A new, and hitherto unnoticed, person joins the great debate, now that even Job is silent. It is not that he only just enters the scene, for he soon gives the fullest proof that one present had listened more attentively to all that had been urged, and very especially to his arguments who had stopped the mouths of those that misjudged him. He is careful to apologize for his own intervention, and would evidently have preferred to listen, if any one older than himself had produced matter relevant to the question, and adequate to expose the not infrequent occasions in which the sufferer had been provoked into impropriety. There is no lack of moral courage or of force in dealing with Job's actual words and line of thought. Whilst he avoids insinuating evil of which none knew, he does not spare where there was too high a thought of self, or a lack of reverence toward God, in one under His correcting hand. He has juster thoughts as to the divine discipline of the soul than any one of the interlocutors, not excepting Job himself, who had not yet been brought down to the true place of nothingness before God. The introduction and first discourse of Elihu go down to the end of chapter 33.
Chapter 32.
And these three men ceased answering Job, because he [was] righteous in his own eyes. And the anger of Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Barn, burned: against Job his anger burned, because of his justifying himself rather than God; and against his three friends his anger burned, because they found no answer, yet condemned Job. And Elihu had waited for Job in words [that is, till Job had spoken], because they [were] older than he in days; and Elihu saw that [there was] no answer in the mouth of the three men, and his anger burned. And Elihu, son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said,
I [am] young in days, and ye [are] aged:
Therefore I did shrink,
And feared to show you mine opinion.
I said, Let days speak, and the multitude of years teach wisdom.
Surely the spirit [it is] in mortal man,
And the breath of Shaddai giveth them wit.
Not the great [in years] are wise,
Nor do the aged understand judgment.
Therefore I say, Hearken to me;
I will declare my knowledge, even I,
Lo! I have waited for your words,
I gave ear to your reasons,
Until ye might search out replies,
And to you I gave attention;
And, behold, there is none that refuteth Job,
That among you answereth his sayings,
Lest ye should say, We have found wisdom.
God shall drive him away, not man.
But at me he directed no word,
And with your words I answer him not.
They broke down, they answer not again,
Words are fled away from them;
And I waited, but they did not speak,
For they ceased, they answered no more.
I also will answer my part,
I also will declare mine opinion.
For I am full of words;
The spirit of my inwards constraineth me.
Behold, my inwards [are] like wine not opened,
Like fresh wine-skins it is working.
I will speak, that I may be refreshed,
I will open my lips, and answer.
Let me not, I pray you, accept any one's face.
Neither to man will I give flattering titles.
For I know not to give flattering titles;
[Else] my Maker would soon take me away.
Chapter 33.
Notwithstanding, Job I pray thee, hear my speech,
And hearken to my every word.
Behold, I pray thee, I opened my mouth,
My tongue speaketh in my palate.
My words [shall be] the uprightness of my heart,
And my knowledge shall my lips utter purely.
The Spirit of God hath made me,
And the breath of Shaddai gave me life.
If thou canst, answer me;
Draw up before me, take thy stand.
Lo! I am God's, as thou;
Out of clay was I also formed.
Behold, my terror will not affright thee,
And my hand shall not be heavy on then.
Surely thou hast said in mine ears,
And I heard the voice of the words:
I am pure, without transgression,
I [am] clean, and have no iniquity:
Lo! He findeth hostilities against me,
He counteth me as His enemy;
He putteth my feet into the stocks;
He watcheth all my ways.
Behold, in this thou art not right, I answer thee;
For God [Eloah] is greater than a mortal.
Why hast thou contended against Him?
For He answereth not of all His matters.
When God [El] speaketh once, and twice—
[Man] regardeth it not—
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
When deep sleep falleth on mortals,
In slumberings on the bed;
Then He openeth the ear of mortals,
And sealeth up their instruction,
To withdraw man [from] doing;
And pride from man he concealeth.
He keepeth back his soul from corruption,
And his life from passing away by the dart.
He is also chastised with pains on his bed,
And the strife of his bones [is] lasting.
And his life loatheth bread,
And his soul meat of desire.
His flesh wasteth out of sight,
And his bones that were not seen stand out,
And his soul draweth near to corruption,
And his life to the destroyers.
If there be by him a messenger,
An interpreter, one of a thousand,
To declare To man His uprightness;
And He is gracious to him, and saith,
Deliver him from going down to corruption:
I have found a ransom.
His flesh [is] fresher than childhood,
He returneth to the days of his youth.
He supplicateth [Eloah] God,
And He accepteth him.
And he shall see His face with rejoicing,
And He requiteth to mortal man His righteousness.
He singeth before mortals, and saith,
I sinned and perverted right, and it satisfied me not.
He ransomed my soul from passing to corruption,
And my life looketh on the light.
Lo! all these worketh God [El] twice, thrice, with man,
To bring back his soul from corruption,
That be may be enlightened with the light of life.
Attend, O Job, hearken to me;
Be silent, and I shall speak.
