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).
