The main issue is whether or not Elihu is right or wrong. This is a hot-button issue because tied with it whether Job and his friends are right or wrong. It also goes with if Elihu matches any of them in any of his speeches. If Elihu is right, then we have a different outlook on what he says in these chapters and our reception of it. If he is wrong and is just saying the same thing as Job’s friends, then we have a totally different approach to what is going here.
This is a tough topic to work through and perhaps the best way to work through it is inductive, by walking through the text. This is not just purely to evaluate if Elihu is right or wrong, but it is also to help us learn from it and how it fits in the book.
Elihu comes to the conclusion of the debate between Job and his friends where at the end there is a stalemate since human wisdom cannot determine what is occurring in this specific situation. Notice the last verse in chapter 31, the words of Job are over. He concluded his words in a self-righteous manner
This chapter contains a lot of repetition which is unusual. Even in Job’s friend’s speeches, they repeated the same idea, but not the same thing repeatedly. This is how Elihu begins, and it all revolves around the failure of the elders to discuss and answer Job’s questions.
Job 32:1
The answer here means providing a solution. The men, Job’s friends, have failed, they have said all that they can say. Remember, Job’s friends are brilliant and still they cannot think of any more to say. The narrator here looks at this situation and says that they have stopped because they believe Job is righteous in his own eyes. On one hand, this is a matter of perception. At the same time, since the narrator is saying this that means that Job is actually righteous in his own eyes.
Righteous has been a key term throughout the whole book. The question has always been “Who is right?”. Righteous refers to the standard God has for activities. One who conforms to that standard is deemed as righteous. That is driven by God’s intrinsic nature, which we call holiness. Holiness drives a righteous standard, which drives righteousness, which drives verdicts. Who is right and what have we heard often? “What man can be right before God?”, Eliphaz, Job, and Bildad all say this. God always determines who’s right or wrong. The problem with being right in your own eyes is you now become the judge and decider so you replace God. That is the definition of becoming self-righteous. That is the dilemma the author has raised. You can try to do it yourself, but that makes you self-righteous. The only way to do it is through the gospel. With this, the question becomes, how does Elihu deal with the issue of Job’s self-righteousness?
Job 32:2
The first thing you learn about Elihu is that he is angry, he has lost his temper. Elihu means “He is my God.”. That is important because the name is introduced as opposed to being anonymous or something else indicates that Elihu will take a strong stance with God. It is a key component in his theology, his God-centeredness. Remember, Job told his friends in their attempt to defend God, they over defend him and then their defense is in all the wrong ways and their theology becomes incorrect. Nevertheless, Elihu’s name is significant because it is a Hebrew name. That means he is Hebrew just like Job, and as opposed to Job’s friends. Also, note that Elihu’s introduction is longer than the other ones. This entire story and situation, the bridge between them and Israel are who? Elihu is the bridge. This is important because he becomes what ties this event and series to the people of God. Which, arguably, implies that he is not totally terrible initially, but does not make a complete case.
Why is Elihu mad, though? Knowing that he is the bridge, his anger is a reflection of Israel’s theology, at least in prototypical form. That is why he’s mad. Look at the rest of verse two. He justified himself rather than God. The word justified here is a little difficult, you need a lesson on the legal court system and these words. At the risk of an oversimplification, righteousness has three forms according to Charles Kingsley. First, the call form is dealing with your status. So, in a court, if you are right, then you stand as a good individual relative to the law and the judge. Second, the hifeal (I do not believe this is the correct spelling, but I did research and could not find it. This comes up at the 19-minute mark if you need to listen for clarity.) has the idea of causing one to be right. In the court of law, the way you are caused to have the status is by the judge saying that you are righteous. Third, PL deals with how one, whose status is in question, proves their status to be right. You have to understand this is all taking place in an earthly court. Job is attempting to have a declaration that he is right, but God normally makes that declaration, so Job has kicked God out and become the judge. That is a problem, however, this whole debate has been the question of the middle. Can you prove to me that you are right, or can you prove to me that you are wrong? That is the whole issue.
