Job Chapter 32

Please read:  Job 32 –

Well unless you read ahead in the book, there is a surprise for us.  There is a fourth man who has been with the other three friends of Job.  It is odd that Elihu was not mentioned previously but he himself gives a reason why he has not spoken.  He wanted to be respectful to those who were older than him and let them go first.  Elihu did not hold to the falsehood that the older are always wiser than the younger.  He stated correctly that it is God who gives spiritual wisdom.  So, we can assume that he too felt that he knew what was right concerning the situation Job was in.

Just using my imagination, I suspect that Elihu was not someone who had spent time with Job in the past, not a close friend.  He may have just been someone who was curious about Job and sat down to listen to what these men were saying.  And he probably was not there from the beginning but was there long enough to understand the debate nature of their conversation.  And he will not be there at the end either.  I picture him as someone who was wiggling and visibly agitated, and could not wait until there was a break in the conversation so that he had opportunity to say what was on his mind.  When given the opportunity, Elihu sure had a lot to say.