Job 32:1 Commentary and Bible Study

Job was the last to speak. The three friends had nothing more to say. They had tried every way that they knew to make their case that he was being punished by God for his secret sin and every time Job had had a more powerful argument in reply. Now they had exhausted all their lines of reasoning and still they had not silenced him. They recognised as a result that they had failed. Job still remained righteous in his own eyes and this was not simply a position that he was holding for argument’s sake but his deep held conviction.Suddenly, a younger man steps forward, quite different in character and doctrine from the comforters. Elihu is a true servant of God whose doctrine is as Pauline as any New Testament epistle; a blazing light eradicating all shadows of progressive revelation. He condemns the comforters, and he condemns them very roundly. He condemns Job too for having confidence in his righteousness.The spiritual stature of the comforters (or lack of it) is confirmed by Elihu’s judgment, ‘Great men are not always wise: neither do the aged understand judgment.’ Elihu condemns theology which has come out of the human head, rather than by revelation. He expected that the aged men should know best (verse 7) but their poverty of understanding has proved that Truth must be revealed by inspiration of God alone (verse 8).