most crucial and most technically powerful reason is that the Hebrew grammar suggests a later period in the history of the language. The most powerful argument for the presence of this great passage (Chapter s 32-37) is that it powerfully prepares the way for The Shattering of Silence, i.e., Yahweh’s speeches. Only the creative relevatory word from outside can answer Job’s dilemma.

[328] For good survey of Elihu speeches, see Marvin E. Tate, The Speeches of Elihu, Review and Expositor, The Book of Job, fall, 1971, pp. 487-495; D. N. Freedman, The Hihu Speeches in the Book of Job, Harvard Theological Review, LXI, 1968, 51-59; L. Dennefeld, Les discours d-’ Elihou, Revue Biblique, 1939, pp. 163-180; G. Fohrer, Die Weisheit des Elihu, Archiv fur Orientforschung, 1959-1960, pp. 83-94; H. D. Buby, ElihuJob’s Mediator? S. E. Asia Journal of Theology, 1965, PP-33-54; and R. N. Carstensen, The Persistence of the Elihu Tradition in Later Jewish Writers, Lexington Theological Quarterly, 1967, pp. 37-46.

[329] See excellent brief introduction by R. A. F. MacKenzie, Job, Jerome Biblical Commentary (Prentice-Hall, 1968), pp. 528-529; also R. Gordis, Elihu the Intruder, Biblical and Other Studies, ed. by A. Altaian, 1963, pp. 60ff; J. H. Kroeze, Die Elihureden in Buche Hiob, Oudtestamentische Studien, 1943, pp. 156ff.

In the first speech (Chapter s 32-33), we are informed four times that Elihu is angry, and he enters the verbal arena to supply the deficiency, to redeem the failure, and to rebuke Job’s three friends. Following his introduction in Job 32:1-5, the speeches divide into six sections: (1) Elihu’s youth is wiser than their aged wisdomJob 32:6-14; (2) The collapse of Job’s friends causes Elihu to interveneJob 32:15-22; (3) He invites Job to give attention to his counselJob 33:1-7; (4) Elihu declares that Job’s contention of innocence and unjust affliction is falseJob 32:8-13; (5) He maintains that Job’s experience refutes his complaint that God is silentJob 32:14-18; and (6) Elihu’s final appeal to JobJob 32:19-22. These three friends in Job 2:11; Job 19:21; Job 42:10 abandon Job. Elihu distributes blame impartially to Job and his three friends by the phrase in his own eyes (LXX reads in their eyes). The debate was useless and futile because of Job’s incorrigible self-righteousness. He is not innocent, and God has not afflicted him without just provocation.

**Job 32:2**The name Elihu means he is my God and appears elsewhere in scripture in 1 Samuel 1:1; 1 Chronicles 12:21; 1 Chronicles 26:7; 1 Chronicles 27:18. He is the son of Barachel, which means God has blessed. This is a strange inclusion of data in that neither the father of Job nor the fathers of his three friends are mentioned. Barachel is of the clan of Buz (an Aramaen name), the brother of UzGen 22:21and so is closely related to JobJob 1:1. An Arabian Buz is mentioned in Jeremiah 25:23. Ram (means lofty) has Judahite connections in 1 Chronicles 2:9; 1 Chronicles 2:25; 1 Chronicles 2:27; Rth 4:19; Matthew 1:3; Luke 3:33. Thus, we have genealogical connections all the way to Job’s redeemer. But Job not only declared his innocence, he brought an indictment against God.

**Job 32:3**Elihu is aroused not because the friends condemned Job, but because they had not devised effective arguments against him. Rabbinic traditions list this verse as one of the eighteen corrections of the scribes, and the last line of the original text had declared God in the wrong, not Job. Yet this seems strange in that no condemnation of God follows from their failure to adequately respond to Job. The text wakes perfectly good sense as it standsbecause they had found no answer by which they could prove Job guilty (as condemned in A. V.)Blommerde.

**Job 32:4**Elihu had waited for Job’s words. He gives as reason for his previous reticence his youth. Elihu’s youthful modesty is excelled only by his youthful assurance.

**Job 32:5**The intensity of Elihu’s anger is suggested by the fact that the phrase his wrath was kindled appears three times in these five verses.

**Job 32:6**The introductory narrative is finished; now Elihu begins his speech with the omniscience of youth. He initiates his speech with the reasons that compel him to join in the debate.

2. Silent because they are older, yet the spirit of the Almighty has given him understanding. (Job 32:6b-10)

TEXT 32:6b-10

**I am young, and ye are very old; Wherefore I held back, and durst not show you mine opinion.

7 I said, Days should speak,

And multitude of years should teach wisdom.

8 But there is a spirit in man,

And the breath of the Almighty giveth them understanding,

9 It is not the great that are wise,

Nor the aged that understand justice.

10 Therefore I said, Hearken to me;

I also will show mine opinion.**

COMMENT 32:6b-10

**Job 32:6**He denies that wisdom is prerogative of the aged. He has given them adequate time in which to answer Job, if they only had the power of mind and words to do so. He timidly held backJob 32:4while they spoke (bedabberam rather than bidbarim). The rendering of A. V. opinion does not express the text which reads knowledge. Elihu is giving forth with more than his opinion. He is not troubled by timidity. He expresses his position with brashful speech, not bashful silence.

**Job 32:7**Older men should speak out of their reservoir of experience. Because of his youth, he was silent, but no more.