Elihu’s anger is that he was justifying himself rather than God. This is PL which is dealing with proof. This trial has been a double trial, Job is on trial but so is God, but Job has been concerned about himself, not God. So Elihu gets mad because they forgot about God in this whole situation. Job is showing an extreme form of selfishness that angers Elihu. Job is helpless to prove himself right because he has not proved God right first and that makes Elihu mad. Elihu wants to address Job’s selfishness first. When dealing with people in suffering, the danger for them is grief. You can grieve, grief is where you experience pain and suffering and there is self-involvement in that, but there is a fine line before selfishness. This selfishness begins to demand things for yourself, and you begin to feel entitled to it. As you shepherd people you need to guard them against being so self-absorbent in their suffering that they rule out God. The remedy to that is they grieve like those who have hope. That is what Job wishes for, hope.
Job 32:3
Why is Elihu angry with both groups? Because they have provided no real system, evidence, or framework that can establish condemning Job. This is Kingsley's hifeal, to declare one is right and on the other side, it can also be to declare someone is wrong. Elihu has caught them where they have a problem. They made their conclusion with no evidence or framework which made Elihu very mad.
Job 32:4
The waited here is not the same term as waiting on the Lord, that waiting denotes hopefulness while being patience. This waiting only means that he hesitates before talking. Elihu assumes the older will be able to give an answer.
Job 32:5
Once again, Elihu saw there was no answer, so he was mad. They couldn’t give an answer, so they are not wise. Maybe you think “so what?”, but they are the older and wiser people, and they were supposed to have knowledge and wisdom. If they can’t give an answer, then that means the whole system is wrong. The author is alluding to a collapse of the entire system. We need to be very careful because we operate on a very close parallel system to here. Just because you get older does not mean that you get wiser.
Job 32:6
Elihu begins his speech here. Commentators will take two different stances on Elihu addressing his age. Either they think he an idiot who focuses on himself, or Elihu is starting or ancient near eastern custom. There is nothing to indicate that Elihu is an idiot at this point. He is not the most eloquent, at least we think so at this point. This is a part of the honor to be given to the elderly who should know better.
Job 32:7
His words and reticence are because he was confident that those older would speak and know wisdom. He had faith in the system.
Job 32:8
Some translations might say “surely” while others say “but” here. This word in Hebrew is a strong exclamation. This verse means “Surprise! It didn’t happen the way I thought it would.”. Elihu starts to understand, it is not how much you get outside of you, but who’s inside, the breath of the almighty. Elihu realizes that God gives wisdom working in you. This is right, he has said the right thing and understands only God has wisdom.
Job 32:9
This should give a pause, what should happen is not what is going on.
Job 32:10
As Elihu looks at the overarching situation he realizes that the system has failed. Elihu is brilliant in this way because he identifies critical failures in the system, where the system cannot tolerate the strain. That is why Job’s situation is brilliant as well because it exhibits the critical failures of human reasoning and wisdom.
Job 32:11
This sounds kind of like what we have been hearing all along, so it sounds like repetition. Based on repetition people will say that Elihu is a bumbling idiot who doesn’t know what to say and just repeats himself. Maybe, but this could also be for two other reasons. One, Elihu when addressing his elders is trying to show humility. The counter to that is that this is false humility, you can never win. Two, he has to be thorough. If you are going to speak out and you have the uphill battle because you are already the underdog you better do your homework. You better know everything, that is what Elihu is doing here.
Notice the difference. Before, he is just attacking the fact that his three friends at this point have stopped talking. He has analyzed the situation externally. What is he talking about here in verse 11? Is he just dealing with the fact that they were talking, and they stopped talking? He is not just looking at that anymore, he is looking at what they actually said.
