Job  

Chapter  32  

"The Ministry of Elihu: the Mediator."  

Job has ended his defense before his three friends, and Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Nammathite have all ended their accusations against Job.  They have nothing more to say concerning Job's problems.  All the while Job blamed God for all that had happened to him, the three friends blamed Job for things that he has not done.  Satan was the one causing all the trouble, yet that fact had not even entered their minds.  So these old men are done with their talking and a new fresh mind is entering the scene, and young Elihu is going to express himself to Job.  So let's see if we can understand what our heavenly Father would have us see from this chapter, and from the mind of Elihu. 

Job  32:1   "So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes."

You can see from this verse that they still put the fault for all of Job's problems on Job.  They still blamed him for all that has happened.  They simply had nothing else to say, for they could see that in Job's own eyes, Job saw himself as being righteous, and nothing they could say would move him. 

Job  32:2   "Then was kindled the wrath of Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the kindred of Ram: against Job was his wrath kindled, because he justified himself rather than God."

Mark that in your mind right from the start, Elihu's wrath was kindled against Job because Job justified everything in his life as being righteous, and there was no blame against God.  This name "Elihu" in the Hebrew, correctly translated means 'He is El [God]".  Elihu was the son of Barachel, the Buzite, an offspring of Abraham, but not of Israel.  Elihu was an Adamic person. 

Job  32:3   "Also against his three friends was his wrath kindled, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job."

Not only was Elihu angry at Job, but he also was angry at the three friends because in all their words they had not found one answer; yet they and condemned Job.  The indication they made was that God was wrong in that He would allow this to happen to a righteous man.  This young man was angry over this.  So now we have a man that doesn't care about the words, but he is looking only for the facts. 

Job  32:4   "Now Elihu had waited till Job had spoken, because they were elder than he."

Elihu was a well mannered young man, and he waited for his time to speak.  The older men always spoke first before the young men could voice an opinion.  He was willing to seek their wisdom first before he would say a word.  He knew his manners.    

Job  32:5   "When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, then his wrath was kindled."

So after they were all done speaking, Elihu was anxious to speak. 

Job  32:6   "And Elihu the son of Barachel the Buzite answered and said, "I am young and ye are very old; wherefore I was afraid, and durst not shew you mine opinion."

I kept quiet while all of you had your say, and now it is time for my opinion.  The question here is if we had been in Elihu's place, and these three long winded men went on for days with their many words of accusation, could you hold your peace? Say nothing until the time was ripe for your comments?  Could you have shown patience waiting for the right time to present facts? 

Job  32:7   "I said, `Days should speak, and multitude should teach wisdom."

Yes, years of experience should give you wisdom in your speech. 

Job  32:8   "But there is a spirit in man: and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth them understanding."

Yet here is the wisdom that does not come from age, but it is a gift from the Almighty God.  Elihu is presenting himself as a man with spiritual discernment.  There is some hope for this young man because he is thinking, and he recognizes exactly where the spiritual gifts come from.  All spiritual gifts come from Almighty God.

Job  32:9   "Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment."

It is implied here that even aged men do not have the understanding that the Father has for judgment. 

Job  32:10  "Therefore I said, `Hearken to me; I also will shew mine opinion.' "

Job  32:11   "Behold, I waited for your words; I gave ear to your reasons, whilst ye searched out what to say."

While you brought about all your conclusions and reason, I sat and heard your words. 

Job  32:12   "Yea, I attended unto you, and behold, there was none of you that convinced Job, or that answered his words:"

Elihu contended that neither of these men had addressed Job's claim nor his request, and your conclusions were not correct. Take care that you do not claim the wisdom that you do not have. 

Job  32:13   "Lest ye should say, `Ye have found out wisdom:'  God thrusteth him down, not man."

Elihu states that whatever happens to Job, it is God that brings Job down, and regardless what you claim.  The problem here with Elihu's thoughts is that it wasn't God that brought Job down and gave him all his sickness, for it was Satan.  God allowed Satan to have his way with Job, because God felt that Job was righteous enough to handle himself.

In Job 1:8  "And the Lord said unto Satan, "Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?"  So we see that what happened to Job was not caused by God because of some sin in his life. But it was given by Satan to test Job whether he could take it and still not curse God to his face. 

Job is an type of the elect of the end times, and we are living in those end times today.  God is going to allow Satan to test his elect to see how sharp we are in holding fast to His Word.  Though we will be tested like Job, we have something today that Job did not have, for since Job's day, Jesus Christ the Son of God has been born in the flesh, suffered the cross, and resurrected from the dead to defeat death, who is Satan.  When Christ defeated death, He gave us the power and the authority over Satan and his Kenite children.  So who has been left out of their searching?  Satan of course.

Job  32:14   "Now he hath not directed his words against me: neither will I answer him with your speeches."

Elihu is talking to the three men here, and what he is saying is don't let those heated discussions from the past debate fall upon me and my words.  I am not going to take sides with either of you, for I have a new thought to add to be considered.

Job  32:15   "(They were amazed, they answered no more: they left off speaking."

Those old men sat there and didn't have a word to say after that.

Job  32:16   "When I had waited, (for they spake not, but stood still, and answered no more;)"

Elihu paused for a moment, considering if he had better stay out of their discussions.     

Job  32:17   "I said, `I will answer also my part, I also will shew mine opinion."

Job  32:18   "For I am full of matter, the spirit within me constraineth me."

I am full of words from the spirit within me, and it presses me to speak these words.  We can assume that this is the Holy Spirit within Elihu, forcing him to speak his mind?    When God's Spirit places words in our mind, he expects us to be sharp enough to speak them wisely when they conform to His Word.

Job  32:19   "Behold, my belly is as wine which hath no vent; it is ready to burst like new bottles."

l have to say this no matter what the consequences.

Job  32:20   "I will speak, that I may be refreshed: I will open my lips and answer."

Job  32:21   "Let me not, I pray you, accept any man's person, neither let me give flattering titles unto man."

Elihu is saying that he is just a plain person without titles who wants to speak his mind.

Job  32:22   "For I know not to give flattering titles; in so doing my Maker would soon take me away.' "

Elihu is not going to make any earth shattering statements, but he is going to just stick to the facts with plain simple words.  This is what has been wrong from the beginning of the book, there has been no sticking to the facts at any time.  It seems like Elihu is going to get to the bottom of the problem and face the facts squarely in the face.  Elihu did have Job's welfare truly in mind.  So now in Job 33 we see what those facts were.