In chapter 32 of Job, a new player is introduced into the discussion. His name is Elihu, but who is he, really? He continues to speak for six chapters (32 to 37). His is the longest, uninterrupted discourse of the Book of Job. We know very little about him, only that he is the son of Barachel, the Buzite, who was of the family of Ram (Job 32:2). But, how does this identify him? It puts Elihu as a descendant of Nahor, Abraham’s brother (cp. Genesis 22:20-21),[1] which would probably make him a contemporary of Abraham and Isaac and perhaps Jacob. This conclusion gains some support in the fact that the text shows Job was allied with the Sabeans and the Chaldeans in the East, vis-à-vis of Mesopotamia, which would put the alliance prior to the Sabeans migrating to Africa (cp. Isaiah 43:3; cp. Genesis 11:9). Thus, the timeline agrees with Elihu living near the time of Abraham.
It seems Elihu had been present for the entire debate between Job and the friends, because he alludes to Job’s words in his reply (Job 33:6-7). Therefore, there may have been a number of witnesses who had gathered to hear the men speak. Indeed, some of the witnesses may have been disciples of Job or one of the friends. We are told Elihu spoke up for two reasons. First, he was angry with Job, saying he justified himself rather than God. Indeed, at times, it does appear Job was willing to justify himself at expense of the Lord’s own good name (Job 32:2). However, Job didn’t cross that line. He never claimed God was wrong or unjust. In fact, the text later records God saying that Job had spoken what was right, concerning him (Job 42:7). Secondly, Elihu was angry with the friends, because they condemned Job without replying fairly to his claims (Job 32:3). In other words, they condemned him without proving any of their charges or without showing where Job’s defense was wrong.
Although the ages of none of the men mentioned in the Book of Job are known to the reader, Elihu says he hadn’t spoken up prior to this time, because he was a young man with respect to the friends (Job 32:4). So, we are able to conclude Elihu was younger than Job or the friends. It also seems that Elihu judged Job was wrong, because he expected the friends to be able to use their wisdom to silence him. Nevertheless, that didn’t occur. In fact, the reverse was so. Job had silenced the friends. Therefore, Elihu’s wrath was kindled against the friends, because he found it inexcusable that they failed get Job to see his error (Job 32:5).
Elihu had considered himself to be sent by God to reply to Job and correct his errors (Job 33:6), which seems quite odd, and perhaps arrogant, in light of his original expression of humility (Job 32:6-7, 16-22). If we expect Elihu to be much different from the friends, we shall be disappointed, because he holds the same erroneous worldview the friends expressed, namely, that in this life God rewards the righteous and the wicked according to their works. Therefore, he sees Job’s calamities as God’s judgment upon him for his wickedness (Job 33:8-12), something which the Lord had denied (Job 1:8; 2:3). Moreover, the Lord concluded Job had not misrepresented him during his debate with the friends (Job 42:7). So, Elihu’s initial promise to mediate rightly between Job and the friends and show both parties where they had erred and failed to honor God, comes up short of the mark. So, this is the premise from which I will interpret Elihu’s remarks. While he does make some interesting points in his dissertation, he cannot end well, because his premise/worldview is wrong, proved wrong already by Job. Therefore, wherever this erroneous premise takes Elihu, it cannot end in the truth. Nevertheless, we’ll consider what he says for ourselves.
________________________________________________________
[1] The first occurrence of the name Ram is in Ruth 4:19, which would make Ram an ancestor of David, and Elihu a cousin, but the sons of Ram in Ruth don’t include the name Barachel. So, this information is inconclusive. On the other hand, the text claims Barachel was a Buzite. Buz appears in the genealogy of Nahor, Abraham’s brother. Buz was Nahor’s second son, but he’s not in the ancestry of Jacob, who descends from Bethuel, through Rebekah, Jacob’s mother. Bithuel is the eighth son of Nahor. The text also says Nahor’s third son was Kemuel, who was the father of Aram, who may be the Ram in Elihu’s ancestry (Job 32:2), which, if true, would mean Kemuel must have died, leaving no heir, and Buz took Kemuel’s wife (a levirate marriage; cp. Genesis 38:6-8) in order to raise up a son in the name of his dead brother. Thus, Elihu would have been a direct or actual descendant of Buz (cp. Ruth 4:1-6, 17, 21-22), but the legal descendant of Buz’s brother, Kemuel.
Smoodock's Blog 