Before Elihu began presenting his views (ch. 33), he first had to gain the attention of his elders and to explain why he wanted to speak (32:6-22).
Elihu began by voicing his respect for Job's three friends (vv. 6-10). They were older than he, and for this reason he said he had refrained from speaking until now. However he had become convinced that advancing age does not always bring wisdom with it. Rather, wisdom comes from God. "A spirit in man"and "the breath of the Almighty"(v. 8) evidently refer to the Spirit of God (cf. Gen. 41:38-39; Exod. 31:3; Num. 27:18-21; Isa. 11:2; Dan. 5:11-12). Elihu was saying that Job's three friends were not wise. To get them to listen in spite of what he had just said he asked ten times that they pay attention to his words (vv. 10, 20; 33:1, 12, 31, 33; 34:2, 10, 16; 37:14).
"Almost all modern interpreters have found Elihu to be insufferably wordy. . . . This loquacious style to some degree makes all the speeches in chapter 3-41 difficult for the modern reader to appreciate."138
"His professed modesty is belied by his self-importance and pomposity."139
The ancients in the Near Eastern world esteemed rhetoric and elaborate wording.
Elihu proceeded to evaluate these three men further (vv. 11-14). They had failed to refute Job. They believed they were right and that since Job had failed to repent God was the only Person who could convince him that he was a sinner (v. 13). However, Job had not refuted Elihu who planned to use different arguments to persuade his hearers (v. 14).
Finally Elihu explained to Job why he wanted to speak (vv. 15-22). Among other reasons he was going to talk because his elders had fallen silent. The "spirit within"(v. 18) Elihu was probably his own human spirit, not the Holy Spirit, in view of what follows (vv. 19-20).
This whole speech is an attempt to explain to Job why God was not responding to him. Elihu was very wordy, which he admitted in 32:18. In summary, he told Job that God was not silent, as Job had charged, but that He was speaking through dreams and sickness to the patriarch. Rather than using suffering to punish Job for his sins, God was using it to prevent him from dying. Elihu said God was being merciful to Job. The three counselors had said the purpose of suffering was punitive. Job's wife before them had said Job was suffering because God was unfair. Now Elihu offered a third solution: God was trying to teach Job something. He said the purpose of suffering is pedagogical, educational.
Verses 1-7 record Elihu's request that Job hear him out. "Yourselves"in verse 5 should read "yourself."Elihu next summarized what Job had said (vv. 8-13). He explained that God spoke in dreams and visions (vv. 14-18) and through pain (vv. 19-28). Job had had dreams (7:14) that, Elihu suggested, should keep Job from improper actions and attitudes, specifically pride that would be sinful and would lead to his death (33:17). In sickness and pain God brings people closer to death. This leads them to evaluate their lives and, if they respond properly, to grow in their relationship with God.
"God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."140
The angels are God's agents in bringing both sickness and restoration to people (v. 23; cf. 5:1; 9:33). The "ransom"(v. 24) probably refers to the sick person's repentance. Seeing the light (v. 28) means being kept alive. Verses 29-33 summarize Elihu's argument.
"Unfortunately like so many well-meaning messengers of grace, Elihu was so fully convinced of his good intentions toward Job that he became insufferably overbearing."141
Elihu's views contrasted with those of the three friends as follows.
Who was correct? Other Scriptures indicate that God uses suffering both to punish sinners and to produce spiritual growth. In some cases He may have one purpose in view and in other cases the other. On the other hand both Elihu and the three friends were wrong in some of what they said. Job was not a great sinner, and God sometimes intervenes personally and directly in human experience.
