MAY 28 JOB 32-34

Job 32-34

ENTER ELIHU (stage right!)

We didn’t know he was there; until this moment (Job 32:2) he hadn’t been mentioned. It bothers some scholars that the chapters he speaks are the only places in Job where he is mentioned. So let’s begin with some thoughts concerning “why” this is so.

First of all, the text itself gives us a perfectly rational explanation for why Elihu has not been mentioned up to this point: He had waited before stepping forward because “they were older than he.” Honoring the ages of Job and his three peers, he kept his mouth shut and his ears open, until he had seen the discussion wind down.


One argument for why Elihu is not mentioned again in Job, after his speech (Job 32-37) is because his words were essentially right. Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar are mentioned again in Job 42, because the Lord rebuked them. Job is mentioned again because he is our main character; and must be humbled and vindicated by the Lord. One would think that Elihu might need a bit of humbling himself, but then, this is not Elihu’s story.

So, for six chapters Elihu speaks; today we look at the first three!

Elihu begins with a full awareness of his youthfulness, how he kept silent because of their age, and how he’s begun to wonder if age really brings wisdom after all (Job 32:9). He tells the “friends” how disappointed he was that they ran out of things to say. He would try not to repeat their arguments, but move on from them.

He speaks to Job and essentially does repeat one of the friends’ arguments: “How then can a man be made right before God?” (Job 25:4) He berates human pride and sinfulness. Yet, he does seem to introduce one new concept: Read Job 33:24-30 and just see if you aren’t reading about GRACE, the unmerited love of God toward sinful people! Elihu concludes part one of his remarks by extolling the justice (the rightness) of God.

Your brother in the Word, who wonders, How Elihu will finish?
Pastor Gary