Page 30 - The Poetic Books - Student Text

harmony with both. And he came in time to believe that he had earned the right to a long,
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prosperous, and successful life. He had been virtuous, and virtue is rewarded.”

Here is Job. He has lived a faithful life, yet now he is in misery. He knows very well that he cannot
figure out the reasons for what has happened to him. He is caught on the horns of a dilemma.
He is not guilty. He has done nothing to deserve all this pain. Yet he does not know how to
confront God. He works through to a measure of faith in a future salvation beyond this life but at
a great cost and with some doubt. As the older translations say, “Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him (13:15 KJV).”

Three friends have spoken. All this time a fourth has remained silent. Elihu decides it is time to speak. He
has waited for the others to finish since they are older than he. But now Elihu is angry for a variety of
reasons. He is angry at Job for justifying himself rather than God. He is angry at the three friends
because they could not refute Job, yet they condemned him (32:1-5). The Hebrew text here has a
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curious variation. Some ancient manuscripts read “and so had condemned God.” Not being able to
answer Job in any coherent manner, the three friends had, in effect, reduced God rather than Job. Elihu
wants to answer all four men.

Experts are not sure what to make of Elihu. Opinions vary widely. “Unwittingly Elihu characterizes
himself as a windbag and a constipated fool,” says one. “Elihu, who is introduced to us as a hothead,
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but claims to be patient, perceptive, and wise, unknowingly discloses his true nature as a biased and
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brash fool.”

The text seems to present Elihu in a positive manner, giving a fuller introduction to him than any of the
other friends. The details link him with Abraham. “As a Buzite, he was related to Abraham, for Buz was a
brother of Uz and a son of Nahor, who was Abraham’s brother (Gen. 22:20-21) …. ‘Of the family of Ram’
suggests that Elihu was an ancestor of David (Ruth 4:19-22).” “The name Elihu means ‘he is my God.’ It
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is similar to the name Elijah…, ‘Yahweh is my God.’” He is “an advocate for the wise and loving
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providence of God.”
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39 Andrew Blackwood, Jr., Out of the Whirlwind (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1959), 124.
40 See the footnote #3 on Job 32:3 in NIV, 498.
41 Norman C. Habel, The Book of Job, (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1985), 444.
42 Ibid., 445.
43 Zuck, Job, 142.
44 Hartley, The Book of Job, 429.
45 Archer, The Book of Job, 91.
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