If thou hast words, answer me—
Speak, for I have a desire to justify thee.
If not, hearken thou unto me;
Keep silence, and I will teach thee wisdom.
Jerome, or the pseudo-Jerome (Opera, ed. Vail. iii., App. 895 et seqq.), seems to have led the way in attacking the new speaker, as others followed, including the venerable Bede, who confounded him with Balaam; a Jewish writer dared to count him Satan in disguise; whilst too many to name, Protestants and Catholics, down to our own time, held a view of him only less disparaging. But those who weigh far more in godliness and discernment see in him one who brings a juster and more comprehensive appraisal of Job and his friends, and the first real insight, displayed in the book, of the place and aim of discipline through suffering.
The opening verses of chapter 32 show the deep emotion and displeasure of Elihu at the unsatisfactory issue of the discussion, unprofitable to man, and not to the honor of God; whereas, comparatively young as he was, he could not but feel a burning desire for the reproof of what was rash and wrong on man's part, and for the vindication of God's character and glory. But if Elihu feels reluctantly forced to speak in presence of men from whom he would gladly have learned, if they could have taught, the mind of God, he is careful to stand only for what comes from God. He is taught, as never before, how spiritual wisdom is of God's spirit, not of man's age. It is the very reverse of self-confidence or vain-glory, though out of the abundance of his heart his mouth speaks.
On what other ground, could a younger speak, and speak in terms corrective of all who had gone before? His silence, sustained till even Job had no more to say, broken when Job, no less than his friends, could not but feel that the riddle was as yet unexplained, is the strongest proof how little he deserves censure as bold, forward, officious, conceited, arrogant, boastful, and I know not what more; while the scope of his remarks exposes the folly of those philosophizing dreamers who brand as an aimless and unanswered talker left in the shade that he merited. One can only reply that all men have not faith, and that such as thus judge of scripture manifest a mind void of discernment, and scarce anywhere more than in a verdict like this on Elihu. He certainly sets in the most vivid light the total failure of those who had condemned Job without confuting him, and not without insinuations which condemned themselves. He feels that, as being unassailed by the sufferer, and in no way sharing their uncharitableness, he is in a position to lay bare not a little that was uncomely and presumptuous. He was amazed at the total rout of the friends, when he could not but own how much was in his heart claiming utterance irrepressibly, without respect of persons, and in the fear of God.
But he addresses himself, above all, to Job, to whom he was about to speak with all possible candor. He did not set himself up unbecomingly, speaking of what he could not know, but as man to man, wholly dependent on God. He did not judge, but would fain appeal to him, and plead with him, as belonging to God, just like himself, and as he, a fellow-creature made of clay, so that awe had no place, but weight of truth only. (Compare chap. 13:21.) For this already had Job expressed the longing desire, even though he had too boldly declared his readiness to litigate with Him who is over all. In disputing God's dealings with him, in asserting his own purity, without aught amiss, in imputing ungracious, capricious, arbitrary ways to God, Job had evidently put himself in the wrong. It is enough to answer that God is greater than weak man, and is necessarily sovereign, giving none account of His matters. Yet He speaks to man, slow to hear His voice, in dreams and visions of the night, to open the ear, and seal instruction, so as to restrain man from activity and pride: also by chastenings of bodily sickness and pain, for the awakening of the soul, when all else becomes distasteful. But most fully does He use a messenger, as interpreting his mind, however rarely found, to let man see his uprightness, as well as how gracious He is, in delivering from what is incomparably worse, by virtue of what He had ever before Him (Rom. 3:2525Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; (Romans 3:25)), when the guilty one, now won to God, returns to more than wonted health, enjoys lowly, happy intercourse with Him, and gives a testimony, humbling but bright, to his fellows of the undeserved mercy that delivers.
Such are the ways frequent with God, by dreams, chastenings, and messengers, to arouse man to a due sense of himself before God, and thereby rescue him from corruption, that he may be enlightened with the light of life. It is intelligible that men, no matter how erudite or superstitions, who knew not the gospel nor even the Spirit's application of the law to their own condition, should overlook the value of this wonderful appeal from Elihu, himself doing the part of the interpreter with Job, the appeal of a man's heart purified by faith to unfeigned love, and filled with the sense of God's goodness, rich in resources to arrest the self-willed madness of the race. The everlasting gospel had its witness in Elihu, as surely as Noah preached righteousness to the ungodly antediluvians, whose judgment of old was not idle, nor did their destruction slumber. Mark the personal earnestness of the man, equally ready to listen as to speak, if by any means the soul should be won to a better appreciation of God, and therefore importunate in repeated calls, which weary all who share not the like love of souls for the Lord's sake. He was only the truer, and more effective also, because he never dreams of sparing sin, even in word or thought, and was quick to feel for His honor who is the spring of all that is good. Not one of the disputants shows such a reckoning on grace in God as this young and valiant champion of the truth.