**Job 32:8**The spirit (ruah) of God gives life, wisdom, intelligence, or any special and significant abilityJob 27:3; Job 33:4; Exodus 31:3; Isaiah 11:2; Daniel 5:12-13. Wisdom does not necessarily flow from old ageJob 12:12 and Job 15:10. Since wisdom comes from God, piety is a prerequisitePro 1:7; Proverbs 2:6; Proverbs 10:31; Proverbs 15:33; Wisdom of Sol, omon 1:5-7; 7:22-23; 1 Corinthians 2:6. Like the PsalmistPsa 119:99youthful Elihu believes that he has more understanding than his elders, because God is the origin of all wisdom. Wisdom belongs to God’s Spirit rather than age. Elihu is correct in this part of his assertion, but his immodest assertions are inexcusable.

**Job 32:9**He correctly claims that it is not the great (as in A. V. does not mean powerful or influential) in age, as the parallel line showscf. Genesis 25:23that have wisdom. The word means something like seniors, as the use of zeqenim in the Manual of Discipline suggests, i.e., senior members of the order.

**Job 32:10**Because wisdom derives from the Spirit of God, not from old age, Elihu said Hearken to me. The verb hearken or listen is in the singular form and thus addressed to Job. He will declare true knowledge based on real wisdom.

Since the friends have no answer, Elihu can no longer restrain himself from speaking. (Job 32:11-22)

Job 32:11-22

TEXT 32:11-22

**11 Behold, I waited for your words,

I listened for your reasonings, Whilst ye searched out what to say.

12 Yea, I attended onto you,

And, behold, there was none that convinced Job, Or that answered his words, among you.

13 Beware lest ye say, We have found wisdom;

God may vanquish him, not man:

14 For he hath not directed his words against me;

Neither will I answer him with your speeches.

15 They are amazed, they answer no more:

They have not a word to say.

16 And shall I wait, because they speak not,

Because they stand still, and answer no more?

17 I also will answer my part,

I also will show mine opinion.

18 For I am full of words;

The spirit within me constraineth me.

19 Behold, my breast is as wine which hath no vent;

Like new wine-skins it is ready to burst.

20 I will speak, that I may be refreshed;

I will open my lips and answer.

21 Let me not, I pray you, respect any man’s person;

Neither will I give flattering titles unto any man.

22 For I know not to give flattering titles;

Elsewould my Maker soon take me away.**

COMMENT 32:11-22

**Job 32:11**Elihu now turns to the three friends. He merely repeats in more pompous words what he already has declared.[330] He has listened for their most effective arguments against Job, but he was disappointed. If Job is to be condemned, there must be more cogent reasons than he has heard. I listened until you had finished (Heb. tblytkmyour completioninstead of tbwntykmyour arguments) your supposed wise words. Though they had searched out, by laborious efforts, some comforting words, they have been less than effective. In other words, they tried hard, but that was not enough.

[330] See Dhorme, Job, pp. 477-478, for analysis of the many complexities of this verse.

**Job 32:12**He had followed the debate with utmost care, but he failed to find any forceful words which actually convicted Job. Their calloused compassionless consolation lacked enough cogency to convict him of his crime against God.

**Job 32:13**This verse is made complex by its ambiguity. Perhaps Elihu says Job does not have invincible wisdom. He could be warning the three friends against excusing themselves for not answering Job. He could be suggesting that ultimately there is no human solution to Job’s problem, but that does not justify their dropping the argument. Line one might mean that they have found a wisdom that only God can refute. This seems to best fit the structure of the entire book, especially the location of the Yahweh speeches, Chapter s 38ff. Yet, Elihu is equal to even that occasion; though the line resounds with humility, God will answer him, not man.

**Job 32:14**Elihu is saying that when I get finished with him, he will not need God to respond. But these are idle words filled with foolish promises, as his arguments do not go beyond the words of Job’s friends, in spite of his claim that he will not answerlit. with your words or arguments.

**Job 32:15**In his soliloquy, Elihu first sets forth his claim of impartiality. His state of mind is also described. Most of his energy is utilized on rage, rather than effectively responding to Job. Yet, he is actually somewhat ridiculous, wordy, and unoriginal.

**Job 32:16**Once more Elihu piously emphasizes his patience.[331]

[331] For this theme respecting Job, see J. L. Ginsberg, Job the Patient and Job the Impatient, Conservative Judaism, 1967, pp. 12-28; J. K. Zink, Impatient Job: An Interpretation of Job 19:25 ff, J.B.L., 1965, pp. 147-152.

**Job 32:17**Repetition in order to build up expectation concerning his forthcoming momentous outburst of wisdomJob 32:10 b.

**Job 32:18**It would not require God’s wisdom to refute Elihu’s claim that he is full of words. His conceit is insufferable. He claims God as authorizer of his position when he declares that the spirit of my belly is the source of his speechJob 15:2; Proverbs 18:8.

**Job 32:19**He is as a bursting wineskinMat 9:17; Jeremiah 20:9. He must speak in order to vent the wineskin, else it will split. The image is much more than a Taste of New Wine. What is bubbling inside him is like the force of fermentation which must find an outlet.

**Job 32:20**The image continues. Relief can come to his troubled spirit only if he finds release. He is so full, all that he needs to do is open his mouth.

**Job 32:21**His sincerity is bettered only by his candidness. Hypocrisy shall not lead him astray by deference to anyone’s title or rankIsa 44:5; Isaiah 45:4. He takes himself too seriously by his proposed impartial vigour (A. V. respect any manlit. lift up the fareJob 13:8; flattering titleverb, kny means to give an honorific title).

**Job 32:22**He would not dare to flatter anyone. If he were so tempted, he would immediately be visited by God’s vengeance.