Job 32:12
Not only were they defeated, but they’re understanding and searching for their words. Even then Elihu discerned (careful thinking). There was no one who could rebuke Job and answer him. Rebuke here would be refuted and showed where he was wrong. The word answer here is building Job back up in what is right. The elders were not able to do any of that.
Job 32:13
Elihu’s friends might have a smug attitude. Their idea here is that it is not their job to refute Job, even if they know wisdom. Job is so stubborn and righteous in his own eyes they think they just have to let God deal with him. We say that. We say, “We can’t defeat them, we just have to let God change his or her heart.”. The danger here is it could be right, but Elihu’s point is that if these guys say it they are wrong because they haven’t told the truth, they haven't found what was going on. In light of this, his friends can’t be smug.
Job 32:14
This is what needs to happen. Elihu is going to do two things. The “he” here is Job. Job has not directed his words against Elihu. That is important. Think about what happens in an argument. People say things that offend you so you get emotional so you start to combat them back and you might say things out of emotion that doesn’t make sense because you have self-interest. Elihu’s point is he’s not involved so he can be unbiased. On top of that, Elihu also says “I will not answer him with your speeches.”. Elihu is saying that not only are they wrong, but more importantly Elihu is not going to pick up on their words and logic. In Elihu's mind, he is saying something totally different from his friends. He knows everything that has been going down is wrong and he needs to avoid his friends' arguments. We can at least give him the benefit of the doubt here.
Job 32:15-17
Elihu doesn’t want to use their arguments because they didn’t work. He shouldn’t be quiet; he needs to speak up. He is going to do what he was afraid of in the beginning because he has so much to say.
Job 32:18-22
These verses begin to tell show you how enthusiastic Elihu is. Again, this can be interpreted in one of two ways. It can come off as if he is arrogant, his belly full of air and he needs to talk or he might pop. He won’t show any partiality because he thinks he’s so good and he’s really not. Or you can interpret it as Elihu being really excited because he has something to say. Especially since he has already couched himself for looking stupid the past 16 verses. Maybe finally he has just exploded and says “I really want to say, something guys, because I really think I have an answer.”.
Job 32:21-22
These verses raise an important issue. Why is it important that Elihu show no impartiality? What have we been talking about? Who’s right and who’s wrong. Elihu is saying he is not going to show any impartiality and that his answer will be based upon reality not based on what he wants it to be. That is important in this courtroom setting, he will become the new lawyer for everyone to decide everything.
The word flatter here is to assign a title or honor. The idea here is that he would come down on someone saying they are the right or honorable one. He is avoiding that and claims that he doesn’t even know how to do that. He is going to refrain his mind from even thinking in those categories because the one who made him, would instantly take him away.
Why would Elihu appeal to God at this moment? Two answers, again, if you view Elihu as an evil dude you would say Elihu is arrogant for thinking God would pay attention to what he says. Or you can say this, he is worried God would take him away because God hates partiality and falsehood so that would be the reason why this would be happening. On reflection, the latter is the answer.
Throughout this entire time, Elihu has repeated himself almost ad infinitum. Yeah, you can say there is development, layers, he’s being thorough, and all these things which are true, but for most people, Elihu looks like a rhetorical idiot repeating himself.
The root word for partiality in Hebrew is nasa. The phrase “take me away”, the word for that is nasah. That sounds and even looks the same. What Elihu does in the last two verses is he does an entire wordplay that you can’t even see in English. “Partiality” and “take me away” do not look the same, but it is the same word. The idea is if I try to lift someone up and show partiality God will lift me out. Elihu says that he wouldn’t dare so that because he knows who his God is. Everyone thinks Elihu is a rhetorical idiot until he does that and then you raise the question to the commentary “How did he make that wordplay if he’s so stupid?”. The answer they give is nothing because it shows you Elihu is actually very smart and can make the same puns they make, but he disguises it to show his humility because he knows what happened and knows the disaster the system has brought. He wants to show that he does want to give deference and if it makes him look dumb so be it.