Words in italic type have been added for clarity. They are not found in the original Hebrew or Aramaic.

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Job 32

Elihu Contradicts Job’s Friends

Job 32:¹ So these three men ceased answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

• These three men are an unholy trinity of condemners.

Job 32:² Then the wrath of Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram, was aroused against Job; his wrath was aroused because he justified himself rather than God (‘ĕlōhîm).

• Jesus was a Ram, a male lamb of the first year. The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.
• Jesus was the Ram in the Bulrushes whose horns (power) was caught in the thorns. When Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, this Ram became a substitute for Isaac.

Job 32:³ Also against his three friends his wrath was aroused, because they had found no answer, and yet had condemned Job.

• Personal Application and Personal Experience:
  • PLEASE DO NOT judge or criticize a person when they suffering, vulnerable and unable to defend themself. You may be killing their very soul. Furthermore, you, yourself, may very well bring that person’s suffering down on your own head. For what measure you use to judge another person is the measure God will use to judge you.

Job 32:⁴ Now because they were years older than he, Elihu had waited to speak to Job (till Job had spoken).

Job 32:⁵ When Elihu saw that there was no answer in the mouth of these three men, his wrath was aroused.

• Elihu is like the Holy Spirit. While Job’s other friends are condemned by God for their lack of wisdom, Elihu escapes God’s judgment because he speaks truly.

Job 32:⁶ So Elihu, the son of Barachel the Buzite, answered and said:

“I am young in years, and you are very old;
Therefore I was afraid,
And dared not declare my opinion to you.

Job 32:⁷ I said, ‘Age (Lit. Days, i.e., years) should speak,
And multitude of years should teach wisdom.’

Job 32:⁸ But there is a spirit in man,
And the breath of the Almighty (šaday Shaddai of God) gives him understanding.

• The breath of the Almighty is the Holy Spirit who gives life and spiritual understanding.

Job 32:⁹ Great (Or Men of many years) men are not always wise,
Nor do the aged always understand justice.

Job 32:¹⁰ “Therefore I say, ‘Listen to me, I also will declare my opinion.’

Job 32:¹¹ Indeed I waited for your words,
I listened to your reasonings, while you searched out what to say.

Job 32:¹² I paid close attention to you; And surely not one of you convinced Job, Or answered his words—

• Job’s suffering has nothing to do with sin. Rather, it has to do with God teaching men and angels about His ways which are beyond understanding. Job will have a reward he will never forget.
  • Luke 13:4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?^5a I tell you, no;
  • John 11:4 When Jesus heard that, He said, “This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.”

Job 32:¹³ Lest you say,
‘We have found wisdom’;
God will vanquish him, not man.

Job 32:¹⁴ Now he has not directed (ordered) his words against me;
So I will not answer him with your words.

Job 32:¹⁵ “They are dismayed and answer no more;
Words escape them.

Job 32:¹⁶ And I have waited, because they did not speak,
Because they stood still and answered no more.

Job 32:¹⁷ I also will answer my part,
I too will declare my opinion.

Job 32:¹⁸ For I am full of words;
The spirit within me compels me.

• John 1:14 The Word Becomes Flesh – And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

Job 32:¹⁹ Indeed my belly (bosom) is like wine that has no vent (opening);
It is ready to burst like new wineskins.

• The new wineskin of the New Testament: Not of Law but Mercy
  • Matthew 12:7 But if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

• Matthew 9:17 Nor do they put new wine into old wineskins, or else the wineskins break, the wine is spilled, and the wineskins are ruined. But they put new wine into new wine skins, and both are preserved.”
• Luke 5:37 And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; or else the new wine will burst the wineskins and be spilled, and the wineskins will be ruined.
• Luke 22:20 Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.

Job 32:²⁰ I will speak, that I may find relief;
I must open my lips and answer.

• Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name.” But His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, and I could not.

Job 32:²¹ Let me not, I pray, show partiality to anyone;
Nor let me flatter any man.

• Such is the character of God:
  Deuteronomy 10:17 For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality nor takes a bribe.

Job 32:²² For I do not know how to flatter,
Else my Maker (ʿāśâ) (aka to appoint, produce, press, squeeze) would soon take me away.

• Matthew 22:16 And they sent to Him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that You are true, and teach the way of God in truth; nor do You care about anyone, for You do not regard the person